Landscaping Your Summer Garden
There are many things that must be considered when planning and planting your summer garden. One of those things is the natural landscape or terrain of your lawn and garden area. It is best, whenever possible to work with the landscape rather than working against it or going to extraordinary efforts to make changes to the natural landscape of your lawn when you could very easily and beautifully plan your summer garden to go with the flow of and work well with the natural terrain of your lawn and garden area.
One way in which this is accomplished is by taking a quick survey of your lawn. This will need to be more than a cursory visual survey. You will need to walk your lawn and the area in which you are planning for your garden space. You will need to measure the terrain and take not of inclines and slopes. While you are at it, you need to study the condition of the soil and any areas that seem particularly inhospitable for planting. If these types of areas are present in your garden you need to decide what you want to do about them. Is it possible to turn this patch into a water feature or some other attractive addition to your garden rather than remaining a bare patch in the midst of your flowers, plants, and/or vegetables?
You should also determine the amount of shade a particular area receive and, if in direct sunlight, how to create shade for those plants, vegetables, or flowers that grow best in indirect sunlight. This can be accomplished by planting them creatively in the shadow of plants, shrubs, or vegetables that grow much taller or by using rocks to create shade or even climbing vines on trellises or fences in order to create an artificial shade.
Once you have a good feel for the terrain and landscape of your summer garden you will need to plan for the vegetables, flowers, or plants that will be used. Vegetable gardens tend to be less aesthetic in nature and are often the easiest to landscape, as it is a matter of need rather than beauty. If you are planting a flowery summer garden however, it is quite likely that you will be planning to achieve some degree of beauty within your garden. Decide now if you want to keep the flowers and plants within a certain color scheme or if you want dramatic blues and greens combined with bright and vivid reds and yellows. This is a personal decision but will greatly affect the appearance of your garden when all is said and done.
You should also landscape your garden according to the amount of time and effort you want to devote to working your garden on any given week. Some plants require more care than others. If you want a garden that is basically sow and go then you need to make sure it is filled with plants and flowers that are suited to that sort of low maintenance. Most vegetable gardens require a good deal of tending in order to flourish and are not acceptable in this sort of situation.
If you are completely lost as to how to landscape your summer garden it may be worth the effort to have a team of professionals come in and do the landscaping for you. When procuring their services be sure to either check into a maintenance program with them in which the upkeep the landscaping or have them provide a low maintenance type of landscaping that you will be able to maintain and duplicate on your own.
Many gardeners find the task of landscaping their summer garden to be the highlight of the summer growing season. If you are not among those, the hope is that the recommendations provided here will provide you with a good start and several helpful tips on getting your garden landscaped and ready to grow.
