Tip #1 Pave the way to long-term savings.
Your options for an outside area are vast, but if you want the best value with the lowest maintenance, a paver patio is the way to go. While it may cost more up front, the savings over having to stain and seal it year after year will pay for itself in the long run.

Tip #2 Get down to virgin ground.
Depending on the use your pavers will get, you want to ensure a stable foundation. Dig at least 6 inches under the surface to prepare the ground below. You'll be having considerable activity on the surface, so you want to be sure the pavers don't shift over time.

Tip #3 Block out the bad stuff with landscape material.
Weeds have a way of springing up even between pavers. Lay down a barrier to help stifle their growth and if they are a notorious problem, you may want to consider a soil additive.

Tip #4 It isn't a base until it's been packed with a plate.
Paver patios are only as good as the foundation they're built on. Packing the soil underneath helps ensure a smooth top surface and less chance of the pavers loosening or cracking. But don't stop there: You have to repack the base after every new tier (sand, gravel, etc).

Tip #5 Don't pitch water into your basement.
Flat surfaces on the outside of your home have the same properties as your roof; it's going to wash toward the lowest point. If your patio is attached or close to your house, guide water runoff away from the home. For every two feet of linear distance, a quarter-inch drop will suffice in keeping your home dry.

Tip #6 A solid patio always has a tight edge.
While your finished product should be a tight, level, evenly spaced patio, movement will separate your bricks and ruin your hard work. Prevent this from happening by edging your work. You can use extra bricks, a cement lip, or a vinyl or metal edging. After these are installed, backfill to the edge with loose dirt to give the patio a professional appeal.

Tip #7 Inconsistent color is key in a patio.
When it comes to color uniformity, paver bricks can be treated the same as paint, carpeting and wallpaper: different lots or runs can appear similar, but slight color shading variations are almost always present. Blend the separate piles together and achieve a more natural look, without a patchy appearance.

Tip #8 If you've got cuts, rent a wet saw.
Unless you've made your patio a complete rectangle, you are going to have to make cuts. Rent a wet saw from your local home improvement store to easily cut your bricks to fit your design.

Tip #9 Cram the cracks with a little sand.
After your patio bricks have been installed, spread sand along the surface, and sweep it into the cracks all around. This allows drainage but keeps each brick tightly wrapped with material, making it far more difficult to move them out of place.

Tip #10 For a quick fix, trim a brick.
It's always good to have a few extra bricks lying around for the occasional repair. A brick patio is relatively simple to fix. Use two screwdrivers to pry out the old brick. Cut a new brick 1/8 inch shorter then the old brick then set it in. If it still doesn't fit, keep trimming the brick until it does. Then, resand it to set it in place.

Overgrown plantings can chase off prospective buyers. First impressions are very important; buyers will judge the interior of the home by the conditions on the outside. It doesn't matter what the size or price of the house is — the best way to get a buyer to look into the home is to have great curb appeal.

How To Increase Home Sell-Ability With Landscaping

Splashes of Color. Bountiful beds that set off a swath of healthy lawn roll out a ``Welcome, buyer`` mat. Clients who have spent a few hundred dollars on improving landscaping can earn sellers a few thousand on the sale price.

Perfect The Lawn

If all of the green stuff is weeds, start fresh with new sod. If the grass is bad, but not dead and you can't afford re-sodding, aerate it, put down weed-n-feed, water it correctly and nurse it back to health. Most buyers like grass, preferring an expanse of green with splashes of color from shrubs and flowers. If you're planning to sell in winter, pop in a few evergreens, like junipers.

Think Picture Worthy

Buyers look online before even going over to see a house. If there are tall weeds and grass, the place looks like a dump even if it's paved with gold on the inside. If the yard looks like it would take a lot of money to fix up, in the buyer’s mind, all of those dollars bring the price down.

Avoid These Errors

In a 3-foot-wide space, people put in a 6-foot-wide plant. Then they're always cutting it back and it looks bad. People prefer low-maintenance these days, and with the right shrub, you shouldn't have to do anything with it to maintain it.
Avoid adding shrubs in singly, with one of this and one of that; it makes the yard look cluttered. Plant them in masses of three or more to smooth the look of the landscape.

