Landscaping for Beginners

Landscaping and Gardening fit one another like hand in gloves. If you are a gardener, you will enjoy the the process of landscaping. Believe it or not we are one way or the other doing our own landscaping in our backyards. To make it look much more like a professional we just need to follow some simple steps. I hope this article will give you enough motivation to start of your own landscaping project.

For a landscaping project planning is the key. You need to plan in advance. Consider your needs and customize accordingly. Beauty and functionality are generally the main reason people do landscaping. Do you want to grow vegetables or will it be a strictly flowery thing? Make a rough sketch of the things you have planned, like how you want the space to be utilized.

First select the area which you want to use for landscaping. Plan your lawn, Fence, Vegetable growing area in advance. Now the next thing you want to do is weeding. You can use various techniques of weeding which we have discussed earlier.

Next, separate the different areas and mark the edges. Though it may sound cumbersome it is also the step when you can use your creativity and can make different patterns.

After weeding is done your area is ready for planting. Which type of plants should you choose? Well, It is always better to start with perennials. It will be much of a permanent design with little bit of tuning from time to time. A list of perennials will help you decide the plants. Generally plants like shrubs do well in landscaping. Wild flowers can be a great inclusion to your landscaping project. They are colourful, vibrant and also inexpensive.

To avoid getting monotonous add a few seasonal plants that will add different flavour in different season and also keep you interested in the process. If you are adding annuals to your design, remember the seasonality before choosing the plants.

Study sun and wind pattern in your area. It is critical for your success. Most of the plants you planned might require more than six hours of direct sunlight (Know more about impact of sunlight in gardening in this article) so plan accordingly. Also not every plant is self supportive you might need to provide support in the form of cage or sticks.

Start small. Landscaping is a continuous process you can keep adding your ideas and see how it goes. Dont plant too tightly. At first it might look lush and green but as the time goes on some of plant will grow faster and will look clumsy.

It is not only about growing grass or trees add some creativity by adding extra elements such as wooden or metal structures that suits with the surroundings. It is all about creating your unique signature. You can always take advice from professionals in case things go little out of hand.


If you really want to get serious about landscaping I will recommend you get Helen Whitfields Ideas 4 Landscaping. It is one of the best resources for landscaping ideas available over the internet.

Do you have any suggestion? Please feel free to share with us.

Read More..

Backyard Landscaping DIY or Hire a Professional

The most important thing of your backyard landscape is the well-being of you and your family. Among the various reasons people use for building a backyard landscape is to change the look and feel of their home. It is a wonderful way to add peace to your life whether you have a big family or you live alone.  A beautiful landscape is like a sanctuary, which is everyones dream.

Backyard Landscaping isnt a very hard job. You can do it by your own or you can hire a professional to do your job. If you dont have much experience I suggest you start with a help of a professional. In most cases people screw up big time and end up paying much more. The learning can be pretty intense.  Another option would be to start a crash course on landscaping or try out different online resources which can be pretty cheap.

If you are pretty determined to do it yourself here is one online resource which I want to mention. It is an online landscape resource by Helen Whitefield called Ideas 4 Landscaping. This will guide you through more than 7000 photographs, and  step-by-step videos of practical landscaping.


Do the simple and straightforward process by yourself; leave the complex ones like irrigation, etc. to the professionals. Many things can be over the head especially for a beginner. Best way is to do the part you are comfortable doing yourself. With time you will be able to do most of your things by yourself.

Read books from public libraries or buy from online resources like Amazon, Watch videos of people doing landscaping.

Enjoy the whole process. As I told earlier the best part of having a landscape is the peace of mind for you and your family.


Read more on Landscaping: 

Landscaping for Beginners
Basics of A Rain Garden

Read More..

How to Start a Wildlife Landscaping

Though the requirements for raising a particular wildlife is very animal specific; All the wildlife have basically three needs viz. Food, Water, and Shelter. Before choosing to raise a wildlife landscape make sure the place has all the required ingredients.

Benefits of wildlife landscaping:

Here are some of most fascinating aspects of raising a wildlife in your backyard:

It looks great aesthetically

It is good for recreational purposes

It reduces cooking and electricity bills by conserving energy and provide shade.

and,

last but not the least it provides amazing educational experience.

How to choose the plants:

Firstly, choose native trees and plants. They are suitable for your climate and have lesser chance of succumbing to draught or diseases. Next find out about the ideal growing conditions of these species like nutrient requirements, sunlight exposure, watering frequencies, etc. Before planting trees, consider this; the birds and small animals take tender leaves, fruit pulps, bugs, beetles, flies as their food. So, you should choose plant that can sustain their need throughout seasons. Flowering plants attract butterflies and bee population (check out my article planting for bees for details on this subject).

Place some feeders and nest boxes to provide further assistance to the animals. One of the main problems you might incur is that you have to find different kinds of food to different kinds of species. Though sounds challenging it might be one of the interesting part of raising a wildlife landscape. You should also clean the feeders regularly with water and some form of disinfectant.

Providing shelter:

Making a landscape full of wildlife in not only about the food it also concerns shelter. Making a brush pile is a great way to attract birds, small mammals, to your backyard. They visit in search of insects who love to stay in these piles. But this also invites snakes; so think carefully before implementing one. Big tree cavities are also a favourite place for many animals. Woodpeckers, raccoons, owls, etc. loves to build nest in those places.

Water:

Water is an essential ingredient of wildlife habitat. It not only quenches the thirst of animals it also provides refreshment and sometimes a source for food depending upon the type of animal. Animals such as a raccoon or kingfisher depends largely on water for their source of food. If you are planning to have a wildlife landscape you have to provide arrangement for the water.

Now, you can provide simple structures like a birdbath or maybe small pond. Whatever is your choice you need to keep some points in mind. You must build the water source in a place where some kind of shade is available for at least some part of the day. It will keep the water cool and the evaporation rate will be lesser. Dont allow the water to get stagnant it should be clean and cool.

If you are planning to build a birdbath, make sure to keep it higher from the ground (at least 3.5ft) so that cats cant reach there.

Make the area around your backyard attractive and much more interesting. Dont get limited in your efforts to raise a wildlife and help in conserving the natural habitat for many wild animals.

Landscaping is an important part of creating a long lasting aesthetic look for your garden. Be creative and try to make your unique blend. You can get some really cool idea about landscaping here. 

Read Landscaping related article:

Backyard Landscaping: DIY or Hire a Professional

Basics of A Rain Garden

Landscaping for Beginners
 

Read More..