Landscapes

Landscapes

Principles of Good Landscape Design

There isn’t a specific manual to a perfect landscape, but certain principles of good landscape design guide beginners and experienced professionals alike.

Landscaping is an art based on creativity and function. A creatively designed landscape that doesn’t function well for the occupants is no better than a very functional space with little creativity. You need to create the perfect blend of the two, realizing that not only must you create a visually appealing picture, it must also be comfortable and inviting to the user.

This article will discuss various principles of effective landscape design that I hope will help guide you to the landscape of your dreams.

Unity

The principle of unity emphasizes harmony across the landscape. There must be a smooth interconnection of all elements of the landscape. To achieve a unified landscape, make sure your patios, walkways, and sidewalks are all planned and positioned in a way that both complement and are complemented by the plantings.

Repetition

Repetition is a common way to achieve unity. Repeating various elements throughout the landscape in such a way that instills a sense of familiarity while not an obvious sense of repetition. There is comfort in familiarity, but too much comfort creates boredom and a lack of desire to explore further.

Consistency

Consistency unites all aspects of the design to achieve the desired theme. Observe the color, texture, height, and shapes of all the elements used to create the design. Strive to create a design consistent enough to not appear fragmented while varied enough to provide a continual sense of interest from one end to the other.

Balance

Balance is another essential principle of landscaping. It improves the landscape’s aesthetics by stabilizing all aspects incorporated in a landscape. A balanced landscape unifies all elements into one seamless lot. Balance gives us comfort and calm. The feeling that it is done completely and properly but not overdone.

I believe this to be the overall most important aspect of all landscape design. Balance is about a feeling more than it is about specific weights and measures. To feel the balance of a property, you must almost squint as you enter to take in the entirety and judge its completeness without being distracted by any one element.

Having said that, there are specific elements of balance that can be very important in certain portions of the landscape. They are as follows.

Symmetrical Landscape Balance

To create symmetric balance, you should have two sides with similar elements and designs—for instance, the same type of flowers or shrubs with the same shapes and sizes. In short, one side of the landscape should be a mirror image of the other/opposite side. Purely symmetrical balance is mainly used in a more formal design, while a combination of symmetric and asymmetric balance is a more common approach to creating a visually appealing landscape.

You must be aware that symmetry is only realized from one or two viewpoints, and you mustn’t strive to create complete symmetry even in the most formal designs; there are apt to be viewpoints from which symmetry is lost.

Asymmetrical Landscape Balance

The balance is achieved using various elements and components of a landscape with a unifying factor like the shape, size, or texture. While the landscape is not a mirror image as it is in the symmetrical design, it does appear to be equally weighted while using differing components.

Revisit the notion of consistency to be sure that you don’t create a jumbled mess.

Simplicity

Simplicity means different things to different people, and the same landscape will be interpreted differently depending on a persons’ personality. While one person might see a big garden of mixed flowers as simple because it is merely one big bed, another might see it as complex due to the many varieties of plants within the bed.

Simplicity can be hard to pin down, but you will know it when it is no longer there.

Simplicity in a landscape will have a calming effect. For a simple landscape design, avoid too many colors, textures, and shapes. Simple does not mean monotonous.

Color

The colors present set the mood and feel of the landscape. Bright colors make objects seem closer, while cool colors make an object seem farther from you. A combination of the bright and cool colors brings out a striking look that is more appealing and satisfying. Keep in mind simplicity and balance. A jumble of too many colors is typically unappealing but can be fun and exciting in small doses.

Texture

Different plants will have different textures; some will be thick while others will be thin, some will be very coarse while others smooth. You must also consider that different textures will be apparent from different viewpoints and distances. While the bark of an oak may not register from across the yard, and a bed of small flowers may appear smooth at a distance, it will be a different feel up close.

Textures create interest in a similar way that colors do; it’s usually just a bit more subtle. Always keep in mind how the most prominent aspects of the yard, such as outcroppings, walls, or even the house, create a sort of textured appearance from a distance.

Form

The form or shape of the plants used in a landscape can heavily influence a design. Consider how a bed full of pyramidal evergreen shrubs would give an entirely different feel than a bed full of mounded shrubs. One would look jagged and sharp, while the other more flowing and smooth. Use the forms of the elements to create interest within the landscape. Having too many similar forms will appear boring, while too many differences might again seem cluttered. Once again, it is about balance.

Scale

The proportions and scale of your landscape components and how they relate to each other will significantly impact how the final design is perceived. Scale is hard to pin down, as it changes with time. Differences in scale is why so many landscapes get planted too tightly and end up as one big mass over time.

The designer may not have accounted for growth when considering scale.

It is a very hard concept to embrace because when planting a new landscape, especially one on a tight budget, the small plants will leave you wanting more and feeling unsatisfied with your design. This will often lead to crowding to achieve a better initial look.

You need to be able to project your vision into the future to ensure that your plantings will be in scale with each other and the surrounding hard structures long term. The alternative to this would be to over plant to achieve the desired scale now with the intention to remove certain plantings over time to reset the scale as things grow.

Sequence

Creating a sequence of the elements used in your landscape can result in visual rhythm. The rows, lines, and columns of the landscape can be presented to create a sequence that achieves harmony, interest, and a desire to continue on to see the next element.

Emphasis

There is often one part of the yard, one prize plant, one area of the patio, or one corner of the house that needs some emphasis. The feature can be emphasized by allowing the design to lead the eye to it or perhaps by framing it in such a way as to make it stand out.

On the opposite side, sometimes there is one feature that overwhelms the view and needs to be hidden or softened a bit to allow the design to feel complete. This is often the case when the home is new and “sticks out like a sore thumb” because there are no plantings around it. It is often the landscape that will de-emphasize the house to bring the view into balance.

Variety

Too many similar elements in a landscape can be boring while using too many different varieties can lead to clutter. A big part of your struggle is to provide enough variety to keep the viewer interested while not making it appear so cluttered that it distracts from the yard’s overall feel. Combine elements that complement each other and their surroundings.

Lines

Lines can be straight, curved, horizontal, or vertical. Choose the ideal lines to use, taking into consideration the theme of the landscape and the flow of the yard. The lines used will create different effects from different perspectives. Straight lines are formal and direct, while curved lines are more adventurous with a flowing effect.

Once again, variety can be attractive when lines are appropriately used but distracting when varied too much. One thing that I see over and over again is the use of too many small-radius turns or using a curve, then straight, then curve in the same view.

Useability

In my opinion, this is the most important yet often overlooked factor that can make or break a great landscape design. I believe that far too many designers have their style or their favorite ways of doing things, and they apply them repeatedly to landscape after landscape which results in more of a one size fits all concept of landscaping.

While this approach may be efficient and may be a good start for many homeowners, I believe that, first and foremost, useability must be considered. A comfortable and useable landscape for one person may stymie and irritate another.

Your landscape should meet and blend with your life and your routine. Creating a pretty design on paper is far from creating an outdoor living space that makes the occupants feel comfortable and fulfilled. This is why I firmly believe that a person who enjoys spending a good deal of time in their yard should design their own landscape or at least have a critical role in the design.

At the very least, the ebb and flow of the driveway, walkways, patios, gardens, and lawn areas should be outlined and reviewed by the property owner prior to many of the design elements being added.

Final Word

Whether you are starting from scratch or refreshing an old design, try to keep some of the above concepts in mind while building your landscape. While vague and hard to envision, to be sure, the principles discussed above should help guide you to a landscape that will suit your lifestyle.

It will always be easier for a new designer to take a portion of an existing landscape and redesign it rather than starting with a blank slate. Going from the blank slate to the finished product is always the most challenging design unless, of course, you are simply dropping in a cookie-cutter design similar to others with the assumption that we all like approximately the same elements in our landscapes.

If you are a homeowner trying to design your landscape, I feel that a few rough sketches of the overall concepts are likely helpful, but I wouldn’t waste too much time on detailed drawings.

While a landscape architect may be able to envision a landscape from a paper drawing, it is very difficult for a homeowner to do the same. Countless times a homeowner has paid a landscape architect to create a pretty plan and then, once it was getting installed, decided to make changes and revisions on site where they could actually understand what it would look and feel like.

This is the value of the new digital renderings and video walk-throughs that are possible with today’s technology. While not true to life, they are often very accurate and can give the inexperienced homeowner an authentic feel for what it will be like to interact with their landscape.

If you are doing your design, spending more time walking the property and viewing areas from varying angles will be better than spending a good deal of time on detailed drawings.

Spend time doing research, pic out a bunch of pictures of things that you like the look of, then walk your property and take the time to envision how to make these desired elements work in your yard.  Feel free to stake it or paint it out and live with it so that you can get the feel of your ideas before you actually install them.

Plant Hardiness Zones and Why They Are Important

If you are considering buying some plants for your yard, it would be nice to know whether or not they are likely to survive, wouldn’t it? This is why the United States Department of Agriculture has developed the plant hardiness zones map and why this map is so important to our landscapes.

Here’s the Scenario

Okay, so let’s say you plan to revamp the landscape at your home. You’ve spent a few days on the internet looking at plant pictures, and you’ve decided that you love the look of palm trees. You have always loved Palms; you watched Beverly Hills 90210 and Californication, and you love the look of palm-lined streets. You’ve decided that you want to have them along the walk to your porch, on both sides. You have found them on google, and you are pretty sure that they are called the Washingtonia Filifera. You found a place that will ship them to you, and you are all set to get them delivered to your home; when your significant other walks in, realizes what you are doing, and says, “What are you nuts? Those will never grow in our zone!”

Our Zone?

We live in Denver, Colorado, and it seems like it would be sunny enough. What’s the big deal? A plant is a plant, right?

Right, but wrong! A plant is a plant, and before men started digging them up and moving them around, the plants didn’t know anything about zones. But, men in their infinite knowledge have decided that there should be some sort of a rating system for plants and locations so that we can all figure out where those palms will and will not grow.

So, What Happened?

Like everything else in nature, plants have evolved and adapted to their specific climatic conditions of their particular area where they grow. We humans love a moderate temperature with humidity. If we spent our entire lives outside in the elements the way the plants do, we would only be able to survive in a small portion of the world. We can’t just take a plant and stick it in the ground wherever we please and expect it to grow.

We have evolved to create fire, shelter, and air conditioning, which allows us to live in climates way outside of our outdoor comfort zone. Plants do not have this luxury. They are pretty much stuck where we put them or where they have grown.

Plants have evolved and adapted to the areas in which they have always grown. Just like in the days before horses, buses, cars, and planes, if we were born in an area, we were likely to stay in that area. Well, plants have always stayed where they were. Until, of course, we came along and decided to dig them up and move them around the world to make our surroundings look just the way we like them.

The Plant Hardiness Zone Map

We have been moving plants around for so long and pushing the boundaries of where they will and will not survive for so long; we have developed a system so that we can tell whether or not any particular plant is likely to grow in our area long before we decide to transplant it.

At least, that is the premise.

This system of classifying plants and where they are likely to survive is called the Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which is comprised of plant hardiness zones. This map is now updated and controlled by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Once we determined a plant’s ability to bear cold and heat, we created a map. The map uses the minimum temperature of a place in the last 30 years and averages it.

Each zone has a number and sometimes a letter for a sub-zone. The zones in the United States run from Zone 1 being the coldest and Zone 13 being the warmest. In Southeastern Wisconsin, we are in zone 5b, which is the same zone as Denver, Colorado. I can tell you from experience that if you want a plant to grow really well in my area, you will pick a plant that is zone 4 or less. Sure, a zone 5 might make it, but select a lower zone if you want to be sure.

How Can I Use Plant Hardiness Zones?

Now that the lowest temperatures of any area in the United States have been allocated a zone, it is easier to figure out which plants can grow in your area. Keep in mind that just about any plant will grow in the hot summer months in most zones, so while it won’t make it through the winter, I could enjoy my California Palm tree for one summer.

Pushing the Limits

Many people love to push the limits and plant more exotic plants in their yard than what will survive. This is fine, as long as you understand that you need to stick to your zone, or maybe a bit colder if you really want that plant to live for years to come.

Being a landscaper for most of my life, I have become very familiar with the plants in my zone and have used this map extensively to help plan out successful landscapes and gardens. What I’ve learned about this map and about contracting, in general, is that it is all about expectations.

More often than not, homeowners want pretty, blooming plants in their yard, and they want something to be blooming all year round.

I can’t tell you how many times I have been shown web pages or magazine articles with pictures of what appears to be zone 6-10 and asked,” can you make my yard look like this?” The simple answer is no; I cannot.

Set Your Expectations

If you are choosing plants for your landscape or someone else’s landscape, you need to have clear expectations. The hardiness zone map can help you know what to expect, but that doesn’t stop plants from being classified incorrectly.

You must always use your judgment and ask yourself if you’ve seen that plant growing in your area.

