Do you like quiet, tranquil, outdoor areas where you can relax, nap or ponder the universe and its unanswered questions? Do you enjoy watching birds and other wildlife go through their daily routines? Or are you adventurous, always keeping busy, and enjoy an outdoor cookout and an area for badminton or crocket?
Your gardening and landscape represent you and your families lifestyle, probably more than any other area of your home. Landscape and gardening designs are only constrained by your imagination and budget.
Unlike many other home improvement or renovation projects, landscape and gardening projects can be implemented in phases over a number of years. As well, as family lifestyles change, children grow up our needs and desires change as well. Areas that once housed swing sets and sandboxes can be converted to ponds and gardens.
Many homeowners fear complex gardening because of the amount of work that could be involved and if you place a lot of plants within your landscape theme, they will require continuous tender loving care to keep them looking sharp. If your theme are trees, shrubs and rocks a lot less work will be required.
The following directory will guide you to additional information on each aspect of landscaping and gardening.
5 Tips To Get Growing
Some of us have a green thumb and can get any plant to grow. There are others who have no luck at all. Sometimes the problem can be to much care and loving. Follow these five tips and your plants will love you as much as you love them!
Accessible Garden Construction
Accessible gardens come in a variety of designs and there is no one design that suits everyone or every situation. Accessible gardens are very dependent on the size of the area that one has available to work with.
Adirondack Chairs & Tables - Free Plans
Free plans to build Adirondack chairs and tables.
Aerating Lawns
Every year homeowners spend hundreds of dollars maintaining their lawns and yet, for some reason, the process of aerating the lawn is generally not considered or completely forgotten.
Animal Repellents
Deer
Mole & Vole
Nothing is much worse than watching animals and rodents destroy the hundreds of hours you spent gardening and creating your landscape. By properly locating animal repellent around your property and home you can save your property from damage.
Arbors-Prebuilt
Build Your Own Arbor - Free Plans
While some home handymen would prefer to build a landscape or garden arbor or trellis from a set of plans or freehand. Others may wish to purchase a completed arbor or trellis from a retailer that they can trust.
Bat Houses - Free Plans
Bats are a benefit to gardens and outdoor life. They devor thousands of mosquitoes every hour. Learn how to attract many species of bats and construct bat houses and bat boxes with these free plans.
Beehives - Free Plans
If you grow flowers and/or vegetables in your garden, they need pollination in order to procreate. Much of the pollination of plants is done by bees as they move from plant to plant carrying pollen from one to another. Having your own beehive will give you honey as well as ensure pollination of your flowers and vegetables.
Benches - Garden - Free Plans
Garden benches provide a resting place where you can contemplate the world, read a novel, watch mother nature at work and if placed in a shady spot provide the perfect spot to doze off.
Bird Accessories For Your Landscaping
Bring life and color to your landscaping by drawing in local birds to your back and front yards. Your family will have hours of enjoyment watching them and they provide a tranquil setting for relaxation and pondering world events.
Bird Feeders - Free Plans
Attracting birds can be made into a family project with these easy to build bird feeders.
Brick Barbeque - Free Plans
A brick barbeque will enhance any outdoor patio or family gathering area. Some basic construction knowledge is necessary - building a concrete pad and laying bricks.
Bonsai Basics
I for one, am enthralled by bonsai trees. They require an enormous amount of care, on a daily basis, but I find them to be one of the most beautiful plants one can have.
Bridge & Footbridge - Free Plans
A bridge as part of your garden or landscaping can add dimension. A bridge can take you and your guests over a water feature or can act as an ornament.
Bulb Gardening
A four part series of articles providing information on all aspects of bulb planting and care.
Bulk Material Calculator
As part of a landscaping project there may come a time when you need to buy materials such as sand, loam, soil, mulch or gravel in bulk.
Container Gardening
Soil For Container Gardening
Indoor Composting
Even if you live in a high-rise condominium or have a very small backyard you can enjoy beautiful plants and flowers by using containers and window boxes as your personal landscaping.
