Creating beautiful gardens is an art form and not a piece of gardening equipment. A lot of thought and hard work goes into how to create a garden that will be both pleasing to the eye and functional and sustainable. You don’t want to start designing a garden right away. Start by narrowing down your space. How much room do you have available for a certain type of garden? How big is your yard and how far away from your house is the nearest street?

Generally, established gardens which have been thriving for at least three years need different maintenance than new planted landscapes. Narrowed landscapes may require re-seeding, trees may need trimming and nutrients may have to be added back into the soil regularly. Ask three landscape designers on Houzz how to maintain your garden as they mature and as they change and grow.

Healthy gardens need proper drainage, sufficient sunlight and adequate water. Soil preparation and plant nutrition are key to healthy plants. Adding mulch is also a great idea. The type and size of mulch you use depend on the size of your gardens. We used black plastic mulches for our big gardens and we have had good results with it, even though it was quite messy when we first applied it.

There are mulches designed for weed control. We like to use organic mulch as it is made from green waste and it keeps the soil damp and doesn’t hold in moisture. Mulching is also a great way to control soil erosion. It prevents soil compaction by holding the soil in the beds and by holding in moisture. We also love to mulch in winter when we do not have to let the garden get too dry.

We like to see buds start out looking healthy and then all of sudden the plant that we really love has little leaves growing out of it. Sometimes we wait for the plants to grow out and then we prune them. Pruning can be done to any of the plants in the garden. We have pruned many a flower and herb in the gardens we have had.

I have tried all of the above and have found that we have the best results by following a step-by-step plan of lawn care and water management. This allows us to keep the grass green and to give nutrients to the flowers and bushes. If you are looking for some ideas or if you would like to get involved with lawn care and irrigation, contact a landscape designer near you.