Your garden should be seen as an extension of your home, a space in nature that can be utilized in your daily life.

Gardens aren’t there just for summer bbq’s, they can look great and be used all year round if you adopt the right practices. Many health benefits come with spending more time in your garden, for example, it can help you reduce stress, boost your mood, fight diseases, improve your memory and build your strength, particularly if you regularly get involved in gardening.

If you want to utilise your outside space more, here are some top tips to make your garden look good all year round.

Consider the plants

In general, your garden can simply be made better with a combination of different coloured and textured plants. The types of plants you choose will entirely depend on your taste, as well as the time you have to maintain them. If you have more time to spare over the weekends, then you can opt for any plant you wish, that is in season. This way you can experiment with a wider variety, providing you invest the time to look after them. If you don’t have the time to spend your weekends maintaining a garden, then you can opt for more evergreen plants that require little maintenance and last all year round.

Decking

Adding some decking into your garden is a great way to create a seamless transition from the inside of your home to the outside. It also means you can spend time out there all year round, especially during the winter when it is wet and the grass is muddy and unpleasant to spend time on. It also creates a nice, stable foundation for a seating area if you wish to eat outside too.

Covered seating area

Creating a seating area in your garden is ideal to open up more opportunities. This way, you can enjoy your morning coffee out there, host alfresco nights with your friends, or simply sit by the fire and enjoy a glass of wine at night. Whatever you prefer, you can make it possible with a seating area. However, unless you add a cover, such as the ones from Patio Awnings from Caribbean Blinds that can provide a great range of shade for your seating area, you can enjoy more time out there.

Colour

If you don’t have much time for maintaining a selection of plants, there are many alternative ways you can add a pop of colour into your garden. You can do this by upcycling furniture and painting them your favourite colours, adding structural elements around your garden or sculptures, hanging coloured fairy lights or bunting around the fences, or even painting your fences bright colours.

Whether you have a lot of time, or a short amount of time, a large budget or a small budget, a big garden or a small one, there are plenty of options to choose from to make your garden look great all year around.