Garden Designing, Garden Outlining...and Landscaping Ideas and Tips....
Check out our garden designing process below.
Discover our way of garden designing, how we outline our flowerbed gardens and get some clever landscaping ideas and tips.
Then visit my Flowerbed Design Page for information on our flowerbed designs, flowerbed images and links to both perennials and annuals that I planted to fufill our flowerbed designs.
Prior to starting your garden designing...
Know Your Surroundings Back in 2007, before we plunged into the actual garden designing, digging and planting, we agreed to a 'get to know your yard' summer. Not a bad idea for a new homeowner.
After our 'get to know your yard summer', we quickly discovered the following...
- Get to know your soil condition (test kits are available from your local garden centre or contact your local university)
Our soil needed big time amending My Soil Page
- Get to know your yard drainage and any low lying areas
Issues could be a yard slope, a soil condition or your neighbors yard higher than yours. For us our yard sloped towards the back area, creating a low lying area. We fixed this with yard (great tip) Berming and two ponds My Pond Page.
Besides the low lying areas causing poor drainage, we also had far too many old oak trees thus creating far too much shade and not allowing the ground to dry properly. We needed to cut down at least 8 trees for additional sunlight to help dry the soil
- Get to know your 'could be' critter visitors.
The kind that visualize your plants as a huge dinner buffet table
It seems that no matter where we live in this world, we all seem to have some sort of 'critter' issues. Choosing the right plants as well as knowing other deterrent methods is critical to a gardeners sanity Boy do we have critters...rabbits, deer, squirrels. Please check out My Critters Page if unwanted pests are grazing in your flowerbed gardens
The Need to Prioritize
Everyone needs to prioritize. During the entire 'get to know your yard' summer, Jim and I spent many long hours walking with tape measure in hand. Grandeur thoughts of lavish ponds, cascading waterfalls and designer flowerbed gardens raced through our minds.
We asked ourselves:What elements do we want?
A Pool? Privacy (fence)? Pond? Waterfall? Place to read? Pathways? Perennial & annual gardens? Island gardens? Deck? Gazebo?...I'm out of breath...
 View of Flower Gardens 2008 A Master Plan For Us?
No Way...Jim and I do not use a master garden design... not your traditional plan on paper. We never have. We walk the property and get into our gardening zone and think BIG. Not only do we visualize the elements on our list, but we consider our budget for the season.
While we do collaborate on the major decisions about the garden designing, we do go in different directions. Jim has a good eye for the hardscape and structures of the overall garden. And I begin the quest for Plant Selection.
Image of my middle garden taken August 4, 2009
Viewing all the garden designing elements...
- When creating your garden design, consider the view of all garden elements from different angles. Whether it's the flowerbeds or even the static elements, like a sun dial or a pergola, the view must please the eye from different angles.
- Ergo, when I look out my patio doors or bedroom window (see the image below), I gaze at the pond's waterfall cascading down and see both gardens hugging the grass pathway.
- As well, before creating your design and deciding on your plantings consider what your garden(s) (front or back) will look like from inside the house when looking out.
- We considered the element of stone. Our flower gardens curve gently (no straight soldier lines here) and we edge with limestone. The plants spill over and give the flowerbeds a flowing, billowy, informal effect.
- Jim and I play Fred & Wilma Flinstone for a day (or three) and pick our stone at the quarry. What fun on a hot prairie summer day. If you throw in the rental cost for a small truck, your cost is less than half of retail. Of course this can happen only if you are in close proximity to a stone quarry. I have great edging information on My Stone Page.
Our biggest challenge by far? (and you may have this issue as well)
Dealing with the low lying areas. I suppose we could have added dirt, then level, then roll and finally sod or seed. But that makes it just another back lawn to mow. Nothing enticing. Nothing that drags the eye or person to the garden's very back. We decided on Berming part of the area and designed a couple of Caribbean ponds. What's a Caribbean pond?
