Creating a beautiful landscape can be a challenge and expensive..... Right?
It doesn't have to be!
Of course, if you have a grand, gorgeous and extremely lavish landscape design in mind and you plan to hire an architect to design it and have it installed.....it can be expensive. That's for sure.
However, there are a number of ways to create a beautiful landscape that may rival the best of 'em, even on a budget, if you're willing to get a little creative, do a little research and to invest a little sweat equity of your own!
Creating a beautiful landscape involves creativity and, often times, some really hard work.
If you’re willing and able to do some, most or all of the work yourself, though, you’ll definitely save considerably on what labor would cost if you were to hire the work done for you.
Only You Know If You Can
Do-It-Yourself ... Safely!
First of all, though, only you know whether you’re experienced enough or physically capable of doing the hard work involved. Don’t attempt to take on a landscape project that requires heavy lifting, for instance, if you’re not in good physical shape and health or used to doing that type of work.
That’s a really fast way to throw your back out or to injure yourself in other ways, especially if you don’t use proper lifting techniques, etc.
Also, if you’re not familiar with the tools necessary to complete the project, or you haven’t used them before, now is not the time to learn unless you have someone qualified to help with the project and to teach you how to use them properly. I definitely wouldn’t recommend tackling a job that required using power tools, especially, unless you’re very familiar with using them and you take all of the necessary safety measures and precautions.
Like I said, you’re the only person who knows whether you’d be safe and capable of doing the job….. so it’s your call. If you’re not experienced or physically capable of doing the work safely, play it smart and safe by hiring a professional.
On the other hand, if you are qualified and capable of doing the job safely, or parts of it, and you want to invest a little sweat equity to create your dream landscape….. then by all means read on and get ready to get your hands dirty!
A Guideline For Most Homeowner Do-It-Yourself Landscape Projects
The outline below is not a step-by-step guideline to install any one specific landscape project. Rather, it's a general overview of things that should be taken into consideration and the preparations that a person should think about prior to starting most homeowner landscape projects.
Most of the tips apply to just about every homeowner landscape project. In general, the considerations, research and prep work guidelines are normally or often very similar regardless of which landscape project or projects you've decided to install.
Whether you decide to do a landscape project yourself or to hire a professional to do it for you, the outline below will give you an idea of several things to take into consideration when making decisions. You may find that doing-it-yourself is something that you'd really like to do or at least try.
On the other hand, after doing a little research and realizing everything that's involved, you may decide that it's very much worth the money to hire the hard work of installing the landscape that you have in mind done for you. Or perhaps, you'll decide to do part of the work yourself and hire some of the work done for you by a professional.
First Things First... Coming Up With
A Landscape Design
You may already have your dream landscape design in mind. If so, that’s great and your starting point, of course.
If not, some great places to come up with ideas are in landscape magazines, online landscape web sites or just by looking around the neighborhood. If you see something that you like online, print it out. In a magazine, cut it out. In the neighborhood, take a picture if your have digital camera.
You may end up with several ideas from different sources. That’s okay. It costs little or nothing to search for ideas this way and you can always narrow your ideas down later after you've had some time to look at everything you've gathered to decide what ideas you like best.
After you feel that you have enough ideas to put a design together for your landscape, gather all of the photos and information together and lay it all out where you can see the photos you’ve gathered. Keep the ideas that you like the best and eliminate the others.
If you decide to hire a professional, take the ideas and photos that you've come up with and gathered to the professional to use as visual aids of what you have in mind. Sometimes it's a whole lot easier to show someone what you have in mind rather than trying to describe or explain what you have in mind.
What's Your Focal Point ~ The Main Element(s) ~ Of Your Landscape?
One of the first things to decide is what the main focus in your landscape will be. Are you dreaming of relaxing out on your deck overlooking a babbling stream and pond? Or installing a lush, green lawn surrounded by groundcover borders with shrubs and foliage growing around the perimeter of your yard to give a neat, finished look?
