Making the most of your outdoor space

One of the biggest attractions of a new Cruden home is being able to personalise its interior, to add your own unique stamp. However, the same is also true of outside space, where a newly-fenced garden provides another blank canvas awaiting your input.

After a seemingly never-ending and arduous winter, the prospect of spending time outside seems particularly appealing this year and as plants and trees emerge from an extended period of hibernation, this is the ideal time to start thinking about how to prepare your garden for summer. Whether you have a substantial plot or a small yard, there’s plenty of scope for customising outdoor space. Even if you live in an apartment, window boxes and planters on a balcony or terrace will introduce welcome splashes of colour and character.

These are our top tips for adding some personality to your little corner of the great outdoors, without breaking the bank or ripping up those healthy-looking strips of turf…

Lawns

A newly-turfed garden can easily be enhanced with stepping-stone pathways or decorative edging. A wavy border on a lawn adds charm, and stripes can be introduced by clever mowing but if you don’t fancy some DIY, there are specialist companies that will perform regular treatments on a new lawn, aerating and scarifying to encourage root growth while improving drainage.

Flowers

Planters come in all shapes and materials, and some low-cost bedding plants will create a riot of colour. If you’re not green-fingered, garden centres sell ready-made planters. A masonry drill will secure a hanging basket to the front of your house, where it adds a welcoming ambience to any property. And why not create sunken or raised flowerbeds around the edge of a lawn, populating the beds with flowers, conifers or shrubs?

Patios

Even a few concrete slabs can underpin an attractive and functional patio. Garden centres stock numerous benches or outdoor dining sets, made of weatherproof plastic or solid wood. Alternatively, you can source second-hand or discarded items online and upcycle them. Thanks to TV programmes like Money for Nothing and Fill Your House for Free, old furnishings and garden items are increasingly being restored and refurbished at minimal cost.

Hedges

Planting trees and bushes around the boundaries of a garden increases its privacy and charm. A hedge might take several years to fully mature, but it’ll give your property real kerb appeal.

Choose a hardy species like Portuguese laurel, which will thrive even in Scotland’s sticky clay soils and remember to scatter mulch over the top to repel weeds and soak up excess rainfall.

Have a great summer!

 

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