Landscaping ideas for private property. Improvement of the summer cottage by the efforts of one family

The areas allocated for planting vegetables are becoming smaller and smaller. More and more owners are beginning to pay attention to the beauty of appearance and comfortable stay on fresh air. How to equip a summer cottage with your own hands?

Classic options

Flower decoration - a classic of the genre

Flower decoration - not invented by us

Landscaping a summer cottage with your own hands is easiest to start with flowers. It is important when creating flower beds to pay attention to the used color scheme. Flowers can be planted both in the form of flower beds and in the form of a rabatka. At the discretion of the owner, perennial or annual plants as well as decorative herbaceous plants and flowers varying in height. What are the flower beds and how to properly equip them, we told in separate thematic articles. Today our conversation is about ideas for garden styling.

Plants and flowers planted along the lawn and representing a flowering border will look appropriate. The center of a lush, bright lawn can be decorated with a flower bed with colorful plants of various heights. There are a lot of options for decorating flower beds! You can frame them with a wooden fence or picturesque stones, make a fence from plastic bottles, sow the edges with ornamental plants or decorate with wooden cuts. To decorate the site with your own hands, even unnecessary household items and a wide variety of improvised devices are suitable.

Alpine hill: without snow, but with flowers

Alpine slide always attracts attention

Landscaping of a summer cottage is possible using the installation Alpine slide with your own hands. Alpine slides are now very relevant even among novice garden designers. It is important to remember that their creation will require a change in the relief of the earth, as well as the selection of the necessary stones. Having laid an alpine hill on a flat surface and decorating it with cobblestones and flowers, you are unlikely to see your dream in the end. Such a slide will not add any aesthetics, but only, on the contrary, will add alienity to it.

When the entire site is already occupied, and it is difficult to find a free corner on it, pay attention to the space next to the house. This place will be a great option for creating a flowering front garden.

Mobile solutions - for decoration

When there is no time and opportunity for a full-fledged improvement of the garden, you can use tubs, flowerpots or planters. By planting unpretentious plant species in them, you can easily distribute all the beauty over the territory, and if necessary, you will rearrange it, thanks to the mobility of such a solution.

Flowerpots from painted buckets - a great option

Having shown imagination, you can ennoble even an ordinary wooden box. By painting it in an unusual manner or hanging it by ropes played like hands, you will bring some humor and fun to the design.

Flower pots are great for creating sculptures. Having picked up pots of different sizes, they are fastened with wire, refreshed with paints, flowers are added and woo-a-la - you have very cute and unique figures in front of you!

Ponds are visible from afar

What else do they like to decorate summer cottages, besides flowers? Of course, reservoirs. Ponds and ponds in combination with green plants will become a piece of paradise in your garden. On hot summer days, sitting here will be a real pleasure. Ponds can be decorated in different ways, here an immense horizon of possibilities opens up for your imagination. Along the shore of the pond, you can build a flooring from wooden planks, which, in order not to suffer with their impregnation and painting, can be replaced with composite ones. The advantage of this material is that it does not rot, does not change color and is very similar to wood. The correct name for this coating is decking. It is also perfect for building a veranda or terrace, or for the side sections of the pool.

Even small pond bring charm to the water

Stone slabs will also perfectly cope with the role of the banks. The time spent will be justified, because as a result you will get a stunning and reliable reservoir. For better fixation of the stones, the soil should be prepared. Part of the soil is removed, crushed stone is poured, carefully compacted and covered with a layer of sand from above. Stone slabs are already laid out on top of the sand layer. For greater reliability, sand and cement should be poured into the gaps between the plates in the form of a mixture. You need to remove the excess and wait for the rain, which, having moistened the blind area, will allow the cement to fasten the plates to each other.

The owners, whose house is located not far from a quiet river, can pick up suitable boulders on the shore and decorate the pond with them. However, it is quite possible to buy such stones in the garden center.

It would be appropriate to transfer garden paths made of paving stones to the shore of the pond. Then all the decoration of the garden will be decorated in the same style. The technique is similar to the one we mentioned above.

Lawn - beautiful Mouzon

The arrangement of a summer cottage with your own hands will be half completed if you create a well-groomed lawn on its small territory. Maintaining green beauty is not easy. Consider the following lawn care tips:

seeds for planting must be of high quality and appropriate to the local climate;
the edges of the lawn should be neat (you can use a curb tape);
regular mowing of grown grass is necessary;
do not forget about weeding, watering, fertilizing and repairing lawn defects.

How to make a site unique and inimitable with the help of a lawn? Drop it off in the form unusual shape. This landscaping technique will add zest to your garden.

