Your backyard or outdoor space is meant to be a place for relaxation and an escape from everyday stress and obligations. With planning you can take your backyard and turn it into a backyard oasis that the entire family or friends will enjoy. So instead of packing the car for a vacation you can rest at home and save money at the same time.
photo credit: JAGwired

Creating a backyard oasis takes a little planning. What space is available? Do you have children and pets to take into account? Do you entertain a lot? And finally what will you budget for creating a backyard oasis? One basic idea to keep in mind during planning is making the most out of the space you have, whether that is a deck or balcony or a sprawling backyard.

Backyard Oasis Considerations

Children

photo credit: Emery_Way

Do you have children, plan to have children or entertain families with children? If this is the case you may want to choose landscaping that is easy to care for. High traffic from playing is hard on grass so choose a tough easy to care for turf. For flowers and shrubs you will also want study plants and you may want to check the plants to make sure they are not toxic if eaten. Often times you will need a nice shade tree for the children to relax under and possible it could house a fort or playhouse later on. Later considerations for children would be a play area. Will you be installing play equipment or a pool and will the land need to be leveled for these projects?

Pets

Pets add fun to any household but they can be destructive in the yard. Digging can be a problem along with the paths they make in the yard and cleaning up after bathroom breaks. To help with this you can set up an area of the yard to be the doggie play area. A bench, toys, a shady area and a

doggie-digging pit will keep you pet happy for hours. And the use of raised beds and container gardening will help keep your pets out of the flower and vegetable gardens. Rock pathways will help keep doggie mud paths out of your yard.
photo credit: bensons

Family size and use of the backyard

When children are around your yard has to be a tougher garden design to take the wear and tear of activity. You may decide to simplify your gardens and yard. A patio and graveled area for entertainment and play such as basketball area may also be in you plans.

But if you live alone or the family has moved on you may want to embellish or simplify certain parts of your yard. Maybe you will add the putting area for golf or a greenhouse or work shed area. You may want to add a larger garden area or put in a terraced yard. You may also decide to downsize and remove most of the grass. Adding a patio or deck add interest and beauty to a yard and create less mowing. You may decide to use small space gardening ideas and move your gardening beds closer to the house.

Maintaining a yard does take time and you may have decided you want to simplify the yard and just enjoy the quiet. Watching wildlife and sunrises will add daily enjoyment to any backyard. Planning and organizing you ideas will help you create your backyard oasis.

Climate

Do you live in an area where the weather and climate allows for outdoor entertaining most of the year? If so, an outdoor entertaining area or garden room would be ideal. The addition of a fireplace and outdoor bar area out would compliment the backyard.

If you live in a cooler climate like I do, you need to plan for a patio or balcony that could be enclosed during the worst of the winter weather. A sunroom is also a nice addition. Either of these will make you winter weather seem shorter. There is also a possibility for a pond to be used for ice-skating or the yard to be used for outdoor winter games.

What it all comes down to is what fits your needs for you backyard to be the garden oasis that you want it to be. I have two suggestions to offer. One is keep the costs down. There is always a way to trim costs without hurting a backyard project. And more important: Keep it simple and enjoy what you are doing. If your project turns into a nightmare it will affect the way you think about your backyard oasis.

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