Compost Bins - Free Plans
The environmentally friendly way to garden. Make your own compost bin. These plans for compost bins are free.
Cordless Garden Tools
There are numerous varieties of cordless tools used for garden chores. These range from hedge trimmers to lawn mowers. These use batteries to run the engine thus saving fuel costs. With advance of technology, some of these tools use solar energy to run the engine.
Decks
The perfect location for a barbeque, and other patio furniture. Information includes load calculations, floor joist spans, support column design and sizing, deck flooring patterns, planning and construction.
Decking Products and Installation Tips
Enhance your outdoor space with a deck. Discover installation tips, trends in deck materials, and must-have quality decking products in this article.
Design
A well landscaped property adds value while providing an outdoor living space for recreation and relaxation.
Drip Irrigation - 1
Drip Irrigation - 2
Drip irrigation may become the only method of watering plants in the very near future. The climate is changing, drought is apparent in places that have over the past experienced heavy rainfall.
Drought - 10 Things You Can Do
There is no doubt that the climate is changing almost everywhere in the world and the why doesn't make a lot of difference to the impact on home gardens and landscape.
Electrical - Landscape Wiring
Landscape Receptacles
Landscape Lighting
Greenhouse Power
If you have a need to provide power in your landscaping project for lighting and motors such as pond pumps, there are some things that you should consider.
How To Landscape Your Home To Save Energy
If you take care in planning your landscaping, you, the homeowner, can save hundreds of dollars each year in the energy that your heating and air conditioning systems require to operate.
Environmentally Conscious Landscaping
Environmental Horticulture Index
When we say; “think green” we are not talking about the color of the pressure treated lumber that you will use for the deck in your landscaping project nor are we talking about making sure that your grass and plants grow well!
Ergonomic Gardening
For many individuals, gardening is the most joyful activity of summer. But if you love to garden and you also suffer from back pain, you know that you can cause yourself a lot of grief unless you follow some basic ergonomic principles.
Fabric
Choosing the correct landscape fabric for weed control can be a very time consuming and frustrating exercise, as anyone who has gone through the process will gladly confirm.
Fence Basics
How To Build Fences - Free Plans
As with any D.I.Y. project, proper planning is the key to a successful project. Fences can be made out of pre-formed vinyl or plastic sections, pre-built wood sections, and wrought iron.
Fertilizer & Fertilizing Index
Everything you need to know about fertilizers - fertilizing your garden, trees and landscaping!
French Drains
One hopes that when a house is constructed on a property that those responsible for the landscaping have considered how the property will drain. However, in many instances this is not the case. It then becomes the property owners challenge to correct the drainage defects. One excellent alternative is the use of French drains.
Gates - Free Plans
Detailed instructions on making and hanging gates and installing gate posts
Instructions and drawings to build a gate for a fence or as a decorative feature in your backyard.
Gazebos - Choosing
Gazebos - Free Plans
A gazebo will enhance any landscaping. It provides shade and a meeting place. Gazebos are available in kit form or you can design your own or modify another set of plans.
Greenhouses
Supplying Power
Free Plans
Bench Plans
Kits
Buying Tips
How A 6x4 Greenhouse Can Upgrade Your Backyard
The most common type of greenhouse is a square or rectangular, self contained, free standing building with a peaked or curved roof.
Horizontal Boring - Trenching Under Driveways & Sidewalks
During the installation of sprinkler systems or outdoor lighting it is not uncommon to meet up with obstacles that prevent the installer from continuing on.
Hydroseeding - What are the benefits?
Hydroseeding is the process of filling a tank with a mixture of fertilizer, grass seed, soil, and mulch additives, then delivering it to the soil via a high-pressure distribution system that combines all of the ingredients into a slurry and sprays it on the ground with a hose.
