In order to achieve visual flow (pleasing to the eye) and low maintenance, a good design will address the site as well as the owner's needs and budget. Once you have collected all the information, then a down and dirty tip sheet is going to help you design your own yard. Are you ready?

1 If you have an existing yard, what elements of the yard need to stay and what would you like to keep? Refer to CSU Extension information if you are unsure what plant material is healthy and won't cause problems later. Also, refer to the plants section on what plants are keepers and the torture chamber for those plants or other elements such as old decks, that are not keepers.

2 Boundaries on the site need to be located. These are both real, such as property lines, fences, and easements, and perceived boundaries such as trees, apartment building looming over you next door etc.

3 Utilities located such as gas, electric, telephone, and cable lines. There is locater service offered by Public Service of Colorado that will help you locate gas and electric lines. Cable and telephone lines are of more concern since burying these lines usually entails scuffing dirt over the lines and calling it good and we all know how much telephone and cable repair service can cost. Note other eyesores and obstructions such as clothes lines, dumpsters, trash can storage, fire wood storage as well. These are almost obsolete if you have bought a new home built after 1982.

4 Location of house in relation to property boundaries and any relevant info on the neighboring properties as well that could affect your site planning. Use your plot plan to determine these boundaries and then measure to assure correct dimensions. If your house is existing, and a plot plan was not in the closing papers, the county planning office should have this on record, as will your lender.

5 Covenants and rights-of-way, easements, and any other legal information should always be noted so that you can proceed with your plan in an effective matter.

6 Site data such as sun orientation is of particular importance because Colorado has such a varied and extreme climate. Note the orientation of front entry and where the entertainment area is in relation to the sun. How will you gain sunlight for warmth in the winter as well as cool the house in the summer against that same heat? The sun occurs on a track of almost due east to west, straight overhead in the summer during the long days. In the winter, the sun will track much lower on the southern horizon and more of the sunlight will be lost to the north side of the house in the short days of winter.

7 Drainage is one of the most important, if not the most, site considerations. Having expansive clay soils will require strict adherence to site run-off in order to protect your house foundation, as well as your future landscape investments. Where is the water running to on the site? Is the foundation protected? Do you have adequate downspouts and diversion of water away from house, patios, and walks? Is there a low spot and will those spots need to remain? Be a good neighbor and work with your adjacent properties to restore proper drainage.

8 Grade changes - differences in the level of the site - must be noted. Do these grade changes enhance the look of the yard, and not cause other problems such as blocking views or drainage? Can contours or grade be changed to enhance the site?

9 Views of the property are essential to maintain value and enjoyment. Not only should you take note of the standard views when standing in the back yard but also from sitting in the yard at various spots. What do you see from inside the house out into the yard, what do people see of the inside and landscape of the house when driving by, or from their backyard or deck? What are good views that are keepers, and what are the views needed to be screened.

10 The wind can be extreme at times here along the Front Range of Colorado. It is extremely ironic that we live in such a windy place with no water (such a cruel joke if you are a sailor). The wind can make being outside very unpleasant. Note where the prevailing winds are both in the summer and the winter.

11 Soils and particulars to your site should be noted. Do you have a predominance of clay in the soil, particularly the expansive type, or sand? Does the soil change drastically from each area in yard? 

12 Paths, walks and parking area are important to note so that physical movement works on the site. What is not in good repair or will no longer answer your needs should be noted to be taken out.

1 How many people live in the house and their ages and hobbies?

2 How will the yard be used?

3 Who will do the maintenance on the yard, and what is their skill level as well as realistic time available to maintain the yard.

4 Entertaining; How often, what time of year, what time of day, how many people at one time, how frequently, what type of entertaining? Do you barbeque or have formal dinners with drinks on the patio beforehand? Do you have friends with children?

5 Do you have dogs or other animals that will be outside?

6 Who will use the grass areas and how? This will help determine the type of grass and how much of it you need.

7 Do you have adequate parking? Do you need a space for recreational vehicles, such as boats or RVs and what do covenants say?

8 Are there specialty gardens that you want such as water feature, herb garden, vegetable garden, sitting area etc.? Will there be a pool or spa in the landscape at some point?

9 Will there be other utility structures such as sheds, clotheslines, compost bins?

10 Play areas such as sport court, swing or fort, horseshoe pit?

11 Will there be any additions to the house or a garage added?

1 Is the house an interim starter home or permanent?

2 What are the values of the neighborhood homes and surrounding area?

3 What long term plans for your immediate surrounding community are there? Will a greenbelt be preserved, are there plans for a shopping mall or entertainment complex?

