How to Landscape Your Yard and Increase Your Property Value
By Shivraj Ghorpade
Tips to Increase Property Value by Landscaping Your Yard
This article will give you step-by-step directions on how you can give your yard the curb appeal that will make your front yard look appealing to both potential buyers and the neighbors, and of course, at low cost.
Do you have a shabby looking yard? �Maybe you are moving and don't want to spend a fortune on some curb appeal.� You do not need to spend a fortune to fix up your yard and increase the value of your property.� There are many simple steps that can help you achieve this objective.
The neighborhood eyesore
Every neighborhood has that ugly "eyesore" and the neighbors usually get rather irate over that eyesore. �In some cases, even local municipal governments get involved in eyesore complaints and disputes. �Perhaps you are the neighborhood eyesore and you want to correct the problem, but are on a low budget.� That's not a problem.
�By following the simple steps, you can turn your eyesore to the talk of the neighborhood.
1. Clean up debris and old junk from your yard. �If you have any rusted items lying around your yard, take them to the recycling plant.� That's not only a way to get rid of them but you can make some extra cash also.
2. Rake up leaves and remove any other natural debris that has accumulated in your yard over the years. �Piles of leaves that have been lingering in your yard can easily be removed using a tarp. �You can also rent a powerful push blower to do the job.� If you have a fireplace, inside or outside, or a grill, you can pick up the fallen tree branches and cut them up for use in your fireplace or grill.
3. Fixing your lawn can cost some money depending on how damaged it is. �If it is too bad for you, then you can find some nice flowering bushes and grasses and plant them in esthetically suitable places and cover what used to be the lawn with mulch.
4. Remove unsightly weeds from unused planters, flower pots and flower beds. �Once you have removed the weeds, clean out the planters and flower beds and mix the indigenous soil with a mixture of peat and good potting soil to prepare for planting.
5. Buy some plants to fill your flower beds.� You have a wide range of options for flowers.
a. Perennials are flowers that come up every year. �You can get perennials that can bloom at all different times of the year.� For example, daffodils, narcissi, tulips, hyacinths and jonquils are perennials that grow in the spring. �You can get day lilies, tiger lilies, herber daisies and others that bloom in late spring to early to mid summer.�
Hostas are also a great garden specimen and require very little maintenance. �Hostas are usually grown for their beautiful foliage, some hostas do have flowers that can be white or various shades of purple that bloom in either early or mid summer.�
Sedums are a great autumn flower. �They grow throughout the summer and bloom in the fall. �In the winter, they dry out and the flower holds its shape until spring when the dead stalks need to be removed for the new growth to grow unhindered.
b. Annuals are flowers that need to be replaced every winter. �You have a wide array of annuals to choose from that can make your yard gorgeous during the entire summer.� Some of the best annuals and most affordable are impatiens and coleus.� These flowers can convert your yard into an explosion of color.� This especially applies to coleus.� Coleuses are well-known for their colorful foliage and come in many different varieties.
To improve your landscape, you can also plant grasses.� Ornamental grasses do not break the bank account and some of them are absolutely stunning.� The one thing with grasses is that some varieties need a lot of water, so you should keep that in mind.� You can get grasses that grow very tall and you can get others that do not grow very high. �This is great for areas where you can plant the tall grasses in the back and the lower grasses in front.
Keep unused equipment out of site from places that are seen from the street. �When you are done working in your yard, take the wheelbarrow and hide it behind the shed, garage or house. �Your gardening tools should be kept in either your shed or garage when not in use.� Do not leave them strewn all over your yard.
Keep bushes and hedges pruned all the time.� The best way to do this is by buying some power clippers.� If you don't have any, clip the bushes and hedges as you see them begin to lose their shape.� There are many bushes such as the Japanese yew and boxwoods that need to be trimmed and pruned for esthetic purposes.� In fact yew are very affordable and are so easy to shape. �You can have a yew shaped as a cube, a ball or a unique shape and it will always look good.�
There are many reasons people do not have the ideal yard. �Many people fear that giving their yard a facelift can be problematic or hiring a professional landscaper is costly, but you can do some simple landscaping by yourself and get everything you need from your local home and garden store.�
Furthermore, some of your big home and garden stores have people who can help you design your own landscape and guide you in buying plants.� This eliminates the cost of hiring a landscape architect and spending on thousands of dollars on a small yard which you can do by yourself.
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