Browsing Tag

backyard landscaping

OUTDOORS

5 Changes to Make to Your Yard This Spring

5-changes-to-make-to-your-yard-this-spring

Your yard may be lovely in all seasons, but there may come a time when you glance out your window and see something that’s a little too familiar and even a bit boring. How can you liven up your yard to make it something really special? Here are five changes you can make to your yard this spring.

1. Buy New Outdoor Furniture

You have enjoyed the patio or lawn furniture you inherited from your grandmother for many years, but it’s become a bit long in the tooth. It’s time to buy a new set of outdoor furniture. Make sure that this set bears up well under the weather. This includes its upholstery. Decorating experts also recommend choosing a neutral color palette that can go with any style of architecture. Donate your old furniture or pass it down to a relative who doesn’t care if the chairs, table, and settee have seen better days.

2. Get Rid of Your Lawn

More and more people are replacing their grass lawns with ground covers such as clover or creeping phlox or allowing their lawns to naturally grow into a sort of meadow. According to these people, grass needs too much water and too much work. The toxic nitrates in fertilizer can get into groundwater. Mowing the lawn with gas-powered lawnmowers also wastes energy and pollutes. Lawns made of ground covers, especially those native to the area, don’t need nearly as much pampering.

3. Plant a Vegetable Garden

If only flowers grow in your garden, or if your front or back yards are just great expanses of turf grass, consider growing vegetables. Spring is the perfect time to start vegetables from seed. Plant them in trays in seed starting formula, and if you’re in a cooler climate, you can start them indoors. Start them outdoors in a warmer climate, and bring the trays in on chilly nights. Set up raised beds in a sunny area, and plant the seedlings when you see evidence of “grown-up” leaves that come after the cotyledons, which are the first tiny leaves that appear when the seed sprouts. Start cool-weather crops such as lettuce and kale, followed by warm-weather crops such as tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers.

4. Add Water Features

Water features can be surprisingly easy to add to your yard. They range from solar-powered devices you can set at the bottom of a bird bath or a jug of water to create a bubbler to rain chains and simple waterfalls where water flows from one jug to another and back again. If your budget allows, you can install a traditional manorial fountain, a stream, a pond full of koi and water lilies, a proper waterfall with a pond, a water wall, a swimming pool, or even a moat that encircles your property. Don’t forget to put rain barrels beneath downspouts to catch rainwater.

5. Plant Some More Trees and Shrubs

In most places, trees and shrubs can be planted as soon as the ground thaws. Spring is the best time to plant in cooler climates, for the tree has time to establish itself before temperatures get terribly hot. If you don’t have fruit trees, consider planting a few that thrive in your hardiness zone.
By: Katherine Robinson, a writer for Gabion Supply

0 comment
Share:
HOME DESIGN, OUTDOORS

Breeze Blocks Vs Split-Faced Blocks: Which Looks Best in Your Yard?

breeze-blocks-vs-split-faced-blocks-which-looks-best-in-your-yard

Whether you are redecorating or rebuilding, whether you are indoors or outdoors, a good breeze block will protect you from the elements and give you great thermal conductivity. 

The only problem with the easy to install, energy efficient breeze block is that there are gardeners and homeowners everywhere who just don’t know what it is. By and large, construction work is not a specialty of your average homeowner in a middle town suburbia. Worse, most buyers don’t know what they want from a wall, because they don’t know anything about the different types of building technique. This article will clarify what a breeze block is and what its benefits are, then discuss the difference between ordinary blocks and split-faced blocks, as well as learning about where they might be best use.

What are the Benefits of Breeze Blocks?

Breeze blocks are the kind of building material that builders favor due to the thermal properties. They stay cold in summer and warm in winter, allowing little heat transference through the stone. As we know, this helps with things like garage energy efficiency, overall curb appeal, and securing outdoor areas of your home. 

A breeze block is a concrete block which uses ashes as the aggregate that forms the material of the block. A concrete block uses perhaps cement, or gravel, as the aggregate. Breeze blocks use ash, making a lighter, less thermal conductive material. The burnt coal makes the material far lighter. To add to this, manufacturers make them hollow with a support down the center. This mold allows for minimal heat transference through the blocks. They are far easier to build with as a new builder because they are lighter, yet just as tough. 

Where might you use them?

If you have a little land, a block wall contractor in Phoenix, AZ might suggest you use breeze blocks to build outbuildings in the garden. You might use breeze blocks to divide a line between your outdoor dining area and next door, just to add a touch of privacy. You can use breeze blocks anywhere you might use a fence. Cover it with a few garden trellis panels, and you can use breeze blocks as a place to hang plants and grow flowers. 

What are split-faced breeze blocks?

Now, a split-faced breeze block is a structure of block exactly the same, with one difference. They have a chiseled surface texture which makes it look as though they have a rough stone finish. Since it is basic concrete and ash, you can choose color, shape, and design. 

Where might you use them?

Split-faced breeze blocks are for feature walls. Say you want a raw wall in the living room, this is a good go-to. Better yet, apply it to the outside of your circumference wall to add shape and color. 

What’s better for your home?

Think about the difference between breeze blocks for practicality and breeze blocks to add depth, texture, and variety to your home’s exterior. You might easily build a garage from breeze blocks, but the entrance posts will always be more elaborate.

0 comment
Share: