For some people, a house is not a home without a garden. If you feel the same and just bought a house that doesn’t have a garden to meet your desire, then you’re probably itching to start planning how to transform a naked lawn into a beautiful landscape teeming with plants.
It takes careful planning to make the landscape design you have in mind into a reality, as it can take years for all of the plants to fully grow in the way you want. Otherwise, the plants will start dying before they even get close to what you want them to be.
Take your time to prepare before you start buying garden supplies and natural elements. There’s no need to rush as you’ll have plenty of time in the process to make sure you checked every important detail. Here are some things you should consider when planning for your home’s landscaping.
Know what you are starting with
First, you need to know the state of your yard and certain conditions about the earth — things like measurements for your garden, soil conditions, exposure to the sun through the day, wind patterns, and shading.
In addition, you should think about the regional climate throughout the year, since you wouldn’t want to start planting something that cannot grow in your area. Details about soil and climate greatly help in knowing the plants that will thrive, the water level needed and certain improvements to make sure they grow full and lush.
Set your budget
A realistic budget makes it easier to design a garden that you can achieve. To help ease the costs, you can ask for plants from your parents’ or friends’ backyard and then buy the rest.
Instead of buying your own supplies, you can opt to borrow some or get hand-me-downs, and only purchase everything else that you need. List all the things you want and need for quick budgeting and then work out what you can borrow vs what you need to buy.
Also, don’t be afraid to outsource some of the work. If the price is right and the contractor is reliable, hiring a company for some times or specific work is as an option.
Maintenance
How much time and extra money do you have to make sure your garden receives regular maintenance? You just can’t leave your plants after the initial landscaping is done, not unless you like the look of a wild garden or dead plants.
So think deeply about the time and budget you can provide, so you plant a garden that has a level of maintenance required that matches the time and resources you can put into it. This will influence the type of plants you need to buy — for example, if you travel a lot or frequently have a busy schedule with little time to squeeze in for gardening, then you can opt to hire a service provider.
Design the garden
Lastly, it’s time to design the garden that fits your location, your time and your budget. It should be something you like and makes you happy to see every day. Just like with your list of things to buy, the design should be as detailed you need it to be.
From plant structure and garden ornaments to drainage and irrigation, pay attention to the detail — it will help in the long run. Apart from sketches, you can give landscape design software a try. The landscape design software Structure Studios lets you create your desired outdoor living space in 3D and high resolution.
Landscaping is a fun thing to plan, create and maintain. It might be a rollercoaster ride, from choosing the flowers that will flourish into a color palette to working with arithmetic for the right budget, but the time, effort and other resources are surely worth it. And when the garden is completed, it is as if you’ve never been away from nature.
Do you have a garden?