When the day comes that you have to sell your house, these small improvements will have them beating a path to your door to get a peek inside.

Great first impressions start with your driveway. And it makes perfect sense to welcome spring with a fine landscaped driveway. This also includes the design elements that are on either side of the drive, as well as those that are running at the top and at the bottom of it. You can make your driveway attractive by using all sorts of materials from softscape to hardscape options.

Make A Good Entrance Better
Does your driveway add a scar on the other landscaping around the home or does it add depth to the entire look of your home. Without spending a fortune, you can choose to be creative and have a very low cost landscape that is attractive and welcoming.

Less is more
For example, if you are looking for minimal work, do not plant a flower bush at the end of your driveway where the plants can be ruined by those in your neighbourhood. Instead, use an attractive fence or a rock garden. Another important aspect is the footpath to the home. Do not use any design elements that will be in the way of the normal foot traffic. You don’t want to visitors going out of their way, or worse, trampling your plants to reach your door.

Attractive Hardscape Fixtures
Common options include walls and fences, which can add distinction and accent your driveway. A small fence can add character and colour to the landscape. Use hanging baskets or lanterns on the fence for more charm. A large rock can be especially interesting, particularly when it has multiple colours. You can plant grasses and small flowers in the cracks of stones to create even more decorative looks.

Low Cost Softscape Fixtures
On a limited budget, just landscaping along the sides of the driveway is an excellent option. It will cost little, yet add lots of beauty to your landscape design. As for softscape options appropriate to driveway areas, many things will work, such as a flower bed or groundcover along the driveway. This will create a border that is interesting and separates the lawn from the actual driveway.

Another thing to consider is the curved driveway. If your driveway has a curve in it, a great idea is to add a focal point -- something to make a statement. For example, you can have a beautiful tree, a flower bed, or a rock garden there. Whatever it is it should be beautiful because the curve will focus attention at that point of your driveway. You can use water gardens, a wishing well, as well as many other types of elements to enhance this area and have it look amazing.

Doing these landscaping operations can completely transform the entrance to your home. In a simple, affordable way, you can add character and depth to your landscape design around your driveway.

No one likes to renovate or dig up his or her back yard knowing that the ideas being put into play at this very moment will be outdated in a year or two. We have seen this time and again with appliances, furnishings and bathrooms where $20,000 worth of renovations stays around about as long as a chestnut-brown colored fridge did in the 1970's.

Many people don't think that their outside can also be outdated. Well, it can. For example, in just five years many large cities in the country have banned pesticides and chemical fertilizers. As well, water, once cheaply available in large quantities in many areas, is becoming unavailable for the nurturing of large lawns. These two large considerations are enough to make any homeowner stop and reconsider their large landscaping project. Landscape contractors are increasingly using hardscape as focal points the yard: stone patios and rock pathways, water fountains, multi-level decks.

The Indoors, Outdoors

The quest for an outdoor variety of indoor living has led to the growth in patios which are a living room without the roof. Outdoor fireplaces extend the length of the patio season in our cool Canadian climate and plush, waterproof furniture mimics the indoor variety. The addition of the large southwest American-style grill has made the patio the “summer kitchen,” leaving the inside food preparation area redundant until the first flakes of snow.

The Incredible Shrinking Lawn

Once the dream of a huge golf-green lawn was the goal of almost every homeowner. With restrictive water measures and the banning of weed killers now prevalent in many cities the flawless Kentucky bluegrass lawn is becoming less noticeable. Lawns are still fine but getting smaller and homeowners are looking to natural fertilizer and pest controllers in addition to “elbow grease” to eliminate weeds. In addition, the thrum of the lawnmower is being replaced by a sound not heard in 50 years – the clicking of the push mower.

Low Maintenance Gardens

People love gardens but do not want to spend the time on maintenance. Because of their busy lives homeowners want shrubs, trees and plants that take care of themselves or are springing for landscape maintenance. So when a landscape contractor evaluates the needs of this homeowner an important consideration will be the lifestyle of the client. If you want to do the work or have some one do the work for you then, by all means, get the lush Italian garden with rows of beans on the vine, tomatoes and peppers. But if you want a small manageable backyard you can still have the Italian flavor in small doses interspersed with hardscape. Many of the plants can be rooted in large terra cotta pots and placed on a patio of decorative pavers.

