One point always to remember is that your cottage is to be for your rest and recreation.



Why create a lot of work for yourself at the cottage or chalet retreat replication your yard and landscaping work that you have back home in the city? Plan ahead to make your cottage lawn and landscaping as maintenance free as possible.

If there is one word that summarizes the whole format of how to plan your cottage or chalet lot so that it has a beautiful comforting appearance, is attractive to the eye yet requires minimal work and effort to keep the areas maintained it is “natural”. As much as possible use natural and natural occurring plants and vegetation. These plants themselves are time proven in your actual yard; they both know the climates and terrain and actually prosper in the geographic area and actual climate of your yard and landscaping.

Some people choose to have a full grown lawn at the beach cottage retreat. No trouble. It may be appearances, it may be for sports such as badminton or it may be just to enhance the views to the lake or forest.

If you choose to have a lawn and grass area proper planning ahead of time will make all the difference between a lush lawn that requires minimal care and a lawn that is always needy and appears seedy and will attract a fair amount of your recreation time and energy to tend to it.

Grass generally does not grow well in the shade so plan ahead to locate your lawn in the area where it will receive full or partial sun. Adjust the shape of the lawn, or work to combine some of your trees, shrubs, lamp posts or even bird baths and other elements into a couple of groupings. As an example a bird bath can be nestled among some perennials.

Mowing on slopes is not only time consuming but downright dangerous. As a result, try to maintain existing native plants on a slope, particularly on waterfronts. If there is exposed soil or sand on the slopes, choose thicket or mat forming plants – for example strawberry plants - that will spread ground cover over and help stabilize an area.

You can try to selectively remove a few larger shrubs and trees to open up a stunning view, but do your best to retain shrubs that provide personal privacy as well as plants, trees and shrubs that offer protection against wind. In addition to providing a break these natural barriers can protect the cottage area from storms off the lake in the spring, fall and summer and as well block drifting snow and snow storms in the wintertime. Landscaping and landscape planning is not only for the summer time, but for its beauty and use throughout the full year.

You can also reduce the threat of weeds and the maintenance time and effort afforded to weeding your yard and landscaped areas by planning ahead. Weeds will grow along the edges of trails that have been worn into the ground. You can reduce potential weeding time by planning footpaths or a footpath exactly where you expect and anticipate a lot of traffic. In the area of the planned footpath you can lay gravel, stones, bark or even paving stones on the path. Thus not only will you keep weeds under control but also mud.

In the end it can be said that your vacation cottage, chalet or camp is all about recreation and relaxation. Plan ahead for low maintenance landscaping and gardening at the cottage, chalet or camp. After all it's your vacation and refuge from the world for you, your family and friends.