What Is A Landscape Designer For?

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Often, when summer residents are discussing the development of their site, they have a question: is it necessary to develop a design and plan their weave? It would seem, and so it is already obvious, where it is necessary to lay paths, where (to which nearest ditch) to divert water, what and where to plant. After all, everything seems to be simple - the garden should be done where the plants will be warmer and where there is more light for them.

Willows love water (so they need to be planted where the plot is lower.

A hedge of larger plants is needed along the fence.

At home you need to make a rose garden or a flower garden, and let the wife take care of it herself and plant what she likes. After all, there are a lot of books on landscape design and, having bought them and graduated from courses in some prestigious place, you can kill several birds with one stone: your wife will be with her favorite business all the time, it will be possible to save money on specialists, and it will be possible to declare in opposition to some neighbors: “And we did it ourselves”.

Of course, all this can be done. But questions arise: “If all this is so simple, why does the number of landscape firms increase every year, why does the cost of projects grow steadily? And why more and more literature is devoted to this seemingly not even a secondary problem? Many gardeners and summer residents have long understood that it is inappropriate to use their site only as an auxiliary one. Gone are the days of hungry socialism, when in autumn one could arouse the envy of neighbors by the amount of collected sacks of apples, potatoes, kilograms of tomatoes. And about cucumbers - there was so much talk and gossip.

Now you won't surprise anyone. It is economically unprofitable to grow potatoes at home for the complete sustenance of the family. And about peppers and tomatoes can only be talked about as a hobby. It is easier to grow them in the south, and their cost is much lower there. Therefore, what used to be assessed as “oddity”: well, Maria Ivanovna grows flowers, and not for sale, but for herself, is now becoming the norm. People realized that it is possible to live in harmony with nature and not receive only material benefits from it in the form of kilograms and centners per hectare.

And then there was a landscape design on our sites. The primary shortage of planting material gradually began to be supplanted by the rather good products of Western nurseries, and the cost of seedlings was steadily declining year after year. The range of crops grew wider and wider. But the further people went into the jungle of decorating their land, the more problems became.

Why did my bushes die, but Katya’s not? Maybe we have the wrong land or were they planted at the wrong time? And those ate that were planted 10 years ago - so small, fluffy, - suddenly gave up and are already shading half of the plot! You can't cover everything.

And the main work is still there. There is neither time nor energy for everything. At work, there are a lot of problems, and then somewhere else you need to get a land machine. Moreover, it is necessary to decide: what kind of soil is needed - field or peat? There are too many problems.

And then there is a need for a specialist. It's good if you yourself are already retired or your wife is free. You can then devote the rest of your life to all these problems. And if not?

To begin with, the other person's eye sees better than his own. And over the stranger is not dominated by the intra-family problems of the owners of the site. That is why the landscape designer is valuable, that he must know in advance: who and how will live on this earth, where the dog will run, how and where the children will play at the moment when adults are frying meat. Moreover, children's fun should not overlap with the problems of adults, but supervision over naughty children should be almost constant.

Children grow up, and the playground must gradually transform into some other quality. It can become a place for youth gatherings or turn into a magnificent flower garden. And without any special alterations and capital investments. And for this you need to know what planting material to use from the very beginning of the construction of the site, how it will grow, to what height. Whether it is fluffy and spreading, or it can be cut and shaped. And you can't forget about the toxicity of berries, not to mention allergies. If suddenly there is a problem of mismatching tastes of the husband, wife, and especially their parents - what to do?

The landscaper must carefully zoning the site and allocate to each of the tenants that part where he will feel comfortable. Moreover, this zoning should be natural and not cause any contradictions in plants and people. If your grandmother likes to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse, and your son-in-law laughs at this, separate the vegetable garden area from the rest of the garden with either an ornamental or fruit hedge, and another family problem will be gently resolved.

The site must be well maintained. The lawn must be driven on the lawn. Therefore, when designing paths, curtains and landings, you need to take into account the width of the lawn mower, in addition, you need to remember that the trimmer is designed for mowing grass along fences, near stones and other irregularities, and it will never give a smooth lawn. There are rules for the application of herbicides and pesticides on the sites. When pickling paths with roundup, it must not get into water bodies. When processing ornamental plants from pests, you need to watch that these preparations do not get on fruit crops and vice versa.

Remember: creating a landscape on your site is a huge work, and such a difficult job should be performed by a specialist who, in addition to theoretical experience, also practically knows how what he has designed will be exploited. Do not hesitate to ask the experts: how will these trees and shrubs grow further, how is it necessary and should it be closed for the winter?

And won't the shelter boxes for standard roses of the friends of the dacha owners shock if these boxes stand on the site for seven months? And how many years did this designer work as a simple gardener before he picked up a pencil?

By the way, the ability to see the landscape, its development is a vocation, and here having a diploma does not always coincide with having a vocation and vice versa. Therefore, if you decide to invite a specialist, take an interest in what and how he managed to do before. Good luck everyone!