Around 78% of American adults have a home with a yard and/or landscaping, with the vast majority opting for lawn or landscaping services to keep their yards in shape, according to research published by The National Association of Landscape Professionals. If you have just bought a home with a garden you intend to completely change, or you are keen on making landscaping improvements to your current property, you can take several steps to reduce costs or to make it easier to undertake your project if you are planning on carrying out the work yourself. Ensure your garden is prepared by checking all the required boxes.
Create A Design For Your New Yard
When planning the layout of your yard, be aware of any permanent fixtures you will be placing in your yard – including pools, ponds, and other features requiring underground plumbing. You will need to look at your yard’s existing structures to make sure there are no power lines, conflicting pipe structures or electrical sources that could pose a hazard or conflict with the completion of your plans. Adaptations may be required if these structures are essential, so analyzing how your new plans fit with your existing structures is key.
Choose The Right Plants
Your choice of plants should depend on how much time you have to dedicate to a garden. If you have just a couple of hours a week for upkeep, then you may choose to replace seasonal with perennial plants. When making your choice, avoiding trees with problem roots will ensure that your plants have enough water to thrive. Essentially, invasive tree roots not only take vital water from the ground, but also grow quickly, finding their way under foundations and pipes, and fracturing them. If you already have trees with invasive roots, consider measures such as root pruning, installing barriers to divert the director of roots, or even having the tree removed if there is no other solution.
Ensure Your Garden Is In Top Condition
Take a good look at the plants you plan on keeping and ensure they are in optimal condition. Cure all diseases you can, and remove plants that are infected with fungal diseases such as diplocarpon rosae. This has spores that can fly and infect surrounding plants.
Remove all plants that will not be forming part of your new design. Finally, remove old grass and roots using a sod cutter, tilling the land to a depth of around nine inches. Remove rocks and other materials that wrest from the smoothness of the soil, add compost, till a second time, and smooth out your soil using a roller. Do all this before adding your new layer of sod.
Landscaping your garden is a challenging yet entertaining task requiring various steps. The first is to plan your yard well, thinking of everything from permanent fixtures to where your irrigation system will go. The second is to select the right plants and to remove those which have no place in your new design. Finally, start afresh by ensuring all plants that remain are healthy, and that the soil is in good condition to receive new sod.
