Play Area | South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

20 Jan

Clover

Author: admin // Category: Home Gardening, Tips

I’ve just ordered clover seed for Mr. I’s lawnette.

I can almost always find a fourth leaf clover if I need one

Dear readers, you know many things about my garden philosophy, so, you may have been surprised when I agreed to add the lawnette. (Pay No Attention…the full story) That was for my dear Mr I. In all the years I’ve been gardening, he’s only requested one thing~ “a patch of green” and I agreed. I do like the restful effect that it has on my otherwise busy natural garden. But, after two years of decidedly nonlawn care, we have concluded , that it’s time to seed the brown patches with Trifolium repens, Western Daisy and a few other low growing beauties.

Western Daisy and other wildflowers in our son’s former play area

Our patch of green will move from a monoculture to a polyculture. It will be alive with bees and other critters.

Newly sodded monoculture Winter 2009

A polyculture lawn will be perfect for the Garden of Benign Neglect. We’ll have the green expanse that Mr I wants, while, taking care of my need to be a smart gardener.

Clover just makes sense.

Does not need supplemental watering
green all summer
requires very little mowing
needs no fertilizer
grows in poor soil
feels great on the tootsies

But, more importantly,

It’s wildlife friendly.

Larval host to butterflies
Provides nectar to butterflies
Seeds for some game and songbirds
Attractive to honeybees.

xxoogail

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
Emily Dickinson

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Simple Landscaping Ideas

Author: admin // Category: landscaping ideas, Tips

Simple Landscaping Ideas

Home is where your heart is. It is the place to go when you want to relax, have fun and do what you want. You will want every place in your home to be attractive – just the way you want it. This applies to your yard as well, and considering that your surroundings affect the way you feel, the appearance of your yard is of great importance.

Landscaping is an art. It is a place that contributes to the tranquility of your surroundings. Landscaping helps you achieve the aesthetic quality you desire for your garden and/or yard.

Landscaping does not need to be done by a professional design team. That is the beauty of it. You and your family, including your children can help assist in designing your surroundings for a more family type environment.

Here are some ideas to start you off.

You might want a garden, full of blossoming flowers, something that encircles your whole house. This is great since it will serve as the perimeter for your landscaping project.

Other ideas include assigning spots for other family members. Your children will want a play area where they can run and play with their friends. You might consider planting a shade tree to protect them from the harmful effects of extended exposure to the sun.

Another point to consider is an area your older children (or you and your spouse!) can use to play sports, grill some steaks or just relax in a chair and get the tan you desire. This is an important feature for your yard because you can consider it a place where you have fun and just relax.

Other areas should also be reserved for drying your clothes (if you choose not to use a dryer, for trash cans, and for your pets. These areas should be as close as possible to your house for easy access.

To be more artistic and aesthetically appealing, be prepared to use basic landscaping materials such as rocks, pebbles, trees, lawn and fences. These will help you achieve the view you want people to see and the functionality that a basic yard needs.

Perhaps a good thing to remember when designing your own yard is that you and other members of your family have artistic capabilities too. Remember that your homes yard requires a familys touch so youll be proud to say that you have created your own yard.

Backyard Landscaping Ideas…

Author: admin // Category: landscaping ideas, Tips

A home backyard is a personnel and private space. The landscaping solution that will finally dwell in this space greatly depends on many factors.

Let’s see these factors one by one. I am not giving you an exact blueprint here but the information mentioned here will be a great starting point if you are planning to go for landscaping of your home backyard.

Gardening in the home backyard can be fun if you consider these few factors before starting out.

1) North direction..

One of the major factors in landscaping. Why? because the direction will decide how much direct sunlight the plants in the garden will receive. To illustrate this point have a look at the two images below.

Backyard landscaping option1 This is cross section of home building which also shows the backyard area. Because of the sunlight coming from front side of the home, more than 50% of the backyard remains in shade that the building structure casts on the floor area.

Backyard landscaping option2 On the other hand this building receives sunlight from behind so almost all the backyard area receives direct sunlight throughout the day.

So in both these cases the selection of plants and their maintenance will greatly differ from each other.

2) Nature of soil

This is very crucial for plant growth. It is a good idea to study the nature of soil before planting even a single tree or bush in your garden

3) Area of backyard as compared to area of the home building.

It is very important to note that any landscaping space when associated with your home is largely dependant of the architectural structure. What exactly do I mean here? Let’s see an example.

The area of the backyard will differ depending upon the function of the backyard. While designing the backyard look for following points.

What’s the use of this area? Is it a play area for children? if yes will it have a baby swimming pool (if the area permits), will it have a semi-open tent like structure, how many people will occupy this space at a maximum?

So human activity will greatly affect the landscaping design.