Due to the fact, that your front yard is out there for all to see, for most home-owners, this part of your garden tends to have a little more attention to detail afforded it. Actually, more attention to everything about it.
Well, what would the neighbors say!
Indeed, your front yard is often the yard-stick by which the occupants are judged. Let's face it, if you see a front yard with 3 to 4 foot high grass emanating strange animal noises, you are going to wonder just what the place must be like inside. There is no denying it, a well kept lawn and garden, gives worth and will add extra value to a property.
The creation of a beautiful front yard to be proud of, doesn’t necessarily require the hiring of a landscaping expert to do the job for you. With a little imagination and creativity, a lot can be done to transform the area. There is no "rule" stating that your front yard must be a square piece of lawn, with wickedly sharp edges.
The internet is a great place to find free ideas for your front-yard landscape design. Steal some of these great ideas and make them your own, make them unique by mixing them up a little. Be a little adventurous. Given time, you will find that "what the neighbors will say", will be "Gee, I wish I had a garden like that!"
If, for example, you were to bulk plant the area with trees and or shrubs, around the perimeter (not talking Sequoia's here), this would then afford you the privacy to while away your spare-time reading a good book, having a quiet picnic with family and friends, or, create a "front yard outdoor living area" - as an extension of your indoor living area. More commonly, this idea is utilised for the backyard, so if you incorporate the front yard with your home's various existing living spaces, indoor and outdoor - you will indeed have a rather unique result.
A display of artwork or statuary in the front yard can also add an element of excitement, provided you don't overdo it. There is a place nearby my house that has too many interesting things in it, a bit of a sensory overload, really. I think that anyone on serious medication should steer clear of it. Then again, it may well be that the perpetrator of this nightmare - is in fact on serious medication. The general rule here is - less is best. Create interest, not shock.
A bird house or bird bath, possibly a pond or fountain, always adds more than a bit of interest. Not only will this attract birds to your garden, but also, nothing comes close to the soothing sight and sounds of falling water. Flowering plants (annuals, perennials), and shrubs, are a great way to attract butterflies to the garden - giving an animated flowers effect as they flitter on by.
Do keep in mind, that planting trees, shrubs, flowers, etc, as regards landscaping, is a lot easier that installing pergolas decks and patios. Living plants also afford the bonus of constant change, whether this be through the seasons, flowering, or merely the fact that they ARE growing - therefore the shape and size of your plants is a constantly changing experience.
I hope that you have found this article helpful in giving you some useful ideas for landscaping your front yard.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Backyard Landscaping and How to Enjoy it.
As with practically anything you attempt, your backyard landscape can be a place of fun, provided you put a bit of "you" into it. By this, I mean some of your own imagination and creativity.
Not only is this an exercise in beautification of "your space", but at the same time there is a satisfying sense of accomplishment involved here. However, do keep in mind that, you will never achieve this state of mind if you are only able to view the whole thing as a chore.
Let us not ignore the fact that, Yes, there is a fair amount of work involved - this is more popularly known as "gardening".
Mowing, weeding, doing the edges, digging, planning for next spring, and planting, are just a few that spring to mind.
Quick! Run and hide - NOW!
Or, you could look at it from a different angle.
Possibly:
"If I mow that lawn, I'll be able to find the kids more easily";
"If I pull-up those weeds now, whilst they are still small, the job will be much easier for me, than if I leave it till the end of summer";
"If I weed this now, I'll be able to see the late flowering roses";
"Just THINK of all the pretty flowers I'll be able to give to my wife, when this new garden-bed is up and running";
"My wife/spouse will be SO proud of me".
Consider Your Backyard as an Extension of Your Living Space.
Push the boundaries of your indoor living space, incorporate the backyard, and make it the outdoor living space. Have a large, sturdy, picnic-table with suitable chairs - on the patio, or near the pond, next to the rose or herb-garden perhaps. This gets the whole family out-of-doors, fresh-air, sunlight, no T.V. - "in the nature". I can guarantee you, you will have more to discuss if you are entertaining outdoors.
Reflect on Nature's Beauty.
What could be more pleasant than kicking-back with friends and family, in the landscape that YOU have created? Basking in the glow of everyone's praise, as they comment on such a beautiful and relaxing environment you have invited them to share. Ah! The bragging-rights of gardening.
Start Small, Do Not Over-Do it.
One does not necessarily need an over-abundance of imagination and creativity, either, for your backyard to be looking like you actually know what you are doing. Nor does it have to take a lot of work. Some well placed trees, can hide a great number of eye-sores in your yard. Like the corners of the block. Just a few trees to round-off the sharpness of the corners can do wonders.
Fountains and ponds can hide a multitude of sins, also. We're not talking six men and a concrete truck here. Again, start small. Buy yourself a simple pond/fountain set-up, these can be found in most nurseries these days, and see if you can handle this much.
Oh, Oh, look out - Yes, there is work involved with a pond.
You have to keep it clean - this means trying NOT to let it turn into a large container of green, dead-fish-leaf-filled slop. Not talking about pool vacuums here, just remove the leaves when there are too many. Outdoor goldfish are pretty hard to kill, generally, they will look after themselves.
If you find that this has been a relatively panic-less event, go on to the next project.
So, what's next?
Let us be a bit ambitious now, how about a rose garden?
Too ambitious?
Make it a flower-garden then.
Starting small again, about 3 feet wide, 6 feet long; dig it over, remove the weeds, add a small amount of fertiliser, dig it over again (it's easier this time), a bag of mulch to keep in the moisture, water it, then go and have a cuppa.