Maybe you have a serene little cove area where you’d like to install a stone patio to create a peaceful seating area to escape to for relaxation or to read your favorite book on a lazy summer afternoon.
If you have small children, you may want to have an area where they can have fun and play next to an area where you'll be spending a lot of time tending and growing your favorite flowers or vegetables, as well.
At any rate, regardless of what you have in mind or how many different ideas you have for your landscape, decide what the main focal point or theme of your landscape will be first and then design around what's most important to you.
What Landscape Areas Or "Rooms" Would You
Like To Create?
Try sectioning off areas (in your mind or on paper) that you have available in your yard into outdoor areas or "rooms"..... much like a house has areas or rooms for different functions or purposes. These landscape “rooms” have different purposes, of course, but the concept is similar.
In last year’s landscape project at our home, we created areas for several different purposes. We installed a sand-set slate patio, accessed through French doors from our dining room, for entertaining and barbecuing outside overlooking the beautiful Pend Oreille River. Not far from the slate patio, we installed a slate firepit for fun on summer evenings roasting hotdogs and marshmellows. Next to the firepit, we installed a horseshoe pit where we spent hours outdoors visiting with friends and challenging them to a game of horseshoes.
Since we have a young son, we also created a sand pit play area where he could play with his trucks while I worked in my rock flower garden. Then, in between everything else, we installed sod to add the "green" to the landscape which made another wonderful area to play and to enjoy.
On the other side of the house, we created a slate and columnar basalt entrance walkway to the main door of our house and a raised yard area bordered by low-maintenance borders of groundcover and shrubs.
And, last but not least, we sectioned off and tilled up an area for a garden. That area isn’t quite finished the way that I’d like it to be just yet but someday…. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Anyway, after you decide what elements you’d like to have in your landscape you’ll have to figure out how much space you have for each and if all of your ideas will fit. Your area may be much bigger than ours was or it may be smaller. Take the time to measure off your whole area and then break it down into the sections or areas that you’d like to create for different purposes. Research and decide how big or small you want that pond or patio or play area ~ whatever it might be ~ to be and where you want each to be located. Use common sense, measure the areas off and mark them so that you can visualize where what will be when you complete the projects that you have in mind.
Take Your Time ~ Create Your Landscape In
Stages Over Time
If you don’t have the time or money to complete the whole landscape in one shot, decide what is most important to you, finish that area and then work on other areas as you get the time or save up the money to finish each project. Again, Rome wasn’t built in a day…..
What Landscape Materials Will You Use?
Okay, now you know what you want and where you want to install it. Now you need to decide what materials you’ll use in your landscape. There are endless choices when it comes to the materials that you can use in the landscape so this is very much a matter of personal preference.
There are man-made landscape products such as bricks, railroad ties, cement pathway pavers, decorative cement blocks for retaining walls, pre-formed pond liners, cultured stone….. the list goes on.
And, of course, there are endless natural products that are used, as well. Our projects tend to use a lot of natural stone because we produce and sell slate, columnar basalt and stone groundcover products and, well, we're partial to them! However, there are numerous natural stone products available and, just like anything else, when it comes right down to it it's a matter of personal preference and budget, of course.
Will You Recycle, Gather Or Purchase
Landscape Materials?
After you decide what materials you'd like to use in your landscape, you'll have to go about the business of getting them gathered and on site. You may have a lot, a field or a yard that is already filled with local stone that can be used. Or bricks and railroad ties that a previous owner installed that can be recycled. If so, that’s a great way to save money.
When a person takes the time to rearrange and freshen things up a bit it’s amazing what a difference that alone can make. And then you could add a new element or two to top things off.
If you live in an area where you can go out and collect stone or other landscape materials (driftwood, plants, etc.) on your own, that’s a great way to save, as well. Just be sure that you’re not trespassing and that it’s okay to do that first.
Garden clubs are a good source for plants sometimes. A member of a garden club in our area used to grow and sell plants locally, which was great. She kept her prices low because it was a hobby and something that she enjoyed doing anyway. And the plants purchased from her were already acclimatized for our area, which is important.
