Why a backyard oasis? With tough economic times and saving money being a top priority for many families this is the time to think about creating your own backyard oasis to chill out from your daily stresses. With proper planning you can make your backyard into a paradise that fits the activities of the entire family. You can even add a nutritional garden area to save additional money.

photo credit: zenera

One of the first steps in planning is deciding on what you will spend.  Many backyard accessories can be made or may already exist in your landscape. You can hunt at auctions or garage sales for any additional furniture, garden supplies or children’s play equipment.

The next step is to evaluate your space. It’s amazing how much you can fit into a very small area and still have a spacious feel. An area under a shade tree may become a place for children to play. Your patio can double as a family leisure area for picnics or camp outs or even be set up as a patio gardening area.

Plants add a relaxing atmosphere and seem to extend your yard. By arranging your plants in layers such as raised beds, containers, or climbing plants, you can grow upwards and save space and add privacy to your backyard oasis.

One more addition to any yard is water. Water tends to make people feel at home. Water fountains cover up traffic and neighborhood noise while small pools can contain fish, or be a place for the family to cool off on hot days.

With an enclosed porch or additional building you can extend the time you can spend in your yard. I have a small sunroom and a greenhouse that I spend hours in during my cold Northwest Pa. winters. It extends my spring and fall seasons by several months.

Backyards can also look beautiful and inviting even in cold weather. Many of my favorite childhood memories include bonfires and cookouts in January and February, our coldest months.

If you live in town or a city you may still have a patio, a deck, a room with windows, or an area by a garage that you can turn into your own private getaway. There are many renters who have rooftop garden and living areas that are a special and very inviting oasis.

Your backyard can be made to fit you and your families needs for family leisure activities, such as sports, gardening, and entertaining. Make this season the time to create your own backyard oasis.

Indoors or out, plants in pots and containers have certain uses and needs. With proper care both the plant and potting container will last for years and add beauty throughout the entire year.

photo credit: hello-julie

Planters: Where to place your plants

Where you place your plant in a room or on patios and balconies create an impact upon the atmosphere and ambience of the area. Your first concern with potted plants is the amount of light or lack of light the plant requires. The plant care tag will help you with this or garden shops and online plant care websites.

Once you know your plant needs it time to place the plant for the best visual effect.

Tall, potted plants will create a quiet reading corner or add privacy to an office space. They can be used as a divider in a room or to hide a problem area in a room.

Hanging plants can provide a screen for a bathroom or bedroom window. They will also create a room barrier and fill bare corner with color. Add an herbal hanging container to you kitchen and harvest fresh herbs for cooking all winter.

An orchid may add tropical appeal to a patio or other living space. To give a more rounded and lush look near the orchid add two or three small potted plants around the orchid planter.

photo credit: magic_bee

Avoid placing plants in heavy traffic areas or small spaces. They will add a cluttered feel to these spaces and interfere with traffic flow.

Make sure that plants placed on tables or in other conversation spots are not too large. This will interfere with conversation and give the area an uneasy unbalanced feel.

Potted containers.

Pots and containers are often overlooked when selecting a plant and adding to the atmosphere of a room. Many feel any old pot will do. But selecting pots for color and décor adds to the room and to the beauty of the plant.

Regardless of the decorative appeal, a container with good drainage is a must for an interior plant. Indoor plants have more of a problem for plant disease if the soil cannot drain properly

Place a saucer underneath the container to catch the run off water before it leaves water stains on your tables or reaches your floor. Saucers with pebbles place them will keep excess water away for the plants roots and add humidity around the plants. This humidity is beneficial to the plants and people.

Polystyrene peanuts will keep the container light in weight, increase your drainage, and
decrease the soil needed to fill the pot. This is particularly important in hanging baskets and larger potting containers that can get heavy. Outdoor balcony gardens will also benefit from lighter planters.

Baskets and decorator pots are available at home improvement stores, gardening centers, auction houses and garage sales. You can also paint or redecorate or planter and pots to match your décor. And if you are in a creative mood you can make a hypertyfu one of a kind planter.

Plants and planters add to the atmosphere and health of your home. And with creativity in the choice of plants and planters you can add change to your rooms on a weekly or monthly basis, indoors or out.

Technorati Tags: backyard oasis, hanging baskets, indoor plants, plant containers, planters

With busy schedule most families keep today, it’s easy to let your backyard get that “wild out of Control” look. You don’t seem to notice how bad it looks until you are pulling in the drive or take a look at it from the neighbors yard and wonder who lives there!

photo credit: JulieFinestone

Here’s how to clean up your backyard and get it back under control.

Clean up the weeds, leaves and shrubs.

Grab your garden tools and a wheelbarrow and start first by cleaning up the fallen leaves. You can also pull out the weeds growing along fences and the sides of your house at the same time. If you have a compost pile add the fresh material into the pile.

