Home Improvement Advice for Landscaping

Hard & Soft Landscaping Do it Yourself Tips for Landscaping

There are two types of landscaping which are frequently referred to, and which are equally important:-

Hard Landscaping

This covers all the structural work, such as paving, walls, fencing, rockeries, pools, paths etc. It is vital to get the structure right in a garden, in order to give the proper framework for all the other elements.

Soft Landscaping

This covers everything to do with plants, trees and lawns, and is often given less attention, but once you have your structure in place, plants are the very clothes of a garden. If not done well, this can undo all the good work of the structure.

The art of the landscape gardener/designer is to make the very best of your site, whether it is a small back garden, rolling acres, a roof garden, or the smallest gloomy basement well. He or she will take into account what you want and need, and what your garden offers in the way of position, aspect, climate and soil type.

Many of you will only want to make adjustments or renovations to your gardens, but all the same principles apply, and any landscaper/designer will be just as happy to help.

There are different routes to follow to achieve your aims:-

Employ a garden designer, who will charge a fee for design work and drawings, which will be agreed beforehand. You are then free to ask any landscaping or gardening company to carry out the work for you. If you wish, you can also ask the designer to carry out supervision of the work, again for a fee.

There are many design and build landscaping companies, who will carry out both parts of the work for you. On these occasions a fee is not always charged for the design work, in which case you are not free to make use of the designs elsewhere, as copyright remains with the designer.

Of course you may not need design work carrying out, in which case it is only a matter of obtaining estimates and selecting the most favourable one.