Hello and welcome to another helpful Loews Home Improvement Guide! If you have a messy backyard or your lawn just keeps giving you an unpleasant feeling every time you go home from work, you should consider landscaping your home. Landscaping, however, can be very expensive if you hire a landscape architect to do it for you. The outdoor furniture, the exotic plants, the fancy water works, everything just looks like you’ll be spending a lot of greens to make your lawn greener. Worry not though; you can cut costs for this by doing the landscaping yourself.
In every process, everything starts from scratch. The first thing you should do is to plan on how would you like your lawn to look. You can first sketch your current lawn or take a picture of it and then plan the things you would like to replace, remove, or add to your lawn. Consider the prices of items you think you will buy as well. Check up their prices by visiting home improvement centers or hardware store near your area or by simply checking their prices through the Web.
Searching for pictures of lawns you find attractive will help you in planning as well. If you are unsure about your design, you can consult a landscape architect about your sketch. It is less costly having the architect look-up your sketch than him/her sketching it for you.
Once you have your landscaping planned out, start your job from paths and walkways. You can use pieces of angular gravel labeled ¼ inch minus for less slippage. Avoid using smooth stones as these can be very slippery once it gets wet.
Next, furnish your lawn, patios and decks with inexpensive furniture. If you have old outdoor furniture but still in good condition, consider repainting them or brush on a thin layer of varnish. Both paint and varnish can be bought from home improvement stores.
Before you place some plants, place some easy-to-install water works and keep your lawn mower in pristine condition. Pipes, garden hoses, pumps, and fountains can all be bought from a home improvement center. For watering the plants, a good garden hose will suffice but placing sprinklers will allow you to evenly distribute water around an area. Mow you lawn every two to three weeks and pull out weed sprouts whenever you see them
Next, nourish your flowerbeds before you place some plants on it. You can always buy fertilizers from garden centers or you can use the grass clippings from lawn mowing and compost it for natural fertilizer. It’s a cheap way to nourish your soil and earth-friendly as well.