7 Ways To Improve Your Garden
- Publish Date
- Wednesday, 24 July 2013, 12:00AM
Winter is long, so now is the perfect time to assess
the humdrum and bedraggled mess of spent pots, tatty furniture, and
questionable paving. Get to work on creating a stunning garden before summer arrives! Here's our 7 essential ideas to transform your garden into a space that will make you proud.
Flowers
Did your flowers look any good this past summer? If in doubt, grub it out. A clean sweep means you can freshen the soil, add lots of muck and start again – there's just enough time to get new bulbs in too. Consider the orientation and available light, and then get to work on colour. Play with colour, heights, flowering seasons and throw in your interests such as grasses, or bee and butterfly friendly plants.
Trees
Pruning is a very inexpensive route to creating a new look by managing mangled and overgrown trees. Or, why not plant a tree, a big beautiful one, and add a new dynamic to your garden? Think about whether your trees and plants are compatible – try to create a look that has coherence. Consider the usual and infinitely affecting choices for seasonal change; colour, blossom, fruits and berries, leaf shapes and textures, and then create your new look.
Pots
The bigger the better! Anything as long as it’s big. Plants need a lot of root space and water and stability from wind. To make the plants happy and to minimise how much human effort is required to keep them going, choose big. Look out for nice galvanised ones, well-made coopered wooden pots with steel bands, or great big plain Italian terracotta. It is worth spending as a good one will last forever. Consider very carefully where it will go, as once they are filled they are hard to move.
Eating
The pleasure of gathering one’s own food from the garden is a pleasure unsurpassed. Why not make veg beds and herb beds on legs like tables so they are easy to manage? It’s relatively easy – and advisable – to protect table beds with netting. Maybe building a proper outdoor kitchen is a consideration. Pizza ovens are easy to build and can be used as a wood-fired fireplace even if you aren’t hungry.
Surfaces
There is more to life than concrete paving and sometimes one can alter the quality of a small space immeasurably with a good floor. Lately there is a revival of interest in encaustic tiles and patterned concrete tiles. Gravel is another favourite, especially if you have uneven ground to contend with and wish to avoid enormous amounts of levelling. But do make sure it is properly laid rather than just scattered like crumbs over the surface.
Pavilions
In Georgian times town gardens were often graceful places of escape from the trials of life. This is good in a garden. Find a basic shed at a well-known DIY store and then dress it up to suit your proclivities.
Water
Every garden must have water – it really doesn’t matter how you do it, but do it. It could be tiny pools, Japanese water stones or ponds of any size and shape. Just make sure you have water features. Think about wall plaques – there are gorgeous ones to be had and they animate a tiny space beautifully.
Flowers
Did your flowers look any good this past summer? If in doubt, grub it out. A clean sweep means you can freshen the soil, add lots of muck and start again – there's just enough time to get new bulbs in too. Consider the orientation and available light, and then get to work on colour. Play with colour, heights, flowering seasons and throw in your interests such as grasses, or bee and butterfly friendly plants.
Trees
Pruning is a very inexpensive route to creating a new look by managing mangled and overgrown trees. Or, why not plant a tree, a big beautiful one, and add a new dynamic to your garden? Think about whether your trees and plants are compatible – try to create a look that has coherence. Consider the usual and infinitely affecting choices for seasonal change; colour, blossom, fruits and berries, leaf shapes and textures, and then create your new look.
Pots
The bigger the better! Anything as long as it’s big. Plants need a lot of root space and water and stability from wind. To make the plants happy and to minimise how much human effort is required to keep them going, choose big. Look out for nice galvanised ones, well-made coopered wooden pots with steel bands, or great big plain Italian terracotta. It is worth spending as a good one will last forever. Consider very carefully where it will go, as once they are filled they are hard to move.
Eating
The pleasure of gathering one’s own food from the garden is a pleasure unsurpassed. Why not make veg beds and herb beds on legs like tables so they are easy to manage? It’s relatively easy – and advisable – to protect table beds with netting. Maybe building a proper outdoor kitchen is a consideration. Pizza ovens are easy to build and can be used as a wood-fired fireplace even if you aren’t hungry.
Surfaces
There is more to life than concrete paving and sometimes one can alter the quality of a small space immeasurably with a good floor. Lately there is a revival of interest in encaustic tiles and patterned concrete tiles. Gravel is another favourite, especially if you have uneven ground to contend with and wish to avoid enormous amounts of levelling. But do make sure it is properly laid rather than just scattered like crumbs over the surface.
Pavilions
In Georgian times town gardens were often graceful places of escape from the trials of life. This is good in a garden. Find a basic shed at a well-known DIY store and then dress it up to suit your proclivities.
Water
Every garden must have water – it really doesn’t matter how you do it, but do it. It could be tiny pools, Japanese water stones or ponds of any size and shape. Just make sure you have water features. Think about wall plaques – there are gorgeous ones to be had and they animate a tiny space beautifully.
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