The lawn as the basis of the wealth of green spaces

Arches and pergolas so that the flowers are not naked

Thinking about how to ennoble a summer cottage, one cannot help but recall pergolas, arches, trellises. You can decorate the path to the house by installing a pergola or a decorative arch. Sturdy but at the same time graceful design, entwined with a variety of bindweeds, will be an ideal guide to the recreation area. By installing the arches at a short distance from each other, you will eventually, after a while, get a shady corner where it will be so nice to sit and read on hot summer days.

Arch at the entrance cheers up

The choice of plants for landscaping decorative arches very wide: it can be ivy, and grapes, and honeysuckle, and a climbing rose, which have very beautiful buds when flowering. Choosing as a plant parthenocissus You can't go wrong either. Leaf color will change from time to time: in early spring You will be delighted with pale green fresh leaves, in summer the foliage will acquire a rich green color, and in autumn you will sometimes enjoy the view of bright red leaves.

We decorate the toilet, as if it were not there

The first building in the country usually becomes not even a change house, but a toilet. A must have, I must say. How can a toilet become a decoration, you ask, because our conversation today is about the transformation of the site? We will tell you how to turn a very prosaic thing into a source of pride for the owner.

Of course, putting the toilet in a prominent place is not the best idea, but it can be perfectly decorated. For example, make it from logs in the form of a birdhouse. Such a cute hut in itself arouses sympathy, and if you do gardening and plant flowers or low shrubs around, and even arrange a stone path, then the building will sparkle in a new way. See the photo below for an example.

Regal Toilet for a Regal Owner

When we equip the site, it is important to pay attention to style, where the priority is appearance Houses. That is, choosing the design of the toilet, it is necessary to coordinate it with existing buildings.

If you want to make a toilet out of stone, show your imagination and depict it in the form of a knight's castle. My house is my castle, but don't overdo it, otherwise neighbors and passers-by will consider it a rarity and want to visit.

original variants

Dacha is a small country for creativity and boundless design. To improve their own site, the owner can use a variety of tools and materials. We will tell you how to transform and improve a boring garden patio and help it become cute, cozy and unforgettable. Sometimes you don’t even need to buy anything, just look around, and you will find a lot of useful, but, alas, unnecessary things. We offer ideas for the design of summer cottages, gardens and vegetable gardens, which are easy to implement with your own hands.

Flower bed, but you can't sleep

An old unnecessary bed will be an excellent base for a flower bed. Fill the base with soil and sow with perennials. Such a design solution will certainly fit perfectly into the garden landscape. The photo below is one of the interesting options.

I wish all dreams were like this

Fairy-tale straw bull-three

Your house is so reminiscent of your native village, where my grandmother kept a cow, pigs and other living creatures. How to bring nostalgia back to modern landscape design? A bull from hay will be very appropriate, and most importantly, not much work will be required. The frame is connected from the wire, and covered with hay on top. Wonder how great it turns out.

The touching charm of handmade

Stump-feeder - not a rattle at all

It is not necessary to uproot the old stump that remains on the site. Make a bird feeder out of it. In the cold, your yard will become a haven for titmouse, sparrows and other birds who want to eat. Everyone - both children and adults - will be happy to watch the bird's meal. The inside of the stump should be hollowed out, leaving intact side surfaces. Put some grains inside and your feeder is ready to receive the first guests. Having made it from a tree stump, you can hang the product on a branch near the house.

Birds on a homemade feeder always sing beautifully

Grass figures are right in their own way

Something similar happens if the figure is trimmed with canvas on top. artificial grass. The coating is reliable, weather-resistant and does not require watering. The frame can be made of almost any material, of course, taking into account the effects of moisture and sun. Great example garden sculpture- rhinoceros in the photo below.

Donkey from the grass drags a lot of beauty

Grid figures are just sweets

Mesh garden figures are becoming more and more popular. It can be a jug, a bird, a donkey, etc. Of course, you need to tinker a little to tie a beautiful green PVC-coated mesh figure with wire. Such products are complemented by weaving and climbing plants. Internal cavities can be lined with fine plastic mesh also green, and then filled with soil. Then you can plant any plants that are not demanding on moisture.

A weight of responsibility made of flowers won't let the peacock fly away

Decorative well - landscape miracle worker

Wells-flower beds look beautiful, from which various flowers seem to splash out. The presence of a well or a well made of concrete rings in the country will allow you to create decor on an existing foundation. Choose brick or stone for your walls. Such materials are most suitable, because they tolerate dampness well, which means they will be a reliable “shelter” from rain, sun and frost. When you need to disguise frameless installations, choose any material for decoration - lining or boards, siding, plastic panels or tiles. The photo shows one of the options.

decorative well harmonizes perfectly with the decoration of the house

Cart for decor - support for vision

Such an unusual design solution closes two tasks at once: it serves as a flower garden, on which you can place the volumes of two flower beds at once, and it will also be very original item decor. Today you can choose a variety of options for carts. Sizes and styles will vary. Classic variant- a rustic-style cart, but some people prefer to choose a wild west or Provencal-style cart for their garden. Carts can be made of wood or metal, or have combined parts.