Decide On "Focus" Materials First And Then
Fill Around...
When buying landscape stone and other landscape products at a retail sales yard or a nursery, decide on and pick out the elements that will be the focus of your landscape first. Then move on to other things such as groundcover, sand, sod or other landscape materials that will fill in around your main elements.
It’s sort of like hanging a beautiful painting with gorgeous shades of blue as a main color scheme and an ornate gold frame on a large wall. The blue color pallet and the subject of the painting, as well as the gold color of its frame will determine what you would use to fill in the rest of the area around the main painting. You wouldn’t pick out something that clashes with the beautiful blue shades of the painting and its gold frame..... such as bright silver or metallic hanging candle holders with purple candles, would you?
The same concept holds true for the landscape. Try not to add something to your landscape, even if it’s a bargain, that would look totally out of place or that would detract from or may even ruin the look of the landscape as a whole. What you’d save on your bargain won’t be worth it if it ruins the effect of the dream landscape that you're attempting to create as a whole.
If you find a bargain that you feel you just can’t pass up, switch your strategy around a bit. Try picking out something else to use as the main focus or element that will go with your "bargain" landscape element. This way nothing will stick out like a sore thumb or look out of place. You may have to compromise a little bit but it's better than going to all of the expense and hard work only to be disappointed with the finished project.
So determine what the main elements are, whether you'll use natural or man-made landscape products, what colors you like best or would like to use and what the overall effect should be when you’re finished installing everything.
The salesperson at the retail sales yard, building center or nursery should be able to help you with this and may have some really good ideas, too. Be sure to ask for their opinions and advice. They may have an idea that solves your problem or that works perfect for whatever it is that you're trying to decide upon.
It's always a good idea to write down any questions you may have in advance, too. It's very easy to get side-tracked when looking at all of the different landscape materials and choices at retail sales yards, building centers or nurseries. However, if you have a list to refer to, it will help get you back on track so that you have answers to all of your questions by the time you're finished picking things out and making decisions. The more prepared you are, the smoother it will go.
Find A Step-By-Step Guideline For Your Project
A good way to get started on your project is to look for step-by-step guidelines either online (many landscape web sites offer free e-books and have newsletters or web pages set aside for step-by-step instructions on various landscape projects) or you can buy a landscape how-to book at your local building center, retail sales yard or nursery. It’s a small investment that will make installing your landscape project much easier.
Planning ahead is essential and having a step-by-step guideline for your project can pay off big time. In my opinion (especially for a beginner) it’s money well spent, especially if it prevents a crucial and perhaps costly mistake along the way when installing the elements of your landscape.
Even when hiring a professional, finding and reading through a step-by-step guideline of the project that you have in mind can be beneficial. It will give you an idea of what the process of your landscape project will be (in general) and what to expect (in general) when it comes time for the professional you've hired to install the project.
Plan And Design With Low-Maintenance In Mind
Another tip worth it’s weight in gold is to always plan your landscape project with minimal maintenance in mind. Using materials that cut down on landscape maintenance is crucial later on and will save you lots of time and money down the road in reduced maintenance work and cost.
For instance, a biggie is to always use a weed barrier under groundcovers in borders. Don’t neglect to do this just because it takes extra work and more money to install it. Even when you put several inches of stone groundcover down in borders, the weeds and grasses will eventually grow through the groundcover and take over again. All of your hard work will be for nothing if this happens.
No Cost Weed Barrier Alternative On A Tight Budget
A no-cost secret that my mother showed me several years ago can solve the ‘cost of a weed barrier’ problem if you can’t afford to buy a quality weed barrier right now. I still use her secret today, especially in my flowerbeds around perennials and around shrubs in borders. It’s simple. I save my newspapers and put several layers of newspaper down and then cover them over with groundcover.
If left undisturbed, it’s amazing how long newspaper will last as a weed barrier. And when it does eventually rot away in an area, just scrape the groundcover to the side in that area and put down some more newspaper. Cover over with the groundcover again and you’re good to go. It may not be the perfect, permanent solution (as in forever) but it sure beats weeding any day of the week! And it’s free or just about…..
