6 Tips for Redesigning Your Garden
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1. Assess the space you have & make detailed plans
You need to be looking at your space as a whole. How do you want your new garden to flow? What are you going to be using it for? Do you like hosting barbecues with loads of food and need a big dining table or are you better at hosting small get-together with just drinks and snacks?
If so, you'd be able to get away with a sofa and a smaller patio area, for example. I've left a list of things below for you to think about when it comes to planning out the new design for your garden:
- What will you use the garden for?
- Does it need to be pet-friendly?
- Are you wanting to be more eco-friendly? (If so, don't choose artificial grass, for example)
- Where does the sun hit? (More on this in a moment)
- Are there any noticeable areas of the garden where the wind naturally blows through?
- Where are your doors and windows located?
- Do you like to use a barbecue, and if so, is it coal or gas-powered? (This might play a part in where your BBQ-ing area might go)
- Would you need to generate shade with large shrubs or trees?
- Where would be best to place your plants? (Follow the sun)
2. Consider the layout & work out where the sun hits throughout the day
We've already touched on the planning of your garden and working out where things need to be. But one of the major factors to take into account for a garden redesign is where the sun hits in your garden throughout the day. Take into account the following questions when it comes to the sun in your garden:
- Is there are part of it that's sunny all day long?
- Are there parts that get more sun in the morning than in the evening?
- Are there any parts that get more sun in the evening than in the morning?
- Are there areas that are constantly in the shade?
- Are there any parts that are in dappled shade all day?
- How much of the ground is sunny and when does that happen throughout the day? (This will help if you're wanting to add grass seed or turf)
This will dictate a number of different things, but the two most important factors the sun will determine in your garden redesign is: plants and patios. You want your plants to be somewhere sunny, primarily, or where it will receive both sun and shade throughout the course of the day.
Primarily- shade-loving plants are hard to find and they don't always look very attractive. The same thing goes for patio or decking spaces. You want your patios and decking areas to be located somewhere that's sunny and warm. You can easily add shade to your patio or decking area with a parasol.
So, don't let full sun areas put you off from building a patio or having a decking space there. A nice compromise, if you have a small garden, is to build a patio in the sunny spot and then put plants in pots, then place them on the patio.
This way, both yourself, your guests and your plants will be able to enjoy the sun simultaneously. The sun is an incredibly important part of any garden redesign, so watch what it does throughout the day and build your plans around that. Trust me, you'll thank yourself when the good weather rolls around.
3. Think carefully about the materials needed
Considering your pets, especially if they spend any time outdoors, like cats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs, to name a few, is incredibly important when redesigning your garden. You need to make sure that it's a safe space for your furry friends as well. This means doing the following things to make your garden pet-safe:
- Checking for sharp, sudden or hidden drops and falls
- Using materials that will no cut or harm the animals in any way
- Using pet-friendly paints
- Refraining from using pesticides
- Choosing hard-wearing grass
- Picking plants and flowers carefully as some can be toxic to animals
- Rethinking the placement of water features, both to prevent drowning and to protect features and ornaments
- Not having any garden ornaments that could topple and fall over
Read more about how to make your garden pet-friendly here.
4. Be sure to take longevity into account
Choose materials and designs that will last for decades to come. Don't choose railway sleeper beds, for example. These will rot over time and they require a lot of maintenance as time moves on. Building brick walls or breeze block walls and then covering them with a facade or rendering them and painting them is a far more study and strong choice when compared to sleepers.
I know that sleepers are an ideal choice for those on a budget, for those who don't know how to build walls or for those who want the job completed quickly, but it's not always the best option if you're looking to complete a garden project and want it to last for decades, because it just won't.
The same goes for those wooden edging pegs you can buy. These will rot eventually and require continuous upkeep. While it might be a pain or more expense now, you'll thank yourself in the long run by choosing more sturdy alternatives that will last for many years to come.
5. Add some finishing touches that will make all the difference
There are loads of finishing touches that you can add to your garden to elevate it even further. We chose to incorporate lights in our design, for example, so we had to provision for electrical work to be done. We also had to choose where we wanted the lights etc.
It's important to consider the finishing touches early on in your project so that you can be prepared to add them at a later date, such as lighting or water features or drainage, for instance.
While it might seem like a finishing touch that's added at the end, you need to make sure that your garden is planned to that level of detail from the offset so that you can complete your garden redesign without a hitch.
Let's say you've built a garden wall and had it nicely rendered and painted, and then you decide that you want lights in there, don't be surprised if an electrician has to nobble off some rendering to get some cables up there.
It's things like that that you don't want to add retrospectively. So while the finishing touches may seem like a way off when you start, you have to think about those little aspects now to make your job easier and more efficient in the future, when you come to add them.
6. Take into account the maintenance needed in the long run
Before starting on your garden renovation or redesign, think carefully about the amount of maintenance involved with the finished product. For example, light patio slabs are notoriously difficult to keep clean.
Wood will need to be repainted and treated every year or slow, the plants you might have planted could require regular pruning, etc. Think carefully about the amount of maintenance you want to do on your garden in the long run before embarking on your garden redesign or renovation journey.
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I hope you enjoyed this blog post and that you found it somewhat useful for redesigning and renovating your own garden? Let me know in the comments below how it goes and I'll see you all again very soon with some brand new content!
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