Masonry and Hardscapes – The Path to a Beautiful Yard

Masonry and Hardscapes – The Path to a Beautiful Yard

While the trellis covered with roses is still a beautiful hardscape for the yard, intricate hardscapes now enhance the appearance of your yard and the curb appeal of your home. Hidden gardens with statues, seating and masonry create interest areas but also places for a peaceful retreat.

Stone and masonry add their own dimension to the colorful surroundings of the yard and garden. If you don’t have a flower garden or blooming bushes, the masonry becomes the accent of color in what would otherwise be a drab appearing yard.

Imagine the peace and tranquility, which comes from sitting in your quiet yard and listening to the sounds made by pond with a waterfall. Water features made with combinations of natural stone and brick create a peaceful environment and take you away from all the troubles you experience throughout the day. The addition of brick pathways to this miniature paradise that’s a pleasure to the eyes, the senses and the spirit add continuity to the focal point of this type of hardscaping.

Masonry patios are not only interesting and add to the beauty of the home, they are functional also. The addition of stone and masonry turns unused space of the backyard into a valuable addition to the worth of your home. An outdoor fireplace or fire pit is not just a focal point for your yard but provides a place where the family gathers and friends feel comfortable.

Another popular item that many backyard patios include is a gourmet kitchen. Outdoor cooking is far more sophisticated than simply bringing out the charcoal grill. It now includes more modern cookware with stone countertops and built-in refrigerator units. These outdoor cooking areas make trips to the kitchen unnecessary. Imagine putting on your food in the oven and sitting back in a comfortable chair soaking in the beauty of Mother Nature and your back yard. These types of outdoor kitchens are now becoming more popular than ever.

Retaining walls and decorative walls not only enhance the focal points of the land but also bring an air of elegance to the entire landscape. You can highlight small garden areas by raising them above the lawn and enclosing them with a retaining wall.

Adding drama to the front yard with a stone or brick walk way and large bricked entryway gives additional value to your home while providing an area to display gardens, potted plants and statuary. It also ensures that the water drains properly away from the home and helps prevent soil erosion as it does.

If you live in a dry warm area, brick walls and heavy masonry create wonderful sun shelters and help absorb the heat as they radiate coolness back toward your home. You’ll find these types of walls help to keep your home cooler when the weather is unbearably hot.

No matter what your weather or location, you’ll find that adding hardscapes to your home improve not only the value of the house, it improves your enjoyment of it. It helps turn a place to live into your own private retreat.…

Tools of the Trade – The Art of Landscaping

Tools of the Trade – The Art of Landscaping

Tools are important to any artist who is aiming to create a work of art. A painter needs his canvass and paintbrush, and a blacksmith needs a hammer and anvil. In the same way, any landscaper (or enthusiastic amateur aiming to beautify his garden or lawn) needs important tools to be able to make a beautiful lawn. For any landscaper who is serious in his calling, he will need the following tools.

SHOVEL – The shovel is the basic tool in any landscaping job. In order to mold the soil, dig holes to plant flowers and trees in, or to remove rocks and debris from your garden, the shovel is your best friend. Whether it is the shovel (large one) for bigger jobs, such as loosening a large patch of soil or clearing away debris, or a small shovel for digging around planted materials, cleaning away small rocks or any other more refining jobs around the garden, make sure never to attempt any landscaping without it!

WHEELBARROW – If there is salt and pepper, and bacon and eggs, then you can be sure that the perfect landscaping tool partner is the shovel and the wheelbarrow. Use a wheelbarrow to be able to transport tools and planting materials faster and easier around your garden.

CUTTERS/PRUNERS – This wide range of sharp tools (shears, saws, mowers, clippers, etc) is perfect for trimming, pruning and cutting away unwanted plant parts from your garden. They allow for a cleaner look to your garden, and even help plants grow quicker and healthier because they cut away parts that are diseased, dead or not blooming. Usually trimmers and shears are used for smaller jobs, while saws and clippers are used for larger ones.

RAKES – For cleaning up plant debris (loose and dead leaves, uprooted weeds, etc), the rake is your best bet. Not only is it clean and quiet, it allows for easy storage. It can also help in spreading mulch around flowerbeds and vegetable patches. However, the best use for rakes is to allow a person to collect a leaf pile big enough to jump in!

WATERING IMPLEMENTS – If you have a small garden, then it is more practical to use a watering can. You will be able to control the amount and flow of the water that you will be using. However, for larger gardens, you will want to use a watering hose to be able to reach all of the plants with less effort and hassle.

