Garden decor and maintenance

Enhance your garden with exceptional garden decor and make it a truly wonderful sight to behold. Garden decorations don’t appear by magic, they take a lot of hard work and maintenance. Garden maintenance is a year round job and varies with the seasons. Apart from the normal grass cutting and leaf gathering other activities will be necessary to keep your garden in top condition. Garden gazebos will need to be cleaned, bedding plants will need to be planted, hanging baskets will need to be tended and this list of activities could go on and on.

Planning the garden design layout

You must plan to have a beautifully decorated garden. If you accidently plant a tree that also happens to be fast growing then you will have to re-plan again within 3 years and this new plan will involve tree cutting and removal (this is unnecessary maintenance due to lack of foresight and planning and is a most common mistake to make).

Success

For success, just think of the garden as an extension of the home and portion it into smaller room-like areas. You need areas for work, for play, for planting and also a degree of intimacy which can be created by the use of arches, pergolas, arbours and secret niches and corners. Any one of the endless variety of water features can also be implemented and result in a calming and cooling effect.

Managing large gardens

Sectioning the garden into smaller unique units is the key to success. It allows you to focus on more manageable chunks within the project. The plan does not have to be elaborate and may just a simple design as in the image shown.

Survey first

There is no need to hire a professional surveyor. It’s your garden and you will live with the results which are all the more tolerable if you have designed the garden yourself. Before you begin take a sheet of paper and draw the house position on it. A square block in the center will suffice. Now conduct a simple survey of the garden and note down all paths, trees, hedges or other existing features that might affect the design. Try to scale the drawing by using a tape measure to work out distances between features. The best way is to measure a line from each corner of the house to each nearest corner of the plot under design consideration. I usually cross check my measurement by walking the property and counting the number of steps. One large step is about 1 yard (3 feet). Mark everything on the page and include notes. When back inside you will be able to construct a much more accurate drawing using all the information you have gathered. I usually have to run back outside several times to check measurements and things I have overlooked. With all the fact finding done and all the information to hand it is time to begin in earnest.

Things that you cannot change

The things that cannot be changed are the prevailing wind, the view, the aspect and the soil itself. The level of the ground may be adjusted with heavy machinery but better is to utilize different levels with water features or broad stepping stones. The soil should be checked to see if it is acidic, alkaline or neutral as the soil type will dictate the plant selection that would best suit.

Things that you can change

Start a list of what is desirable for you and your family. You might like to barbeque and need a patio. The children might request a garden swing. You could consider a pool or pond. A glasshouse, a shed, a lawn, a vegetable garden could all be listed for possible inclusion. Don’t forget areas for the most common and routine functions: compost, recycling bins and a burning area (if permissible)

The hard and soft options

Thankfully the ‘hard’ part of the garden will only occur at the beginning. This involves the building of walls, paths, decking, gravel ways, cobblestones, brickwork and includes the positioning of heavy items like garden statues. Once the heavy work is done we can get on with the softer side of gardening which is the living garden and this will keep us occupied for a lifetime. Don’t forget to follow your planned layout and plant according to the design you envisioned. As the plants and trees mature over the years they will serve to enhance your garden decor but be aware that constant vigilance and regular maintenance is needed to ensure your garden stays beautiful.