An old wagon scatters beauty

Minor confusion and how to solve them

Let's consider the most common site problems that the owners are most concerned about. We ennoble uncomfortable and uncomfortable areas:

Lack of space for flower bed. An excellent solution would be the selection of beautiful stylized pots, flowerpots and flowerpots in which you can plant any plants. Such point decorations are very mobile and can be easily moved from one point of the garden to another.
A simple chain-link fence does not have a decorative feature and does not protect from prying eyes. The problem is solved by landing next to the fence climbing plants, which, wrapping around the mesh, will create not only protection from prying eyes, but also give aesthetic pleasure. Choose as plants climbing rose, parthenocissus or ivy.
Lack of space for arches and pergolas. As an alternative, choose any vertical object available in the garden: an old tree, a fence, the walls of house buildings. Thus, you will get a flowering garden with climbing plants and decorate unsightly objects.
An unsightly pillar on the frontal place, spoiling the view. Decorate it with flowers that can be planted in tins. You can also plant a bindweed at the bottom of a post and let it decorate an ugly object.

If you tickle your heels, you will laugh

You can beat a boring garden with shrubs and plants that can be cut, for example, boxwood. Thanks to this find, you will decorate the garden plot with original greenery figurines.
Places that require camouflage, such as a crack in the foundation, can be decorated with cushion plants with a pleasant shade and voluminous shape. These plants are usually shade tolerant and can be planted in both shade and full sun.
The compost heap has bad smell and does not add aesthetics to the landscape. By creating a green barrier around the perimeter of berry or ornamental, but fragrant shrubs, you can solve both of these problems at once.
The untidy appearance of the site is created by fallen autumn leaves. From the abundance of work, you do not have time to remove them, and they spoil the whole look. Plant ground cover plants in the garden that perfectly decorate fallen leaves.
Available track from concrete slabs can also be played. It is worth taking out the plates in a checkerboard pattern and planting low ones in their place ornamental plants. So, the appearance of the track will become more attractive.
Children run on the lawn in a short way, and new paths appear that do not look very aesthetically pleasing. Fill them with gravel and it will look like it was intended.
You can refresh the faded and dull colors of buildings and fences with the help of drawing. Wall painting will give the garden a bright, unusual and attractive look.

Magazines illustrating picturesque landscape design always cause a desire to equip a suburban area. However, how to realize your creative ideas and ideas if financial possibilities do not allow you to hire a designer? Landscaping of a summer cottage - not like that difficult task. Any owner can easily cope with it, even without the help of a specialist. It is only necessary to properly plan the site and use some simple tips.

Initially, make a list in which include all the wishes of the household. Indeed, for some, the improvement of a summer cottage is beautiful flower beds, front gardens. Others plan to grow record harvests. And someone wants to equip the pool. In addition, it is necessary to equip a playground with a sandbox for children. And, of course, organize a recreation area, preferably with a gazebo.

When planning the improvement of a summer cottage (the photo in the article allows you to familiarize yourself with great solutions), be sure to heed the following universal recommendations:

Equipping the territory, properly dock the lighting and all communications, paths and compositions. Be sure to keep them in the same style.
Consider the general landscape of the area and those green spaces that already exist on the site. The plants you plant should harmoniously fit into the design.
Successful combinations of landscape elements look great. For example, plants and stones will create a harmonious ensemble on an alpine hill, in rockeries.
Decor elements of the same material are recommended to be placed in the same zone. This will give a complete look to the composition.

Lot style

Landscaping a summer cottage should not begin with radical actions. Even if you have purchased a territory on which a house has already been built and landscaped. Be sure to look around. Of course, you will want to redo and change everything. But be sure to consider the features of the territory.

An important aspect is the choice of landscape style. It must fully comply with the built house. Agree, a high-tech site is completely unsuitable for a village hut. But such a house can be perfectly ennobled by placing a beautiful front garden in front of it. Such an element has always been an attribute of a rural estate.

It is very important to consider the size of the territory. If you have to improve a summer cottage of 6 acres, then the issue needs to be approached more scrupulously. In this case, a small front garden is recommended, in which small landscape compositions can be harmoniously placed.

Design stage

It is very important when planning to implement to put all the ideas on paper. This is especially true if you are the owner of a small area.

When distributing functional zones on the site, be sure to consider:

territory lighting;
ground water level;
orientation to the cardinal points;
Direction of the wind.

