By Elton DeWese Aah yes, the backyard. So many events, gatherings, memories. Do I hear the theme to the bridal march, birthday party horns, something sizzling on the grill? So much activity went on here over the years remembering them all would prove difficult. But the backyard is much more than all of these things. It can become a ’sanctuary’ for you and your furry neighbors(of the four-legged persuasion), as well as the feathered ones(two-legged persuasion). A place to relax and get away from it all, hence the word sanctuary in quotes. When last did you take a REALLY GOOD LOOK at your backyard and said to yourself - “Egads!” Just kidding… Maybe not. But seriously, have you ever seen your backyard for what it really is or rather what it could become? I’ll bet you never once cast your wary eyes on this most overlooked and under kept part of your domain and saw the raw potential of all this real estate. It’s my humble opinion that people, at least in this society - Neglect Their Backyards! There, I said it. I feel better now. It’s what I’ve wanted to say from the very beginning. And this phenomenon seems to transcend all cultural and monetary boundaries, as well as other societal “classes” for lack of a better word here. Rich or poor, young or old, blue or green, people who like science fiction and people who don’t(I harbor a special animosity towards the last group). No one seems to be immune. Are we all just a bunch of lazy dumb as@%#? Sorry, I get a little passionate about things - from time to time. But here’s a good example of what I mean. Take the scene from the movie The Godfather II. When papa Corlione is in the garden and about to have a heart attack. Now, take a good look around… I wonder if this garden had anything to do with Mr. Corlione’s demise. It seemed - well, sort of depressing. The type of place you could ‘die’ in. By comparison the house seemed lavish, luxurious. Fit for a king and his queen, very well kept. You can spend just as much time, energy and money designing and decorating this most humble part of your lair as you would any room in the house. Think, interior decorating, but in an exterior and outdoorsy kind of way. There are two basic ways to go about it. 1. Pay someone to do it for you. 2. Do it yourself. This article will focus on the latter. There’s no right or wrong between the two. Different strokes for different folks. And it doesn’t have to be that time consuming or costly. It all comes down to how much time and money ‘you’ want to put into it. With thousands of items, designs, layouts and tools to choose from to get the ball rolling, you can transform this nether region into the ‘place de rsistance’ of your r&r dreams without breaking the bank, or your back. A few points to remember in order to make things go smoothly. 1. You should plan to do this with at least one otherperson. You’ll need an extra pair of eyes and hands to helpset things up like line levels, hole diggers(augers), etc.more accurately, as well as lifting heavy items such as bagsof dirt or cement, bricks, blocks, lumber, glasses of icedtea and so forth. You can even turn it into a familyproject. Now the fun potential REALLY goes up a few notchesfor everyone, including the dog! Especially the dog. 2. Plan ahead. Digital design software allows you to dothis in spades(more on these in a minute). Like anythingyou do planning ahead can make the difference between agarden that looks ‘nice’ or ‘truly inspirational’. Taketime to carefully choose your design layout, items, budgetand ‘colors’. Remember plants do come in many differentcolors. My personal favorite, plaid. A little something Iput together myself with my ‘Genetic Engineering For DummiesGuide To Gene Splicing’ manual and kit. I tell you it’samazing what you can purchase on the internet these days.Just kidding! Had you there for a moment didn’t I? 3. Organize your design items carefully into groups tobetter decide what goes where and what looks good next towhat. Trying to undo and reinstall items that were wellplaced, especially heavy items such as fountains or benchescould add significant time, energy and possibly cost to yourproject. Also, if you’re a ‘newbie’ at this you shouldstart out simple. Just a few design items to get a feel forhow things will look in terms of placement and color scheme.You can always add to it later. Just don’t get carried awayand wind up with a garden that’s hard to navigate because oftoo many items strewn all over the place. Few things hurt agarden more than ‘garden clutter’. It ranks right up therewith dead plants and too much shade. There are many tools on the internet too numerous to list here that can literally shave days if not weeks off your project time and save you quite a bit of money in the process. The most efficient time savers are digital design software. They’re extremely sophisticated and won’t cost you a whole lot. Thereally decent ones cost anywhere from $30 to $100. Best bargains I’ve seen are on eBay and Amazon. The software literally shows you what your grounds will look like when the project is finished. This really helps in 3 major ways. 1. It saves you the cost of hiring a designer or landscapeartist. 2. It saves you the time and frustration of learning from trial and error, which can become quite costly. 3. No surprises, which can also be quite costly. By beingable to see the finished project right on your monitor you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. The image quality is fantastic. Some have actual photos that are incorporated into the software and others allow you to import your own. This aspect of the project has more potential than any other to be the most fun. Manipulating background photos, diagrams and entire layouts and seeing them transform and take shape right on your computer screen in 3-D imaging is pretty fascinating stuff. Some of the more sophisticated software are actually easierto use because of all the animation built into them. And as a result will make you feel like a real pro or at least quite pleased with yourself for putting together such a professional looking design. Okay, here endeth’ my plug for digital landscape designsoftware. The goal is to transform this Alice In Wonderlandinto a… into a… well, into something it never really was before but had the potential to be(whew). ‘Exactly’ what that is, I wouldn’t presume to know ‘exactly’. But speaking in a general sense, if your house is your castle then the space behind your house should be - an ‘oasis’ behind the castle. A private resort of sorts. A place that inspires you to relax and mellow out. This is where personal taste comes in which is why I can’t say exactly what this oasis should look like. But again speaking generally it should definitely inspire. Or else what would be the point. So, I believe I’ve made MY point. I’ve told you what theproblem is and gave you a solution, sort of. My solutionmay seem a bit vague. It’s lacking details on specifictechniques and items to correct this MAJOR societal flaw ofours. To give you all these details would mean anotherarticle all together. Check back here periodically, I’ll beputting together a follow up article on design techniques anditems you can use to help sculpt your ‘perfect’ backyardgarden and help bring your dream to fruition. Here’s a tip.Bird houses, benches and fountains would make excellentitems to start with. There are many others of course but Ichose these three because in my humble opinion I believethem to be the cornerstones of any well thought outbackyard/landscaping design project. Another thing I would like to mention, so I will. A wellkept backyard especially a landscaped one WILL increase the value of your property. The money you put into this project will at least double when added to your totalproperty value, which opens up some pretty nice financialportfolio options you’ll most likely want to bring to theattention of your financial advisor. You’ll have a sense of great satisfaction after completing your garden/landscaping project. The knowledge gained from such a project is invaluable and will come in handy again somewhere up the road. Now if that’s not enough motivation for you then allow me to try the romantic approach with a quote. “The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of thefive senses.” - And that is all. NOTE: Summer will be here soon, the time for such a projectwould not be until then but right away. We only have one more change of season before the big meltdown(and I don’t mean global warming). So get ready and get organized! Elton DeWse - All Rights Reserved Elton DeWse is a freelance writer on many different topics, who picks his subjects carefully and shows his passion for the topics he chooses in his writing style and content. He is theowner/operator of two e-commerce websites. With “over 3300 items” to choose from his gift store and many more from his electronics store Elton DeWse manages one of the best sites online for Gifts, Collectibles and Home & Garden dcor items(one of his passions). His other passion has driven him to become the owner/operator of an online audio/video store specializing in surround sound audio/video products. 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