Around this time of year, many of us begin to dream of summer.
Winter has long lost its novelty; the bright lights and family delights of Christmas have faded from memory, the bare trees now look forlorn rather than austerely beautiful, and we begin to miss the riot of colors a summer garden can bring. While we know it may be several months until the warm weather returns, we can’t help but wish the time away, imagining the delights of spending hours outside gardening, relaxing, and enjoying our outdoor space.
Given that most of us are spending hours imagining the delights of summer, it is well worth thinking about improvements you may want to make to your outdoor space this year. By focusing on improvements now, you should have plenty of time to gather your thoughts – and your budget – in order to allow you to put your plans into action the moment the weather finally begins to improve. Here are a few ideas you may want to consider.
#1 – Install a pond
Over recent years, garden ponds have somewhat fallen from favor with people preferring elaborate and decorative water features. However, ponds can be an excellent, inexpensive garden addition that adds extra interest to your outdoor space.
Furthermore, one of the great benefits of ponds is that they are entirely customizable to your specific preferences. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could visit the likes of TheFix.com for advice on building a garden pond complete with its own bridge; or you could opt for a simple, small round pond and try your hand at growing aquatic plants.
#2 – Consider improvements to your seating area
There is nothing quite like sitting in your garden, admiring your beautiful flowers and plants, and enjoying the sunshine. As a result, it’s well worth looking for ways to improve your seating area for the summer to come.
When seeking improvements, it’s usually best to focus on comfort first and foremost: consider investing in padded furniture, visiting the likes of PatioProductions.com for an umbrella that can provide shade during the hottest parts of the day, or considering an outdoor rug so you can walk comfortably barefoot if you choose. After comfort, you can then look to convenience, adding storage, night-time lighting, or adding speakers so you can listen to your favorite music while relaxing outdoors. Finally, you can turn your thoughts to decorative touches, perhaps adding planters, potted fruit trees, or decorating with ever-popular fairy lights.
#3 – Switch your lawn to artificial grass
Admittedly, the idea of artificial grass will likely make any gardener recoil in horror – but there is something to be said for opting for a faux lawn. Grass, after all, is just not that interesting, but requires a significant time investment – you have to mow, treat, water, and so on all summer long.
If you’d rather focus your energies on flowers, plants, and shrubs, installing artificial grass is well worth considering. You’ll still be able to enjoy all the benefits of a lawn, but without the demanding workload of a real lawn. What’s more, modern artificial grass is almost indistinguishable from the real thing, so your garden will still very much look the part, but your garden maintenance schedule will be vastly reduced.
#4 – Enhance your fence
Garden fences primarily serve a single purpose, functioning as a protective boundary between your property and your neighbors’. However, your garden fence can easily become a feature of your garden, rather than just an essential requirement.
The easiest way to turn your fence into a feature is to paint it an “unusual” color. Most fences are painted a wood-related shade, but developments in the quality of outdoor paint now mean that the only limit is your imagination – if you like the idea of a pastel pink fence, or luminous green, then go for it. Alternatively (or additionally, if you prefer), you can visit EasyVerticalGardening.com in order to follow the tutorial and use your fence to hang plant pots – a particularly useful idea if you need more space to grow a broad range of different flowers and plants.
In conclusion
By thinking ahead to summer and planning improvements to your outdoor space in advance, you can look forward to an actionable plan that you can implement when the best season of the year finally arrives. As a result of having done the background work, any work you then choose to do can be completed quickly and efficiently, and you can then enjoy a long, glorious summer in your garden.