LAWN SEEDERS – While not a very essential tool, it can help you if you want to plant a lot of seeds at one time. The lawn seeder can help save a lot of time and effort when putting in planting materials.

So for those who want to embark on a landscaping project, make sure that you have at least the first five tools mentioned above to make all your moving, digging, cutting and watering work easier. If you have these five tools, you will be able to make your dream garden a reality in no time!…

How to Start Your Own Landscaping Business

How to Start Your Own Landscaping Business

If you love the outdoors, then lawn care is a great business to be in. It allows you to be outside and enjoy nature and make money at the same time. It will also allow you to meet other people who share your love of the outdoors. Working at a lawn care company may seem like a dead end job, but the sky is the limit when you own your own business. When you start working for a company, try to learn everything you can about everything. It’s also important to start saving money as soon as you can. You will need money to buy a lawn mower, weed eater, and leaf blower. Later on, you will need edgers, and many other pieces of equipment. Also, a pick up truck or a box truck can be very helpful.

Transitioning into landscaping from lawn care is rather easy. There is a lot to learn, so it’s good to get a few years of experience mowing lawns and pruning before you decide to expand. Cutting grass (lawn care) is a good place to start, but landscaping is far more profitable. Depending on your area, you can make twenty to thirty times more doing landscaping. You can learn almost everything you need to know from experience or low-priced ebooks online.

With every lawn care customer, you should begin dropping hints as soon as possible. Make suggestions about how things could be improved. Make suggestions about what plants can be planted and what other things can be installed. Also, search for what plants can be replaced.

This industry has a lot of job security. You have to understand that landscaping is a necessary evil. not be scared to charge high prices for your service. Many people have high paying jobs that only give them a little time off every week. Maybe they don’t want to cut the grass and prune the bushes every weekend. Their time is more valuable to them than the amount of money they would pay to have someone else do the work. And, many upper class neighborhoods have home owner’s associations that require every house to be landscaped properly. You don’t want to violate a city code by not upkeeping your yard. An unkempt property can lower the value of the properties around it, so this is understandable.

Believe in yourself and you can do it. With a little hard work, you can hire employees to do the mowing while you stay in the office and schedule more appointments.…

How To Start Your Own Gardening Business

How To Start Your Own Gardening Business

Gardening is one of those things that some people feel really passionate about and get lots of pleasure from and so many people probably think about turning their hobby into a cash making machine by starting their own company. But doing this for a job is very, very different indeed from doing gardening in your own small garden at home, so if you are thinking about this please do make sure that you are making the right choice. I would not recommend anyone to try to start up on their own doing this unless they had plenty of experience working in this area for another company.

But having got the disclaimer out of the way, this can also be a very nice way to make good money. Of course everyone would dream of taking on the grand landscaping jobs and spending much of their time doing design work and so on. For some people that may happen, but when you are first starting out as a new business you need to take whatever work that you can get and that often means lots of simple but labour intensive work that might not be very exciting.

One example of this would be lawn care – not too glamorous but it is a good way to get enough work coming in for you to make a living from and it is not difficult to do. Even someone with no experience could do this, which as I already said is not the case with landscaping.

The first thing to do is obviously to pick out a good name and get all of the legal stuff and paperwork out of the way. If you do want to do the garden design and landscaping as well as the more routine maintenance type work then you should have something to show the client. Ideally that would obviously include examples of your own work, but to start off with it could just be pictures that show the type of thing you can do and give inspiration. You can look through these with your clients when you first go to meet them and discuss what they want.

When you leave a happy customer one good tip is to leave them with a few business cards and ask them if they could pass them on to any friends who might need work done in the future.

If you do good work, and put in the effort behind the scenes to keep your company running, then you stand an excellent chance of being successful.…

Do it Yourself Landscaping Ideas – For Those Who Would Rather Do Things on Their Own

Do it Yourself Landscaping Ideas – For Those Who Would Rather Do Things on Their Own

It’s nice to know that people are becoming wiser these days, especially when it concerns their finances. Instead of opting for someone to do the job, people are now realizing the need to do the whole thing on their own because this is their best way to save their cash and to get the look that they personally would like to achieve. Now, for your do it yourself landscaping ideas, this article will guide you through the process for you to be able to jump into the whole thing with ease.