As I said, I use newspaper around perennials and around shrubs even when I use a real weed barrier made specifically for that purpose. The reason why is that newspaper will let water through close to plants and shrubs so that moisture gets to their roots and it’s easier to overlap and finagle around the plants or shrubs.
I also use newspaper in places where the real weed barrier or landscape fabric has been accidently cut or torn. It’s great for patching those areas instead of having to buy another roll of landscape fabric just for a small patch or two. Remember it’s covered over with groundcover and never seen anyway so, as long as it does the job, it really doesn’t matter what it looks like under there!
If you have a professional install your groundcover's, etc., just keep the "newspaper fix" in mind for later on in case you need to patch here and there.
Prep Site Before You Gather Or Buy
Landscape Materials.....
But before you head out to gather up or purchase all of the landscape materials you’ll need for your project, you’ll need to prepare the site first, including an area where you can unload and store the materials that you’ll need for your project until you use them. This should be an area that’s convenient for unloading as well as close to the area where it will be installed, if possible, to reduce the extra work of packing heavy materials farther than you have to. And it should also be in an area where kids (or immature, fun loving adults) won’t be tempted to play on or around the materials….. just in case.
Some of the prep work may include just cleaning up the area, tilling sections that will become borders or flowerbeds and weeding other areas. Or you may need to spruce up other areas that are already installed that you’ll keep the same such as areas of existing lawn. You may have to remove sod in areas that require its removal and section off the different areas that you want to create.
Whether you do this prep work yourself or hire someone to do it for you, it's definitiely a time and frustration saver and well worth the effort when it comes time to start installing your landscape materials.
More Research And Preparation
Do some research about the project or projects that you have in mind to see what's necessary to prepare the site and get that work done first. Make a checklist of things that need to be done before installing your project. Make another list of the tools and materials required to complete the project. Then make sure your gather and do the items on the checklists to prepare for your project so that your ready to rock-n-roll when it's time to install the new landscape.
It may sound like a lot of work and it certainly can be depending on your project and the shape things are in to begin with. However, if you take it one step at a time when you have some spare time, you’ll get through it much easier. And you’ll be way ahead to get this work done and out of the way first.
If you hire a professional to install the landscape project for you, they may want to do the site prep work themselves or they may be thrilled to have this part already taken care of. If that's the case, they may give you a break on cost for preparing the site ahead of time, depending on how much preparation work there is to do and how much time it would take them to do it.
If you take the project on yourself, research and gather all of the tools that you’ll need. If you don't have all of the tools needed, borrow what you can and buy what you can't borrow. Recruit some help if you need it. Plan when your landscape work days will be around everyone's schedules so that you have the help that you need when you need it. Find out about and buy permits if they’re required.
Weigh Your Options And Make An Informed Decision
After you've done the research necessary and have an idea of some of the things involved in designing your landscape such as the prep work involved, what the steps of your project or projects will be, what tools and materials will be needed and what landscape products will have to be gathered or purchased. And you have an idea of how much help will have to be recruited and what permits have to be issued..... all you need is enough sunny days to get the work done, right?!
Well, maybe. There's a lot to consider, and probably much more than I've mentioned in this article, when deciding whether to do-it-yourself or whether to hire a professional. Some people are naturally good at this sort of thing while others will be miles ahead to hire this type of work done.
Knowing what you're limitations are and what you're getting yourself into ahead of time will help you to make an informed decision and hopefully a good choice that will suit your particular set of circumstances the best.
Doing-it-yourself can give you a great sense of satisfaction when your project's complete and you, as well as others, can see the fruits of your labor.
On the other hand, as I stressed at the beginning of this article, doing-it-yourself can become a real nightmare if you don't have the talent or ability it takes to do it right or safely.
So, in closing, my best advice would be to take the time to weigh all of the options and take everything into consideration before jumping in head first!
Regardless of what you decide, though, I wish you the best of luck with your next landscape project!
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