Tag Archives: Yard

Landscaping 101: A Pond in Your Own Yard

March 28, 2024   Matt

Landscaping 101: A Pond in Your Own Yard

A pond is attractive way to enhance the landscape if your home and have l large area you wish to landscape. So what do you do? Consider an area where the pond would be attractive and practical.

Why create a pond, you ask? Ponds increase the value or your property, and would be a way to attract a prospective buyer. A well designed and functional pond also adds a peaceful effect to your yard. Ponds create an ideal ecosystem beneficial not only plants but wildlife as well. If you are fond of fish and water plants, a pond would be ideal.

This article will not go into details on creating your pond, but will furnish information about the landscaping aspect…

Landscaping your pond starts at the pond itself. Create a border by adding stones, plants and statuary that will create a great view. You should also create a walkway from your pond to your house. Access is important and easily accomplished by using stepping stones, etc.

Trees are both beneficial and harmful to your pond. Trees provide shade that will be good for your pond but they will also add to debris such as branches and leaves or fallen fruit The key is to strike a balance between the two.

Shrubs will also play a role in maintaining unity between the tall trees and the low pond. They will create continuity from your pond to the trees. You may also add some flowers to provide some color. Be sure to cut the off the old blossoms to prevent debris that can make your area unsightly.

Water plants are a must for ponds and should be added immediately after your pond has been finished. Use similar colored plants as their surroundings to create some balance and harmony between the two. Be creative and do some research on different kinds of water plants to use.

A finishing touch for a pond is adding some fish. Add them after everything else has been finished. Always select appropriate species of fish that will not out-grow the size of your pond.

Creating a pond for your yard will both be tiring, but the fun of creating it will be rewarding. Be sure that do regular maintenance to so it will always be free from debris. After all of your work is finished, enjoy your pond and marvel the harmony you have created in your yard.

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Useful Landscaping Ideas for Your Front Yard

August 31, 2023   Matt

Useful Landscaping Ideas for Your Front Yard

The front yard usually requires special attention since it is the part of the house that is seen most often. The beauty of your home can sometimes be judged by how well the front yard is designed. A cluttered front yard can say a lot about what can be found inside the home. A well-kept yet simple front yard design can say a lot about how a homeowner treats and gives worth to a property.

To create a beautiful front yard doesn’t usually require hiring an expert to do the job for you. Your own creativity can do a lot to brighten up your front yard. Your front yard doesn’t have to be just a typical patch of grass, the usual mailbox, or small pool for the kids.

Front yard landscaping ideas are available for you out there to help create that important part of your home look unique and more attractive. With a little creative thinking, you can have a front yard that everyone in the neighborhood will talk about.

A good landscaping idea that you can use for your front yard is creating an attractive outdoor living area on it. Some people may apply such an idea to their backyard, but it can also be a unique touch to any front yard. A place where you and your friends and family may be able to lounge around or sit peacefully in the backyard can already be considered as an outdoor living space. It can be as easy as placing a bench under a tree to act as a shade.

You may even want to make use of plants to surround the area to add a private touch to this part of your front yard. The space that you create can be a perfect setting for observing the daily happenings in your neighborhood or just peacefully while away the time reading a good book. This quaint outdoor space in your front yard can become a welcome extension to your home’s various living spaces.

Another way to put life into your front yard is by creating beautiful outdoor displays. Visually appealing landscaping in your front yard can make it all the more interesting. One way of doing it is by adding some visually stimulating objects that becomes a part of your front yard. This can be made possible by attracting a variety of interesting wildlife to come and visit your front yard paradise.

You may wish to add a bird house or bird bath in a good area of your front yard to welcome the birds to come by for a visit. You can also add some flowering plants in your front yard in order to attract butterflies that may help add some color and appeal. In so doing, you can help your own front yard spring to life, literally.

Adding up plants is one of the easiest and the best front yard landscaping ideas that you can use. Choosing the plants for your front yard would depend on how much time you can spend on maintaining and caring for it. If you do not have a lot of time to spend on caring for your newly landscaped front yard, you may choose to have more perennial plants for your front yard.

Perennials are plants that bloom year after year and require less time to maintain. Using them can be an inexpensive way to add to your front yard landscape.

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Landscaping With Rocks Will Spotlight Your Yard

August 11, 2023   Matt

Landscaping With Rocks Will Spotlight Your Yard

Taking a drive around town will reveal yards that look the same. Sure some may have beautifully manicured lawns and others may not but the overall look is the same, green grass, trees and flowers. If you’re longing to make your yard stand out from the acres of sameness adding some decorative rocks and stones will do the trick.

