4 Tips for Helping Your Back Garden Thrive (Even If You’re Lacking Green Fingers!)

Summer is renowned as the season of outdoor activities: cycling, swimming, barbequing, fishing, golfing, canoeing, paddleboarding and many other strictly-summer activities; perhaps even a festival or two! But for many, their main summer activity is closer to home than those already mentioned. Many people plan for the time when they can maximise the benefits of exercise and fresh air whilst also appreciating the joys of a thriving back garden.

Yes, for an increasing number of people, the summer months prompt another popular hobby that eludes many, gardening.

Perhaps you love the idea of a picturesque oasis of a back garden but getting started and caring for it seems rather daunting, especially if you are a non-green-fingers person who wouldn’t know the first thing about starting a garden or cultivating seeds.

However, as many people are aware, the joys of a thriving back garden provide so much more than just something beautiful to look at. The physical and mental health benefits are enormous. And, according to how you plan your garden, there are other benefits such as a social area enabling you to spend more time with friends and family, a safe space if you have or would like to own pets, supporting local wildlife, and even increasing the value of your house!

But let’s track back for a minute and look at some of the physical and health benefits of gardening:

• Early research suggests gardening helps improve cognitive functioning;
• Gardening is a great form of exercise and can be part of the recommended 150 minutes a week we all need;
• More time in the garden will help increase vitamin D levels which will strengthen your bones and your immune system;
• Research shows that gardening, as well as other forms of being out in nature, helps reduce depression and stress levels;
• Horticultural therapy is used in addiction recovery programs and is proven to be an effective rehabilitation tool.

Just because you aren’t super plant-savvy, it doesn’t mean that you can’t recreate a vibrant outdoor oasis for you, your family, and your friends to enjoy. With several tips and tricks, we outline in this article, you can quickly turn your outside space into a lush, inviting area and in no time at all will be able to appreciate the joys of a thriving back garden.

Enlist The Services Of Local Landscape Gardeners

 Before you get planting, getting the right framework in place is an essential. According to the size of your garden and what you are intending to do with it, from a lawn with a few flower beds to something rather more interesting, this might be something you do yourself or call in the professionals!

 While we all dream of having a picture-perfect back garden, if you don’t have the time or energy to spare, your dream can feel like it’s trickling out between your fingers! However, if you don’t have expansive gardening knowledge or a natural knack for nurturing plants and are willing to part with a little bit of money to achieve your dream garden, you could consider enlisting the services of local landscape gardeners to provide the right structure and help to get you started.

You can reap many benefits by hiring local landscape gardeners, from taking advantage of their industry experience and the proper tools/equipment to taking the hassle of gardening off your hands and being available all year round.

Start by asking local friends and neighbours if they can recommend anyone. If that doesn’t provide the results you are looking for, consider using online directories like MyBuilder.com to post an advert for a local landscape gardener. Using their unique match-making system, you can quickly vet and review local landscape gardeners near you to see which ones best match you (and your outside space!).

Start With A Low-Maintenance Crop

Once you are ready to get started, whether your goal is to grow something that you can admire and tend to or if you’d like to produce something you can eat, it is essential that you start with low-maintenance crops. There is no point throwing yourself in the deep end and committing to growing challenging veggies or plants that are unlikely to survive.

But what to choose?

A good option is to ask the advice of another professional. But this time, it should be free advice! If you go to your local garden centre and explain you are a newbie and would like some advice in choosing the right plants, they will invariably be happy to help. Just ensure you have already checked if the area you want to plant is sunny or shady and the type of soil you have.

Of course, there are also loads of books you can purchase, YouTube videos, and regular gardening programmes on television such as Gardeners World which will all encourage, inspire and educate.

Position Plants In Areas With The Right Amount of Sunlight

 It doesn’t take someone who is plant-savvy to understand that plants require a specific amount of sunlight to grow and thrive. Therefore, if you’re outside space has limited sunny areas, it would be best if you took the time to analyse which areas get the most light, the sunlight requirements of the plants/vegetables in your garden, and how best to position them so they get it.

Plants like tomatoes, daylilies, peppers, lavender, and peonies need at least six hours of sun to thrive; on the other hand, plants like hosta, ferns, fuchsias lily of the valley, and dead nettle prefer the coolness of the shade. Once you understand the requirements of each of your plants, it makes it easier to position them in a place where they’ll thrive.

Alternatively, consider container planting if your garden isn’t a sun trap. It enables you to grow plants/vegetables out of pots rather than out of the ground, making it much easier to control how much sun exposure they get. Or, if you don’t want to do this, you could limit your garden to shade-specific plants like the ones above.

Understand How/When To Water Your Plants

While water is a common requirement for all plants, not all require watering twenty-four-seven and some even prefer drier conditions. Due to this, it is essential that you understand the water requirements of all the plants in your garden to avoid overwatering/underwatering them.

Yet you can be more precise about your watering by investing in a moisture meter or using your finger to test the moisture levels before watering.

Ideally, you should water your plants deeply but infrequently as it encourages the roots to become more robust and not sit at the top of the soil, which can cause stress and even death. Mulching plants can also help retain moisture levels and avoid frequent watering.

Conclusion

Even the most experienced gardeners have successes and failures, so don’t be disheartened if not everything you plant survives. The right plant in the right position will make your chances of success more likely, but it’s also important to remember that part of the joys of a thriving back garden is the journey you take to establish your dreams and the ever-changing nature of your garden.

Just enjoy every moment!