You can have the most elaborate backyard in the entire neighborhood, but if it isn’t functional, you have built it in vain. We all want to have beautiful and flourishing gardens, but when we have a family, we must also take into consideration the needs of the other members.

Divide the space of your yard into two, or three visual spaces, one for play and relaxation, one for gardening and maybe even one area for pets.

An open space, covered by lawn is ideal for your children. Here you can install a table for open air lunches, or for a romantic summer evening dinner. How about a special barbecue spot? Do you have an outdoors fireplace? Keep a portion of your garden especially for storing firewood, but make sure it is at a considerable distance from the house, and any animals that can cause damage.

How about pets? You can create special areas for these little members of your family, in which they can play and exercise. Before you plant bushes and ornamental plants, first enclose the pet space. Be careful not to add anything that is dangerous, or poisonous. Cats and dogs tend to be attracted by the exact same things we try to keep them away from.

Keep your yard personal and away from prying eyes. Before planning the scenery, you must have a place for ugly things like the garbage cans. It wouldn’t be nice to have a wonderful garden, right next to the garbage cans. These can be efficiently hidden in some kind of surrounded space, decorated on the sides, with a growing fence of bushes and shrubs.
 
Functionality is an important factor in your garden, so you have to think about children, little pets and family assets, before you plant anything. Save a portion of the yard especially for you, in which you can plant whatever you want and leave for the others some space to breathe freely and to play and exercise.

You will find it more satisfying this way, once the whole family is happy with your garden and they might even bring their personal ideas to add to it. It is important that personal space is respected and that is why your flower, or vegetable garden must not be too big, taking up all available space.

Trees and bigger bushes should be planted on the borders of the yard, so as not to waste space. Vegetable and flower beds should be set out along walls and fences, so as not to encroach on playing space.

Build a pathway, or water feature, or add some benches where you can just relax and admire your work and reflect. One day you might want to add a swimming pool, so bear that in mind and allow an open space for that possibility.

If you are going to be doing any landscaping, you simply have to read this book. Master the art of landscaping and save a ton of money. It is full of useful information. If your homes landscape is designed properly it will be a source of enjoyment for your entire family, it will enhance your community and add to the resale value of your property.

Landscape design involves much more than placing trees, shrubs and other plants on the property. It is an art which deals with conscious arrangement or organization of outdoor space for human satisfaction and enjoyment. In Homeowners Guide To Landscaping you will learn how to: Organize and develop your yard for maximum use and pleasure; Create a visual relationship between the house and the site and Reduce maintenance to the minimum To find out more, go here  http://dersalsites.com/lscap/  

Sally Robson is a South African Internet marketer, who together with her husband Derek, have a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by overcoming the many obstacles facing them. They have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. Sally has a passion for gardening. For more articles and advice on gardening topics, visit Sally at: http://www.dersalsites.com/sallysgardeningtips/ 

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