The addition of landscaping rocks will give your yard a style and character that most homeowners would love to have but don’t know where to start. The first step to adding some personality to your landscaping is to remove some of the grass. If you aren’t using your front lawn there’s no point in maintaining it and this will make your landscape unique.

Use a shovel or if you have access to one, use a tiller to break up the ground. Pull the rocks out of your way –these are not the kind of rocks we’ll be using for this landscaping project 🙂

While you’re digging, decide whether or not you have the proper drainage for your plants and flowers, if not, now would be a good time to add the appropriate irrigation system.

One addition that you can add to your front yard landscaping is to add a walkway. Having your guests use the driveway or worse, the grass, to get to your door is not the effect you’re after so think about adding a walkway. This addition will keep guests from tracking in dirt and other debris in to your home too.

One popular effect for a stone walkway is to stagger rocks all along the walk to your door. Make certain that when you do the final install your rocks are secure and they don’t move when they are walked on. To keep the rocks in place remove four to five inches of soil beneath each rock that you lay. Add a thin layer of gravel beneath the stone. This will keep your rocks and stones in place to ensure safety and stability.

When planning the walkway try to add interest by adding curves to your design. This will give your work a more distinctive yet informal look. Add smaller trees and shrubs top provide structure for your new walkway. And add some color with some easy to care for perennials. Perennials work well with a rock landscape because they are easy to care for yet they add beauty and color to the project.

Once the main plantings are in, you can start to add some smaller greens and flowers. You can add some greens in between the rocks in your walkway to fill in the gaps. Some people suggest that instead of using mulch to maintain the manicured look use river rock between the flowers. Both would work well it’s just a matter of taste and budget.

Now for the finishing touch –add some climbing vines that will wrap up and around your railing and front porch. Hanging plants can be hung from the roof of you porch or you can create a trellis for the vines and the planters. This will give it the finished look of a Tuscan garden. Decorative rocks are the final touch for this easy to do project and you’ll have a front yard that neighbors will envy for years.

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Landscaping your Yard

February 27, 2023   Matt

Landscaping your Yard

Fixing the outside of your home is just as important as fixing the inside. If you are landscaping the yard, it is not enough to just put grass on the ground. You should plant flowers, shrubs and trees.

The garden needs to be maintained so you should cut the grass and water the plants. For that, you will need to buy some equipment like an edger, hedge trimmer and a lawnmower.

If you don’t have time to do this, pay someone to mow the lawn or hire a professional that will drop by and do the work on a regular basis.

Ideally, when landscaping your yard, you should choose two or three colors for flowerbeds and use different plants. Don’t forget that they should compliment the overall look of the house.

It will also be nice to add a few other items like some rocks, a statue or even a fountain. When choosing these from the store, make sure you know which plants need more sunlight than the others. This will prevent you from buying the wrong ones and killing them.

You can also get other ideas to improve the landscaping in your yard by looking at magazines and online sites. It is also possible to incorporate something you saw while driving around the neighborhood because decorating is not rocket science. You simply need to have a little imagination and ingenuity to bring this idea to life. The important thing is that this should reflect your personality.

The best way to start this is by putting your plan on paper. You can do it even if you do not draw that well. Just use some basic shapes and put symbols on them.

Once you have set this up, what you have in your hand is now a blueprint so it is off to the store to buy everything you need.

Don’t be afraid to make some changes in the layout because this is normal when you want the yard to look at its best. You should also make allowances for the home’s porch and decks so you can hang plants on baskets.

The success of your landscaping yard will depend largely on nature. This is because you have no control of the weather. If it rains often, you should only use plants that are able to sustain so much water. The same goes if it snows regularly where you live.

Aside from water and sunlight, you may also need to fertilizers and other chemicals to keep the soil ideal for growing.

The pH balance of the soil should also be checked. This should be between 6 and 7 at all times because if it is below 6, this means it is acidic while anything higher than 7 means there is too much alkaline content in the ground.

Landscaping the yard will not be a bed of roses. There will be challenges like weeds, pests and even the neighbor’s pet. But if you are able to provide balance, you will be able to surpass these challenges and be admired by those who pass by your home.

Who knows? They could learn something from you and also do the same for their own front or backyards so everyone is able to learn a few tricks from each other and uses this to their advantage.

