Garden design solutions: 3 quick and easy ways to improve any garden
Many people like to make plans and think about having a refresh, and this can apply to our gardens just as much as for other areas of our lives. This might, for example, be the year we decide to commission a professional garden designer to help us completely redesign our outdoor space (we know somebody who could help with that!), or we could simply opt to try to make the most of our existing garden.
At the time of writing this, it is the middle of January and the weather is decidedly cold and miserable. But even if we don’t plan to spend too much time outside until warmer days return, we can still try to ensure that our garden gives us pleasure when we view it from inside our homes. Gardens can be a little neglected at this time of year, so here are 3 quick and easy improvements we can all do now to make our gardens look a little better:
1. De-clutter
It is all too easy to accumulate things that don’t really add anything positive to our outdoor spaces. We suspect that we have all picked up an extra pot or feature at a garden centre or event, but then found it very quickly just becomes lost in the rest of the ‘noise’. Let’s seize the moment and clear out anything that isn’t really making a positive impact on our garden. Unwanted items don’t have to go to landfill…we can gift, sell or recycle. Online auction sites or www.freecycle.org are great ways to give things a second chance.
The same ‘decluttering’ principle, by the way, definitely also applies to plants, so let’s take a look around our garden and remove anything that doesn’t give us pleasure or has ‘outstayed its welcome’.
2. Prioritise seating spaces
Regardless of the size of our garden, the chances are that we will want to have somewhere pleasant to sit and relax. We know we tend to sit outside far more in the summer, but there is something rather wonderful about wrapping up warm and grabbing a few minutes of crisp winter sunshine with a mug of tea or coffee in hand.
Let’s try to make our main seating & entertaining area really work for us. We can give the space a tidy up, we can clean the furniture, and we can ensure that we have some attractive planting within view.
3. Give the lawn some TLC
We know that not every garden has (or needs) a lawn, but most of us have a flat(ish) patch of grass of some sort or another. Lawns tend to be rather forgotten once the mower is packed away for the winter, but unless we have very heavy soil, or the lawn is extremely wet because of recent rains, we can at least tidy up the edges. Practically nothing gives a garden more of a lift than tidying a lawn, so let’s commit to giving it some attention now. We’ll undoubtedly reap the rewards over the coming months.
Three very quick and easy ways to improve our gardens now, so let’s get outside and enjoy some fresh winter air.