Content
It’s good to have a favorite dacha where you can take a break from the monotonous everyday life, breathe fresh air, and sometimes live for a while. The dacha landscape largely determines the character of the owner.
In order to competently design and implement landscape design, you can call on specialists with many years of experience. But it’s much more pleasant (and cheaper) to create a dacha landscape with your own hands.
Of course, this requires a lot of effort, some knowledge and skills, but the result will please any owner, because when you do something with your own hands, you invest a piece of your soul.
How to create a landscape design with your own hands, where to start, what accents to place - everything is in this article, with numerous photos and useful recommendations.
Determining the type of dacha landscape
Before you start designing, you need to figure out what area you will have to work with. To do this, you need to come to the dacha and look around carefully. This stage is especially important for new plots, the owners of which are still unfamiliar with the features and properties of the dacha landscape.
So, the determining factors in choosing a dacha landscape will be:
- the location of the summer cottage, its orientation to the cardinal points;
- the nature and style of the buildings available at the dacha (both the main house and small outbuildings);
- illumination of the summer cottage;
- soil type on the site;
- terrain (plain, slope, close location of a natural reservoir, forest, etc.);
- the presence of a fence between neighboring dachas.
Having decided on the type of landscape at your summer cottage, you can proceed to the next point.
Design
Like any construction, creating a landscape at your dacha requires preliminary preparation - drawing up a plan.
To create a plan, you can use one of the many computer programs. Modern technologies make it possible, just by entering the parameters of a summer cottage, to obtain the most optimal landscape design. In this case, you can get a three-dimensional image of the future landscape of the dacha and finally decide whether you like this project or need to look for another.
If there is no desire or opportunity to work with robot programs, you can sketch out a diagram DIY country landscape. To do this, you need a plan of the dacha site itself and the buildings on it.
The existing plan of the dacha is transferred to graph paper, observing the scale, and then they begin to draw individual elements of the landscape.
Landscaping details
Today, many elements have been invented to decorate the landscape of a dacha and the surrounding area, making them as functional and expressive as possible.
Among other things, the most prominent details of the dacha landscape are:
- Small architectural structures. These are garages, sheds, outdoor showers, bathhouses and much more.The main requirement for such country houses is that they must be built in the same style as a residential building and comply with the landscape design. Today, a combination of incongruous things and a mixture of styles are in fashion, but it is better to entrust such work to professionals, since it is very easy to “overdo it.” By maintaining a single style of dacha landscape, it is easy to achieve naturalness and naturalness. So, if the house is built of wood, brick outbuildings will look ridiculous against its background. But a log bathhouse is quite suitable for a stone dacha. Another rule is that buildings must have interesting architecture, because the garden is beautiful only in summer; in winter, the eyes of all guests of the dacha will be focused on the buildings.
- Landscape zoning should be performed based on its original configuration. So, for square country plots it is more suitable to be divided into identical square zones; an elongated plot is better divided into rectangles of different sizes with a certain landscape.
- Fences and fences also play a fairly large role in the design of the landscape design of a dacha. However, as a rule, fences between neighboring dachas are not included in the definition of landscape. Decorative fences are taken into account here, helping to divide the dacha into thematic zones, such as a garden, vegetable garden, recreation area, playground, car parking area and others. These fences do not serve the function of protecting the dacha from prying eyes or strong winds; their purpose is to complement the landscape design and act as an additional decorative element.
- Paths. Garden paths in the country can be of two types: geometric and arbitrary.The first option is more suitable for spacious country cottages, the territory of which has a regular square or rectangle shape. In the vast majority of cases, country houses have a polygonal complex shape and a small area. In such landscapes, curvilinear, winding paths look more advantageous. So, there should be two types of paths: the main one, which connects the gate with the entrance to the house, and secondary paths that connect the house with all areas of the summer cottage.
- Artificial constructions perform a decorative function in landscape design. These include alpine slides, rock gardens, patios, and the pool area. A person creates all this with his own hands; before building each of these elements, it is necessary to draw up an individual plan with all the dimensions and small details.
- Reservoirs also often become a decoration for a dacha. Today the landscape contains artificial ponds, rivers, streams, fountains, waterfalls. A combination of several of these structures in one landscape is often used. When designing a pond at your dacha, you should not forget about supplying water to this place, electricity for pumps and filters, as well as a drainage system.
- Vegetation occupies perhaps the most important part in creating a dacha landscape. Well-chosen trees, shrubs, flowers and herbs can change any landscape beyond recognition. Planting and caring for plants takes up most of the summer resident’s free time, therefore, when choosing plants, you need to correctly calculate your strength and time. For a busy person, it is better to plant perennial crops, shrubs and dwarf trees, and unpretentious flowers adapted to the local climate in their dacha.
Completing the assigned task
You can also bring your plan to life on your own. Creating a landscape design for a dacha, as mentioned above, must begin with the preparation of the project. You can choose a landscape project based on numerous photos and videos of already realized landscapes, but it is much more interesting to come up with one yourself.
When the landscape project has been selected and the plan has been sketched, you can begin to implement your plans. First of all, country houses are built: a terrace, a gazebo, a tandoor or a barbecue. Without these structures, it is difficult to imagine the cottage as a place to relax.
During the period of digging the foundation, excess soil may form, sometimes large stones come across - you should not get rid of them prematurely. All this can become building material for a rock garden or alpine slide.
The next stage will be laying paths in the country house. The simplest option is to mark the perimeter of the path, remove the soil to a depth of about 10 cm and fill the resulting void with large stones or paving slabs.
Country paths can become a real decoration of the landscape; they are made from wood cuts, covered with pebbles or crushed stone, and modern materials such as mosaics or ceramics are used. The most successful examples of paths in the landscape are shown in the photo.
After that you can do garden landscape decor. At this stage, stone gardens are laid out, fountains and ponds are made, and swimming pools are built. It is not customary to decorate a modern country landscape with animal figures and gnomes - this is already a passed stage. Today, various flowerpots, statues, installations made of interesting materials (as in the photo), and original lamps are in fashion.
Stage of landscaping the dacha landscape, rightfully considered the most interesting. But it is also the most important, because green spaces can transform any dacha. For those who visit their summer cottage only on weekends, perennial plants, unpretentious flowers, trees and bushes.
Exotic bright flower stalks, as a rule, require more careful care - they need regular watering, fertilizing, and replanting.
It's hard to imagine a dacha landscape without hedge. For this element you can choose evergreens, coniferous trees and shrubs. The hedge should be beautiful not only in summer, but also in autumn and winter. The condition of the hedge must be carefully monitored: water, cut, remove dead wood.
You can choose a lawn as an intermediate landscaping for your dacha landscape. Smooth grass looks impressive in any area; the lawn can be “diluted” with interesting shrubs or bright flowers.
On both sides of the path leading to the house you can break flower beds. It is better not to make them symmetrical; flower beds that differ in shape and content look more original.
Flowerpots and pots with flowers look great on the terrace, in the gazebo, or by the pool. The gazebo will be decorated with climbing vines and pots with hanging plants.
Arranging a summer cottage with your own hands is not only a way to save money, but also an excellent option for relaxation and a break from everyday life in the city.
