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Make The Alternative Choice

Curb appeal adds value to your home; but if you are not wanting to sell your home, what is the benefit and why should you care about it?  First, the pleasure of enjoying your yard while you live there is important to a lot of people.  Second, taking the time to properly landscape your yard will create less work and save you time in the long run.  Invest time and money now for a long term benefit and enjoyment. 

While in the first stages of planning your landscape project, look for inspiration.  This can be in your neighbourhood, in magazines or online.  Searching online can be very convenient, as you can save pictures to a folder or in Pinterest, and keep track of what inspires you.  Once you have gathered images, look for a common trend, theme or style.  This will tell you what you like and give you a great starting point.  From there, you should create a drawing of your yard where structures, trees and fixtures are located.  This is the first step in the future plans of your yard.  If this step seems a bit daunting to you, this is the perfect time to reach out to professionals. The experienced staff at Alternative Landscaping Ltd have been creating beautiful yards for over 23 years.  They can help you from the first stages of creating your project to full completion if you choose.  Alternative has the software to create you beautiful 2D and 3D imaging of your yard to help you visualize your project.  This is great in the planning stages as you can get a feel for where space is and how to work with it. 

An online survey suggests that 57% of gardeners struggle with design and planning.  This is referring to garden style, arranging beds, pairing plants and getting started.  Hiring a professional can alleviate the majority of these stresses for you and help get you started in creating a beautiful landscape.  When speaking with a professional, like Alternative Landscape Ltd, you need to discuss what your needs are.  The list can be as long or short as you like. 

Some of those needs may include:

The benefit of hiring Alternative Landscaping Ltd, when creating your conceptual design, is that they will be efficient due to experience, have fresh eyes on the project, know your climate and what plants will thrive, and can be a project manager if necessary.  The price you pay for this will save you time and money in the end.   

Some things you might want to keep in mind during this process:

Animals – do you need to consider deer resistant plants or plants safe for your family pet? 

Cost – only do what you can afford.  Budgeting and planning for several phases of your project is a great idea to spread out the cost over time. 

Maintenance – a well landscaped yard should save you on maintenance in the future.  It may take a few years to mature, but your goal should be to enjoy your yard and not be extensively working on it.   

Sun Position – you need to know what areas of your yard get full sun, partial sun or shade now and in the future once your yard matures. 

Privacy – do you need to create privacy in areas of your yard from neighbours or the street?    Consider a structure like a fence, screen or pergola, or plant a tree or shrub.   

Drainage – having proper drainage in your yard will save you from excess water on your property.   Water that doesn’t flow away can harm the foundation of your home or create soil erosion in your yard.  You must also be mindful of your neighbour’s property as well.

If working in your yard and doing some of the hard labour is what you like, you can hire Alternative Landscaping Ltd to start you off on the right foot.  You can use them for any stage of the project or the complete task, it’s up to you.  Alternative is conveniently open year round at 34th Street and Patricia Avenue, to help you with any project you are tackling.  Their yard showcases a wonderful selection of pavers, retaining walls, gravel and sod.   The green house is an inviting space to help inspire you any season of the year.  From the initial needs of your project like containers, fertilizer or dirt to indoor and outdoor plants, trees and shrubs, they are a one stop shopping experience with the knowledge to back it. 

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