You are stuck in your zone, so unless you are going to move, don’t expect to have plants rated for the next zone higher to survive in your yard. Again, it’s about expectations. If you love that zone 6 plant and you must have it at all cost, then feel free to plant it in the most protected, sunny corner of your yard where the sun shines bright and hot, and the wind is entirely blocked. Then, before winter comes, go out there and mound the entire area thick with mulch and leaves and blankets. Then build a structure around it to protect the delicate branches and leaves from freezing, and you might have a chance to keep that plant alive.

That is, until the first year that you forget to do all of these things.

The Easy Way

Suppose you want a vibrant, healthy landscape that is low maintenance and pretty all year round that doesn’t need much help from you. In that case, plant only plants well suited for your zone and plant a wide variety of plants so that if any one type of plant gets a disease or ends up dying, it doesn’t affect your whole yard.

Humans always want to push their limits, and gardeners are no different. This is why so many people struggle and fight with their landscapes, trying to keep things alive that shouldn’t survive here. This is why people are fertilizing, watering, pruning, and protecting their plants like crazy people because they are trying to push the envelope.

Take my advice and keep it simple. Pick plants a zone lower and enjoy your yard rather than struggle with it.

Pitfalls

So, you check the map carefully, and you see that the California Palm (Washingtonia) will not survive the winter in Denver, Colorado. The California palm grows in the Hardiness Zone 10 while Denver is in Zone 5a with a lowest temperature difference of 40 degrees (give or take).

So your dreams are shattered, but with a bit more searching, you find the Needle palm. Now the Needle palm doesn’t look much like the California Palm, but it is a palm tree, and low and behold, it says that it is cold hardy, and will grow outdoors in zones 5-10.

Heck, they even have a picture of it with snow on its leaves! You think to yourself, “Here it is; this is the palm for me!” You order up that palm tree, and you plant it in spring. It does fine all summer, but it isn’t looking so good next spring. Maybe you had a colder than usual winter? Perhaps you should have watered it again before winter hit? Or maybe, the people selling these plants realize that if they call it zone 5, they will sell more of them than if they call it zone 6 or 7, which is probably closer to what it really should be.

Lesson Learned

Either way, you might get some life out of it this second summer if you’re lucky, but chances are better that it will just slowly fade away, and you will have hopefully learned a lesson on plant zones.

Look at the map, but use some common sense. If you see a picture of that palm and think, “strange, this is a zone 5, yet I’ve never seen anything like this growing around here,” stick with your instincts.

If it is a neat-looking plant and it will grow in your area, chances are you would see it growing in your area, and chances are, the local landscapers would be planting it. There is a reason that you see the same sort of plants growing in every strip mall parking lot in your area. Because that is what survives the abuse of a barren cold parking lot full of ice, snow, and salt all winter or whatever the conditions are in your zone.

By the way, a quick search will show that the needle palm is native to coastal margins of the subtropical eastern Gulf and south Atlantic states of the United States. Yet they call it zone 5? As far as I know, palms are mostly in the Florida area and southern California; that’s about it. Why they would ever sell this palm as a zone 5 is beyond me.

Check out this map of where palms grow in the US: http://bonap.org/2015_SpecialtyMaps/Density%20Gradient%202015/original/2tax22_Palms.png

Now compare that to the hardiness zone map above. It looks to me like if that needle palm is the hardiest palm around, it should probably be rated down to maybe zone 7.

So, use your common sense when picking plants and realize that the less you push the limits, the happier you will be next spring when you take that first walk around the yard to see what survived.

California Palm (Zone 10)

Needle Palm (Zone 5?)

Are Plant Hardiness Zones Enough?

Here are a few things to note about hardiness zones. They are based on the lowest temperatures only. And as we discussed, it is not just the lowest winter temperature that affects plant growth, but also the soil, the highest heat temperature, the rainfall patterns, amount of sunlight, etc. So, while the hardiness zones give us an idea of the plant’s hardiness, there are many other elements to consider. Use your common sense and consider what is important to this plant you are choosing. How many hours of sun per day does it prefer? Does it prefer a wet or dry location?

Even if you choose a zone 4 plant for your zone 5 location, you still need to plant it in a spot in your yard where it will be happy. Too much sun will kill a shade-loving plant, and too much shade will kill a sun lover. The same holds true for soil moisture. If you plant in the proper zone and the appropriate location in your yard, you will likely have no problems and a happy plant.

Keep in mind that you can always press your luck and bring those tropical plants into the house for the winter, but that entails quite a bit of work, and it doesn’t always work out as planned. The safest way to do it is to have a large heated sunroom or greenhouse. Then you can probably keep them happy. Otherwise, in the corner of your house with a small window for light is not likely to cut it. At least in my house, light sunlight becomes the limiting factor.

What is the Plant Hardiness Zone of My Area?

USDA has provided a simple tool to punch in your ZIP Code and get your Hardiness Zone.

Try the Tool here.

[https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/Default.aspx]

Want to know which plants are the best for your zone?

Check Here

[https://www.gardenia.net/guides/plant-selection-guides]

Outdoor Oasis Landscape Ideas

One sunny morning, you were peacefully sitting by the garden, looking at all the greenery while sipping hot coffee, when suddenly a thought comes knocking- why don’t I update my yard and create an outdoor oasis?

After years of having your yard look the same, you have finally come to terms with the idea of revamping it. However, you find yourself getting lost in all the possible designs and styles you can have on your property.

With that in mind, we have prepared a carefully crafted list of 15 beautiful ideas to help you transform your garden into an outdoor oasis.

1. Multiple Levels

You should consider creating multiple levels in your garden using terraced patios. Not only does this add aesthetics to the architectural design of your home, but it also creates an illusion of an even bigger area. This technique can work in many different landscapes; just be sure that you are not causing any drainage issues when terracing.

2. Firepit

Who doesn’t’ enjoy a crackling fire. The sites, sounds, and smells of a crackling fire can really enhance our outdoor time. Besides, who doesn’t enjoy a few Smores now and then? Make sure that you put it far enough away from the house and foliage to avoid any fire issues, but place it close enough to enjoy it. When the sun goes down and the night gets chilly, this will be the new hangout spot in your yard.

3. Outdoor Dining / Living Area

This might be upon your existing deck or patio, or you may want to create an entirely separate dining or living area. Outdoor living rooms and kitchens have become more popular over the years. What used to be only in tropical climates has spread worldwide, and the possibilities are endless.

The installation of patios, grilling areas, refrigerators, couches, tables, lamps, and even fireplaces can be accomplished in all climates. A mid-garden dining or living area in your yard will certainly change up the flow and feel of your landscape. Whether it be a long wooden table for a feast of family, a small round table with a few chairs for a cozy cup of coffee, or a full-blown kitchen and living room, a new outdoor dining area might be just the thing your yard needs.

4. Treehouse

Everybody loves a sturdy treehouse! Both kids and adults will surely enjoy this and consider it a wonderful retreat. The kids will turn it into a play area, and the adults can enjoy hanging out while reminiscing about their childhood. I know, A bit out of the ordinary, but just think of the possibilities!

5. Water Fountain

The calming and enticing sounds of running water will fill visitors’ minds with curiosity and interest. We just can’t resist running water. Humans are drawn to it. Whether it be a small garden fountain in the corner or a large fountain display in the patio center, a fountain can be created to fit any yard and lifestyle.

Fountains come in all shapes and sizes, from large ornamental concrete structures to a small bubbling boulder. There is sure to be a fountain to fit your style. They are easy to install and low maintenance, so they can be a relatively economical option for any yard! A water fountain of any sort will also attract the birds, so if you love the site and the sounds of our feathered friends, a fountain may be in your future.

6. Plant Walls

You can use plants to break up a dull yard, creating hidden spaces and interest at every corner. Plant walls can add privacy from neighbors, can hide mechanicals, and can be used to create separation anywhere in your yard. Many different plants are well suited for this.

Whether you are looking for a tall hedge or a line of shorter shrubs, you can create some great interest by adding a few walls. Be sure to choose plants suited for your environment and size requirements. Climbing vines can be used on existing fences and walls to change your yard’s look and feel. Some new vines in your landscapes can provide a touch of green or a bright pop of color to any vertical surface.

8. Pool

If you own a large property, do not miss out on installing a swimming pool! A formal in-ground swimming pool is an entirely different vibe than the other smaller, more natural water features.

A pool somehow conveys affluence, elegance, and an air of relaxation. Floating in or relaxing next to a well-designed pool will make you feel like your yard has become a fancy resort. Now, all that you need is someone to bring you frosty drinks from time to time, and you are all set. Your yard may just become the neighborhood hotspot, so if you don’t like crowds, you may want to install that plant wall at the property line first.

9. Pond

If having a pool is a bit too much for your budget or just doesn’t fit with your yard’s natural look, consider the possibility of installing a pond. Ponds can range from very small with a tiny little sprinkle of water to colossal swimming ponds that can be used as a natural alternative to the swimming pool. Most end up somewhere in the middle.

A nicely sized pond that sits next to your deck or patio with a small waterfall or stream can add interest and life to your yard. A pond full of beautiful koi, goldfish, and frogs will provide hours and days of relaxation and entertainment while you sit and gaze into the cool, clear water. The pond will also allow you to experiment with some plants that would otherwise be impossible to grow in your yard. Water lilies and marginal aquatic plants can bring a whole new look to your yard.

10. Front Cozy Space

Having a cozy patio in front of your property can be a great spot to welcome guests or just hang out reading a book or keeping an eye on the neighborhood. We often frequent the backyard, but hanging out in the front yard on a cute little patio is a sure-fire way to get to know more of your neighbors.

11. Dramatic Trees

Maybe the “bones” of your landscape are good, and all that it needs is one or two big dramatic trees to add that unique look. You can definitely change the feel of a yard with a few well-placed trees. Imagine a massive pair of cypress trees towering over your yard or a large and sprawling Oak to provide shade and a place for a swing.

I know some of these ideas will be hard to attain given some trees’ slow growth. But, depending on your budget, there are many options for planting very large trees using equipment. Look for a tree mover in your area. You will be surprised how large they can go.

12. Herb Garden

Having your own herb garden is a good idea. This is one of those plant groups that are easy to maintain and provide a look and smell like no other garden. You can place them inside a planting bed or create a separate planter for them. Either way, going out to the backyard to pick some fresh herbs for your evening meal sounds delightful.

13. Gravel Garden

Are you tired of grass and plants? Why not choose gravel instead? Minimalism has become a trend nowadays. Creating flowing patterns of various sands, gravels and stones might just be a way to add a bit of out-of-the-ordinary flair. Add a few larger accent boulders, and you could have an exciting design concept.

14. Adding Topiary

Nothing screams fun like topiary. Topiaries are perennial plants that are trained and shaped into fancy elements. Although they require extra care and maintenance, they will add that extra wow factor and add a playful ambiance in your front or backyard. You can shape these plants into dogs, rabbits, birds, and even human characters!

You need to have the patience for this or a big pocketbook; good topiary takes a whole lot of time, and buying a large established topiary can be quite expensive.

15. Zen Garden

This is another addition that can be similar to the popular minimalist trend. The Japanese have created such a beautiful theme. The Zen garden is designed for flow and meditation.

The addition of rocks to signify the water, earth, wood, metal, and fire elements is an important feature. Dry waterfalls and sand can also be added. Don’t forget the small wooden rake so that you can change the sand patterns as you see fit.

Wrapping it Up

There are a wide array of choices for creating your backyard landscape oasis. My advice would be to take some time to visualize the different accents and get a feel for how they will change your yard. Once you have the ideas, try to lay them out on-site using boards, stakes, string, garden hose, paint, or whatever you need to do to give yourself the rough feel for the project. Walk it and live with it a bit before deciding to go ahead.

Landscaping can be expensive and hard work that is hard to change once it is installed. You want to be sure before you commit to these new design ideas.

Most people don’t need to hire a designer. Most people know what they like; they have simply never taken the time to dream. Dream it and then make it a reality. Believe me, creating your own dream will be more satisfying than creating the vision of someone else. Best of luck with your oasis landscape! Revamp your yard and create the best outdoor oasis for you and your family.

Landscape Lighting Installation

Landscape lighting installation is an easy way to highlight and beautify your garden structures, statues, paths, patios, aquatic environments, and pools and it is the only way to beautify your landscape at night.

With professional-grade landscape lighting, you can harmonize the illumination to create smooth transitions between plants and accentuate what is needed. For instance, you might have a crystal clear, cool fountain you need to add some sparkle to, or you may need to illuminate a shady corner of the yard. Landscape lighting is one of the easiest methods to beautify your space.

Moreover, according to the Appraisal Institute, it is proven that good landscape lighting increases the value of a property. The long-term investment in an expertly built, correctly designed landscape lighting system would seem that it would pay off in the long run while you get to appreciate the short-term satisfaction.

Landscape Lighting Design & Installation

Landscape lighting is a significant factor in the attractiveness of your home. When you rely solely on landscaping, your work may be impressive but only during the daytime. The allure of your yard is no match for the surrounding darkness come nighttime.

