Finding Location

Access, comfort and privacy are all important factors in deck design. If you have trouble getting to your deck, you’ll rarely use it. Your decks destination, study the best ways to access it. A deck can be a natural extension of the house. sliding glass doors left open to the deck will extend the indoor space to the outside. If you use a grill on your deck, and entry close to the kitchen makes the whole process easier. In addition to having good access, you should feel comfortable on your deck.

If you feel that you are on display to the neighbourhood of the location of the deck is too hot or cold, you won’t enjoy it much. If another space in the landscape isn’t optimal for easy deck access, you may need new planting for increase privacy or shade. A wall of latticework or a deck umbrella can make all the difference and shield you both from view and the hot sun. Double check your concept diagram for the optimum location and make any planting or other adjustments necessary to make your deck a comfortable place.

Consider how you will use your deck. Make sure the shape and size shown on your master plan meets your needs. A small, cozy deck can be perfect for an intimate spot just off the master bedroom, a place for outdoor entertaining may require more room. Both the size and the location of the deck should reflect your lifestyle so you’ll use the deck to its fullest.

Features and costs

Storage is a valuable feature. A deck beside a kitchen garden may include storage for garden tools and harvest baskets, a deck that doubles as a landing for the front or back door is an ideal spot for hooks and shelves. Built-in benches and planters make a deck more useful and result in a few less things to store a shed.

Think about what kind of handy features you can add to increase the use and enjoyment of your deck even further. You can plant for added features such as lighting, overhead fans, exterior outlets, and outdoor cook tops and sinks in the beginning of the process, even if they are added later. Its often a good idea to add a focal point in the yard that aligns with the main view from the deck, mark this spot on your master plan. Strategically placed decorative benches, sundials, or bird feeders enhance the view. A view of a fountain or other water feature can also be a lovely addition to a relaxing afternoon on the deck.

Generally decks are one of the most affordable hardscape options. Redwood, cedar and pressure treated pine are usual materials, check with local suppliers to see which is the best value in your region. You can build a deck yourself or hire a carpenter to do the work for you. It may pay to have a carpenter handle more elaborate decks, but if it’s a straightforward design, there’s a good chance you can do it your self

Alexie is a experienced landscaper and would to share landscaping tips,Landscape ideas and guides on how to make your front yards and backyards beautiful and putting your ideas into plan.To Learn more about Landscaping ideas visit landscapingway.com and read our articles about landscaping.

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Study your master plan and site analysis to see where you may want to add the sound of water to mask outside noises and enhance privacy. Look for spots that need focal points too. Some water features, such as garden ponds, can add a contemplative quality to your landscape. Other options splashing fountains or swimming pools can add activity to an area. Design the water feature to match the use of the area.

Ponds and waterfalls

Garden ponds are popular ways to bring water to the landscape. The sight of water has a cooling effect summer. A dark bottom enhances the reflective qualities, that’s why pond liners are usually black. Ponds can be naturalistic or elegant and formal. If a natural pond is your goal, use and irregular shape obscure liner edges with stones, wood, or plants. For a formal look, build raised geometric coping. Add water plants to mimic a natural pond. Splashes, gurgles, and falling water make a garden come to life. Waterfalls can be built from kits with pumps that return the water from a pool to the top for and ongoing flow. Waterfalls look best when integrated into the landscape. A pile of wet rocks in the center of the yard isn’t as naturally striking as stones set on a slope that’s lush with ferns and iris. Pay attention to what’s behind your waterfall, screen distractions so your water feature will stand out.

Fountains add splash

Fountains offer a chance to incorporate water into your landscape without the expense or space of a large pool. A wall mounted fountain adds sparkle to the sight and music to the air. Small bubblers can add movement to garden ponds. Fountains flowing into pools can be made of anything from ornate cast iron to broken pottery. Use your imagination to discover how everyday materials urns, galvanized feeding throughs, watering cans can help create a water feature.

Poolside beauty

A swimming pool doesn’t have to be big blue hole in your landscape. Consider it a large water feature that will complement the space when not in use. Any pool can be pretty enough for any landscape, even if you have no plans to swim. Add a stone patio with an arbour and lush plantings, and it becomes a focal point for even the most formal gathering. The sound of gently splashing water makes the pool even more inviting, consider buildings small jets into the side of a swimming pool to turn a plain wall into a row of arching spouts. Or direct a flow of recirculating water over a pool lip and down into hidden trough for a poolside waterfall. The location of your swimming pool plays a part in its appeal too. Don’t plop it in the center of the back lawn where it dominates. Tuck it along one side, connect it to your bedroom with a deck, curve it around existing plants, list as many options as you can before planning where to excavate.

