Landscaping designs and ideas change along with our societies needs and the economy. By reading and looking at magazines you can see the current trends and decide if they fit your home and family needs.
* Kitchen gardens are very popular this year with the economy being as unstable as it is. There is also a growing trend to buy more local produce.
By growing your own produce you know what chemicals are on the food and you know the fruits and vegetables are fresh. A 600 square foot kitchen garden will save a family $500 on grocery bills.
Another positive point is that home grown produce always has more flavor than store bought produce.
* Many families are improving their outdoor living space. With planning any backyard can become a personal oasis for relaxing, entertaining and family events. The addition of a patio, pool, children’s play area or entertainment area will add to any backyard. And with planning these improvement can be made on a budget.
An area as simple as a tent under trees, racquetball area or a picnic table nestled in a backyard corner will add to any home and will be used by the entire family. Any of these ideas can be done in a few hours and are easy on the wallet.
Additional plans such as a patio, pool area, or outdoor building will cost more and take more time for planning and installing.
* Landscaping will increase the value of your property and if selling your home is in your future plans this is an area you may want to look into. Landscaping will also make your backyard a more inviting area and your landscaping ideas will fit the home activities to meet your family’s needs.
A landscaped yard will add 5.7 to 10.8 percent to the homes value (this average will vary according to the area you live), according to a home sale study in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture. Research from the University of Minnesota shows that every $1 spent on landscaping will return $1.35 when you sell your home. The addition of trees, a patio area and an overall inviting look to your home can be a big plus in selling your home in the future.
* Sustainable landscapes can be the most efficient landscape design and are becoming a must for the homeowner. They are planned around available resources – light, water, climate, and plant combinations stressing the use of native plants and using local products.
Landscaping ideas include green gardening and environmentally friendly ideas with the theme of reduce/reuse/recycle. These methods encourage a compost pile for the vegetables and fruits and recycling hardscape materials like rocks, boulders or flagstone into the landscape design. Landscape designs are also using mulch in garden beds and around shrubs and trees beds to cut water use.
