Success in home landscape design is clearly realizable for home handymen or women, but there are some pitfalls that must be avoided if maximum satisfaction is to be achieved. Thus the necessity for this list of 10 mistakes to avoid in home landscape design. The blunders covered range all the way from miscalculations that have practical consequences to more sophisticated errors that adversely impact your enjoyment of your home landscape design.
1. Piecemeal Planting: Neglecting to Have a Plan
Many home landscape designs develop helter-skelter. A plant is planted somewhere in the yard simply because there's room for it there at the time. Ideally, it is often best to start from ground zero, draw a plan for the entire yard, and stick fast to it. Short of that, try at least to sketch a coarse plan for one huge area of your yard, and put all your energy into implementing that plan this year.
2. Having a Lawn Simply Because "Everyone Else Does It"
Many householders make the blunder of presuming that having a grassy area in the yard appointed as "the lawn" is somehow a mandatory part of home landscape design. But historically speaking, the lawn as we know it's a comparatively fresh intro to landscaping. For those not attracted to that rather dull "green carpet" look or who hate having to mow grass every week, it's important to know that other acceptable options exist, particularly for little spaces. Whose yard is it, anyway?
3. Insufficient Fall Color in Your Home Landscape Design
1. Piecemeal Planting: Neglecting to Have a Plan
Many home landscape designs develop helter-skelter. A plant is planted somewhere in the yard simply because there's room for it there at the time. Ideally, it is often best to start from ground zero, draw a plan for the entire yard, and stick fast to it. Short of that, try at least to sketch a coarse plan for one huge area of your yard, and put all your energy into implementing that plan this year.
2. Having a Lawn Simply Because "Everyone Else Does It"
Many householders make the blunder of presuming that having a grassy area in the yard appointed as "the lawn" is somehow a mandatory part of home landscape design. But historically speaking, the lawn as we know it's a comparatively fresh intro to landscaping. For those not attracted to that rather dull "green carpet" look or who hate having to mow grass every week, it's important to know that other acceptable options exist, particularly for little spaces. Whose yard is it, anyway?
3. Insufficient Fall Color in Your Home Landscape Design
Spring and summer receive the majority of our attention when it comes to planting. Sadly, it's easy to forget to plant for fall. Yet the decline season holds large bonuses for those landscaping fans prepared to arrange plans for it. Don't permit your home landscape design to miss out on the colours offered by autumn's bounty!
4. Absence of Winter Interest in Your Home Landscape Design
If the autumn season is sometimes neglected in home landscape design, matters stand twice as bad with the winter season. Yet in the North, it is exactly in wintertime that we most need a yard decor that may bring us cheer.
5. Failure to Irrigate
Many of us face a dilemma: we enjoy having plants in our yards, but we like to travel during the summer. So how do the plants get watered while we're gone? Sometimes a pal or relative can come to the rescue, but why chance it? There is a lot tied up in your home landscape design, both by way of cash and sentimental value. But do not ditch your travel plans! Just install an automatic irrigation system in your landscape design.
6. Planting on a Hillside Subject to Erosion
Have you got a sheer slope in your yard? Is it difficult to keep your topsoil there during a heavy rain? Have you tried growing your favourite plants there pointlessly? The problem is that you failed to fix your erosion problem prior to planting. Build a retaining wall first, then do your planting afterwards.
7. Failing to Work With What You HaveGot a rocky yard? A yard with a lot of shade? Or perhaps your yards problem is a punishing summertime heat that scorches all in its path? Often you can successfully fight the terrain you inherit in your yard, as in the case of building main walls for slopes to combat erosion. Other times, rather than fighting it, it is better to go with the flow and work with what you have. The key's to know what you are up against and what options you have.
8. Failure to Incorporate Deer-Resistant Plants in Your Home Landscape Design
You might think you have arrived at the best home landscape design. You carefully drew up a plan and stuck to it. The soil is productive, you've installed automatic irrigation, you've followed directions faithfully in planting your specimens, and you've applied a generous layer of mulch around them. But you come out of the house one day" and find your plants in shreds! What occurred? You forgot one thing: deer can make a snack of your plants faster than you can say, "Bambi goes to market."
9. You Never Get Anything Done in the Yard Because Tools Are Never Handy
The surest way to get little done in the yard is to realize you want a tool" only to find that you cannot find it! If you do not have enough storage space, chances are your tools will all be forced into one tiny area (perhaps a corner of the garage), making it tricky to keep the area accessible and the tools organized. What you need is a storage shed. The longer you put off getting ample storage, the longer you will be disorganised" and the further you'll fall behind in your yard work.
10. Forgetting Functionality in Home Landscape Design
When one thinks about hom
4. Absence of Winter Interest in Your Home Landscape Design
If the autumn season is sometimes neglected in home landscape design, matters stand twice as bad with the winter season. Yet in the North, it is exactly in wintertime that we most need a yard decor that may bring us cheer.
5. Failure to Irrigate
Many of us face a dilemma: we enjoy having plants in our yards, but we like to travel during the summer. So how do the plants get watered while we're gone? Sometimes a pal or relative can come to the rescue, but why chance it? There is a lot tied up in your home landscape design, both by way of cash and sentimental value. But do not ditch your travel plans! Just install an automatic irrigation system in your landscape design.
