Good Landscaping Ideas for a Family Home

Every home should be planned with a view to making it maintenance free as much as possible. Not many have time or interest in gardening but pleasant surroundings make any house into a comfortable home. Landscaping is, therefore, essential to get right but not necessarily to cost a fortune. Simple ideas and working with the shape of the land is the key. If one has an imaginative mind there are easy tips to follow.

One of the first is what you want the garden to do for you. Are you interested in growing vegetables, fruit, berries, and so on, or do you simply want a large grassed area for games, if one has children?

Where my house is located there is a beautiful park less than five minutes walk away. That took away the need for any grass areas so instead I covered the front with a four-inch layer of large pine park chips laid over several layers of newspapers. The paper breaks down in time and does not prevent moisture from getting through to the soil.

Prior to moving into this house my job was as a landscape designer and many of my plans are in operation in Sydney and now Canberra. The primary goal with them is to have a nice outlook and lots of trees so that the birds and other wildlife are attracted to it. That also make water an essential element as they all come to drink if there is suitable supply.

Tree selection should be a combination of fruit and native species. In my design the fruit trees are confined to the back and the native eucalypts, callistemon, and wattles are in the front. They attract birds and possums as well as some great insects, including butterflies.

With fruit trees there is some maintenance required to keep them at their best and roses always need pruning. If one does not have the patience to grow these plants than try the less demanding ones like camellias, azaleas, and rhododendrons.

One has only to use their imagination to get a lovely garden growing and in time the rewards will be astounding. The local nursery is always a great place to get advice and help with plant selection. Grow plants suited to your area and especially those that are native to it and you won't go wrong.

The best landscaping advice one can give is to plan for the least maintenance and make sure to work to the shape of the land. Don't remove hills if they can be utilised as a bank for visual effects. Don't remove large rocks that might be a good focal point. Put pathways in the right spot and curve them to add more interest. Your work should give you pleasure and not pain and if you do it right that will be your reward.