AD – guest post. Depending on your enthusiasm for gardening, tending your outdoor space is either a pleasure or a chore. Most of us enjoy gardens, especially through the summer months and want to have a beautiful space to relax in, either alone or with friends. The nice thing about gardens is they can be as simple or elaborate as you please. Simply having a neat lawn and a few flowering tubs or hanging baskets can transform an area. Read on for more storage ideas and tips for a tidy garden all year round.
Maximising Outdoor Space
Efficiency, as well as comfort, needs to factor in your outdoor seating area. Whether you have a large courtyard or a small patio, being able to set up and pack away quickly maximises the pleasure you get from relaxing outside.
Folding furniture is great for small areas since you can customise the available space depending on the needs of the moment. A small bistro set of a few folding chairs and a table is easy to pack away. You can either just cover it up when it’s not in use or stow the pieces away in the shed or other outdoor storage area.
Use practical garden structures as functional storage as well as for decoration. Trellises are a good example. We often use them to support plants, as windbreaks or for privacy, but a sturdy trellis can also support the small tools needed to care for potted plants. Hang them from butcher’s hooks with coloured twine. They look especially appealing if you have a matching set, as well as encouraging you to do a bit of deadheading or weeding on the spur of the moment.
Other ways to make the most of outdoor spaces include upcycling indoor furnishings you’d otherwise throw out. Cabinets, chests of drawers or shelving systems can all be repurposed for tool storage.
Preserve and Store
Good quality garden equipment isn’t cheap. When you’ve spent good money on things you love, you want them to last for longer than a season or two. Renting a self storage unit to keep out-of-season equipment prolongs its life. Think of all the gear you store in the shed or garage during its out-of-season period and imagine the better use you could get out of that space if those things weren’t there.
If you do want to keep bulky items such as garden furnishings at home over winter, give everything a good clean before you pack it away. Cover tables and seating with waterproof covers to help protect them.
A good tip, if you’re covering a table, is to put a bucket or something similar in the middle of the table beneath the covering so rainwater can run off. If you can, take cushions and seat pads indoors so they don’t go damp or mouldy.
Garage and Shed Organising
When you must wade through a muddle or move a load of items before you can find what you’re looking for, it becomes easier to put off garden tasks. Keeping things organised means you can get on and do jobs without too much thought. Some solutions for often-used shed and garage items include:
- High shelves for chemicals or paints.
- Hooks for hoses or hanging tools.
- Jars fixed beneath shelves for small workbench items (nails etc.).
- Fixed bike racks to lift them off the floor.
- Rails under shelves to hang tools on butchers’ hooks.
- Pegboards for hand tools.
- Modular wall shelving systems you can arrange to suit your space.
Draw around items you hang on walls or pegboards with a permanent marker, so you know what goes where. Makes it easy to spot if something is missing.
Gardening Routines and Good Habits
To keep everything looking cared for, stay on top of the routine or mundane tasks, such as:
- Mowing and edging lawns.
- Mulching beds to discourage weeds.
- Saving water in butts.
- Deadheading flowering plants.
- Sweeping paths and steps.
- Planting up tubs and planters with flowers or herbs.
- Tidying up toys or tools and picking up doggy messes.
- Pruning shrubs and trees.
See related post: Spring into Action – Start the Gardening Year Right This Spring
A gardening calendar that tells you what to plant and when to prune or trim various shrubs is helpful. Sometimes these can help too with garden layout, so you know you’re giving your plants their ideal growing conditions. ‘Little and often’ is a good mantra, alongside using your available space to the best advantage and maybe using a storage room to declutter the shed or garage. Once you’ve got things organised, it’s much easier to maintain a lovely, tidy garden all year round.
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