Landscape Planting Plan tips

 guest writer  No Responses »
Nov 182010
 

Guest Writer: Keith Markensen

In order to plan your landscape accurately, you should have a drawing board, ruler, tape measure, paper, and patience.

A flowering shrub costs less than an evergreen, and in my opinion can achieve equally marvelous effects.

False Cost Estimates

Once you have studied the techniques of landscaping you will be able to guard against making false cost estimates. Here is a typical example of how many people go wrong: The novice would be “professional” home landscaper says to himself, “The distance across the front of my house is 40 feet – the ten plants to plant there cost me $75. Therefore, to go all around my property would cover 300 feet and this would cost approximately $550 plus dollars.” He shakes his head and resigns himself to a half-planted garden.

You will soon learn that such a method of estimating costs is inaccurate. In the first place you must try not to enclose the entire property; secondly, plants in the back yard will be given much more space in which to develop; finally, the plants in the back yard for the most part will be or should be deciduous.

Thus, a fine planting for your entire landscape even including a generous allotment of trees need not cost $550.

Installment Planting

If your budget cannot stand a large initial expense, there is no reason why you cannot spread costs over several years by installment planting, that is, setting only as many shrubs and plants as you can afford each year.

Because you will have made an overall plan, you need not worry that this gradual approach will result in a haphazard garden. As long as as you adhere to your sketches and plans you will eventually have a beautifully landscaped house and garden.

Be Original

Study of landscaping principles makes it easy to avoid imitation. You will arrive at your own firmly grounded convictions, and will be able to judge features common in your neighborhood on their merits, not on their popularity. Some you will like and incorporate into your garden. Others will seem pointless and you will ignore them without hesitation. You may discover (a) that traditional methods are often obsolete, and (b) a different and less expensive garden will in the long run be better suited to your family’s needs.

Therefore, you should eliminate any pre-set ideas you have about how a garden should be designed. As you go through the planning process, you will find that some of your ideas were good and should be included.  Forget any erroneous ideas and strive to be original. Substitute new ideas you have gleaned from the reading, visiting other gardens – even public gardens and look at new commercial landscape projects.

In a few years your house will be a stand-out in your neighborhood. In fact, you will soon realize, as I have many times seen, that your neighbors are beginning to copy you.

More knowledge, more power, and more success will show in your garden areas when you better understand the subject of landscaping and a preparing a landscape plan.

Posted by Denise at 4:09 pm  Tagged with: , , , ,

Landscaping a slope with a small retaining wall

 backyard design  No Responses »
Nov 162010
 

A stone retaining wall is an attractive way to make up the difference in grade. It gives much more character to a garden than a terraced slope does. When properly laid out it takes the average terraced slope and gives it an artistic flair. Believe me, with by yard I know all about slopes and trying to make them more manageable.

But there are two questions to ask before starting a project of this size. Is it a design addition that you will want to live with for a long time and what, if any zoning restrictions will apply to a retaining wall?

If the stonewall is the project you want to undertake for your home, climate is your next concern.

A wall, shelter or outdoor fireplace made from brick or stone set in mortar will not stand up in Northern climates unless it is on solid concrete footings. These footings need to go down below the frost line. This can make the wall too expensive for many properties. I live in a zone 5 climate so I have to plan for the effects of frost when creating any outdoor hardscape design.

Provided the drainage in the soil is good, a dry stone wall – one without mortar can be set on a footing of coarse gravel or crushed stone 8 to 12 inches deep and 15 to 18 inches wide. Good drainage in the soil usually means more sand and less of a clay base in your soil. If need be add sand to your mix. This is the style of stonewall I am adding to my home.

If you need a footing, dig a trench for the footing deep enough for the lowest course (layer) of stone in the wall to be buried 2 to 3 inches below the lower grade. For best appearance, build a wall of flat-bedded lime or sandstone from 2 to 4 inches thick, with an occasional thicker piece to avoid monotonous horizontal lines. Always place the bed or grain of the stone horizontally and level, with the trimmed face showing.

As you lay each course in place, to a tight line running the full length of the wall, use a straight-edged board and carpenter’s level to make the courses level. Fill in with earth packed firmly behind each course. Set every fifth or sixth stone with a short face to the front so that the length of the stone goes back into the bank as an anchor.

