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By Sian Thompson Having a garden you can be proud of can do wonders for your mental health. A presentable garden not only gives you a place to relax during the day, as a nice breakaway space, but it also gives you a space where you can host guests - there is nothing better than a summer BBQ. Music playing, socialising and a glass (or two) of wine to enjoy.  Lovely landscape (Photo by Diane) pexels When the weather is cold and the rain is pouring, more often than not, your garden gets neglected, so you need a day or two when the weather is nice and summer is approaching to get it ready. As summer is starting to approach and the weather is looking nice ahead, now is the perfect time to get your garden ready for summer.
To help give you some inspiration, here are three ways you can do so. Repaint your fences and decking Every year, it is a good idea to dedicate some time to repainting your fences and decking. Over the colder months, where it’s raining a lot, they can take a battering and start to tire, making your garden look old and tired. A quick lick of paint and you can instantly add a nice colour to your garden whilst also making it more presentable. Whilst you are thinking about repainting, this could be the ideal time to change the colour altogether - pinterest is a great place to look for inspiration. Prepare your furniture Take a moment to go through your old furniture in the shed and clean it up. Over the winter, cobwebs are bound to have built up as well as dust and dirt. It may be that now is the time to replace some of your old furniture or buy new pieces of furniture which you haven’t owned before - a deck chair is lovely to relax in and read a book. When going through your shed or your storage unit, keep an eye out for any rodents as you may need to get rodent control if, over the winter, a problem has cropped up. Mow your lawn One of the quickest changes you can make to your garden is mowing the lawn. When your grass is overgrown, it instantly makes your garden look ugly and uncared for. Overgrown grass can also cause insects to come in as well as weeds to grow in unwanted places. When mowing your lawn, to take it to the next level, consider mowing patterns into the grass, as this can add a cool effect and a new dynamic to your garden. I hope I have given you some inspiration on getting your garden ready for the summer months. By Sian Thompson Who doesn’t want to be proud of their house? You would’ve worked for years to be able to pay for it, and you’ll want it to look amazing. To actually feel this way, you could need to boost your curb appeal. That’s especially true if you’ve lived there for years and haven’t put much effort into it. While this often feels complicated, it doesn’t have to be. It can take a bit of time, but it’ll be far simpler than you’d think. Focusing on the right ways could make it easier than you’d think. Despite how relatively easy they can be, they’ll have quite an impact on how your home looks. It’s just a matter of putting a bit of elbow grease into it and knowing what you’re doing. Five of these strategies could be more than worth focusing on.  Hanging baskets of flowers make your home more welcoming (mschiffm) pixabay Put Up Some Hanging Baskets
Hanging baskets can be a great addition to a house, especially around the outside of your home. There are plenty of places where you could put them. Around the entryway is an obvious start, and this can have much more of an impact than you could think. You can even place them around the garden in various spots, too. The trick to this is not going overboard with the number of baskets. A more minimal approach could be recommended for this. After that, you just need to pick baskets that enhance the style of your entryway and garden. Update the Garage A garage can always be a welcome part of a property, and it could’ve been one of the reasons you bought your home. Over time, it starts looking a little rundown. This affects your curb appeal, so it’s worth putting a little effort into giving the garage a bit of a facelift. Replacing the garage door is a great way of doing this. Companies like LT Garage Doors can help with this. A new garage door could even be more functional than the old one, too. It costs a bit of money, but it’s more than worth it. Do Some Landscaping One of the more notable parts of your curb appeal is how your garden looks. The nicer your garden, the better your curb appeal. It’s worth putting some effort into this, even if it takes a bit of time. You mightn’t even need to do too much, depending on how large your garden is. It’s just a matter of sprucing up your garden a bit. The hanging baskets mentioned above are a start. You could also consider trimming the hedges and lawn, adding a few water features, and some garden furniture. It’ll be simpler than you’d think going forward. Install Feature LightingSpeaking of your garden, it’s always worth adding a bit of lighting to it. This adds more than a few benefits. The right lighting adds to the overall ambience in your garden at night time. It could also make your home safer, as potential burglars will be less likely to try to break in. Then there’s the fact that feature lighting lets you highlight specific parts of your garden that you’re proud of. It’s just a matter of figuring out the best type of lights for your garden and where you should put them. It shouldn’t take much time or effort. Refresh the Fences If you have fences around your garden, then it’s worth putting a bit of effort into them. That’s especially true if you’ve had them for a while. They could’ve started looking a little rundown and gotten damaged, making it even more worth giving them a refresh. This shouldn’t be too hard. As long as your fence is in good condition, it could just be a matter of repainting it. That mightn’t even take too much time, depending on how large of a fence you have. You could get it done in an afternoon and mightn’t have to put too much effort into it. It’s natural to want to be proud of your home. This only happens if your house looks and feels nice, though. If you haven’t looked after it for a while, your home could look a little rundown. You could need to boost your curb appeal to make it look and feel nicer. While this often seems like it takes a lot of time and effort, it shouldn’t have to be complicated. A few strategies are simpler than you think, but they’ll still have quite an impact. You’ve no reason not to put the effort into them. By Sian Thompson Gardening is a fantastic hobby to have. It allows you to spend time outside, where you can get fresh air and increase your vitamin D levels. It gets you involved with nature, which can teach you about sustainability and how to live in an eco-friendly way. But most of all, it doesn’t demand too much time and attention from you. Most plants are able to take care of themselves once you get them going, and you can sit back and enjoy them as they bloom. That being said, many gardeners can fall in and out of love with the hobby. There could be many reasons for this, but when the time comes that you’d like to pick it up again, gardening can feel quite inapproachable. That’s something we’re going to tackle today. If you’d like to try gardening again, but it feels like too big a job to take on, here are a few tips that could smooth you back in.  Tools of the gardening trade (Huy Phan) Pexels Assess the Garden’s State
How much work is in your future? If it looks like a lot from just a quick glance, look deeper and check if that’s true. It’s easy to put yourself off gardening by not double checking this, but often it’s just overgrown plants obscuring the view! Start with One Corner No gardener who’s been out of the game for a while should come back to tackle it all. That’ll easily overwhelm you, and could even turn you off finishing the job at all. Instead, start with just the one corner and work on that while you find your mojo again. This will save you a lot of time and effort throughout your garden project. You’ll be able to take the area bit by bit, and do what you want when you want. That’s what a good hobby is all about! And remember, commitment takes patience and practice - that’s what you’re brushing up here. See What New Tools You Need Now’s the time to head into your shed or tool box and see what’s left over. A lot of gardeners will find they still have everything they need to get back to work, but that might not be the case for you. After all, your tools may have rusted, or when you plug something in, it just won’t start. Do a check over all your tools to see where problems crop up. Doing this before trying to garden means you won’t frustrate yourself by having to stop work, and all because you need to buy a new tool. You could also think about repairing some of your tools, especially if they cost a hefty amount when you first bought them. A lawn mower, for example, can usually be given the once over, and if you invest in some lawn mower replacement parts for a repair job, you won’t have to spend on a whole new mower. Want to pick up gardening again? The tips above could make it much easier to try. |
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