4 How much of the work are you going to do yourself verses hiring?

5 What is the value of your home? Generally a 10% of value of home can go to the landscaping to get the money out of the house upon resale. But, please keep in mind that landscaping is also an emotional decision, so you should consider the pleasure of a nice yard in your budget analysis.

6 How can you finance, can you stage out the design, and can you implement a creative strategy to accomplish what you want?

7 Most important, what are you comfortable spending to achieve the yard that you will use?

Reprinted from Gardening Colorado Copyright ©

     Winning the Battle of the Weeds

Basically weeds grow either from seed, or they reproduce from their roots. As the roots grow outward from the parent plant new plants sprout up from the lateral roots, creating more parent plants and the process continues and the weeds thrive. Weeds that tend to reproduce from the root are usually more difficult to control. 

Weed controls facts?  Weeds are plants, and they function just like the desirable plants in your yard. They need water, sunlight, and nutrition to survive. Of these three key survival needs, the easiest one for a gardener to eliminate is sunlight. Through proper mulching you can eliminate the sunlight. 

But first, let’s look at the steps you should go through before you mulch, then we’ll discuss the best mulching techniques to use. In order for your weed control efforts to be truly effective, you should do everything in your power to make your gardens as weed free as possible before you plant or mulch. There are a couple of ways you can go about this, either organically or with chemicals. I don’t like using chemicals, but I do use them for weed control, and I use them for pest control when necessary. 

I’ll discuss organic control first. The first thing you should do is remove all unwanted vegetation from your planting area. Using a hoe, spade or other digging device, undercut the roots and remove the undesirable plants, roots and all. Then you should work the soil by rototilling or turning the soil by hand. 

Once worked, let the soil sit for four days or so, and work it again. Keep doing this over and over as long as time permits. This process serves two purposes. It brings the roots that were left in the soil close to the surface so they can be dried by the sun, which will make them non viable, and it disturbs the weed seeds that have started to germinate, which makes them non viable as well. The longer you continue this process the more weeds you are eliminating from your garden. 

Weed control facts?  Depending on the time of the year, there are a few billion weed seeds drifting through the air at any given time, so to think that you can eventually rid a garden of weed seed is false thinking, but at least this process is effective for the remaining roots, which are the most difficult to control. 

With that process complete, go ahead and plant your garden. When you’re done planting you can either mulch the bed, or keep turning the soil on a weekly basis to keep it free of weeds. Most people opt to mulch. Not only does mulch help to control the weeds, but if you select a natural mulch it also adds organic matter to the soil which makes for better gardening results down the road. 

Before mulching you can spread newspaper (7-9 layers thick) over the soil and place the mulch over top of that. The newspaper will block the sunlight from reaching the surface of the soil and help to keep weed growth to a minimum. The newspaper will eventually decompose, and not permanently alter the make up of your garden. 

Paper grocery bags also work well, so the next time you hear, “Paper or Plastic?”, you’ll know how to answer. 

What about black plastic, or the weed barrier fabric sold at garden centers? I don’t like either and I’ll tell you why. For one, neither one of them ever go away, and the make up of your garden is forever altered until you physically remove them, which is a real pain in the butt. 

Weed Control facts?  Plastic is no good for the soil because soil needs to breath. Plastic blocks the transfer of water and oxygen, and eventually your soil will suffer as will your garden. It’s all right to use plastic in a vegetable garden as long as you remove it at the end of the season and give the soil a chance to breath. 

Weed barrier fabrics allow the soil to breath, but what happens is that when you mulch over top of the fabric, which you should because the fabric is ugly, the mulch decomposes and becomes topsoil. Weeds love topsoil, and they will grow like crazy in it. Only problem is, they are growing on top of the fabric, and you are stuck with a ton of problems, like a weedy garden, and a major job of trying to remove the fabric that is now firmly anchored in place because the weeds have rooted through it. 

Weed fabric is also porous enough that if an area becomes exposed to the sunlight, enough light will peek through and weeds below the fabric will grow, pushing their way through the fabric. I don’t like the stuff, I’ve removed miles of it from landscapes for other people because it did not work as they had expected. 

Weed control facts?  Controlling weeds with chemicals is fairly easy, and very effective if done properly. I know that many people don’t approve of chemical weed controls, but millions of people use them, so I might as well tell you how to get the most effect using them. 

