Webware

Now that summer is finally here, homeowners will be spending time outside, fixing up their homes' exterior and improving the backyard. Whether they want to do some landscaping in the front of their home, build a deck in the back, or paint the house, they'll be able to design great outdoor spaces with the help of these tools.

Home design tools

Dave's Garden Dave's Garden is a social network for landscapers or people who enjoy landscaping. Once you register for the site, you'll be able to create your own gardening blog to inform other users about the improvements on your home. Dave's Garden also lets you trade seeds with other gardeners who want to barter. It's a neat site that is ideal for landscaping, but I would like it more if it had a more attractive design.

Dave's Garden lets you barter for seeds.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Deck Designer Deck Designer is a great tool for anyone who wants to add a deck to their house. The tool walks you through all the steps of adding the deck, including how tall it will be, whether you want to add benches, and more. Once complete, it produces a full list of all the materials you will need to build that deck. It will even provide you with step-by-step instructions on installing it.

Deck Designer helps you build your own deck.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

DIY Network Gardening At first glance, the DIY Network's Gardening & Landscaping page won't look like it can be of help. But when you start digging a little deeper, you'll find a variety of great how-to videos on landscaping. The site has videos on topics ranging from installing torches in your backyard to adding art to a tomato garden cage. My favorite video taught me how to install a weatherproof cedar TV cabinet.