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How to get Started on your Landscaping Project
By Steve Jones
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You look out of your window and all you see is wide expanse of nothing but grass, but what you really want to see is a vista of attractive landscaping with colorful shrubs and trees. Or perhaps you're looking at a tangle of brambles and ugly bushes that have gotten out of control and you'd love to create an easy-care outdoor oasis.
Does this sound like you? If so, read on.
As with any project the biggest hurdle is getting started. And the biggest problem to that is know HOW to get started! Today, I hope to give you some inspiration to help you do just that: get started.
It all begins with an idea and getting that idea down on paper. It doesn't have to be a fancy architect-style blueprint, but if you have some kind of drafting skills, so much the better. Look at the Deeds to your property or get a long tape measure and sketch out the rough shape of the land on a piece of paper. You can just "eyeball" it at this stage if you have to.
Draw the shapes of the beds you'd like to see and where you might plant trees. Try several different layouts until you find a basic layout that appeals to you.
Formal or informal?
If your house has a distinctly "formal" look (such as symmetrical Georgian style) consider echoing that look with a formal landscape layout. This might include a straight path leading to a centrally-placed "island" with neatly squared-off hedges.
A less formal house design can inspire an informal landscape layout with curving pathways of irregular stone slabs winding between beds of shrubs that spill over the walkway in places and a hidden seating area amid a cool arbor of trees.
Now, go outside and translate your sketch to the real world. No, you won't need a shovel just yet. You'll want to layout your proposed beds on the grass before you start digging. A simple way is to use your garden hose or a long piece of rope. Lay the hose or the rope on the ground and move it in or out, forward or back, curved or straight until you've created a line that is pleasing to your eye.
My advice at this stage is to go to a garden center or a hardware store and buy a can of marking paint. This is a spray can designed only to work upside-down. You can find cans that dispense chalk instead of paint, but this is less effective if you anticipate wet conditions.
Does size matter?
A frequent error made by amateur landscapers is making the beds too small. Narrow, thin beds or tiny islands look goofy, particularly as the shrubs and other plantings mature and spread out. Trust me on this: If you're in any doubt, move that garden hose or rope and make the bed larger than you originally planned. Step back and take a look. Better still, find a way to look at it from a higher vantage point, such as a second story window.
If you're replacing plantings in an existing bed (or in a bed that you will reshape to a more pleasing layout) simply dig up and dispose of the old plants, being sure to get all the roots and other debris. Creating a "virgin" bed from an area of lawn takes a little more finesse.
Following your painted guideline, cut down about one-and-a-half inches and peel the sod back towards the center of the bed. Now you can do one of two things. You can remove ALL of the unwanted sod from the new bed and dispose of it.
Or you can firmly pack down the peeled-back sod (so it's all "green side down") and cover the entire pile with about 10 or 12 layers of newspaper and/or brown paper grocery bags. If you use this second method, you can leave it for a while for nature to kill of the grass for you, without resorting to chemical means. If you prefer using chemicals, send me an e-mail and I'll suggest some products for you.
Net time in this column, I'll continue with the theme of getting started with your brand-new landscape.
The Plant Man is here to help. Send questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org For resources and additional information or to subscribe to Steve's free e-mailed newsletter, got o www.landsteward.org.
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Simple Design Elements Help Avoid Landscaping Problems |
Getting started on creating your ideal landscape can be the toughest part. You can envision stately trees and lush beds of beautiful shrubs and perennials, but exactly how do you go about it?
I fully understand those feelings! In the previous column I described a painless way to plan your garden and to mark out the proposed beds with a garden hose or a length of rope before you dig.
If you missed that column you can find it archived at my Web site. Go to www.landsteward.org then click on the Plant Man heading and find the column titled "How to get started on your landscaping project."
Today I will review some elements of design and how you can apply these to your new landscape. In reality, of course, you need to consider these elements (and the plants you would like to include) at the planning stage, because this could affect the size, shape and location of your new beds.
Although the actual plants you select should take into account the "plant hardiness zone" in which you live, certain design principals are fairly universal. I'm sure we've all seen examples of landscaping where well-meaning but misguided homeowners have created something that…well, just looks "wrong." Maybe the scale relationship between the plants and the house looks odd, or the plantings don't seem to flow.
Here are some artistic elements to consider when you're planning your landscape: Color, Line Texture, Scale, and Balance.
One of the best explanations I've ever seen of how to use these design elements is titled "Basic Principles of Landscape Design," written by Dewayne L. Ingram of the university of Florida Extension Service. The article is online at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MG086 and you can click on a direct link when you find this column at my Web site. The article is packed with information and I highly recommend it.
Here is a brief summary of what Mr. Ingram says about these elements:
Color - A good start is a color wheel, available at art and hobby shops, showing primary colors (red, blue and yellow), secondary colors (the blending of primary colors, such as red and yellow creating orange) and so on. The wheel will help you decide if you want monochromatic, analogous or complementary color schemes.