There are two types of chemical weed controls, post-emergent, and pre-emergent. In a nutshell, a post-emergent herbicide kills weeds that are actively growing. A pre- emergent prevents weed seeds from germinating. Of the post- emergent herbicides there are both selective and non-selective herbicides. A selective herbicide is like the herbicides that are in weed and feed type lawn fertilizers. The herbicide will kill broad leaf weeds in your lawn, but it doesn’t harm the grass. 

One of the most popular non-selective herbicides is Round-up®, it pretty much kills any plant it touches. Rule number one. Read the labels and follow the safety precautions!!! Round-up® is very effective if used properly, but first you must understand how it works. Round-up® must be sprayed on the foliage of the plant, where it is absorbed, then translocated to the root system where it then kills the plant. It takes about 72 hours for the translocation process to completely take place, so you don’t want to disturb the plant at all for at least 72 hours after it has been sprayed. 

After 72 hours you can dig, chop, rototill, and pretty much do as you please because the herbicide has been translocated through out the plant. The manufacture claims that Round-up® does not have any residual effect, which means that you can safely plant in an area where Round-up® has been used. However, I would not use it in vegetable garden without researching further. 

No residual effect also means that Round-up® has no effect whatsoever on weed seeds, so there is absolutely no benefit to spraying the soil. Only spray the foliage of the weeds you want to kill. Be careful of over spray drifting to your desirable plants. To prevent spray drift I adjust the nozzle of my sprayer so that the spray droplets are larger and heavier, and less likely to be carried by the wind. I also keep the pressure in the tank lower, by only pumping the tank a minimum number of strokes. Just enough to deliver the spray. 

Buy a sprayer that you can use as a dedicated sprayer for Round-up® only. Never use a sprayer that you have used for herbicides for any other purpose. Once you have sprayed the weeds, waited 72 hours and then removed them, you can go ahead and plant. Mulching is recommended as described above. To keep weed seeds from germinating you can apply a pre-emergent herbicide. 

Depending on the brand, some of them are applied over top of the mulch, and some are applied to the soil before the mulch is applied. A pre-emergent herbicide creates a vapor barrier at the soil level that stops weed seed germination, and can be very effective at keeping your gardens weed free. They usually only last about 5 or 6 months and need to be re-applied. 

Visit a full service garden center and seek the advice of a qualified professional to select the pre-emergent herbicide that will best meet your needs. Never use a pre-emergent herbicide in your vegetable garden, and be careful around areas where you intend to sow grass seed. If you spill a little in an area where you intend to plant grass, the grass will not grow, they really do work. 

That’s what I know about weed control. Read this article several times, your success depends on getting the sequence of events correct.

Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most 
interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his 
excellent gardening newsletter, and grab a FREE copy of his 
E-book, "Easy Plant Propagation"

     Colorado Garden Style

Unlike Gardening developed for the cloudy, maritime areas in so much of the Western world, Colorado's unique weather opens up a wealth of Gardening possibilities. The invigorating climate of mountains and high plains provides abundant sunshine for plant photosynthesis, low humidity that minimizes plant disease, and scant precipitation that helps control the water plants receive.

One of the characteristics of the type of climate Colorado shares with parts of Asia and the mountainous interior of South America is a fantastic diversity of plant species. While it's true that trees don't thrive in these areas, a number of herb-like plants and shrubs do.

Another characteristic of these areas is the creation of a microclimate because of the interplay of sunshine and terrain. A microclimate is a climate of a small area that is different than the climate of the larger area it is in. For example, the climate of an area shaded by a building is a microclimate. Objects can create a climate for plants only feet away from a vastly different climate. This opens a wealth of possibilities to savvy Gardeners.

Gardeners are realizing that the potential for growing plants in Colorado is tremendous. Not only are plants native to the West being brought into Gardening, adapted plants also are being introduced from the semi-arid areas of Africa, Asia and South America. Many of these plants would rot in wet climates, but thrive in this area's dry air and abundant sunshine.

A unique Colorado regional Gardening style is possible with adapted plants and practices. The adventure is as close as the soil outdoors, the nearest nursery, botanic Gardens and Colorado State University Cooperative Extension offices. Why not explore Colorado Gardening today?

For more information, see the following Colorado State Cooperative Extension fact sheet(s).

• Xeriscaping: Creative Landscaping

    Spring Training for Vines

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