Category — Landscaping & Gardening

Designing Around Your Swimming Pool

If you are lucky enough to have a swimming pool in your own garden you can use it as the main focal point of your garden design project. With a few creative ideas you can come up with ways to make your pool the center of your very own luxurious spa, right on your doorstep. Even adding simple pool lights could help transform the whole area.

Dress Up The Surroundings

You can use a whole host of materials and ideas to add a bit of interest to the area around your pool. Planting will add color and structure, and by adding mulch around the plants you will give the whole area a neat and manicured look that will prevent weeds, too. It’s also very easy to select rocks and stones for their decorative effect, and you can place these amongst the planting. You can really go to town setting up the scene as you would decorating inside your home: this might be a wise investment if you enjoy spending a lot of time outdoors.

Setting The Furniture

How you place furniture and decorative items around your pool has a huge impact on the overall look and feel of the area. Each piece should therefore be positioned with care. You can accessorize with sculptures, planting, lighting and even soft furnishings to make the pool area even more enticing.

Add An Awning

You may want to consider adding a canopy over the main patio area: this will give you more flexibility to entertain even on days where the weather attempts to ruin your plans.

A Safe Perimeter

If you have young kids you will be particularly safety conscious: adding a locked fence around the pool can give you piece of mind and prevent accidents. There are many options open to you, depending on the style, colors and materials you feel would work best with your personality and the rest of your décor.

A Bit Of Privacy

Fences are also very useful to add a bit of privacy if the area is overlooked. This will help you relax while enjoying the pool area with your family.

A Place For Everything

As a pool owner you already know that the joys of enjoying a pool come with having to house quite a bit of kit for maintenance purposes. You also need somewhere to store your deck chairs in the off season. Don’t feel like you have to settle for unsightly plastic bins: there are plenty of options to choose from that can also be quite decorative.

Andrew Caxton is a journalist who has written more articles and newsletters on this subject for http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com. A website with tips on landscaping.

Have you ever been downtown at night, maybe attending a concert or sporting event and were impressed with the lighting along a park walk or on a fancy office building? Most of us, at one time or another, have experienced awe, comfort, serenity or relaxation at the sight of well-designed landscape lighting. Sometimes lights pointing up at the side of a tall building or low profile lights under plants along a downtown walkway can have a very powerful effect on you. Beautiful lighting can completely changing your mood and experience of events around you.

As far as our homes are concerned we tend to think about outdoor lighting in strictly practical terms. We have a light outside at the front and back doors and maybe a motion detector triggered light above the garage door. They are attached to the house or garage and are there just so you can safely see where you are going when outdoors at night.

But your homes outdoor lighting can be so much more than that. It doesn’t need to be just for seeing things at night. Properly done outdoor lighting can have a beauty and charm all its own and at the same time provide nighttime safety for your walkways and garden.

For many years savvy homeowners have tried to duplicate this beauty with landscape lighting in the yard around their homes and in their gardens. For the most part it has not worked out very well for the average homeowner. In the past most dependable landscape lighting systems were powered by standard household electricity (120 volt). It had to meet a strict electrical code and you had to have an electrician do all the installation and hookup. The connectors, fittings and bulbs all had to be heavy duty, waterproof and weatherproof. It was too expensive and outside the budget for the average homeowner. Those homeowners that followed through with all of that often ended up with a system that didn’t look right. A common mistake is to use too many lights, or put them in the wrong place. You don’t want your sidewalk or garden path to look like an airport runway. So doing it properly often meant hiring a landscape architect or a contractor who specialized in landscape lighting. Of course, that pushed the price up even further; and usually outside the reach of all but the wealthy.

Low voltage landscape lighting (12 to 18 volt), however, has several distinct advantages. Electrical codes are much less strict and because it is low voltage you don’t need an electrician to install it. You can buy an inexpensive kit and often install it over the weekend. Because it is easy to install and setup you can spend more time working on the light locations and lighting design and not worry so much about hiring a landscape architect to do all that for you. If you don’t like the light locations, you can change it yourself without too much trouble. You don’t need an electrician or designer to move it. One common problem with low voltage systems 20 or 30 years ago was the durability of the components. Back then low voltage outdoor lighting systems were often little more than toys. But today all of that has changed. The do it yourself low voltage lighting system you buy at your local hardware store is usually not only affordable, but durable as well.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Lighting

Choosing The Right Type Of Grass

Most American homes feature a lawn: whether it covers the whole backyard with a couple of flowerbeds or a much smaller area to leave room for a terrace, there usually always is a lawn to some degree. Before you start your landscaping plans in earnest you need to select a type of grass that will not only work well with the local soil and weather conditions, but also suits you in terms of how much care it needs to look its best.

