This is the third in a series on the maintenance needed to keep a new landscape looking and performing its best for decades to come. (You can read the first article here, and the second one here.)

Hopping into our time machine, we arrive at…

Year Five: By now your landscape should be very well established and require much less maintenance. Whew!

• Controlling weeds and pests frequently should continue to be your top priority. If you’ve been diligent over the years, you should not be overwhelmed, and intensive controls such as herbicides should no longer be needed.

• You should still be refilling your mulch every year. Remember that three inches is the magic depth, whether you’re using organic materials like wood chips or inorganic materials like gravel or glass. This is especially important in drought periods, because mulch helps the soil retain more water.

• Fruit trees and berry shrubs should be in full production mode now, needing only seasonal pruning to encourage flowering. If you’re growing blueberries, it’s probably past time to re-acidify the soil around them; a fertilizer designed for hydrangeas, camellias, and other acid-loving plants will do the trick.

• If find that you’re challenged to control the size of some plants, seriously consider replacing them now with smaller species that you won’t need to fight against for the rest of their lives.

• Continue cleaning your outdoor kitchen elements, to reduce grease buildup. It may be time to start replacing components like igniters and flash tubes; check on these, as well as any other metal parts such as springs, for rust or damage.

• Note whether any of your landscape light fixtures have burned out, broken, or become bent. You can probably find replacement bulbs at your local hardware store; if an entire fixture needs to be replaced, look for a landscape/irrigation supply outlet, or get back in touch with your installing contractor.

• Finally, check whether irrigation emitters need to be moved — or spray heads raised — to accommodate your plants’ expanding root zones and driplines. A certified irrigation auditor can help you determine this, and a certified irrigation contractor can upgrade your system with the latest technology to ensure maximum efficiency.

Finally, let’s head on to Year Ten in your landscape!