Put all future fragments on your scheme: a small waterfall, a pond, an alpine slide and others landscape elements. Be sure to mark the paths.

Even if your budget is very limited, but you are planning to install an original fountain, be sure to include it in the plan. The opinion that the improvement of a summer cottage is an expensive pleasure is just a stereotype. Using improvised means, unnecessary things, you can create an amazing and unique landscape design.

Landscaping of the site

Now you can bring your ideas to life. Landscaping and landscaping of your summer cottage will bring you great pleasure. But in order for your landscape to become pride in the future, use the little tips of designers:

Arrangement of the yard

There are many great tricks that allow you to special costs create a unique landscape. Be sure to check them out. Perhaps you implement some of them in your yard. So, consider carefully, if you are planning the improvement of a summer cottage, photos of beautiful landscape designs.

A few ideas will help implement some of them:

Summary

Landscaping is a creative, extraordinarily fascinating process which will bring a lot of fun. Do not be afraid to experiment and fantasize. After all, sometimes the most incredible ideas allow you to create an individual and inimitable landscape design.

transforming do-it-yourself summer cottage on the eve of the start of the summer season, we take care of the buildings, plants, the land itself, but also lay the foundation for a good rest in the future. Imagine basking in the shade of trees on a hammock with a ripe apple in hand, contemplating the luxury of a bright riot of flowers, and with a vengeance we will set to work on development.

Do-it-yourself summer cottage design

When developing, not only its configuration, location on the cardinal points or the presence of other areas in the neighborhood should be taken into account. It is very important to take into account all your own wishes, your ideas about the ideal vacation for yourself. The classical scheme, in which there is a clear division into a garden, a vegetable garden, a place to relax, is typical for the traditional approach to do-it-yourself dacha design. V current trends everything is mixed, you can find elements of a flower garden in the garden, and arrange a playground for children's games in the garden. Limitations for your imagination can only be the dimensions of the site, because on the traditional six acres it is simply impossible to accommodate everything.

At do-it-yourself planning of a summer cottage do not forget about the obvious things that must be taken into account. For example, an irrigation system for beds and trees, it must be either built-in, embedded in the ground, or watering will be carried out using hoses. If you don’t take part in this and locate the vegetable growing area far from the main water supply unit, closing the space between these two points, then later you can damage the flower beds and soil them with soil from hoses garden paths.

Also, in many layouts, the toilet and shower are taken out of the house and located at the extreme boundaries of the perimeter. It would be appropriate to beat them in the same style with the rest, but not highlight the brightest part so that minimal attention is drawn to them. Zoning partitions should be developed, for example, vertical gardening on a small fence or a hedge, which will visually hide buildings.

Do-it-yourself landscaping of a summer cottage

Often do-it-yourself landscaping perceived purely as decoration, filling the space with decorative elements, buying seedlings exotic trees or bushes. Whereas the main thing for creating an external appearance will be the grooming of the territory. Soil free from weeds, swept paths, cleared leaves, all this will create a much more favorable impression, even if the plant composition is the most ordinary.

Therefore, the first tip for any landscaping is if you know that you will not have enough time to beautify your backyard with your own hands and keep it in this state all the time, it is better to choose options with minimal content. Take up most of the lawn, on which you can, if necessary, put garden furniture, and just lie down in a deck chair, make a platform near the house, which will be concreted or tiled, so you get rid of the earth and dirt. Decorate each tree with a curb ring, bring a hidden irrigation system so that you can supply the trees with water literally with one left.

In the case of a simple one, you can save a lot of energy if you set up a landscape garden. It will require minimal time spent on watering, caring for the crown in winter period, top dressing and spraying in the spring, and, the most pleasant part, harvesting. At the same time, for almost the entire season, the elegant foliage of trees can look even better than complex alpine slides or flower beds, especially during spring flowering.

If both space and free time allow, then you can make traditional decorations, which are very often used for do-it-yourself dacha decorations, for example, they make a stationary pool, a small one, a waterfall powered by an electric motor, a fountain.

Arrangement of a summer cottage with their own hands

For do-it-yourself landscaping especially when he small size, you need to make a fateful decision what percentage of it you will allocate for growing vegetables. Plants useful in the economy all as one need high-quality soil, weed removal, good lighting and protection from drafts, high winds. Therefore, it will be very difficult to fit them, in our usual sense, into a site ennobled according to the Western model. Fortunately, the solution has long been found, and if you do not plan to start with huge plantations, you can safely use the ideas of an ornamental garden.

The layout of the garden must be taken into account at the source, when we equip the summer cottage with our own hands. After all, this will require additional costs from you. building materials whichever option you choose. But due to the fact that the beds will look very neat, elegant, you can safely choose absolutely any piece of the perimeter, they will fit well everywhere.