The very first question you must answer before selecting a type of grass is: where is the lawn going to be? Both the shape of the lawn and its location will have a direct effect on the way the grass absorbs the water, and therefore whether it is likely to thrive or struggle. You need to know the answer to this question before picking a type of grass as you can get kinds that don’t adapt to certain conditions. The shape of the lawn, like whether it’s laid in a large square or narrow band, will also affect how easy it is to mow and care far, which again can mean selecting certain types of grass over others.

When it comes to picking the type of grass you may want to check the condition of your soil, which will tell you what nutrients are naturally presents. Combine with the local weather condition this will help you narrow down what type you should get. You can always add specialist feed to enrich the soil of your plot but you’re more likely to end up with a beautiful lawn if you pick a type of grass naturally adapted to the soil it’s planted in.

Local weather conditions will have a direct impact on what kind of grass is likely to thrive. There are types adapted to hot and humid conditions, hot and dry or temperate. It’s easy to be swayed into picking a grass you like the look of and not realize that it will probably struggle to survive if the region you live in does not offer conditions similar to its native environment. A good example is the very popular Kentucky Blue Grass: this is a great choice if you get enough water, but it will not do well if the weather gets too dry. Choosing a type of grass that is adapted to the local climate also mean that you can do your bit to conserve natural resources, as it may not need as much watering to supplement the rain it receives.

You can then add texture and height to your landscape by adding ornamental grasses: they can be very decorative and are easy to maintain providing you pick kinds suited to the local conditions. Check the size they can grow to so you don’t get over-crowded. Also note that it can looks better to limit how many types of grass you pick and group several specimen of the same type instead for a more imposing result.

There are many types of grass available to either lay to lawn or for ornamental purposes: if you pick a kind that is well adapted to the local condition you should end up with a striking looking garden as a result.

Andrew Caxton is the author of many articles on different web publications, with subjects like lawn care published online for http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com A website with tips on type of grass.

Literally adding warmth to your backyard setting, an outdoor fire pit makes a great visual and entertaining feature to your home. On the market, there are many different traditional units to choose from, some with price tags in the $10,000 range. Don’t worry about the cost, you may choose to build your own fire pit, which can be accomplished in two different ways. You could purchase a do-it-yourself fire pit kit or you can make your own fire pit by buying the necessary supplies separately.

Before you build your own fire pit, you need to make sure it is OK that you make your fire pit based on the laws regarding creating structures like this on your property. Once you have the green light to make your fire pit on your residence grounds, the next part is gathering up the necessary supplies. In order to build your own fire pit, you will need to comparison shop and price tools and materials, such as bricks, trowels, cement and shovels.

Built Your Own Fire Pit Directions

When you wish to make a fire pit in your background, there are several ways to accomplish this task. Below you will find one set of step-by-step instructions to approaching this fun and exciting do-it-yourself home improvement project.

1. Identify where you would like to make your fire pit and insert a wooden rod into the center of this location. To the rod, attach a 10 1/2 -inch string with a can of spray paint at the end. While holding the string tight, spray-paint a circle. Next, connect a 22 1/2-inch string to the same spray can and draw another circle. Using these guidelines, dig a trench that measures 10 inches deep and 12 inches wide.

2. Next, place 2 inches of gravel about the trench to create a lining. Tamp the gravel, making it firm to the touch. The gravel will then be covered with concrete that reaches ground level. Using a shovel can eliminate air pockets. Level this area with a piece of 2×4, followed by trowel smoothing. Allow the concrete to harden and then cover it with plastic. This should set for a couple of days with an additional week of open-air curing.

3. Once the concrete has cured, use water to create a mist and smooth out the mortar. Next, press a manhole block measuring 6 inches into the mortar, followed by another piece lying flush against the first. Scrap pieces of 2 x 4 can be used to keep the tops of the blocks in an even pattern. Leaving three equidistant 3/4-inch gaps creates air vents within your fire pit.

