Environmentally Friendly Landscape Tips
Environment-friendly landscaping is gaining remarkable popularity among real estate owners thanks to the numerous benefits it has. For starters, it helps the landlords to preserve precious resources like water and create a healthy and safe environment. Moreover, it contributes to keeping the electricity and energy bills from rising. If you wish to transform your property into an eco-friendly one, here are some useful tips to help you out.
Assess your garden
The first step to conducting an environmentally friendly landscaping exercise is to understand how yours is. You must know what the size of the yard is, how the water runs or drains on it, the areas that soak up more water, the wind patterns, as well as how the sun illuminates the compound and casts a shadow over it. Although conducting such an assessment might seem like a waste of precious time and resources, it will prove quite useful in helping you to plan out your eco-friendly landscape design. For example, knowing how the sun casts shadows can help you determine where to plant deciduous trees to make the home energy-efficient.
Identify the area that you will use and for what purpose
Once you know your real estate property like the back of your hand and are focused on improving its presence, determining what areas you should work on, becomes easy. In most cases, the kind of landscaping activity will depend on what you want to place on the compound. If you want to create an eco-friendly playing section, for instance, installing an artificial turf will suffice. Similarly, if you want to plant flowers, you might have to do that in an enclosure that is relatively flat to avoid water draining away from the garden. Lastly, if you want to create pathways, you can use permeable pavers to allow the free flow of water and prevent soil erosion.
Use the right plants and materials
The secret to having a beautiful environment-friendly landscape lies in the choice of materials that you use. For starters, make sure the plants are ideal for your climatic conditions, and environment. Which is to say, they should be native, hardy, and resistant to drought, pests, and diseases. Such vegetation will significantly reduce the amount of water, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and time needed to establish the yard. Similarly, if you are considering installing a ground cover, such as mulch, make sure you only use organic or biodegradable materials so that when it rots, it adds organic nutrients to the soil.
Adopt strategies that will help you save water
Many cities in the US are concerned about water wastages in the homes. As a result, they are encouraging homeowners to adopt water saving strategies. You too can lend a hand by making sure that your estate’s landscape is water efficient. For starters, instead of using natural grass you could settle for the synthetic or artificial turf, which will not need aeration. You could also ensure you plant the flowers and grass on a relatively level ground to avoid water draining off when you are watering the garden. Lastly, you could reduce the size of your garden to ensure that you only need to water a small section of the yard.
Create paths using low maintenance materials
Pathways, walkways, drives, and patios are an excellent landscaping feature to include on a real estate property. They add a sense of lush, comfort and order. The good thing is that there are many durable and low maintenance materials that you can use to transform such ordinary looking features into stunning eco-friendly sights to behold. Excellent examples include permeable paving stones, concrete walkways, tree barks, bricks, and gravel. The importance of using porous materials is that they will allow the natural flow of water, thereby ensuring that your property retains its charming look.
Consider wind channeling
By using trees and plants, you can transform your real estate into an eco-friendly and energy efficient abode. You only need to identify native deciduous trees and plant them on your property’s south side. Their shadows will keep the home warm in winter and provide shade during warm temperatures. Similarly, you can arrange the plants in such a way that they alter the wind’s direction and regulate your property’s indoor temperatures.
Work with an eco-friendly landscaper
A quicker and efficient way of getting an environmentally-friendly real estate property is to work with a landscaper who specializes in creating green gardens. Since the landscaping technician knows what materials and designs work best in your locality, you will end up with an affordable energy-efficient and water saving property.