Get Your Garden Ready For Spring

With the winter months slowly coming towards an end and spring on the horizon it is time to start considering whether or not your garden could benefit from a facelift.

Many are keen to get back into the garden once the colder weather has started to make a move. The first step is to tend to any casualties that have been caused over winter – such as removing any dead plants and replacing with new, lively flowers, and also giving some needed TLC to any features you may have.

Patios

The chances are that, following the winter months, your garden patio is not looking as it did when you first laid it. Your patio may be looking a little worse for wear, perhaps looking a little on the tired side and the odd weed poking through .

By sweeping your patio regularly, especially following the winter, dirt and debris will not be allowed to settle for an extended period of time. This will also help to get rid of any weeds in their infancy as they begin to grow and sprout out, removing the roots and stopping the weeds from growing any further.

No matter how thorough you are, you can guarantee that at least one weed will come through in full bloom – weed killers are a favourite in DIY shops for gardeners and present an easy step to killing the weed. Unless the roots are killed and disposed of then the problem will persist, so it is worth pulling out the weed and its roots to ensure it does not grow back.

New Flooring

The spring is a great opportunity to begin designing and renovating your garden in a new image. As already mentioned, garden patios are relatively easy to keep and maintain with a little care but there are many different options on the market.

Concrete slabs aren’t necessarily everyone’s first pick for patios purely because of its design limitations – they can be somewhat aesthetically dull. Also, the colour of areas frequently walked on can fade quickly and coating must be applied every couple of years.

Natural stone is the option for anyone looking for a natural look in their garden and is prepared to put in the work to install it. Each stone must be laid individually so as the flooring is level due to each slab varying in size and thickness whether it is flagstone, slate, limestone or bluestone. Using natural stone is also a more expensive option than other alternatives.

Brick patios are not ideal if you live in an area with cold and damp weather due to the bricks soaking up moisture. This causes the bricks to crack when frozen, meaning that they have to be replaced, and moss is prone to grow in shaded areas, meaning that a lot of maintenance is required on a brick patio.

Paving stones are proving to be an extremely popular choice amongst those who prefer to carry out their own jobs as they are more cost efficient and flexible. Each slab is manufactured to be the same thickness so as they can be installed quickly.

Decking is a fantastic alternative if you are not taken on having a garden patio. Both real wood and composite decking is available and can be installed either piece by piece like slabs, or plank by plank if you want a truly natural look.

Garden Furniture

The garden can be a fantastic place to invite friends and family for a drink in the sun or for an evening meal. Investing in proper garden furniture will make any patio or decking come to life – some elect to mix and match their tables and chairs, but it is often more cost effective to buy a complete set, especially if you are completely renovating your garden.

Furniture sets are available in a range of different materials, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, ranging from pricing, aesthetics, durability and practicality.

Plastic furniture is a good option for anyone on a budget. It is also very durable and usually plastic chairs are designed so as they can be stack on top of one another, which is suitable for smaller gardens.

Most metal furniture is now designed so as they are rust resistant and also so as it can be folded away. The one downside, though, is that because metal conducts heat better than most other materials, furniture can become incredibly hot in the summer months unless it is well shaded.

With wood furniture there is no issue of conducting heat, meaning it can be used when the weather is hot without worry. As it is a natural material, wood furniture has to be treated on an annual basis to protect against water damage – it is also advised to keep wood covered during wet weather.

Rattan-effect furniture is a hugely popular choice for gardens as it requires little maintenance and easy to clean, although good quality rattan garden furniture can be expensive.

Lawn

There are two main options to have great looking lawn – laying turf and using all of the best plant feeders, or artificial grass. Many prefer using real grass for their gardens as they like to get hands on and enjoy cutting the grass every weekend. It can, however, become messy and lifeless – especially in the winter – and can require a lot of TLC.

One of the benefits of artificial grass is that even after the snow has landed it will still look luxuriously green with hardly any maintenance. Critics of artificial grass point say that it just does not look like the real thing, which could be said a few years ago, although the technology used to produce artificial grass has improved and so has the product.

Everyone has their own ideas for how their garden should look, but it should always make you feel at home and, with spring fast approaching, now is the time to think about the great outdoors once again.

Start Shopping for Backyard Décor!