If you feel that your garden is just flat and unattractive, transform it by making beautiful raised beds. Gardens don’t always have to be at ground level. A raised-bed garden is simply a planting area that’s higher than the level of the surrounding ground.

A contained, elevated garden area is deemed easier to worked and maintained than a traditional garden, and at the same time an attractive framed bed filled with flowers, fruits or vegetables is visually appealing. There is a range of sizes and shapes, from small accent beds to large decorative statements to choose from. Raised beds have been used for centuries because of the many advantages they have over conventional garden plots.

Benefits:

• Beginning gardeners can ease into gardening with raised beds. Creating a small bed limits the focus to just taking care of that space. We all want a pleasant gardening experience, and having a manageable and productive bed provides just that.

• Raised beds are a good gardening technique for areas that have poor drainage, rocks or plain old poor soil. Because a raised bed allows you to bring in the best soil, they provide the ability to better control soil conditions. For areas with heavy clay, sand or highly alkaline soil, you can grow a wider range of plants. Because raised beds start with new soil that you amend for your purposes, you don’t have to worry about solving existing soil problems.

• Weeds may not be a big of problem. You can grow plants closer together, which crowds out many weeds. Because of the lesser area most raised beds yield higher than ordinary gardens.

• Convenience - Raised beds are easier to work on. If you have trouble bending, you can raise your raised bed to a convenient height. They are elevated a few feet off the ground and are more accessible for gardeners with physical limitations.

Water features such as garden ponds and garden fountains are pleasing additions to a landscape design, because it provides a diversion from just plain plants scenes. Nothing can quite transform a landscape like a water feature. It relieves the monotony of the garden features and provides accent that makes the garden or landscape interesting.

Whether it’s a dramatic waterfall or a quiet pond, water works its magic on any garden, providing a focal point and an area that soothes the soul. Moving water provides delightful background music and masks traffic noise.  The soothing sound of water can mask unwanted noise, making even an urban patio a restful retreat.

Patio Lights

Patio lighting can provide the drama in your garden. Not only does it allow you to spend more time outside at night, but it also gives wonderful illumination for the best parts of your garden. Patio lighting can really create some wonderful effects and make your patio nighttime experience even more enjoyable. Just as importantly, patio lighting can make your patio and yard a safer place to be at night.

Lights can be placed in the following areas, choose from among the popular these days:

• Deck Lighting - Your deck lighting can be a great tool for highlighting and spotlighting any changes in elevations, drop-offs, or deck-edges. In doing so, you create not only a dramatic effect, but a safer deck, as well. You can conceal the light fixtures beneath railings, beneath benches, or on vertical posts.
• Step Lighting - This type of patio lighting will allow both you and guests to navigate up your steps and through your yard in safety. Place step lighting beneath railings, on vertical posts, or along the steps.
• Fountain Lighting - Fountain in the patio can still adorn your garden even during nighttime, thanks to modern lighting ideas. There are many great types of patio lighting that will make your fountain even more beautiful at night. You can have underwater lights that really give a dramatic appeal to your fountain. You can also consider colored lights for even more fun. It is also possible to create a mirrored effect on the surface of the water if you light the area behind the reflecting surface of the water.
• Shadow Lighting - Use this technique to highlight and interesting shapes that you may have in your garden, including branch structure, sculptures, etc. Place your light fixture in front of the item or plant that you want to shadow, and aim it so that the item will cast its shadow on a surface like the wall of your house. The closer the light is to the item you want to shadow, the larger the shadow will be.
• Silhouette Lighting - Silhouetting is a type of patio lighting that really highlights the shape of an object. To create the silhouette effect, place a light behind the subject, and shine it up against a vertical surface like the wall of your home.

These are just a few types of patio lighting you cam choose from, however in order to decide which type to use at your home, think of which particular subjects you want to spotlight. Think of which subjects will look best as a silhouette or as a shadow. Then consider also which areas need to be illuminated.

Wicker Furniture

After the last brick or stone has been installed in the new patio, suddenly you realized that it sorely needs some furniture. After looking around, there is one set you have fallen in love with, but wait - before taking the plunge and buying it, you must have a basic understanding of the kind of furniture that will be appropriate for your house and the climate. There are several types to choose from, it is advisable to study their advantages and disadvantages.

Aluminum - Does not rust. Cleans with soapy water and is pretty much indestructible year round. Consider its light weight an advantage over wrought iron unless you live in a terrible windy climate. Of course, any stone, tile, grout, and fabric elements will need care to last the years.