For this reason, you should make use of a well-executed landscape lighting plan to let the intricate designs of your plants and yard shine in the spotlight. You didn’t spend all that time maintaining your flowers, trees, and other greenery for them to hide in the dark.

Furthermore, installing a decent landscape lighting system is a big plus for safety. By having lighting on your pathways or walkways, you can stop worrying about guests or family members tripping over unseen obstacles.

Voltage Considerations

When considering landscape lighting, you should probably start by deciding whether to go with a low voltage system or a line voltage system. The landscape industry is predominantly installing low voltage systems, and for a good reason. Historically, before readily available transformers and lighting systems, your outdoor lighting would have been installed by an electrician and would have been line voltage. Below we will walk you through the Pros and Cons of both systems:

Low Voltage (Usually 12 volt DC, just like the electric in your car)

Pros

  • Easy to install – Plug a transformer into an outlet and run the wires.
  • Economical – There are systems and options in all price ranges
  • Suitable for Do it Yourselfers – no need for an electrician
  • The wire doesn’t need to be deeply buried.
  • No one dies from low voltage.
  • The wire is easy to repair if cut with a shovel or lawnmower.
  • Many fixture choices
  • Minimal tools needed
  • Many different control options
  • Fixtures are easy to place and adjust.
  • New LED bulbs last a long time.
  • High-end fixtures can have adjustable output and beam angles.
  • Great for wet locations such as ponds and waterfalls

Cons

  • Wires are shallow and get cut often.
  • Wire runs are crucial – the longer the run, the more voltage is lost.
  • Fixtures often move out of place.
  • Fixtures tend to be more short-lived than line volt.
  • The old halogen bulbs burn out yearly.
  • Some LED lights have an odd, unnatural color.
  • Need more maintenance – generally speaking, low volt systems require at least yearly adjustments, and the timers and transformers are more prone to failure.

Line Voltage (120 volt AC, this is the electricity in your house.)

Pros

  • It can be as bright as you want it to be
  • Wires are buried deep and to code.
  • Fixtures are permanently installed and typically don’t move around.
  • Bulbs can be bought at the local hardware store.
  • Can have regular light switches in your house or can be on timers.
  • Can be LED
  • Very low maintenance and long-lived.

Cons

  • It should be installed to code by a licensed electrician.
  • More costly
  • If you do cut a wire, you could get electrocuted.
  • Not great for in waterfalls and ponds due to electrocution.
  • More chance for danger – outside is often wet. If a bulb gets broken or fixture damaged, it could be dangerous.
  • Typically uses more electricity.
  • They are not easily adjusted or changed.

Types of lighting

Functional lighting

These types are used to light the areas of your outdoor living space that need to be lit for safety’s sake so that people can see what they are doing. They come in many varieties and can be set in many locations.

  • Wall lights
  • Pathway lights
  • Stairway lights
  • Driveway lights
  • Deck/Patio lights
  • Yard Floodlights
  • Security lighting

Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is used to highlight and present particular features of your yard at night. By using light wisely, you can paint a stunning nighttime portrait of your yard. These lights aren’t necessarily placed so that you can see better at night; they are simply used to create the look. These lights come in a wide array of different functions and styles, so you’ll need to do your research.

  • Downlights – often hung on posts, on the house, or from trees. These lights can be bright to highlight features or dim and subtle to appear more like dappled moonlight.
  • Uplights – placed on the ground pointing up at particular trees, plants, or objects that need to be highlighted. These can be bright or subtle and can come in many different beam widths.
  • Submerged lights – Typically used in ponds and water features. While all outdoor fixtures are designed to get wet, only some are designed to be submerged in water.
  • String lights: These have become very popular to use for lighting above your deck or patio.

There are plenty of outdoor lighting options that, while not unpleasant looking, are unimaginative and nothing special. You need to find lighting that will add flair to your space. There is a vast difference between buying a cheap kit at the local big box store, lighting a few trees, and designing an all-encompassing landscape lighting plan to showcase your home and yard. There are practically unlimited options for beautiful lighting effects.

Advanced LED Systems

LED (Light Emitting Diode)-based landscape lighting is a practical, energy-saving way to bring your yard, pathway, or garden to life. Compared to halogen lamps, these lighting systems are a valuable addition to any home due to their low-energy costs, longer lifespan (up to 50,000 hours), less heat output, and wide color selection.

If you want to liven up your yard in a surprising and less conventional way, then an electronically controlled LED system may be right for you. These systems can be set to cycle through different lighting effects automatically, or you can change effects with a remote control. It can be as simple as adjusting brightness or color or as complex as having the lighting change to the beat of the music. It’s all up to you. You can change your yard’s look with your mood or with the seasons!

Conclusion

A well-thought-out and designed landscape lighting system can make a world of difference to your yard. The difference can be quite literally night and day. Landscape lighting can enhance your property’s look, value, safety, and useability if appropriately done and with an eye for aesthetics.

Landscape Care The Beginners Guide to Maintaining Your Yard

Maybe this is the first time that you have had to worry about landscape care because this is your first home, or perhaps this is the first time that you have decided to care for your yard yourself. Either way, this guide will help you get started on the right foot.

When we decide to beautify our property through landscaping, we also need to take on the responsibility of maintenance so that it remains aesthetically pleasing and healthy.

This task is easier said than done for landscaping experts and novice homeowners. The planting and construction is often the easy part. The maintenance is where we are really tested.

It takes a lot of commitment to care for your property. A beautiful landscape is too often installed just to become overgrown and messy within a few years due to lack of maintenance.

Seven Essential Aspects of Yard Maintenance

  • Watering
  • Mowing
  • Mulching
  • Weeds
  • Insects
  • Pruning
  • Fertilizing

If you want to learn about all these things, you came to the right place. This article will help guide you in the right direction.

Watering

Water is the lifeblood of our plants.  Maintaining moisture levels is crucial in managing our landscape.

Water carries organic compounds and nutrients throughout our plants and allows them to carry on the process of photosynthesis. An under-watered plant will look discolored and wilted. By the time that you notice a plant wilting, you are already too late, and you need to water immediately.

There are some simple rules to follow when it comes to watering:

  • Water new plants more often. It is a common fact that new plants need more watering to survive. Whether you are caring for a newly planted seed, flower, shrub, or tree, the concept is the same. The new seed or plant has an underdeveloped root system (or it just had its root system trimmed when it was transplanted). This leaves it struggling to take in enough water to sustain its growth.
  • New plants should be monitored daily and watered any time the soil starts to dry. Stick your finger in the soil and see how it feels. A bit moist is perfect, muddy is too wet, dry is too dry for a new plant. Keep in mind that the size of the plant matters. Logically, the roots of a newly planted large tree will be a couple of feet below the surface, so long deep waterings are more beneficial, whereas the roots of new grass seed are right at the surface, so a very light watering will do just fine.
  • Once you get to know your yard, a quick walk-through should be enough to tell you which areas, if any, need water. Don’t make the mistake of drowning your plants. Plants need water, but they also need oxygen. If their roots can’t take in the required oxygen, the plants will die.
  • Many newbies will plant too deeply and water too heavily, which will result in plant death. New plants will benefit most from consistently moist soil.
  • Don’t just set up a sprinkler on a timer and let it go. You need to monitor the conditions.
  • Established plants need less care. After a month or two, your plants will be more self-sufficient, and you can check on them once or twice a week. Most homeowners find that they have one or two problem areas or more delicate plants that need to be monitored more closely. These plants or areas can often be used as indicators for the rest of the yard.
  • Established plants need less attention from you Once the plants’ roots have caught up to their growth, they become very good at seeking out and taking in water.
  • Experts say that for a larger tree or shrub, the first year after planting, they are in recovery, the second year they stabilize, and the third year they should start to flourish.
  • After the first few months, most plants will be fine if you live in an area that gets sufficient rainfall. An experienced gardener has a feel for the land and nature and can tell when things are getting too dry and will need watering. As long as you take a walk through your yard now and then and pay attention to the soils and plants, you should be able to tell which if any areas need more water.
  • Watering in the late evening, during the night, or early morning is suggested. Temperatures are typically lower during these times; therefore, less water evaporates. Also, watering mid-day in the hot sun can leave water droplets on the plant leaves, which can tend to result in leaf scorch for some of your more tender plants. It’s a bit like how we humans can sunburn more easily when we are wet.
  • Don’t over irrigate. Some people feel that an irrigation system is necessary to maintain their landscapes. This is only true if you are trying to have a green landscape in a climate that would otherwise be dry and brown.
  • For most parts of the United States, planting the correct plants for your area and watering them a bit while they are adjusting to their new surroundings is all the attention they need.
  • Consistently watering with an irrigation system leads to underdeveloped shallow roots dependent on irrigation to survive. Well-established plants that have been allowed to acclimate to the actual environment that they live in will be much more healthy and pest and drought tolerant in the long run.
  • Every plant has its own needs, but some are very similar. Please spend some time researching the plants that you intend to grow and plant them in areas of your yard that are suitable for their ideal growth. This will significantly reduce the amount of attention that they need from you.

Much energy and resources are wasted by us humans trying to get plants to grow where they don’t belong. If we plant native species in proper areas, we can all live happily ever after.

Mowing and Lawncare

Mowing your lawn is another essential part of caring for your landscape. This is the area of landscape care that most people feel more comfortable with. Most of us have cut some grass at one time or another, and in general, grass is very forgiving and hardy. Your lawn can take a lot of punishment, so don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it.

Here are some tips to make this task a bit easier than it is already:

  • Your lawn is made up of millions of small blades of grass. Each of these is an individual plant that is not so different from any other plant in your yard. Treat it this way, and life will be good.
  • If your lawn is newly seeded, keep it moist.
  • Once established, a few really deep waterings during the driest parts of the year will encourage deep root growth and will likely benefit the plant.
  • Daily irrigation is a waste and results in shallow roots and a weak lawn.
  • Cut your lawn to a height of no less than 3″.
  • Taller grass resists weeds and disease more easily, keeps the soil cooler, requires less water, and promotes deeper roots.
  • Never cut off more than 1/3 of the blade at one time. This means that if you are keeping your grass at the recommended 3″ and it gets to be 4 1/2″ tall, it is time to mow.
  • Change up your patterns while mowing to reduce wheel damage to the lawn. If you are using a zero-turn mower, watch out for wheel spin!
  • Keep an eye on the color. If the grass is starting to yellow, it probably could use a bit of fertilizer. I’d suggest an organic fertilizer so that you are not adding to the chemical pollution of our soils and water. There should be no reason to fertilize more than twice per year. Any more than that is likely a waste of time and money unless your soil is horrible. My lawn is old and established and never gets watered or fertilized.
  • Always leave your clippings on your yard. Leaving the clippings is merely allowing the nutrients to go back into the soil.
  • A mulching mower is your best bet.
  • Keep your blades sharp—the cleaner the cut, the quicker the plant recovers. Just like us. Have you ever noticed that a really clean razor cut on your skin will heal much more quickly than a rough and jagged cut? We are not so different from plants, after all.
  • If your ground is very compacted, core aeration will help. Many new subdivision lawns are very compacted due to the heavy equipment that has been used during construction and because the developer likely sold off most of the valuable topsoil. An older lawn with good topsoil won’t need aeration.
  • Your lawn will likely not need thatching. Thatching is a problem of overcut, over irrigated, and over-fertilized lawns. A healthy, diverse, and organic lawn shouldn’t need thatching.
  • As with any environment, diversity leads to strength. The more diverse your grass is, the more resilient your lawn will be. Having many different grass types (and dare I say even a few weeds) growing in your lawn will make it more resilient.
  • Over fertilized and over irrigated lawns are the most fragile. A lawn that is mowed properly needs very little attention. You do realize that grassy fields cover this earth, and no one ever fertilizes or waters them, don’t you?
  • Don’t freak out about water. Established, healthy laws will go brown during some of the driest times of the year, but they will bounce right back when it rains. That is nature’s way.
  • In the fall, simply mulch up the leaves along with the grass and leave them on the lawn. The mulched-up leaves will act as a fertilizer. If you have many trees and the leaves are thick, you may need to remove some of them. You don’t want thick, wet leaves matting down your grass. Back to logic, right? Little plants under heavy wet mats of leaves are probably not too happy.

Pests

Weeds and insects are part of our natural habitat, just like the pretty plants and the animals that we enjoy.  Part of being in balance with nature and your landscape is to accept that there will be some weeds and some bugs. It is unrealistic for us to think that we can completely control Mother Nature. We can help guide her in a direction that pleases us in our yard, but we can’t control her. To believe otherwise leads you down a path of great expense, frustration, and a chemical nightmare.

Weeds

There are many ways to control weeds that don’t include nasty chemicals. Possibly the most earth-friendly alternative is cover. Cover the bare ground with a natural product and encourage the plants you like while discouraging the ones you don’t. So what does that mean?

Any bare ground is likely to grow weeds. To discourage them, we can cover the bare ground. There are many ways to do this, but one of the most natural ways is to use leaves and yard debris to cover the ground.