Next trim your shrubs with a garden trimmer. For a nice trim its best to step back and take a good look at the shrub. Remove any damaged or diseased branches. After that you can trim the top and sides. It depends on what type of shrub I have on where I dispose of the cuttings. Shrubs with leaves go in the compost pile for the garden areas. Evergreen shrubs are put in a pile to be used for mulching material around shrubs and trees.

Mow the lawn and trim the edges

After the leaves, weeds and shrubs are tidied up, its time to mow the yard and doing any neglected backyard trimming. Mow your lawn on a low height setting to trim down the grass. This will let you get a good look at the lawn area. Get your weed whacker out of storage and edge any fences, sidewalks, drives and shrubs and trees.

This is when I look at the difficult trimming areas and decide if I will be creating mulch layering in these areas.

Clean up the clutter.

Start eliminating the clutter by placing any tools and belongings back into the garage or a storage shed. If you need more storage space, organize your existing space or buy building or small storage shed for your backyard.

If you have an item in your backyard that has sat in one place waiting to be fixed or used one day, wither fix it or move it on. Someone else will appreciate that old doghouse that has not been used in years or the canoe hidden in grass.  And yes, it’s hard to part with those “I’ll do it next week” projects.

Landscape your backyard.

If you feel you backyard needs made over just take a few minutes and sit down and take a look. What would add comfort or ease to the backyard? Is there a certain plant or tree you have always wanted. Do you need more room to entertain or would you like to make the yard easier to maintain?

Install paving stones to make a path or a few new trees and shrubs will give a new look to the yard quickly. Put a bench in your backyard for reading relaxing or to enjoy the garden area.

By adding new landscaping and creating areas in your backyard you will add interest to the yard.  You will also find yourself spending more time enjoying and taking care of backyard projects that will keep the yard clean and tidy.

Technorati Tags: backyard clean-up, backyard landscaping, backyard oasis, backyard projects, clean up backyard

When backyard design is mentioned most people expect a time consuming project that will cost a small fortune.

photo credit: byrdiegyrl

But with the use of mulches, small plants or shrubs and garden art you can redo small sections of your backyard in a day.

If you divide areas of your yard into sections you can work on one section at a time to create mini gardens or garden rooms. Using this system the entire backyard will not be torn up and you can work with a small budget. You will also be able to enjoy the backyard while projects are underway

This you tube will show you five ideas for small backyard landscaping design ideas they used.

These ideas may give you a start for redoing you own backyard oasis or creating one.

I liked the use of mulch and stone in the video to create an easy to take care of patio area. I also like the use of small plants, mulch and less grass.

When planning your new small garden areas decide what is important to you and incorporate those ideas into your plans.  This may be a mini patio, reading room; children’s play area or a work area.

There are two ideas to keep in mind when planning your backyard projects.

1. Design the areas with change in mind. Will your children be growing up or will you be starting a family? Should the recreational area be downsized? Will you be adding a pool or removing one in the future?

2. And the last idea to keep in mind – is to keep it simple. With proper planning you can have a beautiful lush backyard oasis without spending the entire weekend working in it.

Technorati Tags: backyard design, backyard landscaping, backyard oasis, small backyard design ideas

The winter months when yard work and gardens slow down or come to a complete halt is the perfect time to plan small space design ideas.

photo credit: jessicareeder

There may have been areas of your garden and backyard what did not work as well as you intended or that just need an overhaul. I myself have noticed that when I make better use of my space I also have less work, and although I like working in the garden I also like relaxing too.

So what can you do to improve the use of your backyard and garden space?

• The patio can serve as an entertainment area and children’s play area. Add storage benches to tuck away children toys and games when not in use.
• Have a foldaway picnic table or have a movable table that can be used in another part of the yard.
• Switch to vertical gardening, raised bed gardening or container gardening to make use of small spaces, patios and hillsides.
• Look at areas near the house or garage to see if there is space that could be used that is setting unattended.
• The use of a hammock that be put up or down, tents for the children, mini wading pool, or a badminton set can add hours of entertainment but all items can be taken down or traded to make use of small spaces.
• Use small furniture in the backyard. It will give a feel of more space.
• Tall plants will soften corners and add depth making your space feel larger.
• Add night-lights and lanterns to extend your time in the backyard. The evening will add a new feel to your area and a feel off space. If you stagger your lights in layers you will also add the feel of more depth.
• Use an online landscape planner or grab graph paper and lay out your backyard Make cutouts of the shape of your home, trees and any other backyard item. Move around your cutouts to see if you can make better use of your available space.

Most important, take time and think back to last summer. What worked in the yard and what did you miss or was a bit disappointing. This is the time to make plans and add comfort and atmosphere to your backyard oasis area.

Last year I noticed I needed to redo the patio area and make it more of an extension of the indoor living space. I also want to add more night lighting. So these are winter planning ideas I will be concentrating on for better use of my small space backyard and patio.

Technorati Tags: backyard design, backyard oasis, backyard winter planning, small space design, small space design ideas