Landscape design is both an "Art" and a "Science". The Art part deals with factors that influence how the human eye will perceive the elements in your garden. It is the subjective side of the design process based on how "most people" will respond to the way you arrange the softscape (living things, primarily plants) and hardscape (non-living elements) in your beds and borders. This process was discussed in detail in the first eBook in this series, "A Rookie's Guide to Designing Beds and Borders".

For purposes of this eBook we will assume that you have gone through a planning process and have either designed or have had someone else design your new beds and borders. You should have either meticulous drawings or at least a rough sketch of your new landscape on hand. This should, of course, include a detailed list of plants and hardscape features that will be included in your new or revised landscape.

This eBook deals primarily with the "Science" part of landscape design. It will address the objective fact that we are dealing with plants that we must keep alive in order to achieve and maintain our subjective design intent. To assure success, we need to analyze the growing environment, select our plants properly, install them with care and give them proper maintenance over the long run.

This guide includes a "typical" process that you might follow while installing landscape beds and borders. Obviously, each project will present unique situations and challenge, but there are several basic steps that are common to all projects. We have divided these into the following chapters:

                         Chapter 1 - Dealing with Existing Landscape Features
                         Chapter 2 - Your Landscape Inventory  
                         Chapter 3 - Problem Plant Species 
                         Chapter 4 - Managing Project Costs  
                         Chapter 5 - Pre-Construction Activities
                         Chapter 6 - Beginning Construction
                         Chapter 7 - Installing Hardscape Features
                         Chapter 8 - Preparing the Soil
                         Chapter 9 - Selecting and Purchasing the Plants
                         Chapter 10 - Installing the Plants
                         Chapter 11 - Post-Planting Care of the Plants
                         Chapter 12 - Maintaining the Design into the Future
 

A Rookie's Guide to Installing Beds and Borders, is now available on Amazon.Com for use in their Kindle readers. Although it may be read on the black and white version, we would recommend that you use the color version, the Kindle Fire or get the app for the PC or other device to get the most out of this image filled eBook.

To purchase this eBook, simply go to Amazon.Com and enter B00DQD2CEK in the search window. That will take you directly to the correct item.

This eBook is currently available at Lulu, iTunes and Barnes and Nobles Nook in .EPUB and Adobe .PDF format in Adobe .PDF format with 104 pages, over 40,000 words and 193 images and illustration.