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Six Steps To Yard Sale Success

September 16, 2021   Matt

Six Steps To Yard Sale Success

It’s now officially summer and for many people, that means yard sale (or garage sale) time. Have a yard sale and get rid of all those things that you have tossed during your Spring cleaning “spree.”

Now that you have all of this “stuff,” what do you do with it?

Step One: Get it organized. Put books with books and dishes with dishes. You get the picture. All like items together.

Step Two: Write the ad for your yard sale and get it to your local newspaper and Recycler publication. When writing your ads and your yard sale signs, remember that the words that sell the best are “Collectibles” and “Everything Must Go!” Your yard sale sign should be written with a bold black marker on a bright yellow card stock. It really catches the eye and makes it easier to read. Don’t make the mistake of writing too small. Make your printing large enough that people can see it when they drive by. Add a large arrow – and don’t forget to put your address on it.

Step Three: Price your items. Some things like books and sweaters or other clothing, will sell better if you sell them as two-for-one or three-for-one. Create small cards to place on your set of books say, “3 for .00.” Now, aren’t you glad you already have all your books together?

Step Four: Set up your tables and other areas for your sale. Set up a table especially for smaller items such as jewelry. Antique dealers have a secret for selling small items: display them on a dark colored tablecloth. This shows them off better than light colors or bare tables. Also, sorting jewelry into individual baggies gives the idea that each item is special – even if it’s not!

Step Five: Ready, Set Go! You have everything ready so now you can sit back and rake in the cash. Well, not really. If you want to really sell, you need to join the crowd and talk to your customers. Make them happy. Give a toy to a child. Dicker over the price of an item. Throw something in for free and tell them, “The more you buy, the cheaper you can get it.” Your goal here (besides making money) is to get rid of your clutter!

Step Six: When the yard sale is over, don’t put everything that’s left back into your house. It’s tempting to save it for the next yard sale but you’ll usually just end up selling the same items over and over again. Take everything to a charity such as Good Will or the Salvation Army. That will make your yard sale a true success – cleaning out all of your unwanted stuff!

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Yard Fun In The Sunlight. Find out Exactly How To Reduce The Chance For Play Establish Injuries This Summer Season

February 22, 2021   Matt

Backyard Fun In The Sun. Discover Just How To Lower The Chance For Play Set Injuries This Summer Season

Currently that the climate is warmer as well as children are heading outdoors to play, it is essential for moms and dads to take some important precautions to develop a more secure yard play atmosphere. According to the U.S. Customer Products Safety And Security Compensation (CPSC), there were virtually 47,000 injuries to children under age 15 on residence playgrounds in the in 2015 researched. The chance of these injuries occurring-ranging from bumps and swellings to head trauma-can be lowered by complying with some basic guidelines.

” Absolutely nothing is more important than active adult guidance to implement the policies that will certainly assist stop a significant injury on backyard playgrounds,” claims Meri-K Appy, head of state of the not-for-profit House Safety Council. “Additionally, parents and caregivers ought to make certain their youngsters’s play set is age-appropriate and also in great condition-and that the surface beneath and around the tools supplies a soft landing if and also when their children do take a tumble.”

Backyard Play Set Safety And Security Tips:

1. Guarantee your play collection has appropriate appearing. Appropriate appearing is a vital part in reducing injuries as a result of a play set fall; nevertheless, it is frequently a forgotten yard playground security feature. Dust and grass do not supply the proper degree of padding. Instead, loose fill materials such as timber mulch, timber chips, fine sand or great crushed rock is recommended. The product should prolong at least 6 feet in all directions and depth must vary from nine to 12 inches, relying on the emerging type.

2. Ensure that your yard play collection is sturdy. Lumber strength is likewise a crucial element to play set security. Utilizing four-by-four corner articles will reduce the side-to-side sway activity that less considerable lumber might often cause. Also, see to it that you make use of A-frame legs to provide a firm footing for the swing beam.

3. Select a backyard play established that meets maximum security guidelines. Parents also wish to select play sets that meet ASTM (American Culture for Screening and Products) criteria. Although these criteria are voluntary, they can aid guarantee moms and dads that the play collections were created with safety and security in mind. One producer that follows these standards is Swing-N-Slide. It has introduced a cutting-edge new bracket innovation for play collection setting up called the Rapid-LOC system. This system features four unique braces incorporated with self-drilling bolts, which give protected anchoring for deck supports, four-by-four uprights as well as accessory light beams. The interlacing nature of the Rapid-LOC braces maintain the play system’s sustains tightly locked-even if a screw comes loose-producing a stronger backyard play collection.

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