Natural Plants

Before the earthmover scraped them off the landscape in order to build your home there were shrubs, plants and grasses native to the area. These plants have had eons of experience getting used to the climate and have their own built-in defenses against pests. In fact, landscape solutions are filled with natural flora and fauna such as saskatoon bushes, ladyslippers, blueberry bushes, wild onions, buffalo grass and honeysuckle. Besides not needing the care of domestic plants they add a different color and texture to the landscape. As they are acclimatized they get their water from the rain but adding composting material from a compost bin is welcome.

Lighting

Just because it gets dark many this does not mean that homeowners do not want to enjoy their gardens. In many old movies outdoor parties were lit with strings of patio lanterns, colored paper over small light bulbs. Today's gardens are lit to create a magical landscape right out of a Disney scene. With new solar powered LED's and small, colored spotlights placed in strategic places landscape designers are turning the backyard into a personal gallery. And if that's not enough the scenes and colors can be changed manually or pre-programmed for veritable light-show in the evening. Add a fountain and you have a water show.

Wildlife Sanctuary

For a few people, having birds and animals in the backyard is a nuisance. For the vast majority, however, animals and birds mean a constantly changing vista of life. But animals in the backyard (preferably small ones!) do more than just look good. Birds, toads, bats, ladybugs and others destroy insects harmful to garden plants and a nuisance to the homeowner. For example, swallows catch and eat their weight in insects every day. That's a lot of mosquitoes not feasting on us!

Landscape designers take into account the balance between what is natural and what the homeowners want. Consulting with a landscaping expert will give you a better idea of what is happening in backyard design and where the trend is heading.

In the gardening world, the use of Mulch is becoming more and more popular with many gardeners seeing this as an essential time saving product which can have a major impact on the appearance of their gardens. It is also one of the most environmentally friendly substances around, as it is made from waste, and debris from everyday life.

The variations of Mulch can be enormous, whether you are looking for a light Mulch or a coarse Mulch or something in between. Some of the most ordinary of products can be reused and offer great assistance in the garden.

HOW DOES MULCH HELP YOUR GARDEN?

As the Mulch is placed over the top of your garden soil, it acts like a barrier to the release and waste of nutrients in the soil. By encasing the soil, it reduces the escape of moisture, deters weed and stops the underlying soil from eroding due to the fact that it is protected from the natural elements such as cold, heat, rain and wind.

HOW DO YOU APPLY MULCH TO YOUR SOIL?

The application of Mulch could not be easier, basically you just lay the Mulch on top of the existing garden soil (for maximum benefit it is advisable to lay the Mulch between 2 inches and 4 inches thick). The types of Mulch can vary substantially from a light Mulch to a very course Mulch, although what type you choose will depend entirely on the climate, soil type, etc.

WHAT IS USED TO PRODUCE MULCH?

Some of the more common elements homeowners use to produce Mulch include, leaves, sticks, grass, bark, compost and any other organic based material. Many people actually find that newspaper makes a very good Mulch ingredient, and as the ink is commonly vegetable based there are no issues with harmful chemicals or side effects.

As the Mulch industry has grown, many landscape gardeners have begun to use the product as a design tool, as well as for its natural benefits. There are now a number of commercial Mulch products available, which contain naturally occurring dyes, including black, red, etc. These can add a different element to any landscape design, as well as assisting with the quality of the plants.

MISCELLANEOUS MULCH TIPS

While many of the aspects of Mulching can be down to trial and error, in order to find the best variation for your garden or yard there are a number of factors which you should consider, including:

A coarse Mulch will reduce the occurrence of weeds, and decompose fairly slowly.
Much lighter, fine Mulch will still assist with retaining the natural moisture of the soil, but will decompose a little bit quicker than more coarse varieties.
Before applying Mulch, all areas of the soil should be thoroughly weeded and watered, ensuring that there is natural moisture to retain under the Mulch, as well as little chance of further weeds appearing.

Knowing what to do and what not to do is a big plus. Just a few landscaping tips can make a big difference. You would not believe the number of people I've heard say ``If only I had known from the start, I would have done things differently``. And once a yard has been landscaped, you can imagine how difficult it can be to change things.

