Whether you’ve just acquired more land than you’re used to or you’ve never had a garden before, landscaping is an important part of keeping a home’s front and backyards looking impeccable. You don’t have to be the son of a farmer or have the world’s biggest green thumb to manage your gardens. Here are some useful landscaping tips to help you get started.
1. Have an idea of what you want from your backyard
Do you want space to grow your own produce? Do you need a space for the kids and dogs to play? Whatever it is you want from your backyard, make sure you have a clear understanding. It’s easy to commit to a landscape design when you know what you want to achieve.
2. Start small
If this is your first garden to maintain, don’t start too big. The project can be overwhelming and you’ll struggle to keep it under control. If you have a large yard, start in sections. Set up the kid’s play area before you move on to planting your fruits and vegetables.
3. Live with what you’ve got
Live with the yard and gardens you have before you jump to any conclusions about what you want and what you can manage. This way, you’ll have a better understanding of how much time you can reasonably dedicate to maintaining your garden. You might realise that there is only time to mow the lawn and water some plants and you might need to give the hedge maze a miss.
4. Work on the basics
Start by getting your basics right. Define your lawn edges and make your garden and yard look tamed. Remove any weeds, unwanted plants and trees and mulch existing plants you’re planning on keeping. Also consider laying a new lawn. Sometimes a lush new lawn is all it takes to brighten up a yard. Don’t forget to prune and tidy up any existing hedges and plants!
5. Work around a focal point
If you’re starting with a large garden sculpture, make that the focal point and work from there. If it’s not a sculpture it could be a beautiful large tree or plant. It’s something that draws the eye there and helps it move through the landscape.
6. Focus on scale and pacing
Scale and pacing is what gives your yard a pulled-together look. It will be tricky for beginners to perfect the first time around as you’ll need to work with variations in size, shape and colour.
7. Have patience
Patience is key to perfecting landscape design. If all of that bare space is too much to look at, and the kids and dogs are tracking in mud, rely on temporary solutions like fast-growing plants or shrubs. It will take a while for your garden to grow and look full and flush, so give it time.
