The backyard. A sanctuary for gardeners, home owners, and landscapers all over the world. Whether they are from Stouffville or Mexico City, one can always find solace in their backyard. Peace. Relaxation. And most importantly- beauty.
But beauty can be hard to achieve for the layman. Inexperienced, and even those who have a lot of experience can find landscaping their backyard to be a puzzling, even challenging experience. It can be intimidating. It can be exhausting. However, it is an experience from which no gardener, homeowner, or landscaper should ever shy away.
Having a personalized backyard is the North American dream. It is the dream of anyone who gets a home or owns a garden. It is one of the most preferred jobs for any landscaping business, as it helps those homeowners become one with their space. While designing a backyard can be tough, sometimes even expensive, it is something that not just should, but must be done.
Today, this article is going to cover everything there is to know about landscaping the backyard. Let us begin.
Where would one start? Let’s set up a hypothetical situation. Let’s follow the life of a home owner who’s just bought a new home in Stouffville, Ontario. It’s a new complex, the backyards are bare- just dirt and a fence. The question remains- where should this new Stouffville resident begin?
Grass- How to Make It the Greenest.
A great base for a backyard is grass. It gives off the impression that a backyard is lush, it’s lively, it brims with life. But believe it or not, getting grass isn’t as easy as just throwing down some seeds and watering them, especially if they don’t have good soil on which to grow. However, it isn’t that hard, either.
First off, one is going to have to make a decent base for the grass to grow. That means preparing the dirt or the soil that is going to house the future grass. It’s a process that involves at first loosening the soil on which the grass is going to be placed (more on that soon), and then leveling out the backyard. Take soil from the high spots and put it into the low spots, make sure that the backyard is leveled enough so that it can drain properly. This should be done with a rake and a level. If this sounds too complicated, it is a job that professional landscapers love to do, and it is often not the most expensive job for which they will charge.
Now we enter the wonderful world of sod. Sod, essentially, are long strips of grass that is eventually going to make up the lawn in a backyard. It can be purchased in bulk from many garden centers but will be a pain for the average person to transport. Again, professional landscapers usually have the know-how and most importantly, the tools to get sod from the garden center to any home owner’s backyard.
Then, it’s just a matter of placing the sod down. It isn’t as uncomplicated as that, unfortunately, and we have an article on this very website that covers the basics of sodding, but once that’s done a backyard should have a great-looking lawn.
Patios and Decks- Places To Relax.
The lawn of our hypothetical new Stouffville resident is complete. It grows and brings new life to their backyard. However, while it may have been fun when they were a kid, this Stouffville resident doesn’t want to sit on this grass. So what do they do?
Sure, they could plop down some lawn chairs and call it a day, but let’s say for this articles’ sake they want to put a little more effort into their backyard. They want a sitting place of which they can be proud. They want a deck or a patio or possibly… both.
Let’s begin with patios- these tend to be places picked out on the lawn that is going to be designated sitting/relaxing areas- places to put outdoor tables, chairs, even lawn games like bean bag toss or can jam. Whatever they so desire, they can put on a patio.
Putting together a patio is a fairly easy process, however, there are complicated bits. Once again it comes in the leveling- one has to dig out an area for the patio, level that. Put down some screening on which the patio stones will lay, that too must be leveled. And once the stones are down, they too must be consistent with the leveled ground so extra leveling may be necessary.
Decks are a whole new beast altogether. While the idea for it’s uses are mostly the same (used to store things from tables to barbeques) their construction is, obviously, very different. It would take an entirely new article to explain in intricate detail how to build a deck, so we’d suggest the use of a professional unless one is familiar with the intricacies and hairy details of carpentry.
Gardens- The Final Piece of The Puzzle
Our hypothetical Stouffville resident’s backyard is almost complete– now they have to decide what to do with their garden. Will they do something that is all greens– foliage, bushes, trees? Will they add some color with flowers, make their backyard more vibrant? Or will it be a functional garden– full of vegetables or perhaps even fruits that can be used to feed this Stouffville resident’s family. At this point, it is really up to them. They are now the masters of their own destiny, and this is where their creative juices can truly shine.
The Extras
Fireplaces, play houses for children, hammocks, sheds– these are all great options for a backyard. Play around, get creative and most of all– have fun!
And so, this article about what one would do with their backyard is complete. We learned about all the different things one can do with a backyard, from the very beginnings to the final touches. Grass, patios, decks, and gardens were discussed, and hopefully, the gardeners, landscapers, and especially the home owners out there have some ideas on where to start. And that’s the only advice left to give now– start!