In the immediate vicinity of the house, you can play with its color, texture, and make the sides for the boxes of earth the same color as the walls of the house, or you can, on the contrary, create color accents. Since the contents of the containers you will have are bright green plants, it is worth choosing colors that harmonize well with warm green hues. It is yellow, orange, brown, raspberry.

Also the sides on do-it-yourself suburban area, photo- an example of which you see above, are made out by various decorative materials, for example, neat wooden cuts, and the most even and similar in diameter are selected. You can use pieces of decorative tiles, lining. Some decorate flowerbeds and beds with painted plastic bottles, but this, of course, is not very welcome if it is in a modern style. It is better to use flagstone, natural stone, wicker or even ceramic tiles, in a word, everything that will look organic in natural conditions.

The arrangement of the beds in the boxes allows you to make clean and comfortable transitions between them, these are so-so, but vice versa. The space between the boards is most often filled with crushed stone, fine screenings, or filled with lawn grass with a high content of turf and similar plants, forming a dense cover that you will be comfortable walking on in dry and inclement weather.

And using this element vertical gardening, we are not only we decorate the summer cottage with our own hands, but we can also pull a small fragment of the garden closer to the house. In construction supermarkets, you have probably seen bamboo stalks from which you can make such an unusual whatnot. Since the stem itself of this diameter is quite large, then one is enough for you for several full-fledged tiers, especially since it needs to be cut along. Use a drill to make holes in the bottom to drain excess water, pour a layer of drainage material, and then a layer fertile soil. It is worth planting in such containers plants with a small root system that do not need much deepening, for example, lettuce, onions for greens, parsley, basil, thyme. You can put the rack near the porch or near summer kitchen and every time you need fresh herbs, you won’t need to run to different ends of the garden at all.

Making a summer cottage with your own hands

Having casually mentioned garden paths, let's take a closer look at their role for decorating a summer cottage with your own hands. Without paths, any area will look more like a dense forest, it will not only be uncomfortable for you to walk, but you will also lose a lot in terms of decoration.

You can easily lay them using sets of ready-made templates. For this, there are not only instructions for the product, but also training materials on refining do-it-yourself suburban area, video which you can easily find on the web. These paths are made according to the formwork principle, that is, they pour into the cells cement mixture with additives to increase its strength. When one fragment sets, the formwork is removed and the whole segment is installed. This method has only one significant drawback - this is its great popularity, so your path will definitely not be unique.

However, you can combine technology by interspersing rectangular segments with fragments of a turf lawn. This option fits perfectly into the eco-concept. do-it-yourself dacha landscape, which is among the most fashion trends. And if it is difficult to observe them in relation to stationary buildings, such as a house or a gazebo, then for paths it is easy. After all, if you get bored or uncomfortable, you can easily dismantle them, replacing them with other fashionable elements.

Beautiful suburban areas with their own hands

Options beautiful summer cottages do it yourself very, very much. But for many elements you need either a lot of space, or, as they say, golden hands. What are some simple ways to make the look spectacular, but it would not cost a lot of effort?

In the flower garden, you can place a bush of lush flowers, which will be decorated with any clay container, jug, pot, amphora. Blue color will imitate water, which will only increase the effect. However, even after the end of flowering, this element will not lose its attractiveness.

When we we decorate the summer cottage with our own hands, then you should think not only about beauty and external attractiveness, but also about convenience. And you can combine these two tasks. For example, a barbecue area is almost always present either in the area of the gazebo, or on the terrace, but it does not always look outwardly attractive. You can buy or build such a large multifunctional oven yourself. Its shape has been verified over the years, everything is comfortable, but external attractiveness has not been forgotten. It is convenient to place firewood below so that they remain dry, in the brazier you can make barbecue and barbecue, and cook dishes on a spit. And the countertops on the sides are perfect for prepared or ready-made products.

But for this country interior do-it-yourself site, inside the gazebo, a built-in hearth is used, which is located inside, such a semblance of a Russian stove. Thanks to this, you can cook outdoors without being distracted from your rest.

Land development always starts with a plan. Rational use and decoration personal plot are possible only as a result of its correct and thoughtful planning, taking into account natural, climatic, local, national and household features. In this article, we will tell you how to decorate a personal plot with your own hands in a village from improvised materials, we will give video and photo instructions for registration.

The smaller the area of the site, the more carefully you need to plan it and think through the design details.

Relief

When placing elements of the estate and choosing plantings, it is necessary to take into account the location of the place relative to the sides of the horizon, the prevailing winds, the state of the soil and soil, as well as its relief. The natural relief does not always and does not fully meet the planning requirements, in such cases it is recommended to carry out a vertical planning.