Pulling

Either way, you will need to spend time pulling weeds. It is important to stay on top of this task so that it doesn’t get out of control. It is easiest to pick weeds right after it rains when the soil is the softest.

Most of the tiny new weeds can be pulled by hand, while larger, more established weeds will need to be dug out using a shovel or trowel.

Please do not resort to chemical treatment as this will only kill the existing weeds and do nothing to kill the new weeds, so once again, it is a vicious circle. You spray, the weed dies, the hazardous chemical leaches into your groundwater, a new weed grows, you spray again, and so on. Costly, frustrating, and not at all earth-friendly.

Your money and time would be better spent hiring a neighbor kid or your kids to pick the weeds once a week over the summer months.

Lawn Weeds

Okay, now let’s talk about lawn weeds. It’s once again about cover. A tall, lush, and healthy lawn will shade the ground and allow less weeds to grow than an unhealthy, short-cut lawn that leaves bare ground exposed. Remember our discussion about diversity. A lawn with a few weeds growing in it may not look like the links at Whistling Springs, but it will make for a more resilient lawn.

If you really can’t bear having any weeds in your lawn, then there are organic weed control choices that use corn gluten to control the new weeds from sprouting. If you have larger, more established weeds, a small trowel will usually take care of them.

Insect Control

I have been landscaping a very long time, and I have not come across insect problems that were much more than a nuisance. For the most part, the insects will feast on a plant’s leaves and then move on. It is rare for an insect to kill the plants, but there certainly are exceptions. Typically, a naturally maintained and healthy plant can resist the insects on its own without help from us. I would not sweat it. If the chewed leaves bother you, you can try to apply some neem oil, an organic oil that discourages leaf eater.

Mulching

You should take all leaves, sticks, etc., that collect in your yard and use them to cover the bare ground in your beds. If that is not enough, purchase a natural wood mulch to cover the remaining bare ground. A nice thick layer of decomposing wood and leaves will make a nutrient-rich barrier to the weeds growing up from beneath and make it easy to pull out any weeds that start from seed on top.

All of this natural material will decay over time, making your beds more fertile every year. Why do you think that the forest floor is usually relatively weed-free and covered in very fertile and soft topsoil?

When you buy mulch, please buy the natural or recycled variety. And don’t have them spray it with some odd-looking color that will fade and look even worse in a few years. Remember, natural is better. Everything decays and goes into our soil. We don’t need to add more chemicals to our earth.

The Circle

I am always amazed at the ridiculous circle that many homeowners and landscapers create. The homeowner pays to have all of their leaves raked up and hauled away in the fall, and then they pay to have wood mulch spread on their beds in the spring. Okay, let me get this straight. You want me to haul away a wood product and then bring you back a different wood product?

It doesn’t make much sense.

Fabric?

An alternative to heavy mulching would be to use landscape fabric to cover the bare ground and then cover that fabric with mulch or stone of some sort. Landscape fabric does a great job of keeping all of the plants below from coming up, but it does not stop the seeds that land on the top from growing. So, while it will kill off the already existing weeds, it won’t prevent new ones, and it keeps your mulch from decaying into the soil and fertilizing your beds.

If you are an avid gardener, you will not want to use fabric because it restricts your perennials’ ability to spread as they would naturally, and it also makes it harder for you to change your plantings and split your perennials.

A great alternative to fabric is thick layers of newspaper or cardboard. These products will kill off the existing weeds and will simply decompose over time. Did I just find a use for all of those old Amazon boxes?

Pruning

Pruning is the stuff that frightens new landscapers the most. So I need to clip off parts of these plants that I bought? That sounds dangerous! It can be, but mostly for you. Good pruning shears are very sharp. I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t seen a couple of newbies slice into their own fingers over the years. Just stay calm and make sure that you are cutting a twig and not your finger.

Many of the plants in your yard will never need pruning, so don’t get too excited. Once again, the more natural our yards are, the less maintenance we will need. This goes for pruning also. Most of the pruning that I have done over the years has been to control a plant that is too big for the space in which it is planted or to keep a plant the desired shape, rather than its natural shape that it wants to grow to.

Here are some general tips:

  • Most plants will not enjoy heavy pruning. Keep it to a minimum and do it more often if needed. Typically, you never want to prune off more than 1/3 of anything (just like your grass).
  • For the most part, you will want to prune while the plant is dormant. Usually, late fall or very early spring works out well. Once again, it is very logical. Cutting branches off a plant in its most vigorous growth period (spring) will not make it happy.
  • Plants that bloom on old existing wood can typically be pruned right after they bloom so that you are not cutting off next year’s blooms.
  • Dead flowers can typically be pruned off perennials, which will likely encourage more blooms.
  • Cracked, split, extensively chewed, damaged, or dead branches should be removed.
  • Always make your cut just after a bud or lateral branch. Again, sound logic. Leave the branch ready to grow again.
  • Always use sharp tools and make clean cuts.
  • Use a tool sized for the job. I have often seen newbies using a small hand shears to cut a 1″ branch. As they squeeze with both hands and twist that shear, they are not only damaging the plant; they have also likely bent the shear and ruined the blade. Stop, go get a lopping shear or a small hand saw.
  • When pruning for shape, prune a bit, stand back and look at it and then prune some more. Walk around the plant to see what it looks like from all sides.
  • Never use a pole pruner near electrical wires (it seems obvious, but it happens all the time).
  • Don’t cut the top off of a tree with a strong, dominant center stem (think Spruce tree)

Shaping

Most of your pruning will likely be shaping. You are merely trying to prune that plant as little as possible to retain the shape or size that you need it to be. Most homeowners run into trouble because they wait too long.

Plants get planted, they grow for several years, and then one day, you walk outside and say, “Wow, that shrub has grown way too big!” At this point, it is already a problem. Had you trimmed it a bit every year, it would likely be well-shaped and in control, but now it is way out of shape, blocking half of your window and rubbing on the side of the house.

The sad part is, you may be better off removing it and trying again with a plant more well suited for the spot. But you did spend your hard-earned money on this one, so it may be worth a try.

Rejuvenational Pruning for Single-Stemmed Plants

When we are trying to rejuvenate a single-stemmed plant that would otherwise need to be removed we are using most of the rules above, but we are pushing our limits in an effort to avoid needing to completely destroy the plant.

Single stemmed plants include most trees and any shrub with only one stem coming out of the ground. Be aware that stem count is not the only factor. Even if the plant has multiple stems, it is in this category if it does not sprout new stems from the ground every year. Most woody plants are in this category. Examples of plants like this are Burning Bush, most Viburnum, Amelanchier, Maples, Oaks, Ash, etc.

The single-stemmed plant can be pruned back only so far before you would be left with nothing but a stump. This is never recommended; it will likely die. You can thin it out by removing some of the internal and interfering branches, and you can downsize the remaining branches as much as possible, keeping in mind that this poor plant will need some branches to grow some leaves on when spring arrives. Vary your cuts in height and shape the plant into a shape similar to its natural form. You will end up pruning off more than 1/3, and the shrub will likely sprout back if you didn’t push too far, and it dies.

When it sprouts back, you hit it hard again for the next several years, each year striving for that size that you would have liked it to be. In general, if this hasn’t worked after three seasons, you might as well replace it with something more well suited.

Rejuvenational Pruning for Multi-Stemmed Plants

Multi-stemmed sprouting plants have many stems coming out of the ground and sprout more every year.  These get wider and wider at the base every year and spread quickly.  Examples would include plants like Dogwood, Spirea and Lilac.

This type of plant, if it is in good health, can typically be cut down to the ground, and it will re-sprout in spring. I’m not saying that this is the best route to go, but sometimes it is a good choice.

If you are not ready to go that drastic, you should start by removing a bunch of the thickest, heaviest stems. Cut these big ones right down to the ground. After that, use staggered cuts at varying heights to trim what remains of the plant into the size and shape that you desire. By cutting out the thickest and heaviest stems each year, you will be able to keep these shrubs whatever size you would like, and they will always look good.

Hedging

Another pruning style that seems to be very popular with homeowners is hedging.

Typically hedging would only be used on plants that are well suited for this technique. Plants like Arborvitae, Boxwood, Yews, etc., take well to hedging.

But, it seems that once a homeowner buys that motorized hedging shears, it becomes the go-to pruning tool for everything in their yard. It is pretty quick and efficient but not ideal for many plants.

When you hedge a plant, you are trimming off all branches at the same height. This causes the branches to send out extra shoots from this level each time you hedge. Over the years, this will leave you with a plant that only has leaves on the outside perimeter and nothing growing in the middle.

This becomes a problem when you decide to downsize that plant. You will cut a bit too far and realize that it is hollow and empty inside. Not great.

Twigging

If you are a fan of the hedging shears, please use them sparingly and realize that any sheared plant should also be thinned a bit to let light into the center near the trunk.  Shear it and then take your hand pruner and prune out some of the more densely branched and leaved areas to allow sunlight in. If you do it right, you can maintain a healthy hedge with a great shape.

Fertilizing

The entire chemical fertilizer industry was built on our desire to grow the same plant repeatedly in the same soil and maximize that plant’s growth while not allowing the soil time to recover.

Once again, diversity is king.

You may want to do a bit of reading on permaculture. Anyone trying to sell you on the thought that you need to apply chemical fertilizers to your landscape is merely pushing product.

You should strive to grow a native and diverse selection of plants that are well suited for where they grow. You will also want to use leaves, grass clipping, and mulch as natural fertilizers. Don’t haul them away; use them to nourish your soil. If you do this, you will have very little need for fertilizer.

If you feel the need for fertilizer, please choose some of the many organic fertilizers that are now available, read the label and help preserve our earth for the future.

It is simply criminal the amount of chemicals many homeowners dump onto their landscapes every year in the pursuit of the “perfect” yard. We are poisoning this earth.

Final Thoughts

Well, there you have it. It is probably more than you wanted to know, but if you follow most of the suggestions above, maintaining your yard won’t be as hard as many people make it out to be. If we work with Mother Nature, the experience can be quite pleasant and rewarding. If we work against her, it can become quite miserable and detrimental to our happiness and the happiness of this earth.

How to Plan, Plant and Care for a Garden

When we are talking about how to plan, plant and care for a garden, we are not just talking about vegetable gardens.  A garden can be any piece of land that we designate for planting. Gardens usually have some soil amendment and are often used for aesthetic appeal, recreation, or production.  Our gardens can be planted with trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, or any number of various food crops. 

“We may think we are nurturing our garden, but of course, it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.”

Jenny Uglow

While a garden may have trees, it should not be confused with an orchard. A garden is likely to contain a wide variety of plants; (trees, flowers, shrubs, medicinal plants, vegetables, fruit plants, grasses, etc.), while an orchard will typically only have fruit or nut trees.

Humans have been arranging and cultivating plants in their gardens for a very long time.  We have a long history of manipulating nature’s plants to serve our needs.

There are many different types of gardens:

  • Public gardens
  • Residential gardens
  • Zoological gardens
  • Botanical gardens
  • Native/natural gardens
  • Tea gardens
  • Water gardens
  • Formal gardens

Establishing a garden on your property is a long-term investment of your time and effort.  If you are going to commit to establishing a garden, it’s best to start on the right foot.

Begin with a Plan

“An Hour of Planning Can Save You 10 Hours of Doing”.

Dale Carnegie

Whether you are planning a tiny little corner garden next to your patio, or an extensive series of garden beds through-out your yard, you’ll want to plan ahead to be sure that you use the space you have in the best way possible.  What exactly that sentence means is entirely up to you.   It’s your space; make the best of it.

All gardens have plants, and the most critical factor in your garden’s success will be the health of your plants.  No matter how well you care for them, plants will only thrive when they are planted in a location that is well suited to supply them with what they need.

Every plant has a specific range of temperatures, sunlight, and moisture that it is well suited for.  Any plant that you are considering for your garden will need to be researched to be sure that it will grow well in your garden and have enough space to develop long term.

Some common plants to consider for temperate regions:

  • Deciduous: oak, maple, poplar, locust, ash, birch, fruit trees, etc.
  • Evergreen:  pine, fir, spruce, juniper, cedar, boxwood, etc  
  • Shrubs: lilac, viburnum, spirea, honeysuckle, hydrangea, dogwood, chokecherry, alder,  etc.
  • Flowers: coneflower, iris, daylily, hosta, daisy, astilbe, yarrow, dianthus, columbine, etc.  
  • Ground Covers/Grasses: periwinkle, pachysandra, ivy, thyme, fescue, rye, etc.

Some common plants to consider for tropical/sub-tropical regions:

  • Trees: date palm, eucalyptus, cypress, citrus, crepe myrtle, fringe tree, etc.
  • Shrubs: gardenia, hibiscus, azalea, bottlebrush, plumbago, oleander, etc.
  • Flowers: bird of paradise, amaryllis, bougainvillea, aloe, agave,   etc.

