Last Updated on August 29, 2023 by ILGM Ninjas
Getting a new house, one not defiled by another human being is really cool. You get to have everything (hopefully) put together the way that you want it and you don’t have to buy a used home. The same holds true from a landscape. You get to build the landscape that reflects your individual personality, well that is true for the most part. The HOAs will probably limit your personal expression for the most part but hey we are dreaming here right? Oh yeah, not that we do this but two things that will save you a TON of grief. DON’T plant too many plants too close together, allow them to mature. and if you are going to have a gate put in a FOUR foot gate rather than a THREE foot gate. It takes about the same amount of material and you can get sooooooooooo much more stuff into the back yard! Your landscape can be really awesome with plants that flower all year long with lights, moving parts and even a water feature right next to the Zen garden but you can get carried away just as much as your wallet will allow. There are three things however that I would make sure that you engineer into the landscape that are really foundational that will help you immensely! They are:
- Make sure that you amend your soil wherever plants are going to go. The soil here sucks and if you put down as much composted material as you can afford you will thank yourself later for doing so when you get your first water bill. Along with this you should stay away from synthetics as they destroy one of the reasons why you are putting down that brown gold, MICROBES! Also, get engaged with a biological program, you will be so happy that you did.
- Get an irrigation system installed by a professional. Don’t do it yourself. We have seen so much Mickey Mouse crap over the past 23 years you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. A six pack, a shovel and a few hundred dollars worth of irrigation components on a weekend don’t equal an efficient irrigation system. You need do so some 9th grade math (right?) that is pretty easy but when you don’t you enter that Mickey Mouse territory that I was referencing earlier. Just do it and while you are at it get a modern controller and then call us about our Never Winter Project that will allow you to run your system ALL YEAR LONG without damage and also automate some of your fertilization and soil conditioning requirements (crazy huh?).
- Automate your mowing and build your landscape to facilitate it! We are moving to automation, an older technology that no one knows about (more crazy right?). Just imagine having a lawn that is cut everyday, at night without running over the cat. Bet you never knew that was possible. We have had a mower running since 2017 on my front lawn and it is cherry. Not only if you are a tech nerd but also if you are a horticultural buff. This is a win win and gas cannot compete. You need to check into this.
So there you have it, what I call the big three things you need to know about before you get started. All of these can of course be addressed post construction but it is more efficient to do so before the build.