Landscape Design Newsletter Inexpensive Landscaping Ideas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Landscape Design and Gardening Newsletter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
08-05-03 Issue#307
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Written by Steve Boulden
Owner of S&S Designed Landscaping,LLC
*****************************************
Hi,
Welcome to another great issue of your landscape design
and gardening newsletter.
This issue is in response to an email I got a few weeks back
that made me have to go back and look at a few of my pages. I
thought it might make a great article as well. Let me know what
you think.
I do try to make information on the site clear and usable but
sometimes it may not be as clear as it could be.
I do appreciate the following email and any suggestions that
will help make the site better for everyone.
Here's the email:
Hi Steve,
Thanks for all the great information on your site. I've gotten
a lot of great ideas from it.
I have a question.
We just bought a 2300 sq. ft. home on 1.5 acres of dead, dying,
and dirt. My husband is a do-it-yourselfer so we want to
landscape ourselves without hiring a landscape contractor or designer.
Most of the info we find is obscure about "how to design" unless
you want to use someone elses ideas and layouts. I want to
design my own but don't know where or how to start.
I've read your landscape planning page and I realize that you are
trying to make it inexpensive and easy for do-it-yourselfers to understand. What
I really want to know is...is this how YOU design a landscaping or garden design?
I mean, are these the same exact steps YOU take in the design
process?
I realize that experience plays a big part in what you do but
are there "professional methods" as well as do-it-yourself
methods? If so, you should put them on your site as well.
Thanks,
Judy
Texas - USA
Hmmmm, At first thought I couldn't say step by step how I design
a landscape. True, experience does play a big part in the sense
that I know what to do in certain situations. However, as far
as how I design, I had to give some thought and retracing.
So, after all that, the answer is "no", that's not exactly how
I design. Sometimes it's total inspiration and most times it's
a lot of thought and work.
So, in this issue I'm going to walk you through how I do a
typical design using my software and we'll use one of our latest designs as an
example. If you plan on using design software in your new plan see landscape design software reviews to find out what my latest recommendations are for the best design software.
You can use these steps for creating new landscapes as well
as renewing an old one.
Please keep in mind that this is only one way I design one type
of landscape. If you like the way I did this walk through, let
me know. If I get enough positive response, I'll do more with
different types of design.
Thanks for reading,
Enjoy
*****************************************
IN THIS ISSUE
*****************************************
o Landscape Tips - How To Design A Landscape
o Close-out Landscape And Gardening Books
o Saving Money On Plants
o Send Me Your Questions
*****************************************
LANDSCAPE TIPS - How To Design A Landscape
=========================================
Here's where you can find the design we'll use:
Big Mobile Home Landscaping Idea
Go ahead and bring it up and you can toggle in between it and
this newsletter.
First, every landscape has a purpose or many purposes. Even if
it's just to be admired, that's its purpose. You need to know
what you want your landscape to do before you ever begin.
In this design example there are two homes on a bare dirt lot.
The clients purpose is to connect the two homes, break a
terrible West wind, create a small, shady, quiet haven, block
the view of neighbors, and to be beautiful.
On this design and every design I do, I measure and draw it out.
I have to have something to show the client, keeps everything in
proportion, and it helps me visualize my ideas. I suggest you do
the same.
You can draw free hand or use landscape software like I do. You
can see my recommendation for software at:
Landscaping Software Reviews
You can get help drawing at:
Landscaping Planning
O.K., so now we know purposes and we can design in everything
that is necessary. You'll see in this design how it kind of just
comes together around the necessary elements.
First I created the landscaping walkway that borders the dirt drive to both
homes. This takes care of one purpose and intentionally creates
separation for a lawn area.
The rest of the landscaping walk way is intended to connect the front of the
house to the back and keep the owner out of the mud and dirt
when parking. This unintentionally created a nice bed area next
to the home and a parking area boundary. I like it so far so
it's a keeper.
Next, I need to block the wind. My choice for this area is
Mondale Pine. I can usually get them already 14 or so feet tall
and they do well here. So I placed a row of them on the West
property line.
