Doing your homework now can help achieve your garden goals for the coming year
The kids are back to school and summer’s almost over. While many people will have enjoyed their gardens this summer, others will have spent days wishing the garden could be different. If that’s you, here’s a bit of homework you can do now which will be the first step towards achieving your ideal garden next summer:
Sun and shade
Have a think about which parts of your garden have had most sun over the past few weeks and which are shady. Is your patio in the right place, or is there a sunny spot where it would get more use?
Is there a part of your garden which remains in shade, even in the height of summer? There are plenty of plants which thrive in shade – it’s just about choosing the right planting combinations.
Perhaps hard to imagine, but is your garden too sunny? Does it lack somewhere shady to sit and cool off? Installing a pergola or some shade-giving plants could overcome this.
Neighbours
Most of us have neighbours and sometimes it’s not till summer that we realise how overlooked our garden feels. Would you like to create more privacy in your garden? Or give it a secluded feel with planting that envelopes the seating area? It may be possible to add height to your boundary. Or you could add some strategically placed plants to obscure the view of your garden from neighbouring properties or the street.
Layout
Do you find the layout of your garden impractical? Maybe the seating and BBQ area is too far from the kitchen door. Or do you have a view of your bins from your patio? A good garden designer should take account of factors such as these in preparing layouts.
Services
Has the lack of an outside tap made watering or cleaning a pain?! Do you wish you had lighting to highlight and enhance your garden? Or do you have lights or a water feature that simply don’t work? Consider employing reputable tradespeople to fix these problems for you.
Planting
Are the plants in your borders fighting for space? Conversely, are there bare patches in the planting? Perhaps there are areas of planting that you just don’t like? Most gardens are at their fullest in summer and by next spring it can be difficult to remember what’s going to pop up in that bare flower bed. Go round the garden now and take lots of photos so you’ll remember which areas you want to change.
Take lots of photographs. Make some notes, even scribble some sketches. Once you’ve done your homework get in touch. Together we can make a plan for how to achieve your dream garden by next summer.