Landscaping Tips
An Introduction to Successful Landscaping and Landscape Maintenance
By: Russell Camp - Landscaping Coach
Since the 1970's, when I first began my career in landscape gardening, I, and my own garden have gone through as many phases as the moon. My own original landscape went from looking spectacular to too many roses to none, and from no daylilies to endless mounds. Yes, even we professionals in the field have to learn much from hands on experience in the Gardening School of Hard Knocks.
Landscape gardening has been good to me in many different ways. Aside from the knowledge gained, and the therapeutic and aesthetic enjoyment derived, landscape gardening has helped to support my family financially and with produce from the garden. Working with nature has been a tremendous joy...or should I say "learning from nature"?
Other Articles By Russell Camp:
Perhaps you are a beginning gardener or do-it-yourselfer in search of enlightment? Maybe you're one of those who calls yourself a "plant killer" - whose gardening strategy thus far can be summed up as a "trowel and error"? Or, maybe, you're an old hand that needs a fresh eye? Even Tiger Woods has a golf coach. Anyhow, those old sayings such as, "A little good advice can go a long way" stick around for a reason: because they are true. This rule applies to every gardener, whether a seasoned pro or a novice. There are always new techniques coming along to improve any gardeners skills. There are always new varieties of plants arriving in the market. No gardener ever knows it all, and a garden is never truly finished or done.
My goal here is to provide others with what I hope will be valuable landscape gardening tips and advice based on my own trials and experiences as an avid landscape gardener and designer in the state of Georgia over the past 30 years.
Most folks know what they like, but don't know how to get there. They know how to identify a well-landscaped and well-maintained property but don't know the steps to take to achieve such on their own property. For example, people who may need some landscape coaching are those who have moved from a city apartment to a suburban home with an established garden, those who have just bought a weekend getaway and now have some acreage but don't have a clue, or those who have bought their first home and are looking at 10 shrubs across a front foundation wall and a dead, dying or already turned-to-dirt front lawn.
Maybe you're an aging gardener/baby-boomer, such as myself, who is looking to simplify? Maybe you're a younger urban professional who has limited time, but still want's an impressive garden you and your guests will enjoy? You still want to garden, but don't want it to take up so much of your time.
There's an excess of information out there, the Internet, catalogs, books and magazines. Often, these sources will hide information or secrets in an effort to sell you something. But I tell folks none of this is magic. I don't hold any secrets. Sure, you can hire me to design your landscape but, truth be known, I don't have the time to design everyone in the state of Georgia's landscape...and there are always those do-it-yourselfer's who would never hire me in the first place however are in need of accurate information before proceeding. My whole point in coaching people is giving them information and knowledge they can act on - whether to know more about landscaping and landscape maintenance before they hire a designer or contractor, or use the information to do the job their self. I'm happiest when spreading the good news about landscape gardening and talking with others about how fulfilling and rewarding an endeavor it can be in ones life.
If life coaches help folks to cultivate strategies to realize personal and professional goals, gardening coaches work similarly. I think we give folks a hand in setting realistic targets, helping them understand what is achievable and what is not. So many folks have pie-in-the-sky visions of what they can accomplish. I want to provide gardeners with practical information regarding the various aspects of landscape gardening and how they can plan and maintain a landscape that fits their budgets for time and money, their physical abilities, and their experience level. Simply put, I want to turn beginning gardeners into pros while providing cutting edge new techniques to more experienced gardeners. I want to help folks develop a skill set like learning how to prune, how to tackle things in bite-size chunks, and the small details that make the big difference in a landscape garden.
If you are just getting started in planning your landscape garden there are some basic considerations and questions you might want to ask yourself:
- What kind of garden do I want to take on?
- What style of garden is most appealing to me?
- How much time do I have to devote to it?
- Do I want a low-maintenance landscape, higher-maintenance formal look or a botanical garden theme with lots of variety?
- Do I want lots of color and fragrance?
- Do I want provacy?
- Do I want to work with a professional designer to help realize my goals or attempt to design or redesign it myself?
- Will I install the landscape myself, or hire contractors to do the intsallation?
- Am I the type that finds maintenance of a garden therapeutic or do I see it as a pain in the you know what?
- Will I maintain the landscape garden myself or hire contractors to maintain it?
- Do I want more lawn space for the kids to play on or more planted landscape beds that will include shrubs, trees, perennials ect.?
- Do I want seasonal flowerbeds that I can change out from season to season or do I want perennial plants?
- Do I want to attract wildlife such as birds, butterflies or beneficial insects?
If you are one who is considering getting into gardening, but are afraid to take the risk of doing it yourself - spending all that money for plants and watching them deteriorate or die - hopefully the information I provide here can be of good value and bring you more success and enjoyment. If you have an old landscape that has become overgrown, out of shape and/or is unsightly, hopefully you'll find some good tips and suggestions for getting it back into shape. For experienced gardeners or those who work in the green industry, perhaps you can find a tip or two to save some extra time and money or some techniques that can be useful to better please your clients.
At your service,
Russell
Other articles by Russell Camp