How To Landscape Your Yard Ideas

"How to landscape your yard ideas", is meant to help you decide to implement the most important elements, that you can live with, on a small budget. A landscape that you do-it-yourself, should not be expensive, and yet beautiful enough to raise the value of your property as a whole.

You might want to start with your front yard first, or the back yard. It is your decision to make. The front yard is where the first impression is made by the guests and visitors, or by those who just passing by. Nevertheless, a landscape if it is done right, it could very much raise the value of your home.

You want to make it as beautiful and attractive as possible, and with some common sense, and step by step implementation of some basic landscape principles, it can be done, even if you never tried your hand before on a such a job. Did I say a job? O, yes, it is a job, but it will be worth every penny once you finished it.

Like on any successful landscape project, you need a plan if you want to do it right. And since you are reading this article about how to landscape your yard, it tells me that you are serious about doing it.

So, let's get started!

We will start with a sheet of drawing paper. But first take a tape measure and a note pad, and make a sketch of your house. Then measure the sections that you want to landscape in length and width, and put down the dimensions on your note pad. Once you have the sketches and the dimensions of the areas that you want to landscape, go inside and start drawing the plan. If you have a digital camera, take a few picks from different angles, load them in your file, and print them out. This could help you a lot to have a clear vision of what you need to do, and how is it going to look when you are finished. It will help your imagination, and you will realize that you have some hidden talent stored in there, that you probably never thought you had.

Assuming that you want to start with the front of the house, so concentrate on this part first.

Let's start with some basic elements, that will help you to envision the big picture. We are going to use the "framing" element of the front landscape. Mark the two extreme corners of your house with one tree on each side. At the entry way of your home, mark both sides with a tree (or topiary), and you have your front landscape pretty much framed.

Mark the size and the shape of the areas you want to landscape. Draw the lines (I have mostly used curve lines whenever possible, for a more aesthetic effect), and draw some loops at the two extreme corners of the front of your house, around the frame trees, and leave enough room to plant three shrubs in front of the trees as a group planting. You can do the same group planting with three shrubs in front of each tree or topiary at the entry way. This is going to look nice.

Next, select some shrubs of your choosing, for the foundation planting. The number of the shrubs should be according to the space and size you have available. Keep account of the distance between the plants, to plant them apart of each other. Mark everything on your sheet of paper, as your landscape is getting shape, slowly but surely.

You might want to have some low maintenance evergreen shrubs, like: Boxwood, Compacta Holly, Indian Hawthorne, etc. In order to look good from the start, the size of the plants should be about 3  or 5 gallon size shrubs, for an instant landscape.

In front of the foundation planting, think of some lower growing shrubs, like: Youpon, Soft Touch, Blue Pacific junipers, etc. You want to plant this second row staggered, so that the foundation shrubs next to the wall can be seen, and for a nicer design. They will blend in beautiful!

For the border, you can plant some ornamental grasses, like: Liriope big blue, Variegated Liriope, Aztec Grass, etc.  If you like blooming plants, you can select and plant some bedding plants of the kind you like.

The plan for your front of the house is pretty much it. Now look around the rest of the front yard, and see where you want to plant e few ornamental trees, for some accent planting. Draw a nice circle bed around the accent trees, to plant some shrubs or blooming perennials or annuals.

In front of your yard, next to the street, think about some Blue Hydrangea, or Bridal Wreath, Pittosporum, Mock Orange, Jasmine, or any other plants that you prefer. Plant them along the width of your property as a statement. Let everyone who passes by know; "Hey, we love and care about our home!"

And don't forget the Mail Box. A nice rectangular, square, or circle flower bed will make a great improvement!

The plan for the front yard is pretty much implemented, and now it is time to apply it on the ground and prepare the soil for planting.

Take a flexible water hose and lay it down in the shape of your planting space, and mark the curve lines with landscape spray, once you have the plan the way you like it.

Prepare the ground in the spaces you want to landscape. Clean them of any rocks or debris, turn the soil with a spade, add some composted matter if you need to improve the nutrition of the soil.

Buy your plants from your local Nursery or Garden center, and set them on the landscaping space, each according to your plan. Move them around as much as necessary until you are fully satisfied with what you see. Once you like it, start digging the holes one at a time. Start with the trees that will frame your landscape, and then with the group planting around them.

Next, plant the foundation shrubs, then the staggered shrubs in the second row, and then the border. Once planted, water well and deeply so the water penetrates down to the roots.

Now is time to mulch. Once the mulching is done, your whole landscape will look stunning! You should be proud of a job well done! Take good and loving care of your plants, and as they just moved in, make them feel like at home! They will reward you with their beauty, fragrance, and fresh air, for many years to come!

And do you now what? They never talk back!

In the next article, we will talk about the back yard, how to do your landscaping on limited budget. So, come back often to walk you and me, together through the whole project.

Until next time,

Mike Borlovan