Apr 02 2007
Home Landscaping Mistakes To Avoid
It is possible to have success with home landscaping when you are doing it yourself. Although if you want maximum satisfaction from your home landscaping there are several mistakes you should avoid. The types of mistakes that can occur range from simple miscalculations up to practical errors that cause major ramifications and require the entire project to be redone. Any of these mistakes can impact the enjoyment of your home landscaping project.
Planning
Many home landscaping projects progress in a miss match pattern. Often plants are placed in specific locations only because there is room and it looks good. Although when it comes to home landscaping it is much more important to have a plan drawn from scratch of the whole yard before starting and then sticking to it afterward. Even if you don’t want to come up with a detailed plan, at least try roughly planning out just a single large area and see how it works.
Grass
Nearly every homeowners thinks that they need a grassy area in their home landscaping simply because that is what all the other people on the block are doing. Although the lawn is actually a new addition to home landscaping from a history standpoint. If you don’t like the look of a lawn or if you don’t have the time to maintain it then it is important to consider other options for your home landscaping. There are many options out there to choose from and you are bound to find one that matches your personality and preferences.
Irrigation
If you travel during the summer, but enjoy plants in your yards then you have a home landscaping dilemma. You will have to figure out a way to make sure the plants are properly watered while you are on vacation. You can have a friend or relative come over to water them for you, but if something goes wrong then all the time and money put into your home landscaping will be destroyed by the time you get home. Although before you cancel your summer travel plans consider adding an automatic irrigation system to your home landscaping design.
Animals
After meticulously drawing out a home landscaping plan and sticking to it, you think you have come up with the perfect landscape design. You have your automatic irrigation system ready for when you go on vacation and you have planted all your plants according to the instructions in fertile soil with a layer of mulch around them. But there is one thing you didn’t count on: deer. Deer can destroy plants faster than anything else in your yard. Therefore, if you live in an area prone to deer traffic then you should incorporate some deer resistant plants in your plans.
Sipping coffee on your back deck on a beautiful fall morning, you look up and gasp — there in your suburban oasis stands a small herd of deer. For a moment you pause, enchanted. An instant later, as the deer begin to munch on your landscape, you realize they’re just not as awestruck by the [...]
Soon it will be time to leave outdoor living spaces and ride out winter’s cold indoors. But before you batten down the barbecue and stow the patio cushions, don’t forget to take care of wooden structures – like decks, pergolas and play sets – that must remain out in the elements.
Routine maintenance of these structures [...]
Leaves turn brilliant colors, evenings cool and the kids go back to school. So long summer, hello fall garden cleanup.
You may already know that composting is a better way to deal with bags of leaves and backyard waste. But if you’ve avoided composting because it seems like too much work and mess — or you [...]
As the leaves turn different colors and the weather becomes cooler, many Americans begin to engage in outdoor cleanup. Consider the number of Americans injured in yard work accidents every autumn and you may begin to suspect that “fall” is actually short for “pitfall.” Fall, it seems, is becoming the season for back injuries, tumbles [...]
Probably one of the most widely used landscaping surfaces around, bark mulch can be used for pretty much anything. I have seen it used for children’s playgrounds, and if you are trying to incorporate a swing set or mini playground into your landscaped space, then bark mulch may be the product for you, and [...]