Whether you’re looking to sell your home or just want to spruce up your garden, working on improving your front yard is a must. It adds a lot of curb appeal and can either make or break the sale of your home in the future. It’s also more inviting and impressive for guests if your front yard is in great condition. There are some minor things that you can do to make a big impact, and working on these aspects of your garden will significantly improve the look of your home.
Whether you’re looking to sell your home or just want to spruce up your garden, working on improving your front yard is a must. It adds a lot of curb appeal and can either make or break the sale of your home in the future. It’s also more inviting and impressive for guests if your front yard is in great condition. There are some minor things that you can do to make a big impact, and working on these aspects of your garden will significantly improve the look of your home.
PLANNING
First things first, it’s best to plan your garden design. To start, draw a plan of your garden to scale. If you need room for cars, bikes, caravans, or any other bulky items, make sure you mark them in first. This will give you a good idea of how much room you have left for other landscaping features.
WALKWAYS
Continue your plan with a walkway. Whether curved or leading straight to the front door, having a walkway will ensure pets, children, and visiting adults don’t make their own path to your door and ruin your plants and grass. At the same time, ensure there is a reason for having a walkway. Don’t just add one for the sake of it. The most obvious and practical reason to have a path in the front yard is to guide people from the footpath to your front door.
Line your path with plants to make it more interesting and aesthetically pleasing. Whether you go for a fully paved path or stepping stones, plants will highlight the walkway and make sure that people make use of it. If there are any fences, walls, or hedges near your path, make sure that they are under half a metre in height. This will allow for freedom of movement for people to walk and carry items into the home without feeling crowded and bumping into things. For added appeal, use textured materials or patterned bricks. Adding colour, shapes, and design will keep things looking different and visually stimulating.
GRASS
Make sure you’ve thought specifically about grass and how it will be maintained. If you have a particularly small front yard, you may not want or need grass to be laid out at all. It could be hard to mow, and without side access, you’ll need to take your mower through the house.
If you really want grass but it’s not convenient, artificial grass could be a great alternative. Not only does it look good, it’s easy to maintain and there are plenty of different types to choose from. If you’re not concerned about whether or not you have grass, gravel, stones, and paving are a great alternative for decorating your front yard. They also require less maintenance than grass and can look just as appealing.
PLANTS
Avoid extremely large plants that have a tendency to overgrow and are difficult to maintain their height and width. If choosing large plants or trees, avoid planting them near windows and doors. It will make rooms in the home appear darker due to the lack of light filtering through the plants and trees.
Hedges are a great alternative to traditional fencing, but can be high maintenance. They need to be cut back and shaped every so often so that they don’t look unkempt. If you want a hedge but don’t want to have to worry too much about maintenance, look for hedging plants that are slow growing and don’t reach heights that are too tall. A shorter hedge below half a metre will look great along pathways.
When choosing plants for your front garden, it’s a good idea to pick ones that flower all year round. That way you’ll have a lovely looking garden throughout all seasons. Think strategically about what you want your plants to provide for you and your home, both aesthetically and otherwise. If you want a sweet smelling garden, plant lavender to give your yard a beautiful smell. If you want privacy, bamboo is easy to grow, provides privacy, and adds a modern look to your garden.
Don’t forget that the walls of your house can also be a great way to add some greenery. Climbers can add interest and value to your home itself. Just choose one that can be maintained and trimmed back without causing obstructions or structural damage.
EDGES AND BORDERS
Adding edges to your garden beds and yard can add extra colour, contrasts of form, and texture. If you use the right type of garden edging, and keep it well maintained, they can make your garden beds look extremely neat. For permanent ‘neatness’, use borders like concrete, timber slabs, rubber strips, or retaining bricks.
You can also use short flowers and plants as edging to pathways and garden beds. Be sure to choose plants that look good though all seasons, and if they’re along a path, they won’t overgrow and cover the whole pathway.
TREES
If you want to add trees for impact, be sure to plan to which height they could potentially grow. This will make sure that you don’t accidentally plant a tree in an area that might leave it blocking a window’s view in a few years time. You can go for a feature tree, such as Maple tree, which can look stunning and stand out amongst the other homes on the street. Large trees can make identifying your home easy for visitors. Be wary of extra maintenance you may have to deal with if you have a feature tree – things such as leaves falling or branches dropping.
