This Week’s Guest Blogger is James Scott, the Managing Director and Principal Designer at The Garden Company Hertfordshire
3 Ideas to Enhance Your Garden
While we are all looking forward to Covid restrictions being eased, many of us will probably still be spending a lot of time at home over the coming months. For those of us with gardens, it certainly seems that our outdoor space has become more important to us than ever. Here are 3 ideas aimed at helping you to make even more of your garden this year.
Water Features & Ponds
Water features and ponds are hard to beat for adding a focal point to a garden and enhancing the use of the space. A well-chosen water feature adds sound and light while bringing in beneficial wildlife too. Even a bird bath can make a huge difference. As nearly 70 percent of ponds have been lost from the UK countryside in the last century, water features and ponds are more important to wildlife than ever. Ponds develop fast because many of their inhabitants are highly mobile; within a short time after installation, your garden will attract birds, amphibians, insects, mammals and plenty of ‘mini-beasts’ you might never otherwise see.
Watching a pond attract wildlife is very rewarding
Fire Pits
Many of us have good memories of camping trips, with time spent sitting by the fire telling stories, enjoying tasty food and warming drinks. The good news is that if you add a fire pit to your garden, you don’t have to go far to recreate those memories. Possibly one of the best reasons to consider installing a fire pit is that it allows you to enjoy the seasons for longer. Since it offers both warmth and beauty, you will be able to enjoy your garden early in the spring season and later into autumn. There’s something about a fire pit that encourages great conversation too.
Fire pits create a social space for friends and family
Raised Beds and Herb Pots
Over recent years we have had more and more clients ask us about edible gardening. Pottering about in your own orderly set of raised beds before dinner and selecting a few home-grown herbs or vegetables can be a wonderful way to spend time outdoors. If there is no space for raised beds, easy-care herbs are also a natural fit for a vertical garden. All you need is a way to hang containers or contain soil on a vertical surface – for example, a ladder planter fixed against the wall. Even a single large container can be added as an accent piece, or several smaller pots grouped together in an attractive arrangement.
Raised beds can make gardening easier
Good luck with all your garden projects, big or small, this year. For more ideas, do browse our website here http://www.thegardenco.co.uk or follow me on Twitter @gardencomp