With small elevation differences (up to 5%) excavation they do not produce, leaving the natural relief, and the house is built with a basement or basement, or only the site for building the house is leveled.

In areas with a steep slope (8-12%), the situation can be corrected by terracing the site across the slope, and the steeper the slope, the more terraces are needed. Stairs are arranged between the terraces, and the surfaces of the terraces are connected by retaining walls. As a rule, for small slopes with clay and sandy loamy soils, the slope is 1:1.5, with sandy soils - 1:2, that is, a slope 1 m high occupies a strip of land 1.5 or 2 m.

Fence

In addition to direct functional purpose fences also play a decorative role, so the arrangement of a personal plot can begin with the installation of barriers. It is better to make an external fence in human height or a little higher, and internal fences can be installed from 30 cm to 1 m high. The fence consists of poles and battens, the materials for the fence can be different.

In addition, fences can be made in the form of a hedge, planting it in two rows, between which a low metal mesh is stretched. After 2 years, the shrubs will grow into it and make it invisible.

Good for green fencing different kinds hawthorn, thuja, Japanese quince other. Shrubs are trimmed in the second year. Hedges are formed by lateral and apical haircut, which is carried out 2 times a year.

We suggest you watch a video about an alternative hedge device.

Carrying out the design of a personal plot Special attention should be given to the tracks. Their correct and beautiful layout plays important role in landscaping and decorative design. The overall pattern of the paths can be geometrically strict or free. There is a direct relationship between the paths, the relief and the shape of the site.

First, marking is carried out - straight sections of the tracks are marked with a cord, the ends tied to the pegs, and curvilinear - using one peg as the center of the circle, and the other - the legs of the compass. It is easy to draw smooth curves on the ground by changing the length of the line and the location of the center.

If you want to lay paths with artificial turf, you need to carry out preparatory work. Along the marking lines, the turf is cut to a depth of 15-20 cm and removed so that a slight elevation remains along the central axis so that rainwater flowed to the edges. This place prepared for covering is called "trough".

Tracks can be made:

Ground - along the stretched cord, the edges of the track are cut with a shovel to a depth of 10 cm. This layer of earth is removed, and the cut area is rolled with a hand roller.

For such paths, you only need to sow a lawn or white clover. It is in this way that many make out the entrance to the garage, paving two lanes with paving slabs for the wheels.

gravel - a layer of 7 cm of coarse gravel (4-6 cm) is laid at the bottom of the "trough", after it is rolled - another layer of 5 cm of finer gravel (2-3 cm), and then a layer of sand mixed with clay (1: 3 ) 1-2 cm thick, which is well rammed, while pouring water for better shrinkage. Lastly, another layer of 2 cm of fine gravel is laid, which is also watered and compacted.

Perhaps the most aesthetic type of paths, because such tiles can be of any shape and color and fit perfectly into the design. A dry mixture of sifted sand and cement (4:1) is poured onto the "trough", and then concrete tiles are laid one at a time, which are leveled and compacted in level with a rubber hammer. Laying paving slabs is not difficult.

Paving from wooden ends - effectively and very economically, because the wooden "rounds" can be cut by yourself. To make such paths, tree trunks of various sizes are treated with an antiseptic (bitumen, drying oil), and then sawn into equal segments of 10-15 cm. Such logs are placed on a layer of sand of 10 cm. sand.

From monolithic concrete - for such paths, formwork is prepared, which is poured with plastic concrete with fine gravel, prepared at the rate of: 1 part of cement, 2 parts of sand and 3 parts of gravel.

And a few more photos of various paths for a summer cottage:

We offer you to watch this video dedicated to the arrangement of tracks.

Front garden and green lawn

When doing work such as landscaping a personal plot , you can simply make it beautiful, clean and elegant by sowing free space with lawn grass. On such lawns, places for recreation, picnics and sports games are arranged.

Also, lawn grass can be sown in the front garden in front of the house, where small trees or shrubs planted in groups look good. In this case, the tallest trees or shrubs are planted in the center of the group, and the lower ones are planted along the edges.

When landing in the front garden flowering shrubs their color scheme is taken into account - plants with white, yellow, orange flowers are planted closer to the house, and at a greater distance, near the paths - with red, purple, blue and dark or red-leaved bushes.