Nevertheless, before you go any further in knowing your DIY options, it is worth knowing what landscaping actually means. Well, this is the art of arranging the features of the grounds within the house in order to improve the property.

In planning some landscaping ideas that you can use, it is vital that you consider some factors first. Above anything else, comprehend the manner that your yard will be used. Do you have pets that can ruin your designs or are you living with kids who can get hurt by not-so-kids-friendly option? By thinking about these factors, you can help to narrow the list of possible designs which you can opt for. Considering the manner on how the yard will be used can make your space more personalize. If ever you desire to spend your time with family and friends on your yard to share a good barbecue and laugh, choose a landscape design that will give you the space to move around with ease.

Basically, discussing do it yourself landscaping ideas here is a very complex topic which will take lots of page in this article. But if there is something that you must consider is the factor which is written above, in which you are asked to consider the purpose of the place that you intend to decorate. Here are some of your options in different conditions:

1. Designing with Kids- In case your kids will roam around the place where you put your landscaping prowess, be sure that you will not use sharp object that may hurt your little bundle of joy. Consider as well that you will not place any poisonous plants and flowers because kids may pick them out, put into their mouths, and you can figure what will happen next.

2. Pets Trouble- When you have pets to consider in your landscaping idea, be reminded that animals can be too playful sometimes thus you may want to get away from using fragile tools or you’ll suffer from having them broken. Also, be sure that the landscapes are sturdy enough so as not to be destroyed by any outside pressure.

3. Pissed by the Season- The seasons in your place is another consideration when picking that garden design you can opt for. In case you are living in an area that usually rains, be sure that your landscape can go with the demands of time. This way, you can prevent yourself from doing untimely fixes.…

Landscaping Tips For Your Swimming Pool

Landscaping Tips For Your Swimming Pool

When you think of a backyard swimming pool, what picture comes to mind? Do you imagine a simple, rectangular pool in the middle of a span of plain concrete? A swimming pool does not need to be merely utilitarian; pools can be as aesthetically interesting as they are fun. The key to an attractive, exciting pool area is to make sure that the pool and the environment surrounding it fully complement each other.

When planning your pool area, there are three key ideas you should keep in mind: beauty, safety and convenience. Here are some ideas on how to achieve all there in your backyard pool area:

Lighting

Outdoor lighting can make your pool area seem festive and inviting. Whether you want tiki torches, string lights, or underwater LED lights, make sure your pool and yard are well-lit. Not only does lighting create ambiance, it is also an important safety feature. Proper lighting reduces the chances of a family member or guest tripping or falling into the pool. You can also accent lighting to draw attention to special design elements, such as statues or water features.

Plants

Plants and rocks are great landscaping elements around a pool. They can help swimming pool truly blend in with its surroundings, almost as if it were a natural space. However, it is very careful to choose your plants carefully. For example, a flowering tree may be very beautiful, but do you really want to have to worry about having to constantly sweep leaves and petals out of your pool? An evergreen, on the other hand, will look nice year-round, with minimal maintenance requirements.

Fencing

Fencing is absolutely necessary for any pool. Not only will it preserve your privacy, it will also prevent any accidents which could arise from neighborhood children visiting your pool unattended.

Gazebos

Not every moment that you spend enjoying your pool environment will actually be spent in the pool itself. Gazebos are not only beautiful; they also add a convenient, shady place for you to relax and enjoy your time outside. Add a table and chairs, and you have the perfect outdoor dining spot.

Masonry & Paving Stones

It’s a good idea to cover the ground around your pool, to avoid muddying the ground and getting dirt and grass into the water; however, plain poured concrete is not your best option for ground cover. Masonry and natural paving stones are beautiful additions to your landscape, and also very practical. For one thing, these materials are generally not the bright white of poured concrete, so they will be less harsh on the eyes in the glaring sunlight of summer. Also, materials with textured surfaces will not become as slippery when wet as a smooth surface would, and will reduce the chances of someone falling.

When it comes to planning the design for your swimming pool area, the possibilities are unlimited. Flip through some design magazines, talk to a landscape designer, and get started on your own personal oasis.…

Why The Romans Got Paving Right

Why The Romans Got Paving Right

An incredibly smart way of making your property look great is to put in some garden paving. Paving is usually referred to as stone structures which are used as a floor or an external feature. There’s a vast range of different materials which you can use for garden paving and you can achieve some great effects with them. This can be seen if you visit any British town that was once home to the Romans. The Romans were early adopters of the method of having securely installed bits of paving laying on top of a base aggregate. A number of these roads and paths are still in use across the British Isles so it just goes to show how resilient the technique is. The technique of laying paving hasn’t changed much since the days of the Romans as the method is so effective. Despite this the number of different colours and types of materials that are used in paving has developed over the years.

