Backyard Landscape - Winning the Battle of the Weeds in Your Small Garden

 

Once you have finished your small garden design and started the installation you will certainly be quickly faced with every gardener's nemesis: weeds.

Just like the plants you have so carefully selected for your new garden weeds are living, breathing plants that will thrive in the same conditions you are so carefully creating with your new small garden design.

In other words, the very nutritious soil you are providing for the ornamental plants will feed and nurture the weeds as well.

The bottom line is the same things that make your garden so lovely, nutrition, sunlight, and water will also help weeds to thrive as well.

So how to get rid of the weeds, or at least keep them under control, without spending every waking hour pulling them out? The only thing you can deny weeds without killing your desired plants at the same time is sunlight and that can be accomplished in a couple of ways.

Turning the soil by hand will bury the weeds in it and kill them very effectively. The drawback to this method is, depending on the size of your beds, labor intensive and will need to be done every few days, as often as new weeds appear.

This job can be made easier by using a small sized rototiller to turn the soil instead of doing it by hand. Some will tell you that using a rototiller will just chop up the weeds and cause more to grow. While this is true to a degree, the secret is to turn the soil, wait until the surface is dry, and then turn again. Repeating this over several days will eventually cause all your weeds to dry out and die.

The other solution is to cover your beds with mulch which will also deprive weeds of sunlight. This works very well but the organic mulch material will eventually begin to rot and turn into prime weed growing soil itself. When that begins to happen, you will need to add more mulch material.

Under no circumstances should you install the weed control fabric or black plastic as a weed control device.

Both the fabric and the plastic are extremely unattractive and will need to be covered either with mulch or soil which defeats the whole purpose of putting it down in the first place. The material you use to cover it will, in time, begin to rot and become a prime breeding ground for weeds. But now you have to deal with the fabric or plastic as well as the weeds. A good rule to follow is never put anything in your garden that won't breakdown naturally.

Interesting Small Backyard Landscaping Ideas

The following are general ideas on how to create small backyard landscaping that is inspired by the natural habitats we commonly see in different parts of the world. It also includes the types of plants present and how they are treated for maintenance.

Tropical backyard - A tropical backyard is mostly composed of sharp colors and numerous shapely elements. In the tropics, sunlight is prevalent therefore different kinds of life forms can be found. To mimic this effect, include colorful flowers with several shapes. Large leaves, thorny branches, thick roots and creepy venous stems are signatures of tropical forests. Make sure to include these elements in your backyard landscape. Of course, since rain is a constant in the tropics, include in your backyard a lot of fluid water. You can keep the water calm, flowing, dripping or bubbling. Colors attract a lot of different insects, so be wary of bugs that are not people friendly. However, you will also see a bunch of moths and butterflies that will be attracted to your tropical backyard.

Bamboo backyard - Bamboos are eternally green and are a favorite in temperate countries because they do not change color or lose their leaves in time for autumn and winter. Bamboos are overgrown grass and can grow up to several feet high. Include a panda-shaped rock to remind you of these gentle, bamboo forest dwelling creatures. When you feel like your bamboos have grown too big; cutting them won't go to waste. These sturdy bamboos are easily sculpted to become tiny decorations - or make them into chopsticks!

Bonsai garden - Bonsais are potted plants with miniaturizes trees. Originally from Japan, a normally large tree is forced to grow into small twins of the original because they do not have space for their roots to expand. To compensate, they are forced to limit their sizes into manageable amounts. Growing a bonsai is a challenging endeavor; however managing several of these to create your backyard landscape has perks of its own. Once you have collected a number of these, mastered how to maintain them and arranged them as you wished in your backyard, you will feel like a giant walking along a miniature forest. Since bonsais are not much different from their large parents except for their sizes, expect to see miniature fruits growing on them as well. Learn more about how bonsais are maintained. The regularity of watering these bonsais depends on where they originally came from. If their parent stemmed in the tropics, then watering them will be more often than those bonsais which originated from temperate ones.

 

Cacti garden - Cacti are plants that require the least amount of water. Contrary to popular belief, cacti need water too. However, the regularity and amount of water it needs is much less than that of other plants which grow in other parts of the world. These prickly creatures come in different shapes and sizes, and sometimes they grow a flower or two. Although watering them need not be done on a regular basis, a constant source of sunlight is a must. Come winter time, it is best to protect them inside greenhouse because low temperatures can freeze up the water they stored inside and will eventually kill the plant.

These are just a few suggestions on how to start your little backyard landscaping. Do not limit yourself and go for ideas you have in mind. No matter what kind you have, always remember that creating your very own backyard landscaping activity must be enjoyable and fun.