Briefly, a monochromatic layout uses plants that are different shades and tints of one color, whereas analogous color schemes combine colors which are adjacent or side-by-side on the color wheel. Complementary color schemes combine colors directly across the color wheel.
You can also use color to change the perception of distance. For example, plants with cool colors such as blue and green, placed around a home's foundation, can make the house visually appear further back from the street.
Line - Line is the element that refers to flow or eye-movement. A straight line of plantings leads the eye directly to a point, whereas curved lines crate a relaxed, natural feel.
Texture - Texture is something you can see and feel. Textures might be rough or smooth, coarse or fine, dull or glossy. Smooth, glossy leaves seen against the rough texture of a stone or brick wall can be an interesting juxtaposition.
Scale - Often overlooked, scale is an important element to consider when choosing plants for your new landscape. Certainly, you're unlikely to want every plant to be exactly the same height, but beware of allowing one plant to overpower its neighbors.
Balance - Do you want the left side to be an exact mirror image of the right side? Or do you prefer an asymmetrical balance, using color, line, texture and scale? (See above!)
Above all, plan a landscape that appeals to your personal taste; one that you and your family will enjoy looking at and living in. As for specific plants, perhaps those that would work well together in terms of texture, scale and the other elements discussed here, I'm always happy to offer personal suggestions if you send a few details to steve@landsteward.org
Meanwhile here are two other online resources you might find useful as you plant your new landscape. As always you can click on direct links from this column at my Web site.
http://landscaping.about.com/c/ec/1.htm - Online landscape design course: 108 free e-mailed lessons from landscaping.about.com
http://www.khake.com/page80html - 100's of landscape planning links provided by the Vocational Information Center
The Plant Man is here to help. Send questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org For resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve's free e-mailed newsletter, go to www.landsteward.org
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Falling Leaves: Love 'em or Leave 'em? |
There's a reason they call this season "fall." Those leaves that look so beautiful as they turn from green to gold to crimson don't look so attractive when they've become a sodden carpet on your lawn.
So what should you do? Rake? Mow? Mulch? Or simply leave the leaves alone?
Let's look at the last one first. It's tempting to procrastinate and put off dealing with those leaves "because there are still a few that haven't fallen yet." Bad idea…for several reasons.
Freshly fallen leaves are light and brittle, making them easy to rake or pile up with a blower. Wet, compacted leaves are heavy, difficult to rake and almost impossible to move with a leaf-blower. Ignore the leaves now and your chore will be even harder later!
But there's an even more important reason: disease control. A carpet of wet leaves will prevent essential sunlight and air from reaching your lawn and will encourage various diseases to get a grip on your sod.
So we agree that keeping fallen leaves under control throughout the season is your best policy. What are your options?
Raking - Before I start raking the lawn, I try to remind myself to rake all the accumulated leaves out from the flower beds and around the various shrubs. It can be disheartening to survey your freshly raked lawn…and then spot the leaves, twigs and other debris you missed, lurking under your bushes! During the winter, the freeze-thaw-freeze cycle can cause dead grass and organic material to release soluble phosphates and nitrates that can run off frozen ground and enter surface water.
Mowing - If you start early enough, while the layer of fallen leaves is quite light and brittle, you can simply run the mower over them. With a regular mower, you'll probably want to make two or three passes to be sure you've shredded the leaves into very small particles. If you have a large area of lawn and a number of trees, you might want to invest in a mulching mower. This machine can shred leaves virtually into a powder. This has the added benefit of adding a natural mulch to your lawn while saving you the labor of raking and digging.
Composting - If you are serious about your landscape, you probably have a compost pile. If not, this could be a good time to start one. There are several helpful articles and previous columns on this subject archived at my Web site, www.landsteward.org where you can scroll through the columns under the Plant Man heading. If you have specific questions on this subject (or any other) feel free to send an e-mail to me at steve@landsteward.org and I'll send you a personal reply.
While you're doing your fall clean-up chores, remember to add those fading "leggy" annuals and any vines from your vegetable garden to the leaves in your compost so they can all cook together. Do not add meat or bones to your compost as you're likely to attract unwanted critters or your own pets. Diseased plants or clippings from a lawn recently treated with a herbicide or a weed killer should not go into your compost either.
Lawn care - Even if your lawn is completely free of fallen leaves, it still needs a little TLC at this time of year. Mow the grass so it is between two and three inches. Why? Grass that is much longer than three inches can mat and this can encourage winter diseases such as snow mold. Cut grass down to less than two inches and you can adversely affect your lawn's capability to absorb and store the nutrients it will need to come back strong next spring.
Fertilizing your lawn - If your lawn could do with a little boost, fall is a good time to apply fertilizer. As a rule of thumb, you'll need about one pound per 1,000 square feet of lawn. If you're a fan of organic solutions (as I am), send me an e-mail and I'll give you some details about an organic "turf tea" that I found recently.
If you mow 'em, mulch 'em or bag 'em, now is the time to work on those leaves. If you listen carefully, you'll hear your lawn sighing happily!
The Plant Man is here to help. Send questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org For resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve's free, e-mailed newsletter, go to www.landsteward.org.
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