There are lots of different sorts of hard landscaping materials you can choose from now a days. To have a red brick look on a driveway a lot of people decide to use block paving, that is made up of various coloured bricks placed in patterns across a driveway. You might be more interested in using an aggregate. You can find both resin bonded aggregates and resin bound aggregates that allow you to achieve a gravel look without having to put up with the problems associated with loose gravel. You can get aggregates in a wide range of different colours from the wide variety of stone colours to the more unique sparkling gold and silver effects. If you’d like a truly unique look then you may be intrigued by aggregates that glow in the dark and react to light. For a more traditional garden paving look there are the typical concrete patio slabs that can be laid easily. Some people might be interested in going for a rural look by choosing to have cobbled pathways in their garden.

When making improvements to a property a lot of people tend to focus on the insides of the building as opposed to the exterior. This doesn’t seem very sensible as the outside of a property is the part that people will always see first. Choosing not to make an effort with the exterior of the property and focusing on the interior can often mean that your efforts are pointless, especially if you are making the improvements in an effort to sell the property. Planning and applying some paving to your property can make the exterior of a property look brilliant. It can also help to create a safe environment for children to play in and for your friends and family to enjoy.

Should you be thinking of putting in some paving in your garden or making any other improvements to your property then it is a sensible idea to use the services of a respectable local builder. A decent builder can help you with the planning application to help you find out if you can get planning permission to do the job and will make sure the job is carried out properly. There are a number of ways one can find a good local builder, by asking your mates, looking in the press and by searching on the web.…

Landscaping Companies Offer More Than Landscape Design

Landscaping Companies Offer More Than Landscape Design

People usually contact a landscaping company for the first time when they want their entire yard or garden done over and they know they aren’t qualified or experienced enough to choose the right kinds of plants, shrubs and grasses. If you choose plants that aren’t hardy enough, shrubs that can’t withstand local temperatures, or trees that are difficult to care for, you can waste hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your lawn with nothing to show for it. That’s why hiring a landscape design specialist is always a good idea. They will carefully select trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers that are ideally suited to your locale, the type of soil you have, and the level of care required from you as the homeowner.

All landscaping companies are happy to work closely with you to design your yard, install the plants and even install the hardscaping for patios and pathways, but many disappear once the initial installation is completed. The care and feeding of your yard or garden is up to you from that point on. It can be overwhelming, so be sure you’re working with a landscaper who can offer additional services to keep everything healthy and beautiful all year round. Ask about the following services when choosing your landscaper:

Spring Cleaning

Your garden and yard will be waiting to burst forth with new blooms and soft grasses to tickle your feet, but a long, hard winter and dry conditions can delay new growth by several weeks. Your lawn service should offer a spring cleaning service to loosen the soil and get your yard and flower beds ready for new growth. This may include aerating the soil, adding fertilizers, dethatching grassy areas and more. Your grass will come in greener and be lusher as a result.

Lawn Mowing And Maintenance

Having a lovely lawn is nice, but if you have to spend all your free time on mowing and maintenance, you won’t be able to enjoy its beauty. A lawn service can take care of everything, including aerating the soil, mulching, trimming and, of course, lawn mowing. Just imagine not having to worry about taking care of your lawn every weekend! And the best part is that your yard will be cleaner and greener than it’s ever been.

Trees And Shrubs

It can be tempting to simply lop off branches that are overhanging your house, but you’ll end up with an ugly tree that may not heal properly. Over-pruning or incorrect trimming are two problems you won’t have if you let a lawn service take care of your trees and shrubs. They will carefully prune larger plants and trees in order to optimize their health and stability. While trimming your trees, they can also check for disease or other potential problems and stop small problems before they grow into large ones.

Hardscaping

Hardscaping is the installation of outdoor patios, retaining walls and paths using flagstones, bricks, timber or decorative stone. Not all landscaping companies also handle hardscape projects, so be sure to ask. Ideally, you should hire a landscape design firm that can install your patio and other features so that the design is a cohesive whole where the hardscaping and landscaping complement each other beautifully.

