Sep 06 2008
Planning for the Future
I am not a patient woman, at least when it comes to landscaping. I see the end result in my mind and I want to see it right away in my yard. I don’t want to wait for the years that it takes for a tree to reach maturity and I don’t want to have to wait until my budget allows me to fulfill every desire that I have for my yard. In everything else in life, I am fairly patient but for some reason, I long for the days when I can see my planning come to a realization and I can sit on my patio and enjoy the crisp morning in a perfectly landscaped yard.
Now besides me coming off as a completely impatient woman that is almost unbearable, I thought I would look at planning a landscape for the future. This is a great way to continually build on your yard and to see improvements each year without having to wait for all the trees and bushes to mature and for everything else to fall into place.
When you sketch your garden out on a piece of paper, you will probably be sketching for the end result of your landscaping, taking into account full sizes for trees, plants and anything else that you are putting in. The whole problem with this type of planning is that you will end up having a lot of empty spaces for several years since it takes time for a landscaped yard to take full effect. So, instead of dealing with all those gaps, plan your landscape for the future.
First, before you do anything else, take a look at your end design. How big is it? how big are the plants that you are putting in? If they are larger sized plants and shrubs, then you aren’t going to need to plan for the future garden too much. If you are starting with young plants, you are going to have a few years to wait for them to grow to the desired size.
Now that you have accessed that, take your garden plan and chop your garden beds into thirds. This is the best way to plan a garden. In the center are the taller bushes and perennials that are going to take some time to grow. When you get outside and put your plan to good use, you will want to dig out the first ring of gardens for the first year.
Fill that first tier of planting with the desired plants and to deal with some of the sparseness, plant some annuals as filler. The second or even third year, move out to the next level and expand your flower beds. Repeat what you did during the first year by adding the new plants that you wanted and filling in with annuals. This is also a great time to reassess what your gardening goals are and you can make some changes now instead of being stuck with a space that you just don’t like.
Lastly, finish the third tier of planting after another year or two. I am using the word tier just to differentiate between the expansions of the garden but it can be a level garden you are planning. Again, fill in with plants and annuals and then sit back and let the garden grow.
This may seem a bit more work but it gives you a chance to see how your garden is working and it will also stretch out the costs of landscaping through several years.
Below is a sketch of how to plan for the future garden. Please bear in mind that it is the levels I’m illustrating and I am by no means an artist.
Sirena Van Schaik
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