Note: For safety’s sake, do not build a wall like this over 30 inches high. And for the top layer use broad, flat stones set in concrete mortar. This is the part of a wall I like creating the most. I look for unique flat rocks that will add flair and personality to the wall. I have interesting shapes of flat rock nearby, many with fossil designs.

The rocks set in mortar may crack if the wall heaves from frost, but they will settle back in place afterwards. A good footing should help prevent this or make the problem much smaller.

Also, for strength and river rock landscaping, it is a good idea to build the wall with a slight lean toward the back of 1 to 2 inches for each foot of rise. This will help prevent the rocks from moving forward from frosts or settling.

And as a final consideration is when planning the steps, build the steps into the wall as it is put up, rather than setting them in later. The steps and wall will work together and there will be no hidden surprises. For the steps, have each tread all of one stone, if this is possible, and wide enough so that the step above can overlap the one beneath by 2 to 3 inches.

I mixed stonewall with wooden tiered steps that were 13 foot long. It gives the slope a mixed feeling of stonewall and terraced garden. The steps are dived in the center with a matching wood rail. And the wood raised terraced garden is carried in other areas of the yard and gardens.

Posted by Denise at 12:39 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Landscaping the steep slope or grade

 backyard design  No Responses »
Nov 142010
 

Slopes and grades in the landscape can create a challenge for the backyard landscape and homeowner. Grades in the landscape can create a beautiful finished backyard design but need proper planning.

As a general rule of thumb grades of over 5 percent are too steep for comfort or for best appearance. They are difficult to mow and often have problems with grass and rutting. I know from personal experience.

Where there are differences in grade on a small lot you should put in steps and a terraced slope.  Or a retaining wall could connect the two levels. With a retaining wall you need to plan for the wall to be sturdy. And check for any construction regulations in your area before starting the project.

The most comfortable steps for a garden path have a 5-inch rise and a 14-inch tread. A 6-inch rise and a 12-inch tread will also work. Anything steeper can be uncomfortable, particularly if it has a rough surface. It’s also wise to include a handrail with any stairs. You do not know who may use the steps and what weather conditions may be, so offer your guests the security of a handrail.

Terraced slopes seem to work best if you use a rise of 1 foot in a 3-foot area, particularly if a power mower is to be used. If the banks are too steep to make grass cutting easy, it is much better to plant them with ground covers. My front yard has such a slope and it has one terraced area near the top were I planted shrubs and perennials and added a set of stairs. The lower section has ground cover with perennial groupings and decorative rocks.

Note: Ground covers add instant beauty to a yard. They can help prevent erosion and cut back on mowing difficult areas. And these perennials come in a wide variety of color, texture and season flowering. But, as with all plants, they can have drawbacks and with ground covers you have to check for invasive spreading. Read the rowing tags and instructions well and ask at the garden center when you buy the plants.

You may also want to consider using heavy mulch or crushed decorative rock in certain areas of a slope. In my area I can find free pine needles and wood chips for free. They add a rich base to a slope to build on.

The main concern when landscaping a graded yard is to simplify yard work, prevent any runoff flooding and to make the area safe for family and friends.

If properly planned a yard with a steep grade can be turned into a beautiful garden area that can be enjoyed. Many slopes have incorporated gardens, plants and a place to relax in the design making it a useful addition to the home and garden area.

Posted by Denise at 9:52 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Organizing Your Garden Shed

 guest writer  No Responses »
Nov 122010
 
Guest writer:  Susan M Adams

The worst thing about gardening in my opinion is not my weedy garden, or a bed that needs replanting, but rather the fear I have about entering my cluttered dingy garden shed. What makes it worse is the last minute fall pile-in of tools, pots, extra bags of dirt, muddy hoses, etc. If a well ordered garden shed is conducive to efficient weeding, then I have to admit to less than perfect gardening efficiency.

For me, the thought of trying to find a dry pair of gloves and a rusty pair of clippers is enough to make me stay in and watch re-runs of Ellen all day. The only solution to my perpetual horticultural procrastination due to garden implement disorganization, is quite simply a garden shed organization.

