Six Tips for Planning a New Garden

Beautiful gardens don’t need to cost a fortune. They do however require quite a bit of planning. Before you start throwing seeds and planting shrubs, it’s important to visualise what your new garden is going to look like. Fail to do so and you might find yourself with a garden that looks more like a jungle than a peaceful meadow. Here are six simple tips for planning a new garden.

Get Your Priorities Straight

Before you plant a single seed, you should ask yourself what you really want. Clever gardeners answer all of the following questions before going anywhere near a garden store.

• Do you want to attract wildlife?
• Is scent important to you?
• Do you want to increase your homes value?
• How much maintenance are you prepared to do?

Divide Things Up

 

If you want your plants to grow, you need to provide them with the right conditions. The easiest way of doing so is to divide up your garden according to the conditions on offer.

• Which parts get the most sunlight?
• Where is the highest quality soil?
• Are there are any parts of your garden that are particularly prone to wind?

Make sure that you can answer all of these questions before you plant anything.

Group Plants According to Maintenance

Clever gardeners, or perhaps lazy gardeners, always keep maintenance needs in mind when grouping their flowers. If some of your flowers need more care than others, they should be kept both close together and within easy reach of your backdoor.

Keep the Tallest Flowers to the Back

 

Keeping the tallest flowers to the back is a very simple gardening rule but it’s one that is important to follow. If your tallest flowers are at the front, they’re going to obscure your view of those at the back and that’s pretty much the opposite of intelligent garden design.

Should you be wondering where the back is i.e. you are planting flowers in a space that can be walked around, you should keep the tallest to the centre.

Colour Coordinate

Colour coordination is tricky, especially when seeds are involved. The easiest way to guarantee a colour coordinated garden is to keep the number of different colours to a minimum. Simply choose two or three colours that all go well together and plant away.

If you’d prefer a more varied collection of colours in your garden, you should turn to the help of technology. Garden design software is widely available online and once you get the hang of it, you’ll have no problem visualising complex arrangements.

Think About the Future

 

Finally, do you enjoy the planning stages of a new garden? If the answer is yes, you should focus on annual flowers. They only last a year and you are likely to enjoy the chance to start over again next year.

If, on the other hand, you are the type of gardener that enjoys the result more than the process, perennials are a better bet. Unlike annuals, perennials can be planted once and enjoyed for many years to come.

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Outdoor Storage Sheds Benefits

When the equipment and paraphernalia take over the garage and you have trouble staying organized, a storage shed may be the simple solution. With a storage shed in a convenient location on your property, you can reorganize your belongings between the garage and the shed and restore order.

If you think you may want to build your own outdoor storage shed, visit the North Carolina State University website for a thorough overview of the process of shed building. From the planning stage to the construction stage, this might be an enjoyable family project. Once you know the outdoor storage shed benefits, you may be ready to arrange a construction project to create a shed for your property.

Additional Storage

It’s easy for a garage or basement to become overrun with equipment and items that you use on an ongoing basis. If you’re not careful, these items can accumulate to the point of disarray and your garage may become difficult to use. With a storage shed, you have additional storage to eliminate some of the items from the garage or basement and store them in the shed instead. Many outdoor sheds are large enough to store a significant amount of items and some even have doors wide enough to accommodate a riding lawnmower.

Enhanced Organization

After building a shed on your property, you may enjoy the opportunity for enhanced organization. Some items will naturally fit better in the garage, such as vehicles and bicycles. Other items may be better suited for the storage shed, such as gardening and lawn maintenance equipment. You could even designate the storage shed as the spot for all landscaping and gardening tools and equipment and use your garage for other items. By hanging spades and shovels on the walls and including a worktable for gardening, you may succeed in creating a pleasant garden work area within a storage shed.

Reduced Expense

Depending on the type of materials you use for a storage shed, the expense should not be excessive. Choose from wood, metal and plastic materials when planning your storage shed project. The size and configuration of the shed will determine the overall expense. You may choose to cut corners to make it more affordable or you could also plan to spend more money to make the shed higher quality.

Do-it-Yourself

If you possess basic construction skills and you have the tools and equipment, you may be able to build your own storage shed in your yard. A variety of plans are readily available on the Internet – some free and others have a small price. Select plans that fit your needs and desires in the storage shed and then devote a few weekends to building your own shed. This could even be an enjoyable and educational family project that includes both parents and children. Children may enjoy the project and helping to build the shed for family use.

Once you see the many outdoor storage shed benefits, you may decide that your home needs one of these outdoor buildings. The value of your home may even be increased with a shed on your property.

Kathryn Hatter is a Redbeacon Contributor and home maintenance expert and regular contributor to several publications, including the “San Francisco Gate” and the “Houston Chronicle.” She is an accomplished gardener, seamstress, home-improvement guru, painter, cook, decorator and digital graphics creator.

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Why Are Plastic Garden Sheds So Popular?

While garden sheds have traditionally been built with wood or metal, plastic  sheds have seen a substantial increase in popularity over the past several years. Here we take look at the benefits of using plastic instead of wood or metal and compare plastic sheds with their wooden and metallic counterparts.

The Difference in Materials

Plastic garden sheds offer several benefits over metal and wooden materials. Something made out of wood is more prone to decay or termite infestations, while metal sheds are clumsy and prone to rusting. On the other hand, plastic has a longer useful life without any problems of degradation or maintenance. Out of plastic, wood and metal, plastic is least affected by natural elements like sunlight, rain, rust and wind so it is only natural to use plastic to make something that is exposed to these elements all the time.

Given the weight of wooden or metallic sheds, you will find that you can’t move them around too often without a lot of help. On the other hand, most plastic sheds are quite portable and can be moved around your garden with relative ease till you find the perfect spot for it.

Another major advantage for this choice for your garden is that they go easier on your wallet compared to wooden or metallic variety. They are substantially cheaper than identical sheds made of metal or wood. The money you save can be used for any other useful thing that you might want to add to your garden.

Be More Environment Friendly

People don’t usually associate the use of plastic with being more environment friendly. However, the kind of plastic  can easily be recycled using the latest recycling technologies and put to other constructive use. As opposed to this, wooden sheds require wood which involves cutting down trees. Those made out of metal,  require different kinds of materials to be cast, molded and welded which is a highly energy consuming process. Not only are these better for your garden, they also show that you truly care for your environment.

Blend it in  With Your Landscaping

Given the ease with which these sheds can be fabricated in different styles, it is easier and cheaper to get the plastic variety which blends in with the landscaping in your garden than to get a similar one made in wood or metal. After all, the last thing you want is your beautifully landscaped and maintained garden to be ruined by the presence of an ugly shed which sticks out like a sore thumb.

Avoid Future Headaches

It is common to experience maintenance issues with wooden or metal sheds over a period of time. Not only do these issues cost money, they also take up time. You need to think of something that requires less maintenance and that which saves you from spending unnecessary time and money after installing the shed.

Queensland Home Improvement builds high quality home extensions, shed and decks  in Brisbane, Gladstone, Rockhampton and Bundaberg in Australia.  QHI can be contacted at: 320 Adelaide St, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia PH 1800 654505

http://www.qhi.net.au/building-brisbane/

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