A home garden is a place, which can give identity to your home building in a neighborhood. You can use very little creativity to enhance to look and feel of your garden so that it stands out from the rest …
With the hustle and bustle associated with daily life in the 21st century, many people have become intensely interested in developing a living environment at home that is soothing, calming and peaceful. Towards this end, an ever growing number of …
Whatever the project may be, if it is a big time one or a simple residential landscaping, design is the most important factor that one must consider to be able to lay out a plan and eventually act upon.
Residential Landscaping
In whatever we decide to do in life, there are things to ponder about before coming up with a plan. The same thing is true if you’d like a lawn makeover, there are factors to go through and ideas to think about before actually starting the process.
Why Do You Want to Do It?
If the idea is to give your yard some kind of a renovation through landscaping, then the possibilities as to what you’d like the outcome to be are endless. You call the shots according to what you like at the moment that you want it to be done.
But on the other hand, you have to give the landscaping design a more posh look if you decide to sell the property. This is also a way to be safe, not every potential buyer would want an unfamiliar style, but with being simple and classy, one could never go wrong. It would also be to your advantage because it will add more value to what you’re selling and more people will be enticed to look at it and consider a deal.
What Do You Want to Be Done?
For people who’d like to do their own landscaping, the American Nursery and Landscape Association or ANLA says that it is important for the property’s salability if you choose to maintain large, old trees in it. Those mature trees are said to be of great impact to those who are looking into the land.
In designing for your own landscape, remember the basic elements which are color, form, line, scale and texture.
Look at the project through an artist’s eye. Choose plants that look good when placed together or side by side in terms of their colors. Imagine what other people, especially the would-be buyer of the property would feel upon seeing the colors that you chose for the project.
Form is looking at the plants to be placed in the project in terms of the shape and branching patterns. Such factors should blend in with what one has planned for the whole landscape.
Line is the according to the arrangement of the materials to be used in the design, how you plot them accordingly as well as looking into their borders.
Scale or the size of the plants that you want to use in the landscape design also determines the texture. The placing of each plant depending on its sizes would give one an idea about the texture because this factor is a visual matter.
Who Do You Like to Do It?
You could seek out professional help if you think that you cannot do it yourself. But with vast resources on landscape design, you might want to try browsing through first and challenge yourself if you can do it before shelling out your penny for someone else’s services.
First, you need to observe other people’s backyards. You might also want to ask how they have done it. Or if you see someone else doing such, all you have to do is watch the process and get inspiration from it.
You can also find a wealth of information from landscaping books and magazines, television and, of course, the Web.
Are You Up with the Plan?
Upon having the plan ready for your residential landscaping, you just have to ask yourself if you’re up for it. Consider everything, the budget, the materials, your purpose on doing such and the property itself, before plunging in and starting out the process.
Having a low maintenance front yard is the goal of many people. You can get easy to manage front yard landscaping done by any of the professional landscapers in your area or you can do it yourself. Either way you can have front yard landscaping done that will take minimal work to keep looking fantastic all year round. If you are going to get a professional in to do your front yard landscaping though, be sure to tell him that this is your over all goal, that you want to have a yard that will not take a lot of work to keep up.
If you have less grass in your front yard landscaping then you will cut out a lot of maintenance time right there. Mowing the lawn can take up a lot of time and energy so keeping the grass to a minimum is a great way to save on work. Talk to the front yard landscaping expert about alternative that you can use to keep your yard look good with little lawn area.
Some people choose to use clover instead of grass. Using a clover lawn in your front yard landscaping is a good idea because it will save you money and time. You will not have to mow it very often at all and a clover lawn is even good for front yard landscaping in area that is prone to droughts. They do well virtually everywhere. And best of all for those who want to get out there and enjoy their front yard landscaping, bugs hate clover.
Watering the yard can be a big hassle as well. That is why many people incorporate automatic irrigation systems into their front yard landscaping designs these days. This can save you tons of time and money. This is one of the easiest ways for you to keep your yard looking healthy and well watered during the hotter months of the year. No more hooking up the sprinkler or having to drag out the hose. You can get a professional to install one of these systems for your front yard landscaping design quickly and easily or you can get a kit and do it yourself. I would recommend getting in a professional however, unless you have experience with this kind of thing. If you were to cause a leak then you could face some flooding and rotting and neither of these is going to do anything for your front yard landscaping, do you know what I mean?
In order to make a great landscape, there are certain
tried-and-tested practices that you can follow. Not only do
these practices help you create a beautiful landscape, they
also ensure that you do not waste any money and that you
are not harming the environment in any way.
Here are some of the best landscaping practices that you
can do in your own home garden.
1. Design your landscape in a way where water is retained
well. This doesn’t only go for water that comes from your
sprinklers but also storm runoffs.
By having this kind of set-up, you do not spend a lot on
watering your plants and you also help keep your
community’s water supply at bay.
2. Use fertilizers responsibly. Some people become
trigger-happy when it comes to using fertilizers on their
landscapes.
While putting in too much fertilizer can be detrimental to
the environment, using organic fertilizers or choosing
plants that are well-accustomed to the local environment
will help in curbing the problem.
3. Take it easy on pesticides and weed killers – just like
fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers can do more harm
than good if used irresponsibly.
4. Schedule watering of the plants. Watering the plants
early in the morning help in retaining the water much
longer than doing it at noon for example.
While considering the time for watering the plants may seem
like a small thing, it translates to something big when the
water supply is put into the equation.