When you’re ready to overhaul your yard or garden, be sure to choose a landscaping company that also offers complete lawn service for results you’ll enjoy all year round.…

Patios: 5 Practical Steps For Designing

Patios: 5 Practical Steps For Designing

The flux of innovations and technologies that have broken backyard barriers has brought about an onslaught of patio ideas from creative visionaries. The white picket fences and identical driveways of before have become dull and nightmarish. As homeowners aim for an increase in property value, they push for individuality in elegant yet practical patio designs.

The patios of today have diversified exponentially and choosing a design to fit your home can be overwhelming. The good news is almost anything goes and the sky is the limit when it comes to patio design.

Here are five practical steps to help you design your patio.

1. Set a budget and keep it in mind. Before starting on the design, set a limit. That way, you can let your imagination run wild while keeping your feet on the ground. Regardless of which detail in the patio design you are contemplating on, never lose sight of your budget. If money is tight, remember that an increase in one design aspect will mean a decrease in another. For example, going for the more expensive floor tiles might mean a roofless patio instead.

2. Pick a purpose and theme that complements your house. First, ask yourself what would be the main function of your patio. Accordingly, pick a theme to go with it. Make sure the patio you envisioned would blend in with everything else in the house. You might also want to think of a way to transition from the inside of the house to the patio.

3. Enumerate the parts of your patio. A patio has five main parts: the floor, roof, wall, furniture, and landscape. You don’t have to incorporate all of them into your design though. In fact, a minimalistic look would not only be economical, but elegant as well. Also think about having a centerpiece or highlight to accentuate your patio.

4. Go over the specifics of each part. Go into your local home improvement store and see what is available for each part of your patio design. Don’t forget to check the price range. Also explore swap meets and garage sales for design ideas and good finds for patio furniture. When making decisions, bear in mind the purpose and theme you had chosen for your patio.

5. Draw up the blueprints and plan the construction of your patio. Now that your design is more specific, put your vision onto paper. Start planning your patio’s assembly time frame. If you mean to put the patio together yourself, make sure to get the proper permits from your local building authority before starting. Otherwise, let the contractor handle that as well.

There isn’t really a cut and dry structure for patios and this is the best part about designing it. The most important thing is that you are happy with the outcome and are able to relax and enjoy your patio afterward.…

Six Basics to Keep in Mind When Planning a Landscape Design

Six Basics to Keep in Mind When Planning a Landscape Design

Are you trying to find a way to make your yard more beautiful? While mastering the art of landscape design can take several years to complete, there are some basic elements that virtually anyone can implement. Therefore, if you are planning to take on a landscaping project at your home, be sure to keep these simple things in mind.

Create Year-Round Interest

It is easy to get carried away with all of the beautiful flowers that can be grown in the spring and the summer, but you want to be sure to create year-round interest when designing your landscape layout. Remember, your goal is to have perennials as well as flowering shrubs and trees through the spring and summer, but your focus in the fall should be on foliage and your goal in the winter is to provide interest with good structure. One easy way to make certain there is something to see in your garden throughout the year is to include evergreens in your landscape design.

Add Color with Annuals

While perennials are great for providing beauty year after year, the drawback is that they only bloom for a short period of time. Therefore, you should be sure to include annuals in your landscape design in order to ensure bountiful colors throughout the entire blooming season.

Include Hardscape Features

Sure, your flowers, trees and shrubs are the central focus of your garden, but you can add interest while creating a more complete look with the help of a few hardscape featurers as well. Patios and decks, for example, help provide a smooth transition from the indoors to the outdoors. Similarly, fences help provide definition to the landscape.

Install a Water Feature

Water features help create a focal point to your landscape and they aren’t as difficult to install as you might think. In fact, all you need is a plastic liner, a pump, a fountain and some tubing. All of these items can be purchased from a home improvement store and are easier to install than you might think.

Use Layers

Layering your garden will help create interest while also allowing you to enjoy all of the beauty that each of your plants provides. When layering, your goal should be to have your tallest flowers in the back, with the next tallest in the middle and your shortest in the front.

Consider Upkeep

No matter how beautiful your garden is, you may grow to resent it if it requires too much upkeep. Therefore, when planning your design, you should try to select plants that require as little upkeep as possible. The simplest way to do this is to select plants that are native to your area. You might also want to select plants that are drought-tolerant, as they will be much easier to take care of in the summertime when the spring showers cease.

If you keep these basics in mind, you will be sure to create a landscape design that you can easily maintain and that you will be able to enjoy for years to come.…