I hate to see trees pruned as shrubs. There they are, chopped into squares or circles, and sitting like little green meatballs: all lined up in front of some suburban home. Of course, sitting mere inches away from the house’s foundation, they soon get revenge on their cruel owners for the over-crowding and mutilation they have been subjected to. Others see a row of carefully trimmed ligustrums, while I see a row of disgruntled trees: huddled together and plotting to uproot the foundation.

Trying to remove a tree that has been planted too close to your foundation and disguised by the previous owners as an unassuming shrub is difficult. I would recommend that you just chain the “shrub” to the back of your pick-up and put it in high gear, but that might be a good way to lose a bumper. First, trim it back enough so that you can move around it and clearly distinguish it from its neighbors. Then spend the rest of the afternoon digging it out while trying to save as much of the root-ball as possible. Transplant it away from the house and cross your fingers. In a couple years you may have a beautiful tree. If the specimen cannot be saved, chop it to the ground and dig out the root ball if you can. A stump-grinder may be necessary for really large trunks.
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Landscaping a small urban front yard can be a challenge, but the results are very rewarding. By carefully choosing materials and considering possible uses for the space you can maximize any space’s full potential, no matter how small.

Remember that in a small urban front yard, there is only room for one focal point. Pick a single tree, a plant with dramatic foliage, a trellis, a statue, a fountain, or a small seating area. Then build your landscape design around it. All other elements in the yard should frame and complement the focal point.

A coordinating color scheme is important in a small urban yard. Consider the colors of your home, and either contrast the color scheme to draw attention to both elements, or coordinate the colors between the house and yard in order to create a more expansive and cohesive feel. Cool colors seem more expansive, and white and pink flowers will capture the attention of people driving by.
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(Part 3 of my series on http://www.icantremember.org/familyhome/category/home-staging/…)

Improve the house itself in order to stage it:
The exterior of the home should be in good condition. Pay attention to the small details when you stage your front yard. Clean the glass and shine the metal on exterior light fixtures. Not only will clean light fixtures give better light for visitors at night and make your home a safer place to visit, but this will make the house look better during the day, too. Power wash driveway and walks. And keep walks swept!
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Self-seeding annuals are a frugal gardener’s dream: they come back year after year with no cost to you! But, you have to enjoy a “wild” or “cottage” garden garden, and you have to take care of them.

Prepping the bed
Pick a spot that gets at least 6 hours of sun a day, since most self-seeders like sun. Make sure it gets enough water, either rain or watering. Your garden bed has to be full of rich, nutritious, and fluffy soil. Why fluffy? It has to be lightweight or else the seeds won’t be able to germinate! Clay soil needs to be heavily amended or replaced. Adding top dressings of compost and fertilizer is a fabulous thing to do every year, but NO mulch. Mulch keeps weeds out of the garden by smothering weed seeds–you don’t want your seeds to be smothered, too!

Maintenance of the Self-Seeders (more…)

Planting “companion” plants near each other in the garden can benefit both the gardener and the plants. The plants will be happier, and there will be less work for the gardener. (I’m all for less work!)

Everybody find a buddy: “Companion plants” are ones that benefit each other. Some plants add nutrients to the soil that other plants can use, saving the gardener fertilizer. Some plants repel pests that could destroy other plants, saving the gardener pesticides. Some plants provide shelter or structure that is needed by other plants, saving the gardener the hassle of mulching, shading, and staking the plants.
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The Environment Site Blog, Here, has fabulous tips to help your family save the world!

Some of the tips won’t work for everybody, but most of the suggestions are easy and effective. Tips like cleaning your air filters are common sense–guess that’s why I didn’t think of them!

This is part 2 of my series on Home Staging.

(This part is about staging the front yard: remember, first impressions are key is you want to sell your home!)

Whether you are selling your home or just want to make your visitors feel more welcome, staging your front yard will help make a good first impression. Staging is a home selling trick where the home seller treats the home as a stage, and sets the stage with furnishings and accessories that will encourage a buyer to choose their house. By creating a generic but welcoming and slightly luxurious atmosphere in the home, home stages hope to lure in the buyers and make them want to stay. Staging the front yard is slightly different, as the object is not to linger, but to draw the visitor or potential buyer into the home.

The first step to staging your front yard is to subtract rather than add. Take a photograph of your front yard. What do you see? All the clutter that you have learned to ignore will be clearly seen in a photograph. Hide the trashcan and recycling bins. Figure out a way to conceal the AC unit and utility boxes. Remember that the purpose of staging a home for sale is to draw attention to selling points, and hide less attractive features. Do not have a flowerbed with a utility box or municipal light pole as the focal point in your staged front yard! Clean up any rubbish or trash in the yard. Stacks of anything should find a home somewhere else, even if they are gardening tools or supplies. You cannot stage your yard until it is clean and clutter-free. Also, take this opportunity to inspect the yard close-up: remove anything left behind by the neighbor’s dog and destroy those fire ant beds!

A staged yard will have a lush green lawn. (more…)