Alexie is a experienced landscaper and would to share landscaping tips,Landscape ideas and guides on how to make your front yards and backyards beautiful and putting your ideas into plan.To Learn more about Landscaping ideas visit landscapingway.com and read our articles about landscaping.

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Adding an arbor to your garden can also give it presence and style. Add an arbor where you want to mark an entrance into the garden or link garden rooms. An arbor adds structure to the landscape, balancing the softer lines and billowing forms of plants. It also adds a vertical element, making the scene more than just beds of flowers at ground level.

A simple two-post structure is perfect for framing the entry into your garden. Larger arbors with multiple posts can make big spaces feel comfortable. Most interior ceilings are 8 to 9 feet high; bringing that height outside with an overhead structure can make large exterior spaces seem people-sized. As a rule of thumb, include beams or rafters within those heights and the proportions will feel comfortable.

By studying the angle of the fiercest rays the area receives, you can slant rafters to block sunlight. If you’d like more shade than just the rafters will provide, train sun loving vines to grow up the arbor to help block out more of the sun. You may need only a few rafters if the purpose of the arbor is to define space. The sight of the structure within the yard signals that the area designated is special.

DESIGN FOR STYLE

Arbor construction varies with design intent. Curved arbors contribute a romantic quality to the garden; white arches covered with climbing roses establish the cottage style. Repeating the bottom half of the arch along the top of a gate completes the circle. Known as moon gates, these arbor gate combinations frame porthole views of the area beyond them. Position a focal point so that it can be seen while looking through the circle; this point of interest doesn’t have to be centered like a target. Consider setting it slightly to one side to balance the geometric shape of the moon gate. A curving path, leading invitingly to some unseen destination, is another good view to frame.

Rectilinear arbors without curves make a different statement in your landscape. Consider repeating the peak of your rooftop or the horizontal line of your fence top. Whether the style becomes formal or informal depends largely upon the materials and colors you use. Dressed and painted lumber suggests a formal presence. Rough cedar posts lend a rustic air. You can also combine stone or brick pillars with wood iron to form a gateway planted with trailing vines. Design an arbor to reflect your personal style and to complement the architecture of your home.

The author would like to give you ideas about arbors,For your home improvement and garden designs to learn more about landscaping designs and landscaping tips visit Landscapingway.com

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You can start a new lawn from seed,sod,sprigs or plugs.Sod is the best for lawn if you are in a hurry, seed is cheaper, less labor intensive and offers the greatest choice of turfgrass varieties. Sprigs and plugs small tufts of established grasses are the only choice for some turfgrasses. No matter how you plant, lawns won’t grow unless the soil beneath them is reasonably healthy

Soil preparation

Improving the soil for lawn growth is as important as it is for any other planting.Take time to test the soil, and be sure to specify that the test is for lawn. Amend the soil as needed, if your soil doesn’t need amending broadcast a starter fertilizer over the area at the rate recommended on the fertilizer label.

If your soil is more than 60% clay or 70 % sand work in atleast a 2inch layer of organic matter or a 3inch layer of topsoil that is high in organic matter.Till to a depth of 6inches or for larger lawns make one or two passes with a tractor mounted disk. Then broadcast starter fertilizer and rake the surface smooth. The soil will be soft after this procedure,rent a roller and fill it one-third to one-half of water and roll the soil. Don’t wait long to plant after rolling.

If you are working in an area where an old undesirable lawn must be removed, rent a sod stripper a machine about the size of a lawn mower to take off the existing vegetation “consider someone to complete this step”. Expect to lose some of your topsoil along with the sod. Then prepare the soil as outlined.

Starting from seed

Calculate the amount of seed you will need to cover the space you’ve prepared. Use either a drop of broadcast spreader to sow the seed. Divide the recommended amount of seed into two equal portions. Sow the first option across the lawn in rows, then sow the second portion in rows at right angles to first until you have crisscrossed the whole lawn.

After seeding, ensure good contact between seed and soil by lightly ranking the entire area. Then go over it with water filled roller. Don’t rake too roughly. Doing so could redistribute the seed, ruin the final grade, and bury the seed to deeply.

Mulch, after seeding to keep the soil moist and hasten germination. Use finely shredded compost or dried manure, topsoil, straw, or even a thin layer of sawdust. Apply the mulch no more than half-inch thick and as evenly as possible. You must thoroughly soak the soil to a 6-inch depth after sowing, then lightly water with sprinkler as often as three to four times daily until the grass is established. Use a fine spray or nozzle with a mist setting to avoid washing away soil and seed.