6. Planting on a Hillside Subject to Erosion
Have you got a sheer slope in your yard? Is it difficult to keep your topsoil there during a heavy rain? Have you tried growing your favourite plants there pointlessly? The problem is that you failed to fix your erosion problem prior to planting. Build a retaining wall first, then do your planting afterwards.
7. Failing to Work With What You HaveGot a rocky yard? A yard with a lot of shade? Or perhaps your yards problem is a punishing summertime heat that scorches all in its path? Often you can successfully fight the terrain you inherit in your yard, as in the case of building main walls for slopes to combat erosion. Other times, rather than fighting it, it is better to go with the flow and work with what you have. The key's to know what you are up against and what options you have.
8. Failure to Incorporate Deer-Resistant Plants in Your Home Landscape Design
You might think you have arrived at the best home landscape design. You carefully drew up a plan and stuck to it. The soil is productive, you've installed automatic irrigation, you've followed directions faithfully in planting your specimens, and you've applied a generous layer of mulch around them. But you come out of the house one day" and find your plants in shreds! What occurred? You forgot one thing: deer can make a snack of your plants faster than you can say, "Bambi goes to market."
9. You Never Get Anything Done in the Yard Because Tools Are Never Handy
The surest way to get little done in the yard is to realize you want a tool" only to find that you cannot find it! If you do not have enough storage space, chances are your tools will all be forced into one tiny area (perhaps a corner of the garage), making it tricky to keep the area accessible and the tools organized. What you need is a storage shed. The longer you put off getting ample storage, the longer you will be disorganised" and the further you'll fall behind in your yard work.
10. Forgetting Functionality in Home Landscape Design
When one thinks about hom
7. Failing to Work With What You HaveGot a rocky yard? A yard with a lot of shade? Or perhaps your yards problem is a punishing summertime heat that scorches all in its path? Often you can successfully fight the terrain you inherit in your yard, as in the case of building main walls for slopes to combat erosion. Other times, rather than fighting it, it is better to go with the flow and work with what you have. The key's to know what you are up against and what options you have.
8. Failure to Incorporate Deer-Resistant Plants in Your Home Landscape Design
You might think you have arrived at the best home landscape design. You carefully drew up a plan and stuck to it. The soil is productive, you've installed automatic irrigation, you've followed directions faithfully in planting your specimens, and you've applied a generous layer of mulch around them. But you come out of the house one day" and find your plants in shreds! What occurred? You forgot one thing: deer can make a snack of your plants faster than you can say, "Bambi goes to market."
9. You Never Get Anything Done in the Yard Because Tools Are Never Handy
The surest way to get little done in the yard is to realize you want a tool" only to find that you cannot find it! If you do not have enough storage space, chances are your tools will all be forced into one tiny area (perhaps a corner of the garage), making it tricky to keep the area accessible and the tools organized. What you need is a storage shed. The longer you put off getting ample storage, the longer you will be disorganised" and the further you'll fall behind in your yard work.
10. Forgetting Functionality in Home Landscape Design
When one thinks about home landscape design,. It is esthetic considerations that instantly are evoked. Functionality , however , takes priority over aesthetics. There is not any reason you shouldn't be able to have both; but when push comes to shove, one needs to be more interested that a home landscape design is safe, convenient and usable.
Now that you know a couple of the pitfalls and what to try and avoid, you want to determine if your landscaping is a do-it-yoursef project or if it might be best to hire a pro landscaper.
About the Author:
8. Failure to Incorporate Deer-Resistant Plants in Your Home Landscape Design
You might think you have arrived at the best home landscape design. You carefully drew up a plan and stuck to it. The soil is productive, you've installed automatic irrigation, you've followed directions faithfully in planting your specimens, and you've applied a generous layer of mulch around them. But you come out of the house one day" and find your plants in shreds! What occurred? You forgot one thing: deer can make a snack of your plants faster than you can say, "Bambi goes to market."
9. You Never Get Anything Done in the Yard Because Tools Are Never Handy
The surest way to get little done in the yard is to realize you want a tool" only to find that you cannot find it! If you do not have enough storage space, chances are your tools will all be forced into one tiny area (perhaps a corner of the garage), making it tricky to keep the area accessible and the tools organized. What you need is a storage shed. The longer you put off getting ample storage, the longer you will be disorganised" and the further you'll fall behind in your yard work.
10. Forgetting Functionality in Home Landscape Design
When one thinks about home landscape design,. It is esthetic considerations that instantly are evoked. Functionality , however , takes priority over aesthetics. There is not any reason you shouldn't be able to have both; but when push comes to shove, one needs to be more interested that a home landscape design is safe, convenient and usable.
Now that you know a couple of the pitfalls and what to try and avoid, you want to determine if your landscaping is a do-it-yoursef project or if it might be best to hire a pro landscaper.
About the Author:
Jim Bextermueller is the founder of HomeServicesLink, a Cincinnati, Ohio firm that connects householders to landscaping and home improvement contractors and repair service providers they can trust to do the work and trust in their home.