Plants are a critical part of your plan but not the only factor.  Most gardens have a purpose, and you’ve got to determine the purpose of yours.  If it is purely aesthetic, it will be built differently than a vegetable garden, which will be constructed differently than a patio garden, etc.

Plan for aesthetics by planning out the layering of plant material to give the best, most pleasing view of all of your plants.  Plan for diversity, pattern, texture, balance, and open space to create the interest and feel you desire.

Plan for function by arranging plant material to be easily maintained.  A natural perennial garden will have much different maintenance needs than a vegetable or herb garden, so plan accordingly and leave yourself space to work.  If you can’t access your garden to maintain it, chances are it will become a mess in short order.

Soil tests

Many folks will advise you to have your soil tested before starting a garden.  If you are planting very finicky and particular plants, you may want to start with a soil test.  However, soil tests are far from necessary.  Remember, this has been happening since the first human transplanted a food source closer to their home.  They certainly didn’t have soil tests back then.

I have been landscaping my entire life and have never had any soil tested.  This sort of falls under the category of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

If plants are growing in the soil now, you know that it is likely fine to plant into.  The only time that

I would test if I am planting some prized plant that requires precise ph levels.  Other than that, I would amend and plant. 

On the other hand, if your proposed garden location is a patch of ground that has been barren for years and doesn’t grow anything, you may want to test it because if it isn’t growing weeds, it is not likely that it will grow your plants.  But, if you have ground this bad, you might want to scoop it out and replace it with some highly composted organic soil to make it easy on yourself.

Irrigation

The type of irrigation needed for your garden will vary widely, depending on its location.  If it is in a well-balanced temperate zone and you plan to grow plants that are well suited for your zone, there will be very little need for irrigation.  If you are trying to plant a vegetable garden in a very arid climate, you will definitely need irrigation.

My advice on irrigation is to manually use mobile sprinklers or soaker hoses and create a temporary system using garden hoses to establish your plants.  Unless you are a commercial grower where you are line-planting hundreds or thousands of seedlings every year, your typical garden does not need hundreds or thousands of dollars of irrigation installed in it.

If you are growing vegetables, you will appreciate that the old hose and sprinkler or soaker system is easily adjusted and altered for future plant type or layout changes.  You will also appreciate the economy of pulling out a sprinkler only when you need it, rather than paying to install a complicated system that you don’t need once your plants are established.

An exception to this might be an annual flower bed.  Suppose you are creating a bed for annual flowers, and it is in the bright sunlight. In this case, it might be nice to have a well-disguised, permanent irrigation system with an automatic controller so that regardless of what you plant year after year, you can be sure that it is getting enough water on those hot summer days.

Types of Irrigation

You will either be looking at drip or broadcast irrigation for the most part.

Drip Irrigation

Drip irrigation is just what it sounds like.  It is a series of tubes or hoses spread throughout your garden attached to little lines that drip the water out onto specific areas of the soil. Or it can be soaker hoses that are pressurized and allow the water to soak through the hose evenly wherever it is run.

Drip irrigation has the advantage of being great for water conservation. The water is not thrown into the air where it can evaporate and be blown astray by the wind; it is instead applied directly to the soil.  A downside would be that if the drip system isn’t laid out properly, you could have some areas that get plenty of water and other plants that get none, simply because the drip line wasn’t placed close enough to them.

Drip irrigation makes it easy to be very accurate with your irrigation.  You can easily lay it out to allow different types of plants, while in close proximity to each other, to receive very different levels of irrigation.  You can also run selective drip to only certain select plants that require more water while not providing any irrigation to the rest of the garden.

Drip is also advantageous because it doesn’t spray down the entire plant, damaging leaves on more delicate plants.

A disadvantage to drip irrigation is that it is typically much harder to install since you aren’t simply spraying water in from the outside.  Also, drip always makes it harder to make changes in your garden since moving plants might require different drip layouts.  Also, take it from a guy that knows it is really easy to damage drip irrigation with your shovel if you aren’t the most careful gardener.

Broadcast Irrigation

A broadcast system is quite different than drip in that it just shoots water out over the entire bed.  You can adjust how much water to put on the bed, and you can change the arc to allow for it to shoot further or less far and only rotate to a certain angle, but for the most part, everything in the bed will get watered.

If there are tall plants near the broadcast sprinkler, they are likely to get hit with a very hard direct shot of water which is likely to damage them.  If there are little plants behind larger plants, they may not receive water because the bigger plant caught it all.

Broadcast is easy to set up; whether you are burying a professional system or using plastic mobile sprinklers and garden hoses, the setup is very similar.  Run water to the sprinkler and position the sprinkler to cover everything you want to water.  These systems are easy to install and easy to change as the garden changes.

Drainage

On the other side of irrigation lies drainage.  Depending on your garden’s location and the type of plants that you are growing, you may need to consider drainage.  This isn’t an issue most of the time, but if you are changing the grades and pitches of the ground to create your garden, please take into consideration any drainage ways through your property.

The last thing that you want to do is carefully amend your soil and plant your plants, only to have half of it get washed away in a storm because you blocked the main runoff area on your property.  We always want to work with mother nature and not against her.  If at all possible, place your garden where it won’t be too wet or too dry and where it fits in well with the lay of the land.  Fighting the lay of the land will frequently cause problems, and often it just looks unnatural.

On the same note, always pay attention to the grades around your home.  Far too often, I have seen garden beds mounded up high against a house’s siding.  This presents two problems.  First, mounding soil around your foundation will encourage rainwater to run toward your foundation, which may result in a wet basement.  Second, the soil and mulch up against the siding will undoubtedly lead to rot, which can get costly and allow rodents to easily enter the house.

Soil Prep

Once you have determined your layout and the plants you’d like, you’ll want to prepare your garden soil.  While most garden beds are planted at existing grades or into a lightly mounded area, if there needs to be contouring of the ground before planting, do that before any soil amendments or planting.  You need to start with a good base that is adequately pitched and then move on from there.

Once the base is set, the best thing you can do for a future garden bed is to start amending the soil a year or two before planting.  If you plan ahead and layer compost into your garden over time, the ground will be rich, soft, and ready for you to plant into.

But, if you haven’t planned ahead and amended your soil well in advance, it would be a good idea to add some well-aged compost to the top layer of soil before planting.  I would caution you from using any chemical fertilizers, which increases our chemical load on the planet and puts your family in danger.  There are perfectly effective organic alternatives to every chemical fertilizer, so please go organic.

Soil enrichment

The new plants require greater quantities of primary and secondary nutrients during initial growth periods. Giving your new plants plenty of organic nutrients to grow with will help them succeed and thrive.  There are various organic soil enrichment methods.

Apply Compost

Compost can be just about any well-aged organic materials.  Some people compost using kitchen scraps, while others use a blend of tree-based materials and manure.  You need to make sure that it is well aged, as fresh manure can burn plants.

The easiest way to use compost is to spread it evenly over the ground and let it decompose into the soil, giving up its nutrients for your plants.  Continued thin layers are typically easier to apply than one big thick layer, although if you are starting a garden from scratch, don’t be afraid to lay it on thick.  Check out our article that talks about the lasagna method.

Another way to apply compost is to place it into the hole as you plant.  This method is often used by landscapers who are planting a handful of trees or shrubs as it is easier to amend just the soil for that plant rather than amend the entire area.  I would caution you, though, that amending the whole garden is always preferable, as it betters the soil composition of a larger area and encourages root spread rather than encouraging roots to stay in that one fertilizer-rich area.

Biochar

Biochar is the charcoal produced from the pyrolysis of plant or animal material. It is widely used for soil amelioration processes and the removal of carbon sequestration from the atmosphere.  Biochar is created by burning wood so that it leaves the charcoal.  This char is then used as a soil conditioner.

Planting Methods

Your planting methods will vary depending on plant availability, budget, and plant type.  If you are vegetable gardening, you will often be planting seeds.  It works well to lay out rows of the same kinds of seeds to keep it simple for weeding, irrigation, and harvesting.

If you are planting a flower garden or larger planting bed, you will typically use already established plants.  Most of these plants will come growing in the soil they were raised in, while some plants may arrive bare root.

If your plant arrives bare root, it is crucial that you dig a hole and create a sort of soil slurry with water, compost and soil to ensure that the roots get complete contact with soil and that there are not any air pockets that would lead to root death.

Post Germination Care

“It is easy to plant/sow the seed but difficult to care and grow.” The seedlings are sensitive when they emerge and should be protected from excessive irrigation (which may lead to fungal diseases), insects (attracted by the juicy and sweet seedlings), frost, etc.

Weed Control

Weeds are the unwanted plants that seem to always grow more easily and quickly than the plants that we want in our gardens.  We humans are a strange bunch; any time we find a plant or an animal that grows really well in our area, we label it as invasive and try to get rid of it.  We seem to want to grow only the very difficult plants to grow.  For some reason, we see the more difficult plants as more desirable.

Weeds can take over your more delicate garden plants fairly quickly, so you will want to stay on top of them.  Once again, I would strongly suggest that you stay away from chemical weed killers.  They are expensive, dangerous to our environment, and a very short-lived solution.

I would always recommend compost and mulch to help keep soils moist, soft, and workable and help discourage weeds.  Thicken up the organic material between plants and keep it thin right at the plants’ base.  Pull weeds as they sprout, and you will never lose control of the bed.

Pest Control

Pests like aphids and whiteflies can be controlled using a blast of cold water or organic horticultural oil in the form of spray directly on the pests. These methods will not harm the plants and some other beneficial insects.  I would never recommend chemical pesticides, as they are mostly non-selective and kill both helpful and harmful insects.

For the most part, I would plant according to zone, light, and water requirements and ignore most pest problems.  Well planted, healthy plants will usually be able to endure a pest, at least until some birds or other predators come and take care of the situation in nature’s way.

Annual Maintenance Practices

Pinching and deadheading – Pinching of long, leggy, spindly shoots of perennial flowers is good for them. Deadheading (nipping off finished blooms to prevent the plant from going to seed) will encourage re-blooming throughout the season.

Pruning – Some fruit plants like Grapes, Guava, Ber, etc., and flowers like rose, and shrubs like Hydrangea, Honeysuckle, etc., do better with pruning every season when they are dormant. These plants produce fruit on the new growth, so pruning will encourage more production.

Feeding – Fertilization requirements for trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses will differ. It is good for the plants and the soil to use organic fertilizers like compost, rotten leaves, etc.  You won’t go wrong with the application of a nice organic compost over all of your beds.  If you have specific areas or plants showing yellowing, you may want to increase the compost or aged manure application. The recommended rate of well-aged farmyard manure (compost) is 20-30 pounds per 100 sq. ft. at the start of fall and not in the spring (active season of growth).

Conclusion

Establishing a garden is a time-honored tradition that improves your property in many different ways, which will, in turn, improve your life.  Enrich your environment to enrich your life!  The more that we compost and keep our yards green and chemical-free, the more our environment benefits.  If everyone adopted this attitude, our earth would be out of trouble in no time.  Okay, enough reading, go out there and plant something.  

References:

Spary, E. C. (2010). Utopia’s Garden: French natural history from Old Regime to Revolution. University of Chicago Press.

McClintock, N., Wooten, H., & Brown, A. H. (2012). Toward a food policy” first step” in Oakland, California: A food policy council’s efforts to promote urban agriculture zoning. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2(4), 15-42.

Williams, A. M., & Shaw, G. (2009). Future play: tourism, recreation, and land use. Land Use Policy, 26, S326-S335.

Hurd, A. R., & Anderson, D. M. (2010). The park and recreation professional’s handbook. Human Kinetics.

Lawson, L. (2004). The planner in the garden: A historical view into the relationship between planning and community gardens. Journal of Planning History, 3(2), 151-176.

Egli, V., Oliver, M., & Tautolo, E. S. (2016). The development of a model of community garden benefits to wellbeing. Preventive medicine reports, 3, 348-352.

Söderback, I., Söderström, M., & Schälander, E. (2004). Horticultural therapy: the ‘healing garden and gardening in rehabilitation measures at Danderyd Hospital Rehabilitation Clinic, Sweden. Pediatric rehabilitation, 7(4), 245-260.

Reichard, S. H., & White, P. (2001). Horticulture as a pathway of invasive plant introductions in the United States: most invasive plants have been introduced for horticultural use by nurseries, botanical gardens, and individuals. BioScience, 51(2), 103-113.

Kwon, J. W., Park, E. Y., Hong, K. P., & Hwang, M. H. (2013). Suggestions on the types of the distribution of gardens for the overseas establishment of traditional Korean gardens-Oriented the garden which is applicable to the open space. Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture, 31(3), 106-113.

How to Mulch Properly

plant in mulch

We use mulch to protect and nourish the soil and help the plants that we are growing. This article will explain how to mulch properly, why it’s worthwhile, and how to make your own mulch from your lawn’s clippings.

What is Mulching?

