The landscaper must decide whether deciduous plants (those that drop their leaves) or evergreens should be used in the foundation planting. Your taste and your climate will be the key factors. But remember that a mixture of the two is rarely, if ever, desirable – although an evergreen ground cover can well be used with whichever type of plant you decide on. Indeed, such a ground cover might be even more useful and effective around deciduous material than around evergreens. It will keep the planting from looking sparse and bare after the shrubs go dormant and drop their leaves.

Seasonal Changes

Deciduous plants grow much faster and larger than most evergreens so you need to know more about plant habits generally to use them properly. As to which type offers the greater interest throughout the year, it may surprise you to learn that the deciduous plants lead. In many parts of the country such plants go through four seasonal phases in each of which they take on different characteristics.  Read more...

Outdoor living space is important to many people and they want to extend the time they can spend on their patio or deck once summer starts to wane. A good way to do this is to purchase a patio heater that will keep the evening comfortable on the back porch or deck into the first part of autumn. There are several other options for outdoor heating as well such as outdoor fireplaces. There are many options for heating outdoor living spaces that will allow utilization even when the evenings turn crispy and cool.

Heating units used for outdoor heating can be fueled by many different substances. They can burn wood. They can also use electricity or natural gas or gain power by the use of propane tanks, gasoline or kerosene. There are many products on the market today that will heat up the patio or a back porch that can be bought in different stores.  Read more...

If you are considering building a pond you will want to be sure to include some quick tips for making it a successful adventure. This is one of the easier DIY projects that a person can take on and get done in a reasonable time frame. However, it will go faster if a person has done their research, has the correct materials and tools, and has the plans to complete the project.

Many people don’t think about it, but ponds are not just different sizes for aesthetics. The size of ponds is dependent on what is going in the pond. Decide before starting what will go into the pond that is being built. A Koi pond will take more effort putting in but these fish provide hours of fun and live for several years when they are taken care of properly.

Goldfish, garden, and waterfall ponds do not require the size that a Koi pond needs. But the smaller a pond is the less fish and fewer plants will be able to go into it. The only type of pond that can be small with no regrets is the waterfall pond which does not have plants or fish in the pond.  Read more...

If you’re a Northwesterner or a Northern Californian, put those dreaded memories of spring flood conditions behind you. Determine now to make this the year for a topnotch garden with bright flowers, finer shrubs and greener lawns.

Make this a year of changes. Dont be content with the same old flowers of yesteryear. Take a good look at the flower seed stands at your neighborhood seed store and select lots of those brightly colored packets.

One way to prevent your garden from looking just like every other garden in the block is to select some of the less familiar annuals.

The “big three” – petunias, marigolds and zinnias – may be planted heavily, but at the same time be adventurous and try plants such as the exotic bells of Ireland, linaria and nemesia (especially good for covering a bed where spring bulbs are planted), appealing dwarf dahlias, fast-growing cosmos for hedge effects, and mixed gourds for their wonderful harvest of curiously shaped fruits in the fall.

The cool weather annuals such as calendula, sweet alyssum, larkspur and nasturtium, can be sown in the open ground now. The seeds will germinate quickly if the ground is kept moist.  Read more...

It is considered the fact Pine Straw mulch is a sustainable, renewable resource, it’s so great and lightweight to work with pine needle and looks very attractive. Young seedlings can grow through pine needle, water can filter down through it, the ground can breathe and yet pine straw still holds in moisture. It lasts far longer than other similar materials and pine needle won’t shift off with the first big rain.

In fall mulching with pine straw has an significant role since temperatures in the late fall to winter months can change radically. The ground heaves as it freezes and thaws, forcing the root systems of many fragile plants up from the soil and exposing them to the elements. Nearly all plants are much healthier when they have a layer of pine needle mulch spread over their roots.  Read more...

After a long season of spring and autumn, usually branches from trees, bushes, vines and plants scatter every where outside of your lawn, garden and porch. It is indeed a headache to clean up and it does take time. It can take a whole week for you to tidy up all the mess the seasons have brought.

Well, truth is, there is. You can either hire someone to do it for you, which of course costs big bucks; or you can do it yourself with help from some construction tools. The second option seems more budget friendly of course. There are now construction tools made for such task and it also can help you in other ways besides clearing those branches such as to create mulches for your flower beds, potting plants, ground cover and starting camp fires. It really saves you time from cleaning up and gives you more time to be with the family and do whatever you want to do.

This handy tool is called the chipper shredder. It is one tool among the many construction tools that can make your life and work load easy and fast. So what is the chipper shredder?  Read more...

Big or small you can make your yard a place of beauty and harmony with a small pond. By employing a little creativeness and some money saving techniques you can experience a one of a kind central point that won’t break your bank.

Keeping It Clean

Use an aquarium vacuum that you can purchase at any pet store or pet area of a department store. This simple tool is fundamentally a long hose with a broad based suction head to travel over as much area as feasible while being comfortable to manage. This ought to be done once a week during the summer months. You will need to replace the water you take out during cleaning.

Add a waterfall or other water freshening to keep algae down. A waterfall or aerator adds oxygen to the water which is beneficial if you want to maintain fish in your pond as well as to cut algae levels. They also help keep the water circulating and temperature lower to evade an algae bloom that will make your water green.

Light It Up  Read more...

Everyone’s home could use a little landscaping and if you want to do some landscaping you are going to need to have the proper landscaping equipment around in order to do it. There are a few integral pieces of landscaping equipment that you simply cannot do without. There are other pieces of equipment that are great to have but not absolutely necessary. And some of the landscaping equipment can be quite expensive. If you are going to be doing something that is not one of your regular landscaping jobs then you might want to consider renting some of your landscaping equipment rather than spending too much money to buy it.

Some of the popular kinds of landscaping equipment that many people have without even realizing that is what it is are things like fertilizer spreaders and other applicators. These are not thought of as landscaping equipment sometimes but that is in fact exactly what they are. Do you have this kind of landscaping equipment? DO you use it? If you do not use these applicators you should start. By using these kinds of things you can make your yard so much prettier and healthier. Your lawn will be lush and full and you will not suffer from the weeds that plague you any more.  Read more...