Basic tips

Bear in mind that your yard will not look its best for the first few years. During that time, your trees and bushes will seem too far apart, they won't bear as many flowers and berries, and they just won't look as full as they will when they have more maturity. So patience is in order. In the meantime, you can use perennials, such as flowers and grasses, to fill in the gaps.
Larger trees must be planted far apart so their branches don't fight for space. Otherwise, their shape won't be as nice.
Trees and bushes should not be planted too close to one another either. When you buy them at the nursery, their mature size is usually indicated, so use this information to calculate the distance between each tree or bush. Two bushes that grow to be six feet wide should be planted approximately six feet apart. Together, they will occupy twelve feet of space once mature.
Trees and bushes should also not be planted too close to objects, such as walls and fences. A bush that grows to be six feet wide should be planted approximately three feet away from an object.
Smaller plants, like shrubs and flowers, should not be spread out, but rather grouped in clusters. Groups of two or three are good.
Too many different plants, shapes and colors don't mix well together. Choose a limited number of plants, shapes and colors that you like and stay with them.
Mixing plants, shapes and colors is good, but it must be done with moderation. Grouping always comes before mixing. And when mixing colors, consider choosing complementary colors.
Use your landscaping to hide things that you don't want to see. Use small trees or bushes to hide the underside of your porch or the foundations of your house, use vines to hide bad looking bricks or pipes.
Use your landscaping to draw attention to what you do want to see. Put a nice flower bed under your bow window or a couple of bright Burning Bushes behind your patio to attract the eyes and light up the place.
Create vistas from inside and outside your home. For most people, the most important view is the one they have while standing in front of their home's main entrance. The landscaping should offer the best view from that location. But let's not stop there. If there's a big window in your living room that looks onto your yard, landscape the yard so as to create a nice view from inside as well. If you plan to have a patio and water garden in your yard, stand at their intended location as you try to imagine the surrounding landscape.
Last but not least of the landscaping tips: Think of what you will be doing on your yard. If you want a private corner, design a green alcove with bushes. If you want lots of sun, then don't have too many big trees. If you don't like working in the yard all the time, design a low maintenance yard. If the winter gets very cold where you live, consider landscaping with native or hardy plants, so you don't have to bother with winter protection.

Front yard landscaping tips can help you add to your homes' curb appeal.

Curb appeal is what initially attracts people to a house. Creating it is essential if you are selling your home, but even if you are staying put, an attractive home landscape plan can make your house a more enjoyable place to live.

For successful landscape planning, evaluate exactly what you have to work with, what you want to preserve and what you want to create.

It is important to remember the interior of your home so you don't block light coming indoors with trees.

You should also consider the view from various rooms in your home, to decide what you would like to be looking at from inside. For example, a flowering tree outside a bedroom window or a planting bed of colorful flowers outside the dining room or living room windows would make being in those rooms even more enjoyable. On the other hand, you can plan to screen out unattractive and objectionable views with either structures or plantings.

Your final home landscape plan will depend on a variety of factors, such as how much time and money you are willing to spend on ongoing maintenance, your budget, lighting and drainage factors and your family's interests and preferred activities.

If budget is a consideration, develop the entire landscaping plan now and implement it in stages over the next few years. If you have other home renovations you are planning, it may be an idea to leave the lawn and nearby planting beds until later, so construction activity will not ruin your newly redone yard.

When you begin your landscape design plan think of both your front yard and back yard as rooms that you will decorate. The ground is the floor and the outside edges of the property are the walls. The roof of your home, trees and sky create the ceiling.

Start developing your landscaping plans well ahead of the season. As spring approaches, notice where you have wet spots in the yard and what areas of your yard are shaded or sunny. Keep a notebook for your landscaping plans and make notes as you go. Then create a plan of your yard and what you think will suit it best.

If you have beautiful natural resources on your property, such as large trees, streams or rock outcroppings, one of the easiest landscaping tips is to try to incorporate them into your new plan. Find out what kind of plants grow best in your zone and what type of insects or weeds might be a problem.

Good backyard landscaping ideas should fit in with your current needs and still be able to adapt to future needs. Lots of grassy space is ideal for children to run and play, but if you love to entertain and your space is limited, you may prefer to use some of that space for a pool, deck or barbecue area.