Wrought Iron - As stated, wrought iron is a weighty material. Great for sustaining high winds. Choose one that is powder coated and electro-statically painted. A chip in the paint and a little water can bring about rust, so keep some touch up paint handy. Don’t wash with any harsh chemicals, soap and water will do.

Wicker- Wicker has always been a welcoming material for outdoor furniture. However, it always fell short on longevity.

Woods - The real value of a wood is usually considered to be its hardness. Pine and cedar are both on the softer side and quite plentiful. This usually translates dollar savings when compared to harder woods like shorea and mahogany. Teak, though, is the toughest of the lot. Traditionally used on boat decks, teak is great for patio furniture. It looks great, lasts, and resists warping. Of course, its scarcity and coveted position among woods puts it on the pricier side.

Wrought Iron Furniture

A pergola is a garden feature forming a shaded walk or passageway of pillars that support cross beams and a sturdy open lattice, upon which woody vines are trained. It may also be part of a building, as protection for an open terrace. Pergolas may extend from a building’s door to an open garden feature such as an isolated terrace or pool, or may be entirely free-standing structures shading a length of walkway.

Pergola design and arbor design are very similar, but if we look at the subtleties, the following distinction can be drawn:

• Garden arbors are simple, relatively small structures; often, they are arched at the top.

• Pergolas, on the other hand are larger and usually more substantial than arbors and can be used to cover a large patio or deck. Posts are located in the corners and at regular intervals to support the roof. The roof is usually parallel beams or lattice structure sitting on perpendicular beams. Unlike an arbor, pergola doesn’t have lattice sides and the plant or vines are trained up the side of the posts and then grow along the top to provide privacy and shade.

But to afford complete shade, plus protection from rain, pergolas must be covered.  Fiberglass is sometimes used as a covering for pergolas.  But just like arbors and trellises, pergolas can also be used as support structures for vines. The vines form a canopy over the pergola, affording shade in summer.

Wooden garden arbors (arbours) are open frameworks designed to offer shady resting places in a garden or park. Arbors are often made of rustic work or latticework which serves as a trellis on which climbers may grow or on which creepers may be trained.

For instance, there are the classic grape arbors, in which case the wooden structure serves a horticultural function: namely, providing support for a crop.

Other functions:

• But these vine-covered wooden structures can also serve as privacy screens.
• They can also provide shade on decks and patios.
• More often, they have primarily an aesthetic purpose by forming entrancing archways to garden entrances. They can also function as entry gates for properties surrounded by fencing.

Trellises are usually latticework structures that are mounted on walls or posts that support your climbers as they grow. Like arbors and pergolas they provide more room for your vines to grow. They can also be mounted between posts to provide a screen. This is a nice accent to provide privacy and shade.

A patio (from the Spanish: patio meaning ‘back garden’ or ‘backyard) is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that often adjoins a residence and is typically paved. It may refer to a roofless inner courtyard of a house or a paved area between a residence and the garden. Homeowners who want a low-maintenance landscape, an interesting alternative to lawns is the extended patio, which is simply an enlarged patio that takes up space where lawn grass would otherwise be planted.

Helpful tips regarding types of materials used for patios:

• Bricks are perceived to be the most economical and sophisticated to use.
• Patio pavers are also seen practical to utilize since they come up with a wide range of options – different colors, sizes, shapes and styles. They are very austere and inexpensive, too.
• Stylish and attractive stones are seen beautiful and so flexible for landscaping and the likes.
• Concrete patios are known to be the most durable, versatile and affordable among them because these cannot be destroyed or broken by some sudden changes in the climate and weather.

Having a patio has no bearing on the size of your home since because it doesn’t technically contribute to the total area of your home. But its advantage is, patios can create an expansive entertainment and recreational area for your home that you’ll enjoy for years to come. Outdoor patios especially make excellent places to entertain family and friends, or simply have a quiet place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world. They can be enclosed with windows, screens, vines, or plants too, creating a general private outdoor room space addition on your home.

Wooden structures can be used in the garden to provide support for plant material and to define the elements of “outdoor rooms;” the trellis becomes a wall, the arbor a door, the pergola a roof - a gazebo combines all of these. The design of these features should take into account probable weight loads from plants, natural forces of wind, moisture and sun and the properties of the wood itself. Including wooden structures in the landscape offers us the opportunity to recycle material from “nature’s garden” to our own.

