We often get so used to our surroundings that we find our own environment not as stimulating as others.
The Jones’ garden seems much nicer than ours and keeping up with them is a difficult task.
A garden needs to be a reflection of you and be something pleasing to you, the individual – it is, after all, you that will be living there.
Surround yourself with your favourite colours and objects that bring a smile to your face. Create your own little Eden where you can relax and feel comfortable.
Good advice is to start small and focus on completing one specific area rather than doing bits of gardening all over the show. A garden that is filled with many uncompleted projects gives one the impression of a lot of work that still needs to be done.
Completing section by section gives you the opportunity to feel accomplishment and it is often the compliments that follow that will give you the enthusiasm to continue elsewhere in the garden.
Group objects together that belong together or tell the same story.
Concrete pots and objects can work well in one area while wooden products and ornamentation can create interest elsewhere in the garden.
You might consider a fantasy garden hidden under the canopy of shrub and a big and bold garden theme around the swimming pool.
Moving objects around in the garden is a good start to creating new and exciting gardening spaces. Pots, statues, garden ornaments, benches, birdbaths, rocks and stepping stones are but a few items that can find a new resting place elsewhere in the garden.
A bit of cleaning and possibly a bit of paint is often all that is needed to add new life to these often-forgotten treasures. You might have leftover paint collecting dust in the garage that can be used for this purpose.
Try mixing different paint colours together to form a new colour if the existing paint colours are not ideal.
Gardening need not be an expensive exercise. Use what you have and turn it into something unique in your garden. We do not only need to plant plants in plant containers … experiment with anything that will hold soil but allow water to drain out of the soil freely.
An old toy truck, old cooking pot or baking tray can be used as planters. Even an old kettle can be used as a funky planting container.
Existing plants growing in the garden can be split up and transplanted to fill up planting gaps. Good friends and keen gardeners will also be more than willing to share their plants with you.
Often unwanted plants and gardening objects end up on the rubbish dumps and with a bit of tender loving care, these can be rather useful in your own gardening space. If money is not a problem, good quality plants and products can be purchased from your local nursery.
Thinking out of the box will allow you to not try and keep up with the Joneses but actually, leave them green with envy.
Article by David Viljoen.