Mulching is the process of covering the soil with organic materials. Gardeners have copied this principle from the wild because there is practically no bare soil in nature anywhere.  Leaves, broken branches, plants, or a humus layer usually cover the ground everywhere. This layer protects the plants and also provides them with nutrients.

What are the Benefits of Mulching?

Your garden’s soil is exposed to many external forces like wind, temperature changes, and drought. Therefore it makes sense to apply a protective layer on top — the so-called mulch. If you mulch properly, the soil stays moist, the wind can’t dry out the soil, water doesn’t evaporate as fast, and the mulch protects the soil from rain erosion.

The mulch layer also acts as a warming blanket, prevents weeds, and can accelerate your plants’ growth. In the case of fruit and vegetable plants (especially warmth-loving ones), mulch has been proven to increase the yield.

Mulch also encourages soil health by supporting a diverse assortment of worms, bacteria, and microorganisms that loosen the soil under the mulch and break down the organic cover. This makes the humus layer grow and enrich the soil with nutrients. Manual watering and cultivation become things of the past with a well-mulched bed.

How Can I Make Mulch?

Mulch is mostly made up of organic materials – which means you can easily make a proper bed cover yourself. If you have a lot of garden waste like hedge or lawn clippings, you can use them to mulch your bed. In autumn you can also use leaves and straw.

However, you should only apply thin layers of rich materials like lawn clippings so that they can decompose evenly.  Thick, wet piles of lawn clippings aren’t doing you any good; layer your yard compost throughout the bed. Shredded wood scraps or chopped straw, or ornamental grass stems are other materials you can use, especially for fruit trees and berry bushes, as they like warmer environments.

If you have a lot of wood waste in your yard from pruning trees, for example, then you can shred it in a chipper. However, keep in mind that the wood chippings bind a lot of nitrogen and may lead to short-term soil deficiency until they decompose.  Once again, it is all about diversity and layering.

If you have a snail problem, you might need to use reeds as your mulch material, which will help you keep them away. Shredded herbal plants are another excellent material for keeping pests at bay.

Finally, always try to add compost to the soil each planting season because it acts as a fertilizer, and it promotes soil microbes that aid plant growth.  Thin layers of compost applied all year round will mimic how nature applies leaves and plant debris to the soil surface.

Best Mulch Products

If your mulch production is too time-consuming or your garden waste is not enough, you can always buy it from your local gardening store.

Bark mulch is especially popular because it is suitable for shrubs and hedges and effectively suppresses weeds. The shredded tree bark can also act as an excellent surface for your garden paths.

Wood chips are sometimes referred to as mulch as well and can be purchased in many wood varieties and coarseness.  Often, the very course chipper chips can be had for free from a local town or tree trimmer who needs to get rid of the chips from their work.  Be aware that the more course your chips are, the longer they will take to decompose.  Shredded mulches will decay much more quickly than chips.

Alternatively, you can also use gravel or stone as a soil cover, which will help to shade the soil from the sun and may retain some moisture and help to keep the weeds down., but rocks aren’t technically mulch since they don’t decompose and turn to soil over time.

How to Mulch Properly

Before you apply the mulch to your beds, you will likely want to remove any weeds present or cover the weeds with a biodegradable material such as newspaper or cardboard.

You can then start spreading the mulch. Make sure you apply the material around the plants but keep the mulch very thin near the plant’s stem.  Piling organic material against the stem of a plant will cause rot and will also encourage rodents to spend the winter there eating the stem of your plant.

As you move away from your plants’ stem, you can get thicker and thicker with your mulch.  Put maybe 2-4 inches anywhere that the plant roots are, and feel free to go thicker in bare open soil areas.  Thicker mulch will discourage weeds. The mulch should be lying loose and not be worked into the soil.

It is best to have the ground covered all year round. There is no right or wrong time to mulch. In winter, the straw or foliage mixture offers protection against frost and rich nutrients for your plants in the summer.

If you have freshly sown beds, wait before mulching. Thick mulch cover over seeds or tiny plants will surely reduce plant growth.  Once your seedlings are about four inches, you can safely cover the soil up to the leaves’ base.

Mulching with Lawn Clippings

Lawn clippings, which can be found in most gardens anyway, are an excellent mulching material as long as the blanket is not thicker than an inch. The finer the cut of grass is, the better for the soil. After all, long stalks are difficult to decompose.

For the most part, you will want to use a mulching mower and leave your clippings on the lawn to help enrich that soil, but if you do collect grass clippings, you can definitely spread them on your beds as mulch.  As mentioned before, just keep the layers thin and mix with various other organic materials.

Final Words

Mulching is an essential part of gardening as it benefits both your growing plants and your soil. When you mulch your beds, you will not need to water, fertilize, or remove weeds as much. The plants benefit from the warming layer and the nutrients released as the materials decompose. Mulching is also practical because you can recycle your garden waste while doing it.  Why do so many people pay their landscapers to haul away leaves and yard debris in the fall and then pay them again in spring to bring wood mulch into their beds?  It makes no sense.

How to Create a Child Friendly Yard

Planning the perfect landscape design for your property can certainly be a challenge.  You have many aspects to consider and a great many choices of materials and designs to choose from.  Designing a landscape for yourself is challenging enough, but what if you have children?  How can you create a child friendly yard?

This article will explore some of the do’s and don’ts when designing a child-friendly landscape.

Common Parental Questions:

  • Will the place be safe enough for them to play in?
  • What elements should I add to the property to make it more child-friendly?
  • Is it okay to have a water feature?
  • What if we have a pool or pond in our yard?
  • Do we need to fence the property?
  • Are those steps too dangerous?

Kids will be Kids

Children seem to have boundless amounts of energy to run and play.  It is in a parent’s best interest to give their kids a safe area where they can burn off some of this excess energy. Creating a safe landscape or modifying your landscape to make it kid-friendly doesn’t need to be a huge project.

Most landscapes are designed around the needs of the adults and aesthetic appeal.  There is no reason that we can’t have an aesthetically appealing landscape with excellent curb appeal and have it be child-friendly at the same time.

Consider the Age of Your Children

Your children’s needs will change with age, and at some point, they will be choosing friends and activities away from your yard, but while they are young, it is important to make your yard enjoyable for them.

Toddlers

When your children are toddlers and younger, you will likely be in the yard with them, watching them explore and guiding them to keep them safe.  It would be great to have a nice level lawn area with lush soft grass for them to play and explore.  You will want to be out there with them, so having this lush lawn area just outside the kitchen window where you can keep an eye on them if you need to run into the house is a great idea.

Also, having a nice comfortable sitting area in this play area with soft furniture is an excellent idea so that you can sit and read a book while they play, or maybe they can crawl up onto the lounge chair for a quick afternoon nap in the yard.

It is also nice to have sunny spots as well as shaded areas where they can get out of the sun.  Planting a shade tree might be just the answer.

When they are toddlers, it is nice not to worry about head and face injuries.  Because toddlers tend to fall quite often, it is nice to have space where they can run around and fall without causing serious injuries.  Concrete, brick, rocks, and sharp-cornered furniture or fire pits are probably not what you need for a toddler’s play area outside.  Creating a nice play area full of soft grasses and plants will allow for plenty of safe running and falling without a lot of bleeding and crying.  If this area could be somewhat enclosed with a border of shrubs or flowers, the kids will be more likely to stay within sight and out of trouble.

While a bit more problematic as far as keeping a toddler clean, a sandbox is a great place for little kids to spend hours digging, building, and playing in the sand.  Sandboxes need not be a big undertaking.  While not particularly attractive to adults, a mounded pile of sand in the yard would be loads of fun for kids.  Most people try to tuck the sandbox into a garden corner, near a playset, or under a tree to provide a bit of shade.  Sunscreen and sand don’t mix really well.  The sand can be bordered with logs or small rocks to help delineate it.

A Bit Older

As they get older and start to explore the property, it is up to you to make sure that they still stay relatively safe.  By this time, I hope you have explored the yard and any neighboring hazards with them and pointed out the potential danger areas.  As they are developing, it is relatively easy to teach them about danger.  Just like they need to know not to touch a hot stove, they need to know not to jump into a swimming pool or pond without supervision.

Many parents feel that a fenced backyard is the ultimate solution.  I don’t disagree that having set boundaries where the kids know not to go without telling you is a great idea. This can often be accomplished with rock walls or hedges and garden beds, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be a fence.  “Kids, stay in the yard” should be straightforward and easy to understand, so some type of border or delineation will be helpful.

How yards are bordered or delineated will often depend on your location and neighbors.  As the children grow, they are sure to make friends in the neighborhood.  With so many backyards connecting to each other, children’s play spanning several neighboring back yards is common.

Having an area that is a bit more wild and unkept might be a real plus for these young explorers.  A place protected by trees and tall grasses can feel a bit like being in the forest.  They can feel like they are out of parent’s grasp while still being in the yard.

Creating a semi-private area in the yard where the older kids can hang out that isn’t quite as supervised will be appreciated.  Older kids love having a sense of their own privacy and independence.

Create a Play Area

There is no shortage of playsets and jungle-gym-type equipment available for the homeowner.  Having a designated area for the kids to climb and hang and get physical might keep them from using your living room for these activities.

There are many playsets that can be purchased in pieces and assembled at home, or you could always design and build one with the kids to give them a sense of accomplishment and a lesson in carpentry.

But, if you aren’t the do-it-yourself kind of family, many companies will custom build and install a fantastic play structure in your yard with slides, climbing walls, rope swings, playhouses, etc.

Giving your kids a place to climb and explore also encourages physical fitness.  With the thousands of shows and video games available to today’s generation of kids, it is excellent for them to be introduced to physical activity at a young age.

A trampoline can also be added to the play area. Who doesn’t remember the excitement of jumping and flipping around on a trampoline?  Today you have many different types and styles of trampoline and are sure to find one that will suit your yard.  Don’t forget to consider installing one with a safety enclosure to prevent injuries.

Pools and Water

If the family wants to install a pool or water feature, it is important to consider safety.  Pools and water features of any type can be hazardous to children who have not been introduced to them by their parents.

You must set strict household rules about how and when it gets used if you have either.  For the pool in a neighborhood backyard, a fenced enclosure and safety cover are always a good idea.  If you are creating a pond, be sure that it has easily sloped or stepped sides so that non-swimmers could easily walk out if they ended up finding themselves in your pond.

Treetop Fun

If the property has big and sturdy trees, you can put them to good use by building a treehouse. The older kids will love it, and even the adults who are young at heart will enjoy reminiscing the memories of their own tree houses when they were little.

Large trees can also be a great place to install a tree swing or hammock. There is something soothing about swinging, in the shade of a big old tree in the yard has long been a favorite kids activity.

Create a Vegetable Garden

Kids young and old love to imitate their parents. TheThe little ones love “helping,” and the older ones, while they tend to fight it at first, can get a great sense of accomplishment through gardening.

If you are an avid gardener and have had veggie gardens in the past, then you know enough to guide your kids into the hobby.  If this is your first garden, learn with the kids and keep it simple and stress-free.  Find a sunny spot in your yard, create the bed, and plant. 

Keep it Enjoyable

Keep the rows wide and the plants few.  Seeds are cheap, so have the kids help you pick a fun assortment and get them in the ground.  The secret to this is to keep it easy.  If you pressure yourself for results and perfection, it can be stressful for you and the kids.  If you keep it light and fun, you can have a great time doing it, build some great memories, and maybe even eat a dirty carrot or two together.

Give them Space

If having them make a mess of your well-established garden is too much, consider giving them a space of their own to plant.  There is something magical for young and old about planting tiny little seeds and watching them grow into plants.  Plant some fun stuff like sunflowers, gourds, and pumpkins.  Plant some tasty stuff that they can eat right from the garden, like strawberries, cucumbers, and peas.  They will likely learn a thing or two about what rabbits like to eat also.

Some of the many things you can plant in your kid’s mini-garden are cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and even watermelon and strawberries. You should also consider planting the smaller versions of the produce they like to make it easier for them to pick up and carry once the harvest season comes. Pulling up baby carrots from the ground will be a fun experience for your little ones. It will warm your heart seeing their face light up with the thrill of knowing that their garden is thriving.

Kids love to get their hands dirty,  so the easy, fun parts like tilling, planting, and harvesting will be their favorites.  The challenging part is the weeding for both kids and adults.  The long hours in the garden pulling weeds can be boring for the young ones, so don’t be overly critical about the weeds.  Keep it light.

Back to Your Roots

Gardening can bring kids back to their roots (quite literally); many of our ancestors grew food of one sort or another, and it is an experience that everyone should have at some point in their life. Gardening can teach them responsibility and help them understand how the environment around us works.  They will learn not only to care for their plants but also to care for everything else that is alive and thriving.

Being out in the garden working together is a great, low-stress time to talk about our environment, sustainability, the dangers of chemicals, etc., to make them more aware of our earth as they grow up.  It can also be a great time to hang out and talk about friends or activities that they are enjoying away from the family.

