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Landscaping' is a huge world, thought of quite differently by many people in many ways. In my next life, I may choose landscaping for a career, but for now, I just do it to please myself.

Most people think of plants when they think of landscaping', but sculpting the land is a large part of landscaping'. Here are some steps I suggest, and all of them are (relatively) inexpensive, but some take some labor. If you hire the labor, the cost goes up, quickly.

First, take a look at the slopes and contours of the area. If it's flat, consider making it more interesting with the creation of some berms. Berms are small hills or embankments. They give a yard shape and points of interest. If the yard is already rolling and hilly, use the natural slopes or even enhance them. Once you've taken stock of what you have, you need to decide what you want.

Make a plat or drawing of where you want to place areas of interest, perennials and annual color beds. Decide where the best pathways and sitting places might be and use your imagination of what would seem pleasant to you. You may want to include some water-features. If so, where would you want to place the waterlines to feed the ponds or fountains? If you want lighting, which may require electrical lines, you need to plan for burying them. Once you have a plan, you're ready to start working.

Does it sound a bit overwhelming? Fear not; it's simply a matter of taking it one-step-at-a-time. Follow your drawing and put in the infrastructure, then take a break. Next, plant the perennials. Install the water and lighting, and add some color to dress it up. Let's take a virtual tour of how it may go:

I choose to turn a flat front yard into a more interesting area. I dig deep holes where I want to put in some trees. I choose ornamental plum that has red leaves and white blooms in the spring. On either side of that, I plant a redbud and a Spanish broom. I use the dirt from these deep holes to build up the berms nearby and next to the berms; I dig ditches and pile that dirt on the berms, which are building up nicely, now. In the trenches, I place water lines to feed my drip systems and watering systems.

Now, we go to the hardware store and nurseries for supplies. By installing the watering systems and plants ourselves, we can save a lot of money. We put in the watering lines and plant our perennials and trees, then place weed barriers in the ditches and cover them with rock. We build a fountain, which runs along the ditch to water the grass we'll plant next to the ditch (now a stream) and some grass nearby.

When we finish the formerly boring area, we now have sculpted a work-of-art, which our neighbors will envy and passers-by will enjoy. It has character and personality, and cost a fraction of what it would have cost to have professional landscapers do for us. It took us an entire summer, but we lost a bit of our midriff bulge, slept well at night from exhaustion, and earned bragging rights' and it cost (at most) a few hundred dollars. It will bring pleasure to you and those who see it, for years, save on watering costs and help keep the earth from overheating from CO2 increases for years to come. In the evening, the solar-powered lights make it even more interesting (avoiding electrical lines and connections). Now, aren't you proud of what you did?

Maybe I need to re-think being a professional landscaper in my next life; we could put them out of business if we all did our own landscaping.

[End of virtual tour. Go to work]

Learn more about this author, Will Kester.
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