You may have spent more time in your backyard recently than ever before thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Although you’ve surely valued your outdoor time, you’ve also noticed some aesthetic eyesores around your property.

Now, you feel ready to get rid of the weed patches and overgrown shrubs that have mistaken your home for theirs.

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But how?

Embarking on a DIY landscaping project can seem like a daunting task—especially if you haven’t done one before. But with the right approach from day one, you can create the backyard oasis you’ve always dreamt of. Here’s a look at what you can expect from a successful DIY landscaping project.

1. Address Your Yard’s Bones

As you begin your DIY landscaping project, you’ll first need to focus on addressing the fundamental efficiency of your yard and garden. For instance, you might need to tackle those drainage issues you’ve been having in your yard or do some grading or common-sense clean-up before doing any planting or making terrain alterations.

Addressing the skeleton of your yard, which may need to involve the help of a professional, is an essential part of completing a landscape remodel or extensive touch-up.

After these aspects of your yard are properly tackled, you can begin to plan your yard’s bigger landscape features. These features may range from stonework to water features, fencing to custom wind spinners, and even a pergola.

2. Create a Compelling Landscape Design

The next step of your DIY landscaping project is the big creative one: making a plan for your landscape, just as you would when blueprinting a house. You can use graph paper to sketch your property, then make notes of the areas of your yard that you would like to improve.

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You should consider what amenities you would like to add outdoors, and where. You might also want to make a note about how sunlight moves across your space each day and year, as this may help you make more well-informed plant choices later.

3. Pick Your Plants

Next, it’ll be time to ficus – I mean, focus on picking which plants you want to add to various parts of your yard, whether they’re meant to be the main feature or to complement your stonework or other large landscape features like a pool or fence.

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First, take a peek at what’s currently in your yard, and assess its performance. For instance, are your roses in too shady of a spot? If so, you might want to grow some hostas, hydrangeas, or Christmas ferns there instead.

Likewise, if you have a sunny section of your yard, the perfect flowers to plant in this area may range from dahlias to chrysanthemums and hardy geraniums. Making the right plant choices can help you have bigger, brighter, longer blooms going forward.

Just as you would with your interior space, be sure to consider factors such as size, height, balance, and color as you choose plants for your yard. Colors, in particular, tend to create moods, with hues like red, yellow, and orange generally being cheerful and bright, and colors like blue and purple being more calm, serene, and mellow.

If you’re interested in growing your own herbs to add that home-grown flavor to your meals or beverages, then consider planting your own herb bed as well. In addition, you could plant some fruit trees, like apple, lemon, or grapefruit trees, (though these are more long-term investments).

4. Create the Perfect Outdoor Living Space on Your Property

The process of completing your own home landscaping project is long and trifling, but with a mixture of creativity and organization, you can soon be on your way to creating an outdoor space with the perfect personal touches.