Garden Design: A Budding Landscapers First Time

1. What kind of garden are you planning to build?
A garden’s function can be purely ornamental, such as the stone and sand Zen gardens and the cherry blossom gardens in Japan. Built to please the eyes and the senses, these gardens must be maintained thoroughly to keep it in its tranquil and harmonious order. This is where landscaping becomes an art.
A garden can also be vegetative. A source of backyard food, you can plant seeds and harvest these vegetables later on. A labor of love, backyard grown vegetables are a practical source of sustenance for you and your family.  Quantity obviously depends on the size and quality of land you’re willing and able to allocate.

2. How long can you spend time maintaining and nurturing the garden?
This is an important factor in starting your garden. Know if your schedule permits you to be home for the weekends and know how much time you can spend in buying gardening supplies and tools. Time is an important factor in keeping a garden maintained. So make sure to build a timetable for your gardening activities so it won’t cause a conflict in your daily responsibilities.

3. What kinds of plants can grow on your local climate?
Some species of plants can only grow in humid, warm tropical climates. Other plants need a certain amount of cold to grow. Knowing your area’s climate and knowledge about what kinds of plants can grow on your yard, before starting out can save you money and effort.

Moving on, here’s a list of necessary tools for your gardening needs.

1. Gardening Magazines – You can never go wrong with the world’s best commodity; information. With information regarding gardening fairs, festivals, tips and tricks, these publications are a definitive guide to the first time gardener.

2. Soil – Investing on nourished, sterilized soil before anything else is an important factor in gardening. After all, everything in the garden grows on soil. So why settle for less? Specialized soil can help plants grow.

3. Gloves – for personal and hygienic protection, gloves can avoid dirt getting stuck in your nails and hands, and for overall protection from allergens and pests.

4. Hand tools for moving or shaping soil – Rakes and shovels are the most practical hand tools for this category. These two come in all sizes, from small shovels for bonsais, and small rakes for mini Zen gardens to large reinforced shovels made of steel and large rakes to clear an area of leaves.

5. Pots – For storage of plants and for landscaping.

6. Fertilizer – Maintaining the garden’s soil with fertilizer nourishes the plants growing around it.

7. Watering cans – Hand watering plants is still the safest and best way to quench a plant’s thirst.
A hose is efficient in watering a number of plants at the same time, but water velocity, and its uncontrollable stream can flood pots and drown roots.

8. Sunlight – Nature’s way of illuminating the world is a natural source of energy and nourishment for plants. Plan your garden’s structure to capture an ideal amount of sunlight for your plants. Too much, they wilt and dry; too few and the growth is stunted.

And lastly, provided that you already know what to grow in your garden, here are a few guidelines on landscaping.

Landscaping is the art of complimenting and coordinating each element in a garden. These few easy steps can make a beginner to a landscaping artist with discipline and time.

• Formal landscaping deals with arranging plants in geometric sizes. Straight lines and sculptures are used to compliment this style of landscaping.

• Natural landscaping employs the use of ragged and irregular shapes. Colors and texture are the balancing feature of this style.

• In landscaping, every fixture such as fences, gates, walkways must be planned. In order to make most of your landscaping, create transitions in between areas. Whether it be a gradual increase of height, or a change in scenery, such as an indoor pond or a stone garden, this will add a natural and harmonious appeal to your garden.

Happy gardening!

About the Author:

Nina Lancaster is a marketing consultant for the J. Thomas Company, a leading supplier in lawn mower parts, gardening tools, and landscaping materials.