Teaching them how and allowing them the opportunity to grow their own food may well be one of their fondest memories of their time with you as they get older.  Teaching them where our food comes from and how they can grow their own will be helpful knowledge that will last a lifetime.

Create a Family Area for Rest and Retreat

By creating comfortable outdoor living spaces, you will be encouraging your children and your entire family to enjoy time outdoors.  Whether it’s a simple patio and picnic table or an outdoor kitchen and living room, a comfy place to hang out and unplug can be just what the doctor ordered for those nice weekends of rest and relaxation.

Making your backyard fun and child-friendly will encourage your kids to spend more time outside.  Having fun activities and comfortable areas where kids can gather outside might just make your yard the go-to place in the neighborhood. 

Sure, it will mean you will be providing more snacks, and you will be likely to have more noise and activity in your yard, but the peace of mind that comes with knowing where your kids and their friends are hanging out will be well worth the extra effort.

Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

Curb appeal is important.  We always talk about making a good first impression, and the front of your house is many people’s first impression of you and your family.  Curb appeal is also vitally important when it’s time to sell your home.  While most people that I meet have many back yard landscape ideas, most aren’t as good at coming up with front yard landscaping ideas.

This article will try to pull together a few pointers to help you figure out just what to do with your front yard.

Where to Begin?

Where you begin depends on where you are right now.  If you are starting from scratch and you have a bare front yard, congratulations, and I hope that you are enjoying your new home.  But, if you are like most people, you already have a front yard landscape, and you think it needs an update.

I’ll run through my thought process on front yard landscapes, and you can jump in wherever you feel is appropriate for your situation.

The Vision

An excellent way to figure out what you want to do in your front yard is to look at some other examples.  One of the easiest ways to d this is by searching online for front yard pictures that you like.  This is very easy to do, and iunno time, you will likely have many ideas.

The second easiest way and probably better way is to drive around neighborhoods in your area and see what others have done.  Checking out the local front yards will help because you know that if they are doing it in their front yard, you can do it in yours.  It doesn’t help you to download a bunch of landscape pics with plants that can’t grow in your zone, so looking locally for ideas is often easier.

I am not suggesting that you copy anyone; I’m just saying that it is a great way to start putting together a list of features that catch your eye.  You can write down a list, but the easiest is probably to take a picture of the components that you like

Pat Attention to Specifics

Every house that you pass will give you a first impression.  Some will be good, and some will be bad.  When you come to a good one, take note of which aspect caught your eye.  Was it the way that the plants were placed?  Was it the curve of the front walk or the driveway’s style?  If you do this for a while, you will start to realize what you like.  Maybe you like brick curving walkways. Perhaps you like large trees bordering the house, or perhaps it’s the flower beds that catch your eye.  Whatever it is, figure it out.

This will be easier if you are looking at homes similar in design to your own.  Not that you can’t take ideas from any yard, but it will be easier for you to picture it in your yard if the house is of a similar design.

Looking it Over

Once that you have a bunch of ideas of which landscape aspects catch your eye, you need to figure out how to implement them in your front yard.

Standing Out in the Road

Stand out in the road in front of your house and lake a long hard look.  If you live on a busy street, it may be better to take a picture so that you can take time to examine the details without worrying about getting run over.

Which aspects of your front yard are appealing and which ones are terrible.  If you have a brand new house and have no landscape at all, the house will stick out like a sore thumb.  It will likely be very unappealing and might feel stark and bare.  If your landscape is twenty years old, it is likely that it is a bit overgrown and messy.

Many times, landscapers and homeowners alike plant for the moment rather than for the future.  They plant trees and shrubs that look good when they put them in, but ten or twenty years down the road, everything is growing on top of everything.  Many homes have trees that are obscuring their most attractive features, or they have large overgrown shrubs blocking the window and groundcovers growing over the walkways.

Clearing the Slate?

If you have a new home, you are likely starting with a clean slate, but if you have a mature landscape, you certainly do not.  A pet peeve of mine is that many landscape companies make it a standard practice to completely start over with a landscape.  They often suggest to homeowners that they tear it all out and start over.

Why would they do this?  Doesn’t it seem very wasteful to you?  It certainly is wasteful in most situations, but the new landscaper wants this to be an easy and profitable job.  If they wipe the slate clean, they can install one of their cookie-cutter designs that work on every house in the neighborhood. They get paid for all of the labor for tearing out perfectly good plants, and then they get paid for installing all new plants.  This is about profits, not about you or your yard.

Most of the time, starting with a clean slate is completely foolish.  Most of the time, some of the existing landscape is just fine, and we can plan around it.  I would only recommend clearing your front yard landscape as the last resort.  When you have looked at it from a few angles, and there is just nothing good about what you have in your front yard, and you plan to change way too many aspects to save anything, then you may need to wipe it clean, but this is rare.

Pick and Choose

Sometimes, with an old overgrown landscape, it helps to remove some of the obvious things that need to go.  By picking out some of the worst offending features and getting rid of them, you may be able to more clearly see what you need to do to move forward.

I want to caution you to consider the lifespan and value of any plant material that you may be thinking about removing.  Cutting down a mature tree is a big decision that cannot be reversed.  Trees take lifetimes to grow to maturity, so first, figure out if that tree can stay and be pruned before you decide to cut it down.  Pulling out some overgrown juniper shrubs that have been rubbing on the front windows for the last few years is a whole other story.

Some multi-stemmed, suckering plants, such as dogwood and lilac, can be cut right down to the ground, and they will grow again from the base.  These plants are very easy to rejuvenate and can often be re-used in a landscape.

Having landscaped for so many years, I can envision the re-worked landscape without removing the bad stuff first, but for a homeowner new to doing their own landscape work, uncluttering the front yard may be the best way to start.

The New Dream

Once you have some favorite aspects picked out and you have removed some of your old clutter, it is time to pull together the dream.  Plan out your ultimate front yard landscape without any concern for budget. Just plan your dream and price it out.  I find it easier to dream big and cut it back if need be rather than the other way around.  

Planning

As you plan out your new landscape, it will help you to walk up and down your street and in and out of your driveway a few times to get a feel for how the new landscape will look.  As you view it from different angles, inset the favorite aspects that you want to implement in your mind’s eye and try to get a feel for how they will affect the yard’s overall look and feel.

You will feel a bit silly at first, and it isn’t easy to do for many people, but it will help you get a feel for your new plans before you actually begin.

Things To Consider

When planning your front yard landscape, you need to consider certain things.  Landscapes are rarely only viewed from one direction, and they are very seldom viewed from above.  Having site plans drawn for landscaping is often a big waste of time and done only to make it easier on the landscaper and not the homeowner.

 I can’t tell you how many times I have seen homeowners surprised by their landscape layout because it looks totally different than what they thought they were getting from their plan they had seen.  Even when standing in the yard with the plan in hand, many homeowners couldn’t even tell you what goes where.

If you need a plant to keep your thoughts or your landscaper’s thoughts straight, that is fine, but I would highly recommend walking the yard and painting or staking out the major elements so that you can truly get a feel for them.  Seeing things in your yard and seeing them on paper are two entirely different things.

Perspectives

Landscaping is about flow, continuity, and contrast.  You want to draw a viewer’s eye in a way that gives them the overall best impression of your home and yard.  Maybe there is a part of the front yard that should be blocked, and maybe there is a part that should be highlighted. 

Framing beautiful windows with plants can be very attractive, but plants growing up over the window sills almost always looks ugly.  Plants softening the edges of hardscapes and blending different landscape features look great, while plants growing together and covering up key features just look messy.

For curb appeal, it should look inviting.  For large front yards, groups of trees blocking some of the house from the road with a winding driveway leading to the house may add intrigue, while a large, thick stand of brush in a small front yard will look unkept and will usually give a bad first impression. 

A walkway that flows from the front door toward the road looks inviting, while a yard where you can’t see the walk at all makes the front door seem to just stand alone in whatever bed or lawn might be in front of it.

Balance

Most tall houses look better, with some tall landscape plantings tying them down at the corners. In contrast, short houses look better with smaller plants.  Everything typically looks best in scale.  A huge tree up close to almost any home is a bit much, while a sizeable towering tree out in the yard might make it look more stately.

Think of your front yard as a piece of artwork.  Paintings usually have symmetry so that they don’t look really heavy on one side and light on the other.  Your front yard is the same.  If you have tall trees and a tall section of house on the left, then you will need something substantial on the right side to help balance it off.  It doesn’t necessarily need to be done with larger trees.  A fountain, a colorful and full garden bed, or some outcropping stone might help balance the look.   

Blank Spaces

Don’t forget about blank spaces.  Blank spaces in our landscapes are essential to add interest and contrast.  At a distance, extensive beds of green plants will just look like a green mass, even if they appear very different close-up.  Part of your job when designing the front yard landscape is to design so that it looks good from afar as well as close up.  Speaking of blank spaces, it often looks nice to break up huge blank walls with some plant material, tying the front of your house down into the beds with some layering from tall in the back to short in the front.

Lighting

Adding some basic low volt landscape lighting to your front yard will bring the place alive at night.  Don’t go overboard with lighting; a little goes a long way.  Also, lay it all out above ground and live with it a few days before you bury any wiring.  You want to be able to go out into the front yard at night and move the fixtures around to get just the look that you want.  Once you are sure that it looks right from the road and the lights aren’t shining in your eyes when you are inside the house at night, then you can bury the wires.

Take Your Time

Part of the luxury of doing your front yard landscape yourself is to be able to take your time.  Landscapers aren’t pressuring you to make decisions; you can decide at your own pace.  Take out a few things and add a few things.  Change the big stuff first.  If you are definitely changing the front walkway or steps, then get that part done and work your way out from there.  Plan a bit, plant a bit, and take a look at what you’ve got.  Don’t be afraid to move things around if they don’t feel right and continually back up to see what it looks like from the street.

With a bit of advanced planning, some research, and some design ingenuity, you will be able to create the front yard landscape of your dreams at a fraction of the cost of hiring it done.

Good luck and have fun!

DIY Herb Garden Ideas

If you are the type of person who enjoys using herbs when you cook and you are sort of a do it yourselfer, then you’ve come to the right place.  Creating your own DIY herb garden isn’t hard and we’ve got plenty of ideas for how you can create your very own. first of all, let’s discuss what an herb is. There are many types of herbs and herb gardens, all having different uses.

What is an Herb?

DIY herb garden ideas
what is an herb?

An herb is defined as a plant that is useful to humans. Not the same as a fruit or vegetable, an herb is valuable for a variety of reasons. An herb can be used for its flavor, scent, medicinal properties, or insecticide. Some are used in dyes for coloring or industrial uses.

Herbs have been used for many thousands of years in balms and teas to relieve physical conditions such as stress-induced illness or upset stomachs. Herbs are not only useful but attractive as well. Gardeners use them as borders along walkways, landscaping, and mixed in with shrubs and flowers. But they are most known for their use in cooking for the unique flavors they bring to food.

Spices are plants used in the same ways as herbal plants but come from tropical regions. Spices are challenging to grow. On the other hand, herbs can thrive almost anywhere that has a growing season. Herbs can be annuals, which are plants that live for one season. Or they can be biennials, plants that live for two seasons. Or they can be perennials and come back year after year.

Types of Herb Gardens

There are many types of herb gardens and many ways to use them. Each of them has its own charisma and character.

Kitchen Herb Garden

This herb garden will consist of herbs used as flavorings in cooking. Most are grown in containers but can be grown in the garden as well. This herb garden could contain the following:

  • Basil
  • Chives
  • Parsley
  • Oregano
  • Rosemary
  • Thyme

If you are just getting started, you might want to make it easy on yourself and get a starter seed pack.

Fragrant Herb Garden

An aromatic garden will comprise herb plants noted for their lovely fragrance. They can be used for aromatherapy, cut flowers, potpourri, or scented candles. It will contain herbs such as:

  • Lavender
  • Lemon
  • Scented geraniums

Herbal Tea Garden

An herbal tea garden is made up of herbs that can be brewed into tasty teas. It will include:

  • Anise
  • Chamomile
  • Hyssop
  • Mints

Medicinal Herb Garden

medicinal herbs

A medicinal herb garden will include herbs used for comfort and soothing, such as:

  • Aloe
  • Feverfew

Use caution when using herbs for medicinal purposes. Some herbs are helpful, but others can be harmful if ingested or misused. Check with your physician before starting an herbal remedy.

Ornamental Herb Garden

An ornamental herb garden is noted for its beautiful flowers and unusual foliage. This type of herb garden could contain:

  • Germander
  • Sage
  • Southernwood

The most popular type of herb garden design consists of different kinds of herbal plants used for cooking, fragrance, beauty, and soothing.

Ways to Grow Herb Gardens

Along with the many kinds of herbs that can be grown are DIY herb garden ideas for growing them. Many of these are perfect for the urban gardener or if yard space is limited.