Hardscape materials are as varied as your imagination. But for weight-bearing construction, you are safest with tried and true materials like stone, wood, cement and the like. Most folks like patios and shade structures. But even these can be built with creativity, forming them to original designs and choosing imaginative materials. Cement can be colored, stamped or imbedded. Mosaics, pavers, tiles, brick, colored gravel, crushed glass, etc. or a combination of materials can make flat surfaces swirl with interest. Consider adding structures for both usage and beauty.

Sample 1: Pergola

Sample 2: Pathway

A good lawn is the starting point for any successful home garden. Lawns are created for aesthetic use in gardens, and for recreational use, including sports. They are typically planted near homes, often as part of gardens, and are also used in other ornamental landscapes and gardens. New lawns can be made almost any time, however, no matter when you make a new lawn, there are certain steps that must be followed if you want a deep root system and a thick, healthy top growth.

Starting A Lawn

A lawn usually contains a combination of many grass types. It is essential to pick the right type, use a blend that is recommended for your area. Just as a plant that thrives in dry soil will likely die in a boggy spot, an out-of-place grass will grow poorly or not at all. After making a choice, you can either start grass from seeds or put live plants in the ground (that means sod). Sod is the quickest, easiest way to start a new lawn but usually the most expensive. Sod yields a usable lawn in a few weeks. You might be able to lay a section of sod yourself, but large jobs probably demand professional installation. Grass seed is generally much cheaper than sod and can be sown by a do-it-yourselfer. However, it requires extensive preparation, timing, and careful follow-up care. You’ll need patience, too, because seeded lawns can take months to establish. Sometimes some grasses just don’t even start well from seed so you have no other choice except to go for sods.

Preparation

Whether you sod or seed, your soil must be grass-friendly: deep, crumbly, fertile, and well-draining. These are essential requirements and must be adhered to before laying the grass in the lawn. Build up shallow soil with a few inches of weed-free topsoil. Improve the soil condition by working in compost, manure, or other organic matter. Solve drainage problems by changing the grade of your yard or installing a subsurface drainage system.

What is Compost?

Compost is organic material that can be used as a soil amendment or as a medium to grow plants. It has a content called humus that is dark brown or black and has a soil-like, earthy smell. It is created by combining organic wastes (e.g., yard trimmings, food wastes, manures) in proper ratios into piles, rows, or vessels; adding bulking agents (e.g., wood chips) as necessary to accelerate the breakdown of organic materials; and allowing the finished material to fully stabilize and mature through a curing process. Natural composting, or biological decomposition, began with the first plants on earth and has been going on ever since. As vegetation falls to the ground, it slowly decays, providing minerals and nutrients needed for plants, animals, and microorganisms.

Why Compost?

1. Compost improves soil structure. Because of its loose, fluffy, cake-flourlike texture, compost improves the structure of garden soils, both increasing the drainage of clay soils and binding together sandy soils, enhancing their moisture retention.
2. Compost stimulates beneficial organisms. Not only does compost contain all of the major plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), it also contains a wealth of minor and trace elements as well as billions of bacteria, yeast, fungi, and other soil creatures that will continue to break down organic and inorganic matter in the compost and in your soil, providing a long-term, steady feeding of nutrients to plants. The microorganisms in the compost will also help your plants absorb nutrients from fertilizers more efficiently.
3. Compost provides a balanced source of plant nutrients. No commercial fertilizer, even one that is totally organic, provides the full spectrum of nutrients that you get with compost. Even if you are lucky enough to have great soil, you can’t expect that soil to remain rich and productive without replenishing the nutrients that are consumed each growing season.
4. Compost stimulates beneficial organisms. Compost is teeming with all kinds of microorganisms and soil fauna that help convert soil nutrients into a form that can be readily absorbed by your plants. The microorganisms, enzymes, vitamins and natural antibiotics that are present in compost actually help prevent many soil pathogens from harming your plants. Earthworms, millipedes, and other macro-organisms tunnel through your soil, opening up passageways for air and water to reach your plants’ roots.
5. Compost is a garden insurance. Not only is compost teeming with all kinds of microorganisms and soil fauna that help convert soil nutrients into a form that can be readily absorbed by your plants, the microorganisms, enzymes, vitamins and natural antibiotics that are present in compost actually help prevent many soil pathogens from harming your plants. Earthworms, millipedes, and other macro-organisms tunnel through your soil, opening up passageways for air and water to reach your plants’ roots.