Sod,sprigs,and plugs

Lay sod as soon as its delivered so the roots won’t dry out. Begin laying sod against a straight edge, such as a sidewalk or driveway. If you have irregularly shaped lawn, create a straight line by drawing one on the soil with spray paint or by stringing a line across it. Carefully unroll a piece of sod and set it next to your line. Set each soil tightly against the previous one, staggering the end joints at each row. Roll a water filled roller across it to ensure good contact between sod and soil. Water thoroughly after putting the sod. Then water daily, soaking the soil beneath for at least two weeks.

The fastest planting method for sprigs is broadcast sprigging. Strew them over the soil by hand, then cover them with a light layer of soil and roll lightly with a water filled roller. For plugs use a steel plugger to dig holes of the proper size in the soil, spacing them 6 to 12 inches apart, depending on the type of grass. To help the lawn take hold evenly, offset the rows of plugs in checker board pattern. Lightly moisten the soil and place the plugs in the holes. After planting, roll them as with sod and sprigs. Water sprigs and plugs daily for the first two weeks after planting. It is vitally important to keep the soil between them free of weeds until they have filled in the lawn.

To learn more about landscaping ideas,landscaping tips and landscaping designs visit Landscapingway.com

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You’ll need to make some several lists, first a list of things you’ve always wanted in your landscape. Second, you’ll make a list of those things you really need in your landscape. You’ll combine the two lists, refine them, and finally draw up a master lists of components for you design plan

WHAT YOU WANT

Make a list of things of 10 - 15 things you’ve always wanted in your landscape, regardless of budget concerns.Let you imagination run wild at this point.Now is the time to jot down all of the things you’ve seen in books and magazines that you would love to have in your yard. Don’t judge your choices as you’re making the list, just allow your ideas to flow.List major elements of style such as formal gated entryway into your yard and things you want for decoration a waterfall or a sundial.When you’re finished, rank them in the order of their importance to you.Example; if you’ve always wanted a reflecting pool like your sister had, that might be higher on the list than a herb garden.

Get everyone in the family involved.Ask family members to produce their own lists and to rank them also. Them combine all the list into a single list.You may see items that are similar on the different lists, such as a specific area to play games or a patio for cookouts.These items go to the top of the list and the remaining items are ranked in order of importance to the family.

WHAT YOU NEED

Now make your needs list those things that are necessary to you in your landscape.For example; perhaps you need more parking or to camouflage an air-conditioning unit.Don’t forget to consider indoor needs too.You may need additional privacy at one window or more natural light from another.Rank your needs as you did your wishes.Have everyone in the family make a similar needs list to combine them all into a single list,ranking the items in order of importance.

Next compare the two lists.Are any of your wants and needs similar? Your want list may contain a stone patio, and that will meet the need you listed for entertainment area. Match as many items on the two lists as possible and put marks by them.

Now look at whats left on the two lists (items that don’t have marked).There are probably plenty of needs such as garbage can storage that aren’t included on your want list,and vice versa.Are there any wants you would sacrifice in order to meet needs? If there is something that you really want and that doesn’t meet a specific need,keep that idea on the list anyways.You can try to find a way to make it fit into your landscape, or you can omit it later.Eliminate those things everyone agrees are least important.Then combine the surviving wants and needs and rank them by consensus.The resulting list will be the foundation for your budget decisions and will guide you as you begin to put your plans on paper.

MAKING CHOICES

Take a hard look of the components of your design plan.Chances are the combined items on your list exceed your budget,but there may be a ways to modify your ideas to include as much as you can in the landscape.Though you can obtain accurate cost estimates until you produce as master plan,look for money savings ideas now.Take “sitting area with outdoor fan,” Example;If your budget can’t stretch to include an outdoor porch with a ceiling fan,can you settle for a sitting area in the yard underneath a shady tree? If any such major installation is beyond your budget right now but it’s important to you, go ahead and plan its future location.You may be able to build in later on. Use your list as a guide, you probably won’t actually implement every item.Some things on your list wont be appropriate to your site.Others will be perfect.Be objective.Refer to your list when you need help making decisions as you begin to create your landscape plan.

If you would like to read more about Landscaping tips,ideas and designs visit landscapingway.com

Alexie is a experienced landscaper and would to share tips,ideas and guides on how to make your front yards and backyards beautiful and putting your ideas into plan.To Learn more about Landscaping ideas visit www.landscapingway.com and take your time to read our articles.

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