Lawn & Garden Tools
Many homeowners aspire to have an evergreen well-maintained lawn as well as a beautiful garden. Achieving this feat is now possible with a choice set of tools to fix bits and pieces of the lawn or garden.
Lawn Mowers - Battery
Buyers Guide Reel Lawn Mowers
Noise Pollution
Buyers Guide Lawn Mowers
Extending Battery Life
What you should look for when buying a lawn mower for your backyard and the pros and cons of different types of mowers. Lawn mowers are available in an ever expanding selection, but there are a few things that will determine what mower you should buy.
Lawns - Brown Patches
No matter how much tender loving care we give to our lawns it is not uncommon to find small and large areas where the grass is not growing well, or there are bare spots, where the grass is refusing to spread and take root.
Leaf Blowers - Buyers Guide
Leaf blowers or power blowers can be battery powered, electric or gas-powered machines that help you deal with fall's seemingly endless onslaught of leaves and other yard debris.
Low Voltage Lighting - Wiring
Enhance Your Gardening & Landscape With Lighting
Residential low voltage outdoor landscape lighting has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade. The variety of light fixtures and lighting accessories has grown exponentially.
Mosquitoes & West Nile Virus
There are 3000 different kinds of mosquitoes and a worldwide population of 100 trillion! Most are in tropical climates, but there are mosquitoes in arctic and desert regions.
Office And Storage In The Garden
The economy is increasingly becoming flexible. It is a world of gigs where most people would prefer to work remotely or from home. While working from home sounds flexible, it might be daunting to heat the whole house to keep warm. Having a garden office could be the best idea in this situation.
Outdoor Living
How To Make Your Outdoor Space More Comfortable
We landscape our homes to provide an area where we can enjoy the outdoors. Whether it is for quiet contemplation, enjoying time with the family or having guests, the furnishings we use outdoors can be important to our comfort as those used indoors.
Patio Makeover - Here's How to Do It
When renovating a house, never leave the patio out of the picture. Always make sure that you go for a total makeover for your outdoor space, too.
Pavers
Designs, Patterns & Layouts
Installing Pavers
Leveling Sunk, Or Heaved Pavers
Paver lights
Interlocking paving stones have become a very popular addition to many landscaping projects. Made by molding concrete in forms, the pavers come in a variety of textures, colors, shapes, and sizes providing the ability to match and compliment brick and stone veneers used elsewhere on adjacent buildings.
Patio - Concrete
Properly constructed a concrete patio will last for decades with little care and maintenance. Serious problems with concrete patios only occur when they are not constructed properly in the first instance.
Patio Heaters
Patio heaters used to be a luxury item that you would only see at a restaurant in Nappa Valley, today they are becoming commonplace to many patios, screened in porches and decks.
Pavilions - Free Plans
A pavilion will enhance any landscaping. It provides shade and a meeting place. Pavilions are available in kit form or you can design your own or modify another set of plans.
Paving Materials
All homes have a paving material somewhere on the property. Paving materials are used for patios, driveways, walkways, garden paths and as decks around pools. Today we have a number of choices in paving materials, choosing what is best for your situation is generally based on appearance and budget.
Picnic Tables - Free Plans
A picnic table will enhance most backyard areas. It gives the kids a place to play outdoors and allows the family to picnic without facing hours of traffic jams.
Planning Saves Money - When Landscaping Your Property
For the homeowner, the terms landscaping or gardening encompasses many different things. But there are two primary keys to the success of any home improvement project.
Planter Box - Free Plans
Planter boxes are an excellent addition to any landscape or gardening project. They can be used to delineate space, highlight windows and provide an area for planting in even the most smallest environment.
Playhouse - Free Plans
These project plans are not for the novice as they require someone with substantial wood working experience, and stationary power tools. Playhouse kits are also available which will save time and possibly a lot of frustration.
Potting Bench/Table - Free Plans
Whether you are a novice or master gardener a potting bench or table makes it much easier to plant and transplant flowers and vegetables plants.