Fortunately, I can also use the pines to block the view of
neighbors front yard landscaping to the Southwest. They're the only ones in view. I
could have kept the pines in line with the property line but I
curved them in to create some contour, interest, and flow.
I also put a few Cactus on the back side for the neighbors.
There, that's two more purposes taken care of. Now I create the
"haven".
I put this "haven" next to the home in front for a few reasons.
The main one being that this is where the client wants it. This
is a good place also because it's viewable from a Kitchen
window, the living room, and the front porch.
This area is hard to see detail on this page. It's basically a
patio with garden pond idea, a lattice work with vine for more wind
protection, a surrounding bed, and small accent tree behind the
pond. A very shady quiet area.
I needed a border for the Southwest front yard and I didn't just
want to end the lawn in dirt. I also wanted some enclosure and
height in this area. Again, I could have followed the property
line but I wanted some flow, contour, and interest. This also
helped create the shape of the lawn.
More Notes:
The planting diagram isn't complete. However, the plantings will
be of a xeric and native nature. The lawn area is minimized and
uses Buffalo Grass. Keep your natural resources in mind.
Xeriscape can be very beautiful. See:
http://www.the-landscape-design-site.com/xeriscaping.html
One of the main things I tell do it yourselfers is to know your
plants. Your design ability will come up with your increased
knowledge of plant types. See:
Garden Plants Ideas
The major ground covering of this plan is inexpensive but
decorative landscape gravel under lain with a professional landscape fabric. It's a very large area and expense had to be
considered.
As you can see, this landscape design just came together around
the necessities and purposes. Even the artsy stuff took little
consideration.
I could have done a lot more to this design but the expense says
to stop.
The owner really likes the design and so after a little tweaking
and plant selection, we'll be starting this in mid October.
=========================================
CLOSEOUT LANDSCAPE AND GARDENING BOOKS
=========================================
If I discover just one landscape tip or trick from a book, then
that book was worth the price I paid for it. And usually most
of us learn more than one thing from a single book.
I have hundreds of books filled with landscaping pictures that I get ideas from.
Some rarely leave the shelf and some never leave my desk.
You can expand your own skills and ideas by picking up every
home garden magazine and used book you can find.
Another resource I use to get piles of inexpensive books is
close-out books. Some as cheap as $1.99
If you're interested in expanding your own resource library, you
can do it in a smart way. Check out book close-outs at the links
below.
Gardening
Landscaping
=========================================
GARDEN TIPS - Saving Money On Plants
=========================================
I realize that it's far from spring time and thoughts of spring
planting. However, this is actually the best time to start
planning your garden and landscaping ideas. You can ponder your
ideas all Winter. And here shortly it will be time for prepping
the soil for the spring garden.
Moving ahead to early spring, a lot of us will head to the
nursery and garden centers like kids to the candy store.
Here's a little tip that can save you lots of money when that
time comes:
Plants come in containers of 2, 4, 6 inch, 1 gallon, 5 gallon,
etc. sizes. Plant price increases proportionately with the size
of pot.
What most people don't know is that the plants in the small
containers will reach almost, if not the same size as the
plants in the 1's and even some 5 gallon containers by mid
season.
With this in mind, you can save looooots of money at the nursery
and still have a beautiful landscape or garden by Summer.
=========================================
SEND ME YOUR QUESTIONS
=========================================
I would love to answer your individual questions about landscape
design and gardening in this newsletter. It's possible that our
other readers are having the same problems you are.
I won't be able to answer all questions. I'll answer those that
are asked most often.
Send your questions to askme@the-landscape-design-site.com
Please don't send your questions if you don't want them to
appear in this newsletter.
*****************************************
That's all for this issue.
If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me at:
steve@the-landscape-design-site.com
See you in a week or two with the next issue,
Steve Boulden
S&S Designed Landscaping,LLC
Visit The Forum:
Landscaping Forum
View Back Issues At:
Landscaping Articles Archives
Free Backyard Garden Project Plans
|