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Questions to Ask Yourself When Designing a Landscape
from: Lawn and Garden MagicThere are a lot of things to consider when you're designing your landscape. Creating your own design for your yard can be a very rewarding experience, but it's important to carefully consider your plans before putting them into action. Ask yourself a few questions and thoughtfully addressing the answers to help you make improvements to your design and this can also help you better plan on how to use the space around your home.
The first question you need to ask yourself has to do with your budget. Can you afford to make all of your planned improvements at once? Or do you need to create a plan of phases that can help you reach your goals one at a time. You should know how much money you can spend on each phase of your project and you might even consider what you'll do if you come in under budget. Will you buy a couple more plants? Add a more decorative retaining wall? You should try to set a total amount that can be used for your landscape and then stick to the budget.
A budget rule of thumb is as follows: costs of landscaping should be about 10 percent of the value of the home. This cost includes things like irrigation, fencing, decks, patios, ponds and any other element you would like to include in the yard. There's no need to pay this all at once, however; it's much more reasonable to improve over the years with ready money in order to leave yourself less encumbered by debt.
You should also ask yourself what the space will be used for. You need to think about what activities will be taking place and figure out how you and your family move through the landscape. This will help you determine where you walk most often and allow you to allow for this activity. You don't want to create a design that suddenly makes it more difficult to get to the mailbox or to get groceries from the car. Also consider where you'd like children to play and think about how you'll incorporate trees, fences, flower beds and other elements into the space without damaging its utility.
How does sunlight cover your property? This is a very important question as it will help you determine where to plant certain vegetation. You need to know whether certain sites receive full light (at least six hours a day of sunlight), partial shade (four to six hours -- this is also called partial light) or full shade (less than four hours). Determine which plants will go where according to how much light they will need.
Ask yourself what kinds of plants grow well in your area. You might really like how some succulents look, but if you live in a very wet area they might drown in all the extra water. Make sure you know what plants are native to your area and what plants are native to areas with a similar climate. Along with this, you should find out your soil composition. It's very important that you know what plants will survive in the soil in which you plant them, or whether you'll need to improve your soil with amendments such as crushed shells or organic compost.
Finally, ask yourself what you think would be attractive. You can do this by take a picture of your yard and then mentally adding plants. You can also sketch out what you think would work well and decide whether it really does accomplish the look that you want. You also want to ensure that the new landscape design is convenient and doable, especially if you'll be creating it yourself.
By taking care to ask yourself a few simple questions and honestly answer them, you'll find that your landscape design plan can be carried out more efficiently, with regard to effort, time and cost.
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