Landscaping

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.

This blog is on cheap landscaping ideas. One of the main hassles of a garden is not planting, but weeding. Weeds grow with remarkable speed and can quickly overtake a garden. Using a poison or herbicide like roundup is not recommended as you might kill your plants. I know that the manufactors claim the product breaks down in the soil very quickly but I find with my lawn edges after a second dose of roundup no grass is growing there six months later.
In moving into a new rental property I had a large front garden with a nice quickkerb concrete border to highlight the beautiful weeds. So I began to weed, got sick of it and left it for a month. Big mistake, there were now more weeds than ever. I was going to have to have mulch it or spend everyday in the garden. With the landlord not interested in paying for it it was going to have to come out of my own pocket. Now I don’t mine paying for gardening supplies, plants, etc when its my own place, but I’m certainly not keen on giving my landlord a free ride.
So I needed a cheap mulching option, that would look good, work, but not cost too much.
I chose three basic supplies, newspaper -the local rags free and it doesn’t take long to build up a stock pile of papers, sugar cane mulch – its comes in a big bags and is cheap, and finally a few bags of bark – not so cheap, but as you will see its used to give colour not as a mulch so only a little bit is required.
Step One:-
Prepare the garden, yes this means a huge effort and weed the whole garden by hand. Rake over the soil so its nice and smooth and then apply the newspaper. The thicker the better.
Min. six sheets thick. Spread it out and then with a hose wet it all down so it soaked. The now heavy paper won’t blow around in the wind and will mold better to the grounds surface.

Step Two:-
Next spread out the sugar cane mulch. If you cant access cheap sugar cane mulch, try straw, but ensure it has no seeds in it. Make sure all the paper is covered. It doesn’t have to be deep, just enough to cover all the paper. Once again apply water to damp down the mulch. Once watered it takes on a lovely golden colour.

Step Three:-
Now apply the bark. Just grab handfulls and throw it around. You don’t want to totally cover the yellow mulch, the barks mainly to give colour and to contrase with the mulch.

I have found this to be a very effective mulch. A year later and few weeds can get through. Nutgrass was the only successful one and I pulled those out by hand and even the nutgrass gave up the fight. The beautiful browns and golden colour unfortunately fade under the harsh sun, but by that time you should have plenty of flower to make up for it. Best of all – NO WEEDING, yes.

Many people are becoming more interested in using landscape tactics that do not harm the earth. In addition to being great for the environment, organic landscaping can also provide benefits for your wallet and for your health. One of the most alarming things to many people is the fact that some pesticides and fertilizers can harm their children. When you have children or grandchildren, it seems kind of a waste if they cannot play on the lawn because there is fertilizer all over it. Likewise, the improper use of pesticides, or sometimes even the proper use of these chemicals, can result in sickness. Another benefit of organic gardening can also be felt in the wallet. If you make use of the resources that you have at hand, you can actually save money with do-it-yourself organic landscaping, rather than paying money for chemicals to unnaturally enhance your plants.

One of the best ways to practice organic landscape is to make use of native plants. It is much easier to naturally promote the health of your landscape when the plants you use thrive in your area. Bringing in exotic plants or non-native plants from areas with very different conditions only results in frustration and the possible reliance on chemicals to help you take care of them. If you want to keep a landscape that works with the natural setting, native plants, or plants from areas with similar conditions, can help you accomplish this.

The lawn is most often the most visible part of a landscape. It seems as though many people thing it is necessary to use a great deal of chemicals to keep pests from ruining the lawn or to help the lawn grow well. The truth, however, is that by actively caring for the soil in your lawn as well as the grass, you can create a healthier lawn. This can be done in a number of ways that do not involve chemicals that can be harmful to the environment and to your health.

One of these ways is the use of organic fertilizer. There are compositions of fertilizer made entirely of organic materials. These fertilizers do cost more up front, but as they are used regularly reduce long run costs. The decrease the need for chemicals that can become expensive (and if applied wrong can actually damage you lawn more than help it), and they do not need to be applied as often. So, the cost often evens out eventually, as you have to apply the synthetic fertilizer much more often.

Another way to take care of the lawn is to use practices that promote healthy soil and better grass roots. One of these practices is aeration. Aeration relieves soil compaction by punching holes in the ground. This helps by making the soil easier to go through. This means that the roots have more room to go deeper, and organisms, like earthworms, that actually help the health of your grass, have more room to move about and make their homes. This results in naturally healthy grass that withstands pests better and keeps weeds out on its own.

Top dressing and over seeding are other organic practices that improve the health of the lawn. Top dressing is the act of taking composted organic matter and mixing it half and half with sand. A thin layer is then spread over the lawn. This actually improves the lawn rooting, creating healthier, hardier grass, without fertilizer. Over seeding is a method that makes use of more than the recommended amount of grass seed — about one and a half times more than the recommended amount. Over seeding promotes quicker germination and results in a thicker lawn that fights weeds.

Fertilizer, organic or otherwise, is not even necessary if you practice common sense in using organic gardening techniques. You can even create your own compost and mulch by using grass clippings from the lawn mower and leftovers from the garden. Raked leaves and pine needles and weeds can also be used. By leaving them to decompose, you are creating nutrient-rich organic matter than can be used to, in turn, improve the health of all the plants in your landscape, not just grass. Organic gardening can be a very rewarding and money saving effort when you do it yourself.