Landscaping can be a great way to improve the appearance of your property, but it can also be a lot of work. If you’re not careful, you can run into some common landscaping problems. We will discuss five of the most common landscaping problems and solve them.
1. Too Much Lawn
Lawns are beautiful, and they can add a lot of value to your home. But if you have too much lawn, it can get in the way of other things you want to do with your landscaping. For example, it’s difficult or impossible to plant trees or shrubs close to your house when there’s so much turf grass in the way. If you decide that you no longer need all that grass, here are some things to consider before deciding on what type of front yard landscaping ideas for your property.
First, make sure you dig up any mature trees near your house without hurting them. Next, determine how much area you want to convert from turfgrass into gardens. You may wish enough room for a fire pit and an outdoor dining set, or you may want to have enough space to add some more plants. Once you’ve got your area estimated, check with the local government about any ordinances against removing turf. You’ll also need to consider how you will maintain the open areas. For example, if it’s very sunny, choose drought-tolerant plants like cacti and succulents that can stand up to hot weather without regular watering.
2. Spacing Problems
When landscaping trees and shrubs, it’s important not to get too clustered together. But sometimes, new landscapers get overzealous and plant everything way too far apart from one another. This can create a lollipop look that leaves your landscaping with large, barren circles of dirt around each plant. One good way to avoid this is by estimating the mature size of the plants you want to grow and adding an extra 5-10% on top of that estimate. For instance, if you wish big shrubs, plant them about three times farther apart than their height would suggest. This allows for proper root growth and prevents any tiny seedlings from getting overgrown.
3. Poorly Planted Trees
Trees are beautiful additions to any home’s landscape design, but they need special care when they’re being planted. These suggestions might sound obvious, but it’s amazing how many trees die from improper planting methods:
Trees planted too deeply will be more susceptible to rot from water that gathers in their rootballs.
The soil covering the base of a tree’s trunk is bad for the tree’s health. Healthy roots need air, not soil, and if they can’t get it because there’s too much piled on top of them, they’ll die off. A good rule of thumb is to leave some space between the ground and where you plan on planting your trees so that new roots have room to grow while existing roots have somewhere for the water to drain.
4. Uneven Ground Levelness
Landscaping levels uneven ground by adding plants, rocks, wood chips, or mulch, but sometimes landscapers fill holes with topsoil. This is a bad idea for two reasons. First, topsoil is heavy and will settle over time. If you’re working on the landscaping around the house, this often means that you’ll end up with big lumps of soil under your mulch or trees that are impossible to remove without damaging the plant’s roots. Second, if you have drainage problems in your yard, adding soil can make them worse by creating pockets where water collects rather than running off properly.
5. Not Enough Shade
Trees are lovely additions to any home landscape design, but they need to be placed carefully, so they don’t block out all sunlight from your other plants and flowers. Most importantly, it’s important not to plant trees that are too tall for the space where you want to put them. Many landscaping fails to happen because people plant large trees without thinking about how tall they’ll grow, which can leave new homeowners with tree limbs hanging over their roofs and blocking out light. Don’t let trees ruin your yard design; plan so they give you shade rather than blocking it out.
Landscaping fails are so common because it’s hard to know what will look good. Just remember that if you can’t get rid of a plant, you can always relocate it somewhere else in the yard.
