Originally posted on https://www.maebells.com/making-your-garden-a-place-to-spend-time/

For most people, the garden is one of the most important parts of the home. As long as you are happy with the garden, chances are you are probably happy with the home in general. Of course, when it comes to this time of year in particular, you might become especially keen to make sure that your garden is going to be the kind of place where you want to spend your time. In order to make sure that it is, there are a number of things you might want to look into. In this article, we are going to look at a number of those things that you can do to make your garden that much more liveable, so that you can spend plenty of time in it throughout the summer months.

Create A Seating Area

If you don’t already have one, one of the first things you will want to do is to create a seating area in your garden, so that you have somewhere that you can easily spend a lot of time. This is absolutely going to be one of your main projects in making your garden somewhere that you can spend time, so you want to make sure that you get it right – and generally that means allowing for a lot of time so that you can plan it out well. But first up, just think about what part of the garden you would like to turn into this seating area. Many people prefer to have it by the house, so that you can easily go from one to the other. But you might also feel like creating an area at the back of the garden which you can use for this too – it’s all about the size and shape of your garden, what space you have and what you feel will work best.

Once you have decided on where, you want to think about what kind of seating you are going to have. You could go for some stylish outdoor wicker armchairs and benches, or you might want to stick to a cheaper alternative like folding chairs. As long as you have somewhere to sit that you can find comfortable, that is the most important thing of all, so be sure to look into that first and foremost. You should also think about how to make that furniture more comfortable, whether that’s through the use of cushions or whatever else it might be. By getting the seating right, you know that it is going to be much more comfortable, so that is going to be an important thing to consider.

Once you have a seating area laid out, you will already find that your garden is considerably nicer to spend time in. However, you might also want to make some other changes in order to ensure that your garden can be an even better place to be in the summer. Something else you might want to consider is how to keep that seating area nice and cool when it is hot. For that, you might think about simply installing a few big outdoor ceiling fans, so that you can keep it nice and cool no matter how hot it gets. That will make for a much nicer area to sit in alone, so it’s worth considering. And when it comes to winter, you might want to look into getting a patio heater for that space, so you can keep it temperate at all times of the year.

Make It Exotic

If you are to spend a lot of time in the garden, you will also probably be keen to make it look as nice as you can, and that is something that takes a lot of work in itself. Of course, this is what most people are hoping to do with their garden at all times anyway, and there are so many things that you can do to make this a reality for your garden. One way to focus on it is to try and make it a little more exotic, which you should be able to do by carefully choosing what kinds of plants and flowers you have in your garden. For instance, introducing a couple of exotic trees can often be enough to make the garden look particularly beautiful and unique, and that is easy enough to do if that is what you are going for. Likewise, you could also consider choosing a number of non-native plants to dot around the place, thereby making it all look much more interesting compared to not having those plants.

The Issue Of Privacy

For most people, in order to spend time in their garden they need to know that it is going to be and feel private, and that is something that you will therefore probably want to work on early on, just to make sure that you are able to comfortably be in your garden. The last thing you want is to feel that your neighbours are always watching, as that can quickly lead to a much less favourable experience in your own garden. Fortunately, ensuring that you have plenty of privacy in your garden is not really much of a problem as long as you are happy to work at it. Mostly all you will need to do is to find some kind of screening solution for the garden, of which there are plenty to choose between.

Most people simply go for a traditional garden fence, but of course you will want to choose a high one if you are overly concerned about your privacy in the garden. Likewise, if you want to make sure that you feel much more private you could look into planting a couple of large hedges along the borders too. It might not even be necessary to make it so that you are completely obscured – you might just feel better knowing that there is at least something there that partially blocks the sight into your garden. As long as you can do that, you will probably feel better and enjoy being in the garden more – and a fence or a couple of hedges might be all you need to make that happen. You could also just install some wooden or metal screening around the sitting area, so that at least when you are there you feel like you are in a more private space. That will help you to really relax and unwind, and will ensure that the garden is a considerably nicer place to spend your time in the summer.

Introduce Aural Effects

If you want the garden to provide a full experience when you are in it, then you will want to think about trying to engage all the senses. You probably have beautiful things to look at and lovely flowers to smell, but you might also want to think about creating some enjoyable sounds to hear while you are spending time in your garden. With the use of something as simple as a small water feature with water flowing over rocks, you can create a peaceful sound which is going to really make the experience of being in the garden a lot more relaxed and easygoing. Or you could think about having a few wooden wind chimes here and there, to bring about the same kind of peaceful relaxation that way. However you do it, creating aural effects in the garden often seems to really complete the experience of being in the garden.