How to Plan out your Landscaping

Bought a large place with tremendous potential for a lawn in the front but didn’t know how to go about it? You’ve come to the right place. Landscaping 101 will show you just how easy it is to get a beautiful lawn going and develop it over a period of time.

Landscapes add big value and curb appeal to your home. With adequate water and moderate climate, it grows well in all seasons and does not cost a great deal of money. Here’s how to get started with your landscaping plans.

Plan your Landscape

1. To plan your landscape, walk to the opposite side of the road and view your property -if possible, ideally from a slight height.

2. Go back into your house and look up the internet or magazines / books on landscape designs. Since you have a good idea what the front of your property looks like, it should be easy to choose a design that with some modification will suit your property.

3. Next, bring out your camera or smartphone and revisit the opposite side of the road and this time, imagine the selected landscape design as applied to your property. Don’t hurry. Take your time scrutinizing every square foot or meter of your property. Take a few pictures of your property.

4. Go back into your house and print the pictures you’ve just taken. Print them in a large format (A4 size should do nicely).

5. Visit the local council office to make sure you’ve understood and taken into account any local laws and regulations governing landscaping.

6. Use a pencil to sketch the outline of your lawn and pathways. Will there be a children’s play area? If so, sketch that in. Anything that isn’t there at the moment and you would like it to be a part of the landscape should be sketched in. Similarly, use photo editing software to erase anything that is currently there but you plan to have it removed once the landscape is done. Add notes and ideas to the paper. If something strikes you, put it down or you may not remember it later and take help form Austin Landscaping Design.

You now have the makings of a plan. You can take these drafts and visit the neighbourhood draftsman to have your sketches formally rendered – your landscape master plan is now ready.

With your master plan in hand, visit the Austin landscaping professional and show him (or her) your plans and also mention your budget for the whole thing. Listen to what they have to say – from their experience they may point out some problem areas or offer better ways of achieving some things. Most Austin landscape contractor will also be happy to give you a free quote for the work.

When you are ready to have them start on your landscape, ask for a contract and read it carefully. Usually these are Austin Landscaping standard service contracts but if you think it prudent, you can hire a lawyer to go over it.

Check out also for Austin Landscaping and Maintenance

Austin Lawn Pro - Your First Landscape Plan

A good landscape plan has four important ingredients; function, maintenance, cost, and visual impact (in that order). Most folks tend to pay close attention to maintenance and cost and very little attention to other factors.

So let’s begin at the top – Adding Functionality to the Landscape

Ask yourself why you want to landscape your property because the answer to this all important question has ramifications on the other ingredients to landscaping. Your answer needs to be clear and precise.

You need to understand that a landscape is a part of your house – correction, it is an extension of your house but without the roof. In that sense it has to be highly functional with pathways, driveways, gutters, play areas and so on. Do your kids like to bounce a ball around? Do you have kids that love to cycle all day? Does your daughter love the Jacuzzi or maybe the trampoline? Therefore think functionality – you will need to factor in all these things.

Your landscape might look beautiful on paper but if it clashes with the functioning of your family members you could have major problems ahead. Similarly if you have pets especially dogs, your shrubs could be in trouble. This is not to say you can’t have shrubs – just that it needs to be planned carefully and in some detail.

An important aspect of functionality is to ensure that every square inch of your landscape is visible – preferably from the kitchen so that mom can keep an eye on the kids and also ensure the dog doesn’t bother the Pizza delivery boy or the postman.

Understanding Landscape Maintenance

An elaborate landscape covering a very large area of land will also by extension require extensive maintenance especially if your landscape includes large trees. So while planning your landscape factor in the time that would be required to maintain the property and whether you can maintain it yourself or will need to hire help.

Shrubs will require trimming, fertilizers, mulching, watering, pest control and so on. Also, anything incorporated into the lawn area (benches, slides, swings) increases maintenance time. Fortunately you can also hire a weekly gardening service to perform all duties.

Your maintenance time and effort may increase or decrease depending on how well the drainage works. Bad or improperly installed drains can cause major maintenance headaches.

Costing for your Landscape

Once you’ve factored in the functionality and maintenance, calculating the cost of your landscape is easier. Unless you are an expert at it, it would be best to hire a landscape professional. Most will be happy to look at your plans, hear you out and provide a free quote for job.

Visualizing your landscape

Take a few pictures of your property and print them out in a large (A4) format. Visualize your landscape. You already know the cost of your plans. Draw a sketch of your landscape directly on the picture you’ve printed taking care to work everything in. Once you have got everything in, visit a draftsman and have him convert your plans into an engineering design that makes sense to a foreman.

If you are hiring an Austin landscape contractor he would probably be happy to go over your draft plans, formalize and execute it for you.