Designer Tips for Giving Your Garden a Makeover

With longer days and nicer weather just behind the corner, it's time to assess how your garden has gone through winter. Garden makeovers are a favourite springtime project for many homeowners, simply due to the creative options and small additions that can have an instant and exciting effect. Here are five tips for giving your backyard an easy spring makeover.

Define the lines and boundaries

Chances are that you haven’t given your garden much thought over the cold months, so for starters, go out there and decide whether some features have lost their shape. While boundary fences remain the same height regardless of the size of the garden, if you see nothing than bare fences, you should do something about it. Structural evergreens like silverberry, devilwood, mock privet, kohuhu, and laurustinus are perfect for hiding the back boundary fence, as they grow thick when mature. To soften the boundary around the shrubs, plant clematis which will bring summer colours to your garden all year round. To conceal an unsightly concrete or brick wall, have it painted with masonry paint that will complement the climbing plants you plant at the bottom.

Make green screens

If your outdoor sitting area’s privacy is compromised by the next-door neighbours’ window, plant a row of fast-growing trees along the like to block intruding views. For this purpose, choose narrow trees with branches growing parallel to the stem, such as the flowering pear of the Pyrus family, or Frans Fontaine, which is a subspecies of hornbeam. creepers are also perfect for screening, as their long stems let them blend in any environment. They can grow over arches, posts, even the side of your house, while some of them like orange blossom and jasmine have wonderfully fragrant blossoms. If you train ivy to grow along a fence, you can achieve a rustic cottage-style look with minimal investments.

Adjust the style to use

At one point you need to realize that the main use of your garden grows hand-in-hand with the design. If you use the garden mainly to sit, relax and entertain friends, consider digging up some of the shrubs and enlarging the lawn or sitting area. You can even combine those two by using grass pavers which, besides allowing grass to sprout through the holes, provide excellent stormwater drainage. In case your mower has stood unused for some time, you should let someone check it before you start with any lawn-related project. Should you need a replacement, online vendors usually have the best selection of Briggs and Stratton parts and accessories. On the other hand, if you’re using your garden for meditation and reading, go for controlled carelessness by allowing plants to overgrow, as well as mixing flowers and small trees.

Repurpose for increased aesthetics

If you need more garden furniture or outdoor décor, think twice before rushing to your nearest home and garden depot. In many cases, salvaged materials make excellent décor, not only because of their age and weathered look, but because they add the rustic, and self-reliant note to your garden. Wooden pallets can be had for virtually nothing and can be made into benches, tables, vertical gardens, vegetable and herb gardens, and much more. However, before you use a pallet as a planter, make sure it hasn't been treated with pest-repellent chemicals. Old steel pots can be used as planters, and even an old pair of boots can be used to grow something. Other imaginative repurposed planter options include livestock troughs, wooden crates, stone sinks, and ruined copper tubs. Painted or untreated, an old ladder can act as an ideal vertical plant stand with excellent air circulation.

Embellish the patio

Whether out front or in the back, style up your patio with a series of colourful and welcoming flowerpots. The same welcoming theme should continue to your front door, as well. Patio containers come in all kinds of materials, but for this purpose terracotta or glazed pots will serve the best. Just make sure the pots you buy are the right size for the outdoor use since most people go for the ‘indoor' size that turns out of scale when used outside on the patio. These containers can be used for growing virtually anything from small trees and shrubs, to fragrant herbaceous plants and bulbs, depending on the size of your patio. Clipped evergreens like Japanese holly, common box, and mock privet are perfect for introducing a drop of formality among flowering plants.

You don’t need neither lot of time nor money to give your garden and lawn a great makeover this spring. By removing and adding right plants, complementing the existing décor with a few repurposed features, and adjusting the overall look of your garden to match your lifestyle, you can be ready for the merriest season without even breaking a sweat.