Biggest Mistakes When Designing Your Outdoor Living Space

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It takes some time and effort to design your outdoor living space and make it last. Although people generally like to do that by themselves, often they make some mistakes without even realizing it. Let’s check out some of the most common:

Too many large-sized plants

Large plants (more than 3-3.5 meters) are good for creating a sense of an old garden with history. However, in order for them to really take root and become a mature plant, and not a copy of it, are needed a lot of work and skill, knowledge, and experience. It’s not enough to choose high-quality material, it is important to know how, when and where to plant it correctly, how to care for it later, prepare for winter, etc. Does the company give you a one-year warranty?

Large-sized plants are strong plants, their vitality for a year is often enough. It is difficult for a beginner to notice the beginning problems of the plant. Experience shows that trees can die unexpectedly in 2-3 years.

Trust random people

“Master, I can do everything, whatever you say – we’ll do it inexpensively” – is this familiar to you?

And they do. Then the truth will turn out that the drainages were laid so that they do not work, there is water on the paths, and the earth is draining onto them from the lawn, and the lawn is covered in bald spots. Are these just trifles?

So the neighbor did the landscape company an expensive plot, and he also has a lawn with spots and the alpine hill fell apart? To whom to entrust the improvement of the site? It is better to trust specialists with the name and reputation.

For this, we can recommend people who know their deal and can make qualitative work that will not create problems after the time. For example, this company can deck your space with attention to your request and desires. Decking is a good solution for making your yard more comfortable and stylish.

Dark fence

According to Active Fencing and Retaining, such a fence visually “eats” the space of the site. It will be better when the inside of the fence is painted in light shades. Then the boundaries of the site are visually blurred.

Too much paving

Often there are projects where it is proposed to pave more than 40% of the free territory. You are not in the city, friends! The optimal area of ​​all paths and sites should not exceed 20% -25% percent of the territory.

Relief alignment

An interesting relief of the site and slopes can become the highlight that will give the site a non-standard and unique look, causing the envy of the neighbors.

Drainage without a project

Most often it is money thrown to the wind. Such drainage only works for the period of construction of the house. When land improvement begins, most elevations in the ground change, drainage channels are not at the calculated depth and stop working.

More correctly will be, if there is excess water in the area, to dig temporarily open trenches with a slight slope to drain the water.

The house is in a sunny place

At the same time, the house, of course, will be sunny, but there may no longer be a place for a garden. It is recommended to invite a landscape architect before building a house, so that he, will appreciate the possibilities of the site, winning viewpoints, and will give recommendations on the “installation” of the house on the site, taking into account the development of the entire territory.

Mature trees felling

I’m not talking about pine trees and other conifers, which are the undoubted decoration of the site. However, even the most unpopular trees (dendrologists call them weedy) – aspen, willow, maple, poplar, etc., bring practical benefits to our sites. Their root systems are powerful pumps, which, in particular, pump a large amount of water from the soil, which suffer from their excess,

By cutting down all the trees, we completely violate the ecosystem of this site, which will take several years to restore.

Peat filling

To remove excess groundwater, raise the level of the entire site by 50 or more cm. On the one hand, the right decision, on the other, the wrong realization. Peat is often used for these purposes. Peat, despite all its advantages, has several significant drawbacks:

Adverse physical and mechanical properties. It quickly collects water, while swelling and displacing all air from it.

And then it dries just as quickly because of the weathering. Plants that are living in such conditions are under stress all the time! They either have no air (gasp), then no water (dry up). To remedy this situation, peat should be mixed with at least sand, and with normal soil, the optimum ratio is 1: 1: 1 (peat: sand: soil).

Very often, especially from unscrupulous suppliers, we buy peroxide peat, on which do not grow even weeds.

The optimum pH for soil is 6-7. Peroxide peat -pH 3-3.5. Such peat brought to your site with a layer of 50 cm will become the problem for your plants forever.

Beautification without the plan

After purchasing the site, we all want faster to plant something, make temporary tracks, arrange a garden, and a picnic area and children’s playground.

We do it randomly, according to our mood and to the free space we have. As a result, fruit trees have grown and it is a pity to remove them now.

The gazebo is built, it would be better, of course, 3 meters to the left, but can’t stand it … etc. Chaos, in one word.

Meanwhile, if you had planned your plot on your own or with the help of a landscape designer, it would be clear where the building materials will be stored, where to plant fruit trees and how to arrange the gazebo, and much more. Over the years, such a garden only becomes prettier; it has a lot to develop and grow.