Tips: Landscaping for Privacy

I’ve been reading all sorts of wonderful gardening books from the library recently: Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard; Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living and The Essential Urban Farmer (never-mind that we live way out in the country!); Landscaping for Privacy: Innovative Ways to Turn Your Outdoor Space into a Peaceful Retreat; Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces; and Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region.

I particularly enjoyed Landscaping for Privacy, which focuses on using natural elements to block out visual and auditory clutter. I loved their use of water to reduce ambient noise, round-up of fence materials (some familiar, others creative and new), methods to keep pests from vegetable gardens, ways to incorporate play spaces for kids, and delineate spots for dogs. Here’s a sneak peak inside the book, featuring some of my favorite pages to savor and enjoy:

Someday we’ll own our own place and then I’m buying a copy for sure. This book’s a keeper.