But how do you go about organizing your gardening stuff? Well, it may be hard to do, but the first thing you need to do to get things orderly and organized is to totally unpack your shed. Take out the rolls of wire would only be useful for fencing in a horse and a few cows (unless you have livestock, then it’s alright), remove the 12 cans of designer stain that have long ago separated because you left them in the shed all winter and they froze. Throw out everything that can’t be used, give away anything that you haven’t used in a year.

Now that you have gotten everything out of the shed, it’s time for a thorough cleaning. Maybe even a fresh coat of paint on the inside will brighten things up and keep the spiders from weaving webs in every eave and corner. You can also use this time that your tools are out to fix up any problems, tighten the wheels on your lawnmower, and oil up any gears and hinges.

Before putting items back into your shed take the time to add shelves and or hooks. Although an assortment of three inch nails hung your father’s gardening tools, times have changed. In my opinion, those nails are an invitation for spiders to create string art in your shed. Go to your local hardware store and purchase some proper hooks. The hooks are inexpensive and sturdy and plastic coated. Proper hooks and shelving are a worthwhile investment.

Now you can put everything back into a better organized shiny clean garden shed. Knowing that everything has a place, and that you’ve gotten rid of the stock pile of broken tools and cracked pots, will make gardening such a easy chore now. Although it might seem like a lot of work to reorganize and fix everything up, it will be well worth it in the end.

About the Author:
check out garden sheds to read more about garden shed ideas.
Posted by Denise at 9:38 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

What To Do With a Run Down Garden Shed

 guest writer  No Responses »
Nov 102010
 
Guest writer: John A Moore

Over time garden sheds need repair. I would say that a decent garden shed only has 12-16 years before it is in need of replacement or a good over-haul. The exception to this rule are perhaps garden sheds that were originally built like residential structures and treated the same over the years.

Many factors are involved in deciding whether to fix or replace your old garden shed, including your budget, how much you like your current shed (in good shape that is), whether it suits your purposes, and whether it suits your house style.

I was faced with this very question twice this past summer. My own garden shed was a crooked disaster and my mothers much larger garden shed leaked like a sieve. With my mothers shed the answer was simple. She had a very large shed with a loft. The walls seemed straight enough. It would be too much work and expense to tear it down and rebuild. Furthermore, it would have been a lot of work and it was too pretty to replace. We decided to tear off the roof and tear out the flooring over the joists and replace both. The total repair cost was $550.00

Our shed was a different story. Our shed was hidden around the side of our house and really out of view of the house or the back deck. It was approximately 3 feet by 8 feet and about 6 feet tall. Like my mother’s shed it had board and batten siding made out of wide planks. We knew both the roof and floor including the joists and sills were rotten. We thought we had a complete rebuild on our hands.

Our first step was to price out the cost of a building a replacement. We made a list of all of the material we would need and it came to $550 plus 13% tax. One of us a remembered seeing a really cute shed at 50% off in the same price range. We figured we might as well save the time and buy new if that was at all a possibility. After a bit of searching we learned that we could get a smaller ugly resin shed for $650 plus tax. The idea of buying new was shelved.

After thinking for a bit more, we decided that perhaps with a bit of extra work, we could save money and also save the old character, by recycling the siding, and building the structure new. As it turns out, this was quite a bit of work, but we saved over 50% on the original material estimate, and we ended up with a brand new old shed, which won’t start sagging for many more years. We are both quite pleased with the final look, especially saving the old aged board and batten siding.

In both cases we were dealing with homes that were over a century old and we felt that the sheds really needed to match the older aesthetic of the houses. In both cases we decided to keep the wood that was salvageable and rebuild the roof, floor, and in our case, the frame. We ended up with 2 very pretty sheds and I think we managed to keep both budgets as low as possible. There are many factors to consider when faced with a garden shed in need of repairs. Do your homework and figure out various budgets. The right answer for your garden shed will become evident.

About the Author:
Look for more interesting ideas about garden sheds at this garden shed website, where you’ll find lots of great information on backyard storage sheds.
Posted by Denise at 4:44 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
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