Tips to Landscape a Yard
So you’ve decided your yard could use a little work. Maybe you’ve just moved into a new property and found the previous residents have left you an impenetrable jungle as a moving in present. Or maybe you’ve left yourself the gift of uncontrolled weed growth through a bit of good old-fashioned neglect.
Well, no matter – there’s no time like the present and, with a bit of work, you can have a beautiful, landscaped yard too. Here a few tips to help you along!
Start with the clean up. It might not be much fun but you need to know what you’ve got to work with. How much of a clean up of course is up to you. You might just need to clean back the growth and tidy up any left over debris from winter or fall to unearth a beautiful, tidy yard waiting underneath or maybe you want a completely blank canvas, and are going to strip everything back to the very beginnings – either approach is fine! Checklists are also great to stay organized.
Just make sure you are careful and methodical. Ensure you remove every part of the weed, not just what you can see above ground (and believe me, some weeds can have extensive root systems growing away out of sight). Be through now and you’ll be rewarded later with far less grow back of pesky weeds.
In a traditional garden with a central lawn edged with flowerbeds, make sure you take the time to edge your beds and lawn. Essentially this is creating a clean break between the lawn and the flowerbeds themselves. Simply take a flat edged shovel and carefully cut the lawn into a neat line where is meets the beds.
This is both appealing to the eye when you look at your yard, and also creates a clear divide between flowerbeds and lawns, making it a lot easier to see which parts of the garden require weeding.
Whilst you’re at it, also consider edging the lawn where it borders paths and driveways. Again, this nice clear break between vegetation and pathway will create a pleasing image to eye.
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Next comes the fun part – selecting the flowers! But wait, don’t rush out the nearest garden center and fill your trunk with any old, random plants and flowers. Instead, take a moment to decide on your style. Do you want an informal, organically growing yard or a more formal, manicured version?
By this, I don’t mean to ask if you’re willing to use certain chemicals or not – though of course this is something you should consider. But rather, do you want a yard where you carefully decide where plants will go and then keep them rigorously trimmed into shape, or do you want to plant flowers and shrubs and mainly let nature take over – with perhaps just a lightly guiding hand from yourself now and then?
Finally, and by far the most important consideration – make sure you take time to enjoy your creation! All too often a gardener will spend so much time and effort working in their yard, planning the next steps of renovation or re-planting they will neglect to actually enjoy the yard itself!
So make sure you take the time to snooze in the sun, have cocktails on the patio and, every now and then, simply pause, take in the sights, sounds and smells and just enjoy the fruits of your labor.