Before I bought my first house, I always thought landscaping would be a piece of cake. You just draw out plans, put flowers and pretty bushes in the ground and that’s it. Now that I’ve been in my house for ten years, I can honestly say that landscaping is simply one of the more challenging aspects of home ownership. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to the big box stores to buy mulch, dirt, equipment, plants, fertilizer, etc. It seem like there is always something to do in your landscaping.
The most challenging part of gardening is coordinating plants. There are so many different items to consider like soil type, hours of sun, drainage, watering, space, pests, competing plants, color, variety, and the list goes on and on. Then you have to carve out the time to prepare the dirt and nurture those tender little things until they can make it on their own. This can be challenging, especially when you’re a young family with little kids that require your time and attention.
We found many shortcuts to help us along the way as we tried to develop our green thumb. There are lots of books that can help you understand more about soil and plants. We found that many of them agreed that native plants were the best choice for starting your garden. Because they’re native species, they won’t require extra watering or different soils to survive. This sounded great to us because we wanted a low maintenance garden. The less water and fertilizer we used, the better. In fact, native species not only save time, but they do save you money as well. They just cost less to manage and to buy. They are usually locally grown and have less built in cost.
Another gardening tip we’ve learned was to prepare the plant beds with compost. We learned that dirt isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. To make good dirt you need to get nutrients into it, so your plants can have a healthier start. Clay is a tough dirt to work with here in the Midwest. Compost helps to turn the clay into soil which then becomes so much easier to work with and gives our plants a fighting chance. We also didn’t want to run up our water bill with all the new plants we were putting in the ground. This is where rain water barrels can be very helpful by gathering the rain water from your roof to be used wherever you need it. They save you money and provide you a ready source of water to be used anytime – even during local watering restrictions. You can get them ready-made or you can make your own with a 55 gallon drum.
Pests can be a real problem, (like aphids or mites). It’s important to know what plants are most susceptible to unwanted pests. For example, the rabbits in our neighborhood seem to go for the plants with white flowers. Not sure why, but that just seems to be their preference. Because of this, we just don’t buy plants with white flowers. That information has probably saved us a couple hundred dollars. Aphids are also a problem that we fix with lady bugs. They eat the aphids and my kids let them crawl on their hands. There are lots of good resources to help you find out what keeps pests away.
Finally, we had problems early on with planting species that were dying from various diseases. There are many varieties of plants which are prone to disease. Usually a good gardening book can help identify those so you don’t waste your time or money. Sometimes this means your garden looks a lot like your neighbors. But I’d rather see 40 healthy gardens in my neighborhood that 40 unusual gardens that require thousands of dollars to maintain. The unhealthy neighborhoods are the ones where disease is rampant and turnover is high.
However, just because you’ve chosen native healthy plant varieties for your landscaping, doesn’t mean it has to be boring. You can build in visual interest in many different ways. Color combinations are a great way to spice up that yard. Mixing in green shade gardens can also add a boost to your curb appeal. A trendy piece of garden art using crushed glass in a mosaic pattern can bring in lots of energy to your space, as well as, provide a focal point for passerby’s. So native gardening can still be an attractive way to approach your landscaping needs.
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