Feeling rested? Good.
Now go to the nursery, you are buying two things. A packet of sunflower seeds, and a packet of nasturtium seeds, the runner type. When you get home - plant them.
No big deal here, the seeds must be in contact with the soil - that's under the mulch. Plant two nasturtium seeds in each corner, plant the sunflower seeds one-hand-span apart, across the rest of the entire bed.
Water the bed.
Go and sit down - outside.
Contemplate what you have just done.
You got your hands in the dirt, you have immediately "changed the look of your backyard", you have instigated the creation of life.
You have done well.
Pat yourself on the back.
Now you are about to embark on the greatest lesson in gardening, namely - patience.
Your newly planted seeds will not have emerged by tomorrow, count on it.
And don't go fiddling. They will emerge in about 5 days, weather permitting, and sunflowers take 3 to 4 months before flowering. Nasturtiums take about 4 weeks.
Whilst you are waiting to see what will happen, start thinking about planting a few shrubs, along the sides of the yard. One day, in the near future, all of a sudden you will realise - Goodness! The backyard's been landscaped! Hey, wow, I did that!
So you see, using a bit of imagination, creativity and a bit of work, you are now able to quietly bask in the knowledge that You have created a backyard landscape, and now it's time to enjoy it.
Not only is this an exercise in beautification of "your space", but at the same time there is a satisfying sense of accomplishment involved here. However, do keep in mind that, you will never achieve this state of mind if you are only able to view the whole thing as a chore.
Let us not ignore the fact that, Yes, there is a fair amount of work involved - this is more popularly known as "gardening".
Mowing, weeding, doing the edges, digging, planning for next spring, and planting, are just a few that spring to mind.
Quick! Run and hide - NOW!
Or, you could look at it from a different angle.
Possibly:
"If I mow that lawn, I'll be able to find the kids more easily";
"If I pull-up those weeds now, whilst they are still small, the job will be much easier for me, than if I leave it till the end of summer";
"If I weed this now, I'll be able to see the late flowering roses";
"Just THINK of all the pretty flowers I'll be able to give to my wife, when this new garden-bed is up and running";
"My wife/spouse will be SO proud of me".
Consider Your Backyard as an Extension of Your Living Space.
Push the boundaries of your indoor living space, incorporate the backyard, and make it the outdoor living space. Have a large, sturdy, picnic-table with suitable chairs - on the patio, or near the pond, next to the rose or herb-garden perhaps. This gets the whole family out-of-doors, fresh-air, sunlight, no T.V. - "in the nature". I can guarantee you, you will have more to discuss if you are entertaining outdoors.
Reflect on Nature's Beauty.
What could be more pleasant than kicking-back with friends and family, in the landscape that YOU have created? Basking in the glow of everyone's praise, as they comment on such a beautiful and relaxing environment you have invited them to share. Ah! The bragging-rights of gardening.
Start Small, Do Not Over-Do it.
One does not necessarily need an over-abundance of imagination and creativity, either, for your backyard to be looking like you actually know what you are doing. Nor does it have to take a lot of work. Some well placed trees, can hide a great number of eye-sores in your yard. Like the corners of the block. Just a few trees to round-off the sharpness of the corners can do wonders.
Fountains and ponds can hide a multitude of sins, also. We're not talking six men and a concrete truck here. Again, start small. Buy yourself a simple pond/fountain set-up, these can be found in most nurseries these days, and see if you can handle this much.
Oh, Oh, look out - Yes, there is work involved with a pond.
You have to keep it clean - this means trying NOT to let it turn into a large container of green, dead-fish-leaf-filled slop. Not talking about pool vacuums here, just remove the leaves when there are too many. Outdoor goldfish are pretty hard to kill, generally, they will look after themselves.
If you find that this has been a relatively panic-less event, go on to the next project.
So, what's next?
Let us be a bit ambitious now, how about a rose garden?
Too ambitious?
Make it a flower-garden then.
Starting small again, about 3 feet wide, 6 feet long; dig it over, remove the weeds, add a small amount of fertiliser, dig it over again (it's easier this time), a bag of mulch to keep in the moisture, water it, then go and have a cuppa.
Feeling rested? Good.
Now go to the nursery, you are buying two things. A packet of sunflower seeds, and a packet of nasturtium seeds, the runner type. When you get home - plant them.
No big deal here, the seeds must be in contact with the soil - that's under the mulch. Plant two nasturtium seeds in each corner, plant the sunflower seeds one-hand-span apart, across the rest of the entire bed.
Water the bed.
Go and sit down - outside.
Contemplate what you have just done.
You got your hands in the dirt, you have immediately "changed the look of your backyard", you have instigated the creation of life.
You have done well.
Pat yourself on the back.
Now you are about to embark on the greatest lesson in gardening, namely - patience.
Your newly planted seeds will not have emerged by tomorrow, count on it.
And don't go fiddling. They will emerge in about 5 days, weather permitting, and sunflowers take 3 to 4 months before flowering. Nasturtiums take about 4 weeks.
Whilst you are waiting to see what will happen, start thinking about planting a few shrubs, along the sides of the yard. One day, in the near future, all of a sudden you will realise - Goodness! The backyard's been landscaped! Hey, wow, I did that!
So you see, using a bit of imagination, creativity and a bit of work, you are now able to quietly bask in the knowledge that You have created a backyard landscape, and now it's time to enjoy it.
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