The physiological and psychological effects of flowers and their smells on the human body have long been known. Home garden decoration - color compositions are made according to the following design rules:

compliance with the color ratio. Red - green, purple - yellow, blue - orange - such combinations create contrasting and emotionally effective ratios. Color combinations are soft, harmonious: red - yellow, red - blue, violet - orange, violet - green, blue - yellow. White color matches with all colors. When creating flower beds, you need to remember that flowers of warm, soft and harmonizing tones are placed in well-lit, sunny places, and contrasting ones in shaded places.
as long as possible continuous flowering. To do this, you need to select flowers with different flowering times. So, in April, snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, tulips bloom; in May - forget-me-not, lily of the valley, violet, iris, lily, peony; throughout the summer - gladiolus, phlox, dicentra purple, poppy, bluebell, delphinium; in September - aster, goldenrod, dahlias; in October - chrysanthemums. Roses have a long flowering period - from May to September.

Flower beds are arranged in the front garden, on recreation areas, rocky hills, slopes, terraces, near a pond. The background for flowers is a green lawn, stones, house walls, tree trunks. When planting flowers in a flower bed, you need to take into account that flowers of the same type, but of different colors, look very beautiful together. Variegated mixtures of tones are undesirable. A flower bed does not become beautiful because there are many types of flowers on it. It is not the quantity that matters, but the harmony between the colors. Another rule for arranging a flower garden is that the farther the flowers are planted from the path, the larger the color spot can be and the higher the flowers themselves.

When choosing flowers, it is necessary to take into account their requirements for soil and light, the growing season, wind resistance, time and period of flowering, decorative effect, plant height, etc.

Roses occupy a special place in the landscaping of the site. Nearly continuous flowering and a wide variety of colors put the rose in the first place in the decorative design of the site. Roses are planted in a sunny, bright place, protected from the wind. Curly roses are planted on the south side of the house. A perfect background for these flowers is a green lawn, coniferous trees, stones of retaining walls and terraces.

Alpine slide

The design of a personal plot is often complemented by such a design solution as a rock garden or an alpine slide. This is a decorative composition made of low-growing shrubs, flowers and stones, where the latter form the basis of the slide.

It is better to select stones of the same breed, the largest weighing about 30 kg.

A pit is dug along the outlined contour with a depth of 30-40 cm. On heavy clay soils, its bottom is covered with a layer of gravel of 10-15 cm, and on waterlogged soils it is increased to 20-25 cm. After that, they pour into the pit fertile land above the level of the surrounding soil by 40-60 cm, and then lay out and install the stones, trying to achieve the maximum naturalness of their placement. Places of various sizes are left between the stones for planting.

For an alpine slide, undersized and creeping plants with bright colors of flowers, leaves or fruits are selected. At the same time, coniferous species (creeping juniper, dwarf thuja, Canadian spruce conical) - they enrich the colorful flavor in spring and autumn. Correct selection plants provides decorative effect alpine hills not only during the growing season, but also in winter. From deciduous shrubs, you can choose purple-leaved barberry, periwinkle, heather, hydrangea, honeysuckle, ivy, rhododendron, boxwood. Of the flowers, the rock garden will be decorated with a cirrus carnation, creeping St. John's wort, goldenrod, iris, bluebell, crocus, primrose.

Flowers with intense color are planted in the center of the composition. Flowers are best planted in groups or singly, but not scattered all over the hill.

By equipping a personal plot on your own, you can also think about arranging a small pond for decorative purposes. Such a small pool can be made from concrete ring, which is dug 5 cm below ground level. A layer of crushed stone of 20 cm is laid on the bottom of it, rammed, pouring water at the same time, then poured cement mortar(1:3). On the upper perimeter of the ring are laid paving slabs, and the joints are sealed with a solution. You can plant water lilies, irises, reeds in it. Caring for such a reservoir is to change the water.

A small pool with communications can be made by separately concreted its bottom and walls, which are reinforced with reinforcement. In order for water to flow out of it better, the bottom is made with a slope to the side. drain pipe, which, in turn, is also installed at an angle. Water from the pool is drained into a common sewer or drain well, which is arranged for drainage in the lowest place. The filling pipe should be slightly above the water level in the pool. If you install a spray head, you get a fountain that looks very attractive.

In this article we will talk about how the landscaping of a summer cottage is carried out. It may seem to someone that the topic is irrelevant, since the majority associate a summer cottage with a modest change house and garden beds. But actually it is not.

After all, even country houses from the container block will be in harmony with the flower bed and other decorative elements.

Features of the improvement

In the photo - an excessive number of design elements, concentrated in a limited area

After reading the relevant articles on our portal, you can learn how to plan the territory of a summer cottage for maximum efficiency of its use. We will not return to the basics of planning, but simply tell you how, by applying a number of simple recommendations, you can improve your summer cottage.

Important: Do you think that the decorative design of the territory adjacent to country house will cost a lot of money?
In fact, this is not the case, since most of the work can be done using improvised means and available materials.

Before ennobling the summer cottage, we will decide on the purpose of the territory and, as a result, with a list of upcoming work.

