Let your gorgeous garden grow
Not everyone has time to get really into gardening and the garden can become a little neglected for junk and weeds. With careful plant choices and a few bold visual accents, it’s possible to cultivate a gorgeous garden in a small amount of time.
Choose hardy plants
If you’d rather not be digging, potting and replanting every winter and spring, stick to those “hardy” plants that can be left out over winter. This will vary somewhat depending upon your location, but there are thousands of options for the UK in many types and varieties. Plants that will survive the winter vary from place to place, so the key is to ask at your local garden centre, who will be familiar with the local soil and climate.
Tough herbs like rosemary, and brassicas like perennial kale, require very little tending, and of course as a bonus you get delicious fresh leaves to use in your cooking.
Make a beer trap to keep slugs away
A beer trap is a much more effective, environmentally friendly way of keeping those pests away than slug pellets. The beer trap will save plants from destruction in even the most infested of gardens. Simply fill a small bowl with cheap beer and sink it into the soil to keep your favourite plants happy and slug free.
Prune your plants
A quick prune around will encourage plants to grow more shoots and blossoms. Spring flowering plants should be pruned after they’ve finished flowering, but summer blooming shrubs and trees can be cut back in early spring.
Bursts of colour
Garden centres often promote well-established, seasonal plants that provide a dramatic and vivid burst of colour. These can be a great addition to your garden, but make sure they are robust varieties that won’t fade away with the winter frost. Bright colours on feature walls are an easy way to transform a garden, and of course they require very little maintenance after you’ve made the initial time investment.
Decorative lighting
Lighting in the garden really looks magical and can bring your garden or patio to life. There are so many varieties of affordable, modern solar lighting that is easy to set up. Use them to highlight plants and to mark out pathways, or drape them across fencing around your shed. It’s important to locate the solar panels where they will get plenty of direct light during the day to get the full effect.
So, if your garden’s looking a bit bleak, don’t despair, these quick tips can help you can transform it into an enticing space in no time and help you maintain your fabulous garden.