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Sometimes an overwhelming task

The outside appearance of your home has a profound impact on not only you, but anyone who sees it.  If you have ever tried to landscape your home, there are dozens of questions about what to do.  It can, to say the least, be overwhelming.  There are so many variables because every lot is different, you have your own specific life-style and tastes.  It is such a common thing for people to feel like they can't progress in making a functional, aesthetic landscape because they simply don't know what to do.  The biggest hurdle of course is the expense and whether to do it yourself, or hire someone.  Here are some steps that we can suggest that won't make landscaping your yard so daunting:

Have a Master Plan

• Allows for refinement of the features you need ensuring you get exactly what you want. (It's much easier to move something on paper than to move a poorly planned landscape feature)
• Saves you huge amounts of time and money by not installing something prematurely or realizing that it was poorly placed or you used the wrong method or materials.
• Gives you a vehicle to know what materials you will need and how much they will cost.
• Enables you to 'phase' out your plan over a period of time if you choose to spread out the cost and time factors.

Steps to Making a Master Plan

• Write down your personal priorities for the functions of your landscape.  For example: If you have kids or pets, where do you want their area? If you entertain a lot, how many people and where do you want this to happen? Any structural concerns or privacy issues.
• Everyone, and I mean everyone wants low maintenance.
• What are your concerns about water usage. This will impact the type of sprinkling system it will merit and how much sod is planned.
• Browse the web or look in magazines for pictures of features that you like and save them.
• What feature do you want done first, second, third?
• Would you like extra storage or RV space?
• What trees and plants do you like or dislike?

Make a Rough Draft

• It really needs to be to scale for accuracy. Such as 1" = 10', etc.
• Indicate existing trees and plants. Decide which ones stay and which ones have to be removed.
• Hardscape, patios, decks, pathways, retaining walls, fencing, RV pads, storage sheds, etc. need to be located first.
• Planting beds and shade trees should be placed on your plan.
• Place trees and plants on the plan at their full size when they're fully grown. You'll need to do some homework on this. Even within one tree species, there are several types and much of the time, they each will mature to different sizes and some look and grow totally different from one another. You need to know what sun exposure the will need as well.
• Will your lot handle what you've designed? Take into consideration slopes and try not to make an area so narrow with a structure that you restrict access.
• Once you feel pretty good about the plan, figure out take-offs, meaning square footages for sod, sprinklers.  If you have a retaining wall, figure out how long, tall, and deep it is.  This will help you figure out what the cost of materials will be. There are a lot of variables here, but you get the idea.
• Now, refine your plan to what is going to fit your budget after you get the rough estimates of cost. You may need to scale up or down on the deck size, relocate features that don't work, just tweak it here and there.

Now That Your Master Plan is Finished. The Order of Installation.

• FIRST THINGS FIRST.  Once you get something you're happy with and you have all your notes on take-offs, you can figure out what you want to do first.  Make sure it makes sense.  Don't put in a brand new area of your landscape just to run over it and ruin it the next year with the next phase.  Generally, hardscapes, structures, grading and retaining walls are absolutely, the first thing that need to happen in an ideal situation. Sometimes this isn't possible, but these items are more difficult and expensive to put in if you landscape an area with sod and sprinklers and then have to rip it out to put in a deck, retaining wall or pathway.
• GRADING, GRADING, GRADING.  I can't emphasize this to you enough.  This is the first thing you need to get right before ANYTHING happens.  Make sure the grade slopes away from your house.  This is fairly easy to check. Get a nice straight 2x4 that is 10 feet long and a carpenters level.  The ground should slope away from the house at least 6 inches over 10 feet.  If you have an existing problem, it needs to be corrected before you spends lots of time and money putting in anything new.
• HARDSCAPES: (Patios, decks, concrete pads, retaining walls, etc.  Remember to run a plastic pipe or 'sleeve' underneath whatever areas you need in case you need to run additional electrical or sprinkler lines.)
• BED EDGING
• SPRINKLING SYSTEM / DIRECT BURIAL LINE FOR LOW VOTAGE LIGHTING
• WEED BARRIER FABRIC
• TREES AND PLANTS
• BARK, GRAVEL (To cover weed fabric if applicable)
• SOD