 Pond Peninsula Garden Picture turquoise blue, crystal clear water lapping up on a pebble beach shoreline, My Beach dotted with ornamental grasses waving with every wind gust. Ahhhh...my hammock awaits me. Click on My Pond Page for instructions and images. You'll be glad you did. Also, check out my Pond Landscaping page.
What to do with all the leftover dirt from digging a pond or two?
We designed a mounded, oval shape island flowerbed garden. We planted two smaller size evergreens as anchors, a few shrubs, some sun perennials, annuals, ground-covers. I share all of the plantings on My Plant Selection Page.
Expect surprises...
In the image below Jim happily digs (well, not really) the South Garden, which is against the new cedar fence.
Can you see the wooden retaining wall with braces hiding against the fence?
Because the land slopes downwards towards the neighbors yard and the fence (cedar) wood has not yet aged, Jim built the (great tip) wooden retaining wall to protect the fence from rotting and the soil from leeching out. This also allowed us to put a drainage pipe (weeping tile) between the retaining wall and the fence. It works great! This space has also become somewhat of a rabbit highway. Easy and safe access to the back garden for these fuzzy bunnies and far away from the eyes of our killer dog Molly, the Maltese (all eleven pounds).
Click on this link to find the details on how to build a wooden retaining wall with the drainage pipe.
Another surprise. I originally designed the South Garden as a sun garden. Eventually, my thought was to divide this second sun locale with a winding pathway of bark mulch.
Well...OOPS...turns out I fooled myself. Too much shade from the neighbors oak trees.
How did I miss that? The 'dirt' stayed wet far too long last summer causing root rot and mold on some of the annuals... ick. Since I didn't have the heart to ask my neighbors to cut down ten old oak trees, I have amended the soil by adding additional peat moss and sand, transplanted the sun loving perennials and planted semi shade lovers.
Our great garden outline method...(great tip) read on...
How did we accomplish the overall garden designing and make sure that all elements fit in the landscape scheme?
For instance, are the pathways wide enough? Is the pond too small, too big?
Our secret to getting it just right, fitting in all the elements is .... contractor spray paint. To be exact, we use Krylon Contractor Marking Paint in the color orange. No reason for that color choice other than we like it and the color stands out.
In the image above, you can see Jim digging the larger pond. Can you still see the orange outline on the ground? By using this method, we quickly realized that we outlined the pond far too large. The size would have been unmanageable.
Ask yourself the question. Will I be able do the upkeep...be it ponds or flower gardens?
We managed to scale down the size of the pond by a few feet in length...ergo it's great using the spray. You can see before you dig.
I can even mark an 'X' where that special Sun Dial and concrete pedestal should go or maybe a focal point tree like my favorite the Siberian Larch.
What a perfect way to see if everything fits!
By the way, if your plans are less extensive, you can also use a garden hose or a thick rope. Just don't use heavy string. Birds consider it nesting material.
Just be careful if you rent a front loader.
The rain poured in torrents last spring and the loader was no match for the slippery mud slopes. Jim jumped free before it tipped over. Whew!!
Jim tries desperately to lift up the loader. Nope. Won't happen.
He eventually realizes this and gives up. A helpful hand from the rental company and a winch pulled the loader upright. We were once again in our garden design and landscaping mode...
Do you notice the gravel design outline around the flowerbeds?
After Jim sprayed the designed outline in orange,
- we laid landscaping fabric along the sprayed lines
- we shoveled pea gravel over the fabric
- we laid limestone. Please see My Stone Page on boulders, stone & quarries.
While the limestone gives an informality, yet hardness to the design, we placed them irregularly on top of each other and planted close to the edge with 'spilling' plants thereby softening the hardness of using so much limestone.
After a few rainfalls, the gravel underneath and between the stone becomes hard as cement and does not allow grass or weeds to grow through the laid limestone. It's also is easier to trim around the beds without having to worry about slicing off plant heads or foliage.
Moving on...
Once the initial garden designing, outlining, viewing the elements and digging is complete, it's time to move on to the flowerbed designing and planting decisions.
|
Subscribe To This Site
