Are you ready to concur
your yard and build your dream landscape?
Whether its a simple dream with flower beds or
an extravagant yard wrapped with luscious vegetation, beautiful décor, and
professional look, begin your complete landscape transformation today.
First things first, figure out what you are
capable of doing on your own and what your limitations are to determine how far
you can go before you need to call for help. Your project map will include;
your style, elements that fit your skill level, starting with a clean work site,
running your ideas by a professional, cost considerations, flexibility, and
evaluating your time and financial investment. Secondly, determine your edging style, if it is creative concrete edging that will last a lifetime or more, have that installed prior to beginning your project. Your edging expert Creative Edge can help you lay out the rest of your project.
Mapping out your project
1. Determine your style
Many do-it-yourselfers, have taken
pictures or cut images out of magazines to summarize their dreams and provide a
visual of how they want everything to turn out. You may consider creating a
file with all your favorite items all together so you can use it a foundation
for your plan. Your current landscape condition and extent of your desired
outcome, may determine how much you might or might not be able to accomplish. Some
people may be content with a few changes to what they already have, like adding
a few new beds or landscape edging surrounding their lawn. Some might focus on
simple landscapes which include optimizing existing landscape elements. These
two categories easily fit do-it-yourself landscaping. Others wanting to
maximize square footage with numerous shrubs, complicated flower and garden beds
surrounded by extensive creative edging, having plenty of complicated tasks
requiring some heavy lifting to prepare for the extensive project, might want
to include a professional landscape architect as part of your plan.
2. Evaluate your skill level
Do your friends say you have a green thumb and that they are
jealous of your grace and ease making your yard look so beautiful, or do you
find that you just can’t get it right? At whatever level you find yourself
determine if do-it-yourself landscaping fits. Research is a good place to
start, if you find that you can envision your yard changing and see yourself
completing many difficult projects, if you are familiar with different soil
types, plants, shrubs and gardening, then do-it-yourself landscaping may be
just what the doctor ordered.
3. Junk the junk!
As you lay out your project the first thing on your list
should be getting rid of extra clutter, undone projects and extra pieces, that
may stand in the way of completing your ideal landscaping transformation.
4. When to seek professional advice
If you are determined to go it alone, you may consider at
least running your plan by someone that has done something like this before, or
a landscape professional, to make sure you have the pieces in order and can
plan for any gotchas that may pop up.
5. Budget considerations
Some landscape elements may vary in
cost due to changes in items used, they could even cost less than you
originally planned or you might encounter adding things you didn’t plan on that
will drive your costs up. To figure out what fits into your budget, map out
each section separately closely scrutinizing items used, then put it all
together for a final tally. If you have included a landscape professional in
your planning stages, consult with them to help determine a cost baseline to
work from.
6. Be patient
Many people are impulsive and buy on emotion, you may have
found yourself in years past buying that beautiful flower pot, those
landscaping bricks, or that beautiful lattice, and over the years looking back
saying to yourself, why did I buy that in the first place. Having a methodical
approach to your landscaping project will help you lay out exactly what you
want and how it will make you feel. Remember it is art that you are working
with, only this is not a piece of paper you can just wad up and throw away.
Evaluate each element and how it will work with everything around it. Be
patient especially in the planning stage, and do everything one step at a time.
7. Plan to be flexible
Planning may not be the end all, as you begin your project
allow for additions that may come along that work better. In your planning
stage include some flexibility with each area of focus so as to be able to
incorporate something you come across that you really love. You may kick
yourself if you just plunge in and finish your project with blinders on then
realizing after the fact that you would have liked to include….. You may
however want to sit back down and make sure the new feature fits with
everything on your plan before adding it in. Having a flexible approach to your
dreams will bring it all together in your beautiful art landscape.
8. Plan out your investment of time and money
Developing a plan requires that you put real elements in
place along with numbers to realistically project your investment of time and
expense. Decide how much time you can devote and establish a dollar figure you
are willing to invest to make this project a reality. Stick to your plan, pay
as you go so you don’t end up working at it for the rest of your lives and then
working to pay off the credit card for years to come.
