4 Landscaping Tips For Better Sidewalks On Your Company Campus
The sidewalks that crisscross your corporate campus are typically lumped in with landscaping when it comes to everyday maintenance, so ensuring they are safe and easy to use is in part a task for your landscapers. If the grass and trees are the landscaping, then the sidewalks are the complementary hardscaping. Maintaining the landscaping leads to better sidewalks, and vice versa.
1. Edging Services
A rough grass edge that sometimes grows over the sidewalk can be a major hazard, since it narrows the safe traffic area and can make it difficult to use some accessibility devices, such as wheelchairs. Further, it also doesn't look very nice. Your landscapers will edge regularly, such as at 4 or 6-week intervals, using a machine edger that will maintain an even edge that does not encroach over the sidewalk.
2. Hedge Trimming
Any hedges that border sidewalks and thoroughfares can also outgrow their bounds. Even a single overgrown limb at eye level can be a major hazard, so regularly pruning to maintain the shape and form of the hedges is a must. As part of your normal groundskeeping, your landscapers will prune hedges heavily in late winter to remove damage, then they will work to trim them to shape as the hedges continue to grow throughout summer.
3. Surface Clearing
One of the greatest hazards on your campus sidewalks is any sort of debris. Examples of debris include fallen branches after a storm, dried leaves in fall, wet grass clippings in summer, or ice and snow in winter. All of these items can block passage, pose a tripping hazard, or otherwise cause injury. Landscaping crews can work around the year, which means they are there to pick up debris, sweep clippings, and shovel and ice treat sidewalks as needed.
4. Work With Shortcuts
Shortcuts appear wherever humans travel. On your business campus, this may mean people wearing a rutted path in the grass to cut corners and save time when traveling from point A to point B. Your landscapers can use lawn wear patterns to easily find these shortcuts. In some cases, it may make sense for them to put in border flowers or small shrubs to discourage the use of a shortcut. Alternatively, they may decide to put in hardscaping, such as a short flagstone path, to preserve a shortcut but minimize landscaping damage.
Contact a commercial landscaping maintenance company for more assistance.