4. Continuing to build your own fire pit, you will dry-lay a second layer of 6-inch manhole blocks over the first. Mortar is not used during this step. The blocks should be positioned so that they are flush with one another. Internal edges of this second layer should line up with the bottom layer. A slight lip will begin to form on the outer edge.

Now you can start thinking about your own outdoor fire pit

In my last article on front yard landscaping I discussed laying out driveways and sidewalks as your starting point and how it could possibly help create the entire framework for your front yard design. So assuming that you’re to that point, we’ll move on to a few considerations of a major secondary element. Plants.

When choosing and setting out plants in the front yard or any landscaping for that matter, you need to consider more than just how things will look. You should also consider other factors such as sun or shade, duration of sun or shade, soil type, purpose, the elements, and what specific plants will require or do in the future. There are also a few other considerations such as how close to plant to the home and its foundation.

When setting out plants in the front yard, place small shrubs and bushes 4 to 6 feet away from the home. If set closer than this, they could be deprived of sunlight or rain because of a wide overhang from the roof. They could also get fried from intense heat reflecting off of the wall. Placed away from the home in a wider staggered row rather than a narrow row, they also add a 3d effect to the landscape that makes the home seem more substantial.

Another consideration that most folks don’t think of is the long term effects of planting around the foundation of the home.

Keep in mind the space that plants and their roots will occupy at maturity. Roots are a powerful force that can find their way through rock. They also don’t seem to have much trouble with foundations.

Most plants, of course, require water. Watering, and especially flooding plants and beds around foundations creates a potential for a damaged foundation. This doesn’t always happen but it does happen. If you’re going to have plants close to the home, spot watering individual plants, a drip system, or even a low profile spray is safer than flooding the entire area.

Lime leach from concrete is a problem that I see quite often. It’s such a common problem because it takes a long time to show up. Over time, lime leaches out of the concrete into the soil causing the soil to become alkaline. If the ph of the soil gets too high, plants will start to look sick and yellow. Usually, keeping the beds tilled with a lot of organic matter will buffer and prevent this problem. Adding sulfur and organics to beds that are already affected will help turn the problem around.

The main thing to keep in mind when setting out landscaping plants, along with how they’ll look, is what they will do in the future. Whether it’s front yard landscaping, backyard landscaping, or any other part of your landscape, keeping these main points in mind could possibly save you a lot of frustration and money in the future.

How many times have you gotten excited about a project and rushed into it only to find you forgot something? Landscaping takes considerable time, effort, and money … so you want to do it right the first time. There are a few, crucial steps you need to take before starting your landscaping.

You must first take the time to consider what purpose your front and/or back yard will have in your family’s lives. Do you want to sit on your patio and enjoy the birds and butterflies flitting around your flowers? Do you want to have a place where your children or grandchildren can play? Do you want a serene hideaway where you can read and enjoy the sounds from a water feature? Do you want all these things? Until you know how you will be using your yard, you won’t be able to decide how to landscape it to best suit these purposes.

Next (or throughout that thought process), clip pictures from magazines or the newspaper of outdoor spaces you find attractive, make you smile, or give you a good feeling. While not all these designs may be practical for your own yard, most of them can give you a target for what you’d like to achieve with your landscaping.

Measure your yard and draw it on graph paper. Play with ideas of how much space you would like for the kids to play or your hideaway spot. The graph paper will help you better understand the dimensions of your yard and how much is possible within that space. Allow plenty of space for the bushes or flowerbeds you want to use to separate various aspects of your yard.

Decide if you will be doing your landscaping yourself or hiring out some or all of it. If you will be using a landscaper, now is the time to present your ideas and let them design a realistic plan based on what you have drawn or collected.

If you plan to landscape yourself, collect catalogs from nurseries and visit a few of your local nurseries. You will want to start learning which plants, grasses, bushes, and trees do well in your area. Nurseries are great for seeing the actual plants, but they will usually only carry what is commonly sold in your area. If you would like a few unusual plants or variations, reviewing your catalogs will yield some delightful surprises.

The last step? Decide whether or not to follow these steps or if you will be wishing you had given your landscaping just a little more thought!