Pressure Treated Lumber
If you are building a deck, retaining wall or a swing set for the kids it is highly likely that your material of choice is pressure treated lumber.
Pruning - Overview
Tree Pruning
Pruning Trees
Guidelines For Tree Pruning
Looking for an Arborist? Here's How to Hire the Right One
Pruning is a vital part of plant and tree care. This task can be confusing so we developed the following guide to help you prune properly.
Railway Ties In Landscaping
Using wood railway ties that have been impregnated with creosote in your landscaping project may give you the appearance that you are looking for, but it is important to understand the problems that you may encounter.
Retaining Wall Drainage
Installing or constructing a retaining wall that is taller than a couple of feet requires some thought and planning to ensure that it remains in its installed position and does not move.
Roses - Care & Planting
Roses come in a vast variety of colors, fragrances, heights, bushes and climbers. Having a beautiful rose plant, be it bush or vine, is not difficult if you take the time to choose the correct location on your property and follow some simple planting rules.
Sheds - Free Plans
Sheds provide garden storage and remove clutter. Having a place to store your outdoor tools will extend their life and make them easier to access when needed.
Shrubs
Woody plants with a mature height of less than 20 feet are usually classified as shrubs.
Snow Blower Buyer’s Guide
There are three primary styles of snow blowers, single-stage, two-stage, and electric. Each has its own features which provide advantages and disadvantages depending on your geographic location and circumstances.
Spotted Lanternfly
This article explores the spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest that has the potential to severely damage fruit, vegetable, ornamental plants, and their surrounding ecosystems.
Sprinkler System Installation
Installing an underground sprinkler system for your lawn, garden, shrubs and trees is not a difficult project, although it does require a strong back in order to dig the trenches that will contain the underground pipes.
Strawberries
Strawberries are easy to grow in the home garden. The plants form foot-wide mounds of lush dark green foliage that can serve as an attractive ground cover.
Swimming Pool - Opening
With the days getting longer and warmer many homeowners will be looking ahead to the opening of their swimming pool. While some homeowners take on the project from start to finish over a weekend others may wish to do what they can a few weeks in advance, in order to save time and effort when opening time presents itself.
Themes In Landscaping
Roman/Greek
Why do some homes have such exquisite landscaping while others are continually going through stages of trial and error?
Tools
Having the right tools make's landscaping and gardening easier on you and your plants, trees and shrubs! The right tool also provides a level of safety. We are pleased to present some of the finest gardening and landscaping tools in the industry.
Tree Planting
Tomatoes
Heirloom
Care
Grooming
Organic
All tomatoes are either Bushes (determinate) or Vines (indeterminate). Determinate tomatoes stop growing on their own, and produce all of their fruit at once.
Walkway: 7 Things To Consider
A walkway is a wonderful addition to any home. It’s a great way to charm your guests, improve your property’s curb appeal, and add style to your front yard.
Wall Anchoring To A Concrete Pad
If you are building a shed, garage or other wooden structure on a concrete pad it is important that you properly anchor the structure to the pad to avoid having it blown apart or away by high winds.
Water Features
Why Is Your Pond Green?
A water feature placed strategically in a landscape provides a dynamic element to what is usually a static design. Water elements provide tranquility and a sense of calm. The sound and visual effects provided by flowing water are known for their soothing and stress relieving qualities.
Weeding Tools
After the hard work of preparing the garden, planting and watching the plants sprout and begin maturing; it is not a wonder to have weeds also flourishing next to these plants.
Wind Generators - Home
Many homeowners are considering the use of the energy in wind to augment the power that they currently receive from the electrical grid.
Winterize Lawn Equipment
As winter approaches, it reminds us that it is time to winterize not only your home and car, but also your gasoline-powered equipment such as lawn mowers and garden tillers.
Wishing Wells - Free Plans
Add charm to any yard landscaping project by including one of these easy to build wishing wells. The plans are free.