A solution for a backyard landscape project can
be expensive. Your goal is to find innovative ways to
create a wonderful look, yet stay within a budget. There are different ways you can
plan for this outdoor project so you can do
it yourself. This information comes from a specific
job I did a few years ago. I wanted to give you a
simple step by step on how to go about a landscape
project from the very beginning.
This particular job was a complete excavation
of the backyard. There are a couple ways you
can plan for this. The clients were looking at
at a few different possibilities.
At first they
wanted a play area for their child. After revising
the design, they decided on a bed along the left
hand side of the property and shrubs would be
planted all the way around. As you can see in the
first picture the total yard had grass. There was
also one tree that the homeowners decided
to have removed.
The second picture is a shot
after the grass had been removed.
A fence would be added along the back for privacy with a bed in front.
The yard was to be completed with beds bordering the
entire yard. A variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers were planned.
The first step my crew and I did was kill
the grass off with a chemical. Round up will work
well as with any other good grass killing chemical.
This is a good solution to start out with. Allow the
chemical to take effect. I usually recommend waiting
at least one week before you start working the ground.
There are two ways you can go about clearing the
land. You can hire a landscaper to come in with a bob
cat and remove the dead grass and turn over the soil.
I have two tillers and they worked fine. One is a 6.0 HP
or horse power engine. This is a great size to actually
turn the soil and over and work the ground. The other
is a 3.5 HP and this will do great once the ground
is broken up. A rear tine tiller works the best. The
3.5 HP tiller is also really good for defining beds.
Once the ground has been broken up and turned
over several times, take a rake and level out the
backyard as much as you can. Fortunately, this entire
backyard was pretty much level already.
The next step is to start defining your beds.
This is where the 3.5 HP tiller as you
can maneuver it in smaller spaces. Create a straight edge
or carve a snake pattern along the border line. The
picture above shows how the bed was defined as well as the
trench line built. Two of my crew members were working on
installing the fence along the back part of the property.
In the picture you can see the bed along the left
hand side of the property. The soil has been worked
over and over and the crew had dug a trench line. This
trench is a little bit bigger then the crew usually digs.
You can rent a trench edger or do this by hand. The crew
used mattocks and shovels. This deep of a trench is good
for catching and moving water flow throughout a bed.
Another solution for you with this type of project
is to have top soil brought in. The soil in this area is
very much clay base and many rocks are below the
surface. A good top soil with a combination of saw dust,
dirt, and sand will help all your plants get a healthy start and a great solution.
Once the bed or beds have been prepared properly, go
ahead and place your plants. An organic mushroom compost
is wonderful for your plants. This is a natural fertilizer and
will last up to a year. Read up on
Your Garden Project - How To Plant And Place Shrubs And Flowers
This will give you some suggestions on properly placing and
planting your shrubs.
Once the plants are installed, decide how you want to
finish the bed. A double ground mulch will work nice. Pine straw
or decorative stones also creates a striking appearance. The last
picture shows you the bed along the left side of the property.
A page in the examples of landscape solutions designs will give you some
plant options for this
backyard landscape beds.
This bed has about two to three inches of mulch
placed throughout the entire bed. The ditch on the
right hand side of the bed and the rest of the yard
is now ready for sod. Many of the jobs the sod installer and
I would be working at the same time. This particular
job our schedules did not coordinate, so I went ahead
and did the landscaping aspect.
These steps above are just one simple solution to create
a complete backyard landscape area. Browse through the
landscape solution site map
and see if you can get any more ideas for your
backyard or any other garden project.