Is your dacha intended not only for growing garden plantings, but is also used from time to time for recreation? In this case, it is necessary to make sure that this area is conducive to relaxation and pleasant pastime.
On average, the arrangement of the territory adjacent to a country house consists of works in the field of landscape design. In addition, it may be necessary to build or update existing outbuildings, fences, etc.

Important: Speaking about the full improvement of the site, we note that it may be necessary to purchase or rent a diesel generator for a summer residence.

In the photo - a hedge of cypresses

Having decided to ennoble the summer cottage with our own hands, we avoid excesses in every possible way, both in landscape design and in the design of outbuildings. Regardless of the area of the territory adjacent to a country house, remember that an overabundance of small architectural forms, plantings, furniture and other elements will create an atmosphere of discomfort and confusion.
If the cottage is operated only on weekends or during holidays, it makes no sense to plant plants on the site that require constant care.. Refusing a flowering front garden in favor of a shrub or decorative low-growing trees, you will greatly simplify the care of the site without compromising its appearance.
Often in landscape design, one but significant detail is enough to create a bright and memorable image.. With regard to the design of the cottage, it can be a small artificial reservoir or an alpine slide.
The garden from the recreation area should be separated by a flower, preferably a motley wall. In this case, having coped with the daily work, in the evening it will be possible to fully relax near the garden.
In order to complement the recreation area equipped in this way, you can use wicker furniture that will fit into the overall picture.
If the cottage is used for long-term residence, you can take care of planting lawn grass or shrubs. This is a very good decorative solution, but you need to understand that the grass will have to be cut in a timely manner and the bushes cut.
Therefore, when purchasing grass seeds and shrub seedlings, take care to purchase a trimmer and pruner.
A finished and landscaped view of the site will be given by a path laid out with stone in place of ordinary paths.. As an alternative natural stone you can use brick or concrete pavers.
A very budget solution in terms of arranging paths can be the use of a backfill made of fine-grained gravel or pebbles.
When choosing decor elements for the garden, we must take into account their functionality..
For example, it would not be entirely correct to buy a beautiful wrought-iron bench, which, despite its excellent appearance, is uncomfortable. The same can be said about, which, in addition to an attractive view, should illuminate the site.
If to garden plot the forest is adjacent, it is advisable to perform landscape design in the forest theme. The absence of a sharp contrast and the smooth flow of the forest into the garden will not visually strain and will not cause rejection.
Everywhere there has been a trend when summer residents blindly copy design ideas from glossy magazines.. This is the wrong instruction, as the copied idea may not take root on your site. As a last resort, when copying someone else's ideas, remember to listen to your feelings.

Arrangement of a recreation area

In the photo - the construction of a gazebo

The recreation area can be comfortable even on a plot of 6 acres. It's all about how you arrange this area.

For example, in a small area, you can allocate space for a covered wooden gazebo. wooden gazebo is a universal solution that is equally suitable for a comfortable pastime in hot weather, and for use as a summer dining room.

The use of a gazebo as a dining room is the best solution if a cramped change house with limited internal space is used instead of a house. If it is possible to make a brick gazebo with a profiled sheet roof, then there you can also equip a barbecue or wood-burning stove for use as a summer kitchen.

This solution will unload the main dacha building, which can be used as a bedroom and as a storage room for inventory. However, nice gazebo does not hurt even if there is a full-fledged country house on the site.

hedge selection

In the photo - a fence from a profiled sheet

Answering the question of how to improve a summer cottage with your own hands, one cannot help but attach importance to the manufacture of a hedge.

A properly made fence is able to perform 2 functions at once, namely, to protect the territory from unauthorized entry and decorate the summer cottage. If it is built only as a protective fence, you can use corrugated board.

Corrugated sheets of thin galvanized or painted steel are distinguished by affordable price and durability. However, such a fence, despite its functionality, cannot be called an example of elegance.

If you are interested in aesthetically appealing but inexpensive fence, you can apply a chain-link wire mesh fence. The advantage of this solution is the absolute transparency of the structure, and therefore plants can be planted directly under the fence without fear of a shortage of sunlight.

Important: A wire mesh fence is an excellent base for growing climbing plants and forming hedges.

A wooden fence made of grooved edged boards is perfect solution. The only problem is the insufficient strength of wood that has not passed special processing. Therefore, when deciding to build a beautiful wooden fence around the site, the boards should be treated with antiseptic solutions and painted after complete drying.

Conclusion

In this article, we have listed several actionable recommendations, using which it will be easier to do the improvement of a summer cottage with your own hands.

Of course, in addition to these tips, there are many other points of view regarding the improvement of the territories adjacent to a country house. You can find even more useful and informative information by watching the video in this article.