DIY Landscaping Tips

Landscaping consists of not only adding plants, bushes, trees and flowers it also includes water features, lawn furnishings and other decorative niceties to your lawn to create an attractive, comfortable garden. You don't need professional help to landscape your lawn or garden; landscaping makes a fun and easy project that you can do with your own two hands, and it will help the environment by reducing toxic greenhouse gases, preventing soil erosion and producing oxygen.

If you're thinking of landscaping your garden, start by brainstorming some gardening ideas. You can find landscaping ideas in books, gardening magazines and even at the homes of your friends and neighbors. Once you've decided what you'd like your new garden to look like, plan a central feature. Your central feature will serve as your jumping-off point when you begin your project; it will also be the most dramatic element of your newly landscaped garden.

Here are some tips to help you landscape your garden:

• When choosing permanent features (statues, benches, swings and bird baths) choose features that will please you. Remember, you're going to have to look at them for a long time.
• When choosing plants, remember that different plants bloom and flourish during different seasons. This gives you the freedom to plant a garden that will bloom all year or all season long. Some people choose a monochromatic landscaping scheme, in which they use different shades of one color. Others use an analogous color scheme, which calls for the use of related colors, like blue, violet and blue-violet. You might prefer a complimentary color scheme. Use a color wheel to choose your colors.
• Plant large, robust plants next to smaller, thinner plants to add variety to your garden beds, or use plants with varying shades of leaves or even multicolored leaves.
• Have a close look at your garden from every angle to make sure that it works well as a whole.

You might want to consider landscaping your new garden for function as well as form. “Edible landscaping” means planting vegetables and fruits alongside decorative plants in your garden beds. Use rows of kitchen herbs to separate patches of ornamentals. Plant tomatoes and marigolds side by side; enjoy pea plants as a lovely flowering vine. Edible landscaping makes your garden even more eco-friendly by reducing your dependence on the fossil fuels used to ship food to markets; it will save you money on groceries and, of course, it's delicious.

About the Author

Long Island Landscaping Company, Longos Landscaping specializes in Masonry, Poolscapes, Planting, Landscape Design & more.