Rooftop Herb and Veggie Garden

rooftop garden

If you are one of the lucky city dwellers with access to a rooftop, you can transform this space into an urban herb garden. Always be sure that your roof can support the extra weight of whatever garden you plan. Soil and water get heavy. A weak roof could fall in and create a real mess below.

As long as you are at it, why not plant some awesome veggies as well? A small fruit tree can also be grown on a rooftop garden. Fresh homegrown herbs and vegetables taste great, are healthy, and safe from chemicals. If you are short of space, a rooftop vegetable garden will provide the veggies you desire for your family.

Create an Herb Garden in Pots.

herbs in pots

You can plant almost any herbs and vegetables in garden containers. Choose large and deep pots. Avoid low-quality, thin plastic pots because they heat up quickly and have poor drainage. Do not use ordinary garden soil for growing herbs and vegetables in pots. Use a good quality organic potting mixture for productivity and the plants’ healthy growth. Protect the pots from direct sun using cloth or straw to help reduce irrigation requirements.

Hang your Herbs

hanging herbs

If space is tight or if you have a pergola, gazebo, trellis or even a nearby tree limb, you can create a hanging herb garden. You can use any type of hanging planter basket, or you can use the hanging baskets that garden centers use with the wire hangers connected to the edge of the plastic pot. Either way, fill the pots with organic potting soil, plant and hang. You will probably want to hang them low enough to make it easy to harvest your herbs..

Create Raised Beds

raised bed

A raised bed is a practical and stylish way to make a vegetable and herb garden. You will be able to grow many more plants compared with container growing and they will require less irrigation due to the extra soil. You will appreciate the height of the raised bed when it comes time to harvest or pull weeds.

Well-stocked hardware stores, home improvement centers, or online shops will stock raised beds for rooftop growing, or you can build your own using timbers. Just determine which one is best for your needs and fill it with a mix of soil. aged manure, and aged compost.

Create an Herb Garden in Planter Boxes.

herb seedlings

Flower boxes or planters can be used to create a vegetable garden. You can hang them on an existing railing or set them on the ground. Do use ordinary garden soil for the planter boxes. Use compost-rich organic soil or quality organic potting mix. If you are hanging these boxes, you’ll want to keep them fairly light, but if setting them on the roof, it is very similar to planting in pots.

Repurpose an Old Sandbox to Create an Herb Garden

When your children have outgrown their sandbox, make it into an herb garden. It not only looks decorative but provides plants with a good space to thrive. Just make sure that there are some holes in the bottom for drainage and fill it with some aged compost and soil.

Optimize Vertical Space and Create an Herb Garden Almost Anywhere

Using your space wisely will enable you to get the most out of it. Growing vegetables and vines, such as beans, gourds, squashes, and tomato varieties near walls, trellises and railings, provide support and enable them to climb upwards and save garden space. With a bit of creativity you can incorporate herbs into this vertical space using planter boxes or small pots fastened to boards that you can lean or hanging from ropes or small chains.

How to Build a DIY Vertical Herb Garden Planter Using Plastic Bottles

Materials needed

  • Plywood or boards cut to the size you want (we are hanging pots, so it must be sturdy)
  • Empty plastic bottles (2-liter water or soda bottles work great)
  • Small nails, staples or screws (to fasten the bottles to the wood)
  • Fabric or weed barrier (to keep soil from coming through drainage holes)
  • Plants
  • Potting soil
  • Sandpaper (if you want to smooth the wood)
  • Stain or paint (if you want to finish the wood)
  • Screws, wall anchors, etc. (whatever you might use to hold it to your wall)

This vertical garden doesn’t need to be hung on a wall. It could be leaned against almost any vertical structure like a tree, fence, railing, light post, etc. Wherever you put it, it needs to be sturdy and fastened. A large piece of plywood will catch a lot of wind and I’d hate to see your vertical herb garden end up flat on its face.

Follow these steps to construct your vertical garden.

  • Prepare the wood frame by cutting, sanding, and staining, or painting if desired. Get creative, it doesn’t need to be square.
  • Figure out where and how you will hang or lean and fasten this creation. Figuring it out now is much easier than after the pots are attached.
  • Cut the top half off of your bottles using a scissors or utility knife (when using a knife, always cut away from yourself and keep fingers out of the way).
  • Drill or poke some holes in the bottom of the bottles to ensure drainage.
  • Fasten the newly cut bottle planters to the wood using screws. Arranged them in a way that leaves room above each pot for the plants to grow. Try to get two screws for each pot, just to make them more secure.
  • Cut a small piece of fabric and push it down into the pots to keep the soil in the pots when you water.
  • Fill the bottles with the soil and plants. Leave a small space at the top, about ½”, so water will not overflow when the plants are watered.

That is all that is required to make your vertical herb garden. You can make your planter larger or fancier by making multiple columns and place them side-by-side along a wall to create a sophisticated, stylish design.

If you are not up for a do it yourself project, check out this cool vertical rack:

Balcony Herb Garden

shelf with herbs

If you’ve got a balcony and nothing else, you will need to create a balcony herb garden. You can certainly use many of the above-mentioned ideas, such as pots, planters, hanging pots and vertical boards, but probably the most common way to grow herbs an your balcony is by using a window box styled planter hanging from the railing. Something like this one. Adequate sunlight might be a problem for you if your balcony is shaded.

Patio Herb Garden

Creating an herb garden right on your patio or off the side of your patio is probably the most popular way to do it. Having fresh herbs right outside your door is super handy. You likely spend time out there already, so maintenance is easy and its likely not far from your kitchen, so harvesting is easy. If you are lucky enough to have a sunny patio or deck, creating an herb garden right there is probably your best bet.

Window Box Herb Garden

window boxes

If you don’t have a garden or yard, that isn’t a problem. Get some window boxes to grow your culinary herbs. They are an excellent option for growing herbs. They are easy to place, provide good drainage, and have access to sufficient sunlight as long as you pick a window on the sunny side of your house. Small varieties of herbs such as moss-curly parsley, basil varieties such as Genovese and Napoletano, leaf lettuce, and strawberries can easily be grown in window boxes.

Indoor Herb Garden Ideas

indoor herbs

Create a mini herb garden in your home to enjoy a fresh aromatic supply of herbs for your cooking, even in the winter. Use small pots and DIY containers to plant the herbs and place the pots in a bright, warm, sunny area. Not only will this improve the air inside your home, but these herbs continue to add fresh flavor to your cooking for a long time and with minimal care.

How to make a windowsill herb garden

You can use many small pots to grow specific herbs in each one, or you can use larger pots and grow several varieties in each. It sort of depends on your window sills. If you have tiny sills, you could always get a raised plant stand or put them on a countertop below a window to get the same effect. Keep in mind that you may want to take your herbs outside in the summer, so pots that are easy to carry around might be a good choice.

The container should be at least six to eight inches deep. Herbs have fairly shallow roots, but you need to leave some extra space for watering. The last this you need is overflowing pots in the house. Using larger pots will give plants like mint and thyme room to spread out and it will allow you to water less often. Make sure that you use pots with sufficient drainage and make sure that you have a way of catching this drainage. We don’t want to wreck your windowsills with water.

You should use good quality, light weight , organic potting soil like this stuff below which is make form coconut coir which i light and holds a lot of water

If you are starting from seeds, you might want to get a little seed starter kit to make it easier on yourself. Start the seeds in this kit and then once they get large enough, you just pop out the little plug, plant and all and put them into your larger pot.

Be Particular about the Herbs You Plant.

Make a list of herbs you use in cooking and consider the conditions in which they will be grown. If you have a tiny space, you will not be able to experiment much. Plant only the herbs you know you will use for cooking and that you know will grow in your conditions. If exposure to the sun is at least five hours daily, you can choose from basil, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, thyme, and sage. If exposure is less than five hours, plant fennel, parsley, chives, lemon balm, mint, and chervil for better results. Be sure to keep your herbs watered, but not overly wet and use an organic fertilizer as needed.

Harvesting

using herbs

The best way to encourage the foliage’s production and dense growth is to harvest the herbs regularly. Frequent pinching and picking of leaves promote the plants’ lush and healthy growth. Deadhead (remove) the flowers to stop the herbs from seeding to prolong their growing time.

General Growing and Planting Guidelines

An essential part of growing herbs is understanding how they grow. They are very much like any other vegetables you grow, with a few small differences.

Most herbs need four to six hours of direct sunlight for maximum growth. Ensure that you look at your planting space at different times during the day and note where the sunlight hits the space. Trying to get the best out of plants that don’t receive enough sun is not going to be fun.

Decide on Seed or Starter Plants

Some folks like to grow their plants from seed, and if you have children in the house, starting from seed can be an exciting and educational exercise. If you choose to start from seed, do yourself a favor and get a seed starter kit. These make seed starting very easy, just follow the directions.

If you are not up to the task of starting seeds yourself, feel free to buy starter plants. This makes for less set up and less mess. The plants can be planted directly into the beds, pots or planters that you will grow them in.

Harvesting

Harvesting your herbs is not difficult, but it’s best to harvest different herbs in different ways. Knowing when and how to harvest is important. When it comes to harvesting, not all herbs are the same. For example, if growing basil, be sure to snip leaves from the top of the plant instead of the bottom. Herbs like mint and oregano are harvested by snipping off the leaves anywhere on the plant. Chives can be directly cut down to soil level if desired. Do a bit of research to know how to correctly harvest your herbs to get the most out of each plant.

Take the Plunge

If you haven’t grown herbs before, I suggest you take the plunge. For the most part, growing herbs is easier than planting a vegetable garden. You can plant a nice little herb garden that takes very little care from you to grow. No matter where you live, there must be at lest one of the suggestions listed above that will work for you. Just pick one and go.

Some Beauty Tips

DIY Herb Ideas
herbs on the table

Most of what we have covered above is relating to growing herbs to eat. Did you know that many herbs are reported to have therapeutic advantages for our skin? They can help by improving the skin’s cellular firmness, coloration, and health.

Here are a Few Herbs that are Beneficial to Your Health

  • Chamomile – Chamomile contains alpha-bisabolol, a compound that can diminish the formation of wrinkles. It heals skin irritations like burns and acne. Chamomile can be used as a face wash or in tea to drink. But use with caution, as it may not suit everyone’s skin.
  • Calendula – Calendula is one of the most effective herbs for dry skin. It has anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral properties, which considerably enhance the skin’s health. Carotenoids are present in Calendula. They are oil-soluble and work wonders for the skin. It heals inflammation, rashes, psoriasis, dermatitis, age spots, stretch marks, varicose veins, and warts.
  • Holy Basil – Holy basil is not the same as the more commonly known “basil.” Holy basil is a culinary herb with antibiotic and antifungal properties. It is also excellent for reviving dull-looking skin. It helps to soothe, heal, and rejuvenate the skin. As it is rich in antioxidants and Vitamins A and C, this herb destroys harmful free radicals and leaves you with beautiful skin.
  • Aloe Vera – Aloe Vera is called the “plant of immortality” because of the benefits it offers the skin. It has anti-inflammatory properties that can heal the skin. It deeply moisturizes the skin and can act as a protective barrier from environmental damage. It has beneficial enzymes that make it one of the best herbs for the skin. Aloe Vera treats blemishes, combats acne, and can cleanse dead skin.
  • Lavender – Lavender is used as a cure for eczema and acne. Lavender oil has a pleasing scent and is calming to the skin. It not only nourishes the skin but helps to eliminate bacteria. When bacteria penetrate deep into the skin, it causes pimples and flareups. Therefore, it is excellent for preventing and healing acne. The antioxidants and anti-microbial properties curb oxidative harm that causes the skin to age prematurely.
  • Ashwagandha – This is an alternative medicinal herb that is greatly beneficial for the skin. It is full of antioxidants that help eradicate free radicals that trigger dark spots, blemishes, fine lines, and wrinkles. It helps heal and prevent wounds and other skin issues with its anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and antibacterial properties.
  • Cilantro – This is a unique herb with a strong aroma and one of the best herbal remedies for skin conditions. It is packed full of antioxidants, iron, Vitamin C, and beta-carotene. It provides soft and supple skin. It works to cure the outbreak of acne. It is also a fantastic disinfectant and detoxifier.
  • Parsley – Parsley is a miraculous herb as it balances oil production, prevents skin discoloration, and lessens inflammation. It fights acne and helps diminish fine lines and wrinkles.
  • Horsetail – This herb has astringent properties that can make your skin firm. It can help deal with acne and outbreaks. It has a high silica content, a collagen component, which keeps skin youthful and supple, making it an excellent anti-aging herb.

Commercial beauty products can sometimes cause more damage to the skin than benefiting the skin. To attain optimal skin wellness, choose natural options. They can heal skin conditions and provide you with a natural glow. Just to make sure, always consult your physician before trying something new.

Whether you will eat them, drink them, inhale them, or use them in your beauty routine, herbs are a versatile plant worth the effort to grow. There are many herbs for anyone of any taste. They are great for Mexican cooking, Asian cooking, and an absolute must for Italian cuisine. Grow some herbs today!

Happy gardening!