Okay. You have everything worked out. You have your landscape design drawn on paper or worked out on computer software and you know just what you want to do with your garden. You may even have bought materials and are ready to break ground. How do you actually install your landscape?
Whether you are doing your whole landscape at once or a little at a time, install it in order of priority. First you will want to draw out where all the major items go with marking paint on the ground itself. This way you can see if everything fits the way it should.
Next, mark out where all the systems will go. Consider irrigation and drainage pipes. These may not be the most fun, but they are some of the most important parts of your landscape and you don’t want to rip finished work apart to go in and add these systems later. Make sure you provide electrical and gas lines for any future use. It is better to stub in the basics and cap the lines if you aren’t sure if or when they will be used rather than trying to go back and add them later.
Once your systems are in place, your next priority is hardscape. Hardscape is composed of all the permanent features. Anything to be built with cement or set into place like a patio, pergola, a pond, a walkway, swimming pool, etc. should be installed before you even think about the softscape (plants). Your hardscape will likely be the most costly part of your construction and, again, you want to plan it out with the flow of the whole yard in mind to avoid both practical and aesthetic mistakes.
After systems and hardscapes are installed, you can start with the planting. Begin with the largest plants: trees. Plant them as if they were full grown. Ignore the small, neat size they are when you buy them or they will quickly outgrow their space and cause problems.
Next comes planter beds, informal pathways, and lawns or other open areas like gravel or play areas. Each area can be designed out on paper or on computer software ahead of time so you will know what to buy in the way of plants, soil amendments and mulch. Remember that when it comes to actual planting, your garden is a living thing and it is okay to play around with your plans to make things look the way you want. A plant design is only a guide.
Finally, you can add finishing touches like décor to your garden. Tweak and make changes to your landscape design and know it will continue to change as time goes on. Landscapes continue to grow and so do the needs of homeowners, so no landscape will stay the same over time. That’s one of the more fun parts of gardening.
But if you’ve thought through your planning and have installed your landscape in proper steps, it should grow in better and better over time. By breaking the installation of a landscape into these basic steps, the job will not seem so overwhelming and you are less likely to make costly mistakes.
