Garden: Saving Space and Keeping Everything in Order
Gardens have become modern havens of a sort. Everyone wants to own one, and those who have them look for ways to perfect their domesticated jungles. Whether they are as subtle as a few potted plants around the apartment, or a full-blown miniature forest in the backyard, no one can deny their therapeutic influence. However, each garden demands some form of order, or else you’re stuck with branches right over your chair and eyesore gardening tools scattered around. Believe it or not, there is a way to turn your garden into an organized space that still reflects your personality. Here are a few redecorating tips, so you never have to worry about clutter in your little patch of heaven.
Furniture
Choosing smaller furniture to save space is what most of us would think first. But in addition to that, there are other ways you can go about using your furniture: through purpose and color.
- Repurposing – find a way to turn old, unwanted furniture into pot holders or seedling beds. For example, an old drawer with four long drawers can be retracted to a certain degree and then filled with the pots with various plants.
- Color – by choosing your colors strategically, you can make your space look as big or as small as you’d like. When you want to open up your small garden, paint the furniture white or yellow. However, if you have particularly small chairs or tables, you can paint them red or bright blue, to distract from their size.
- Texture- add texture by visiting a cement pot supplier.
But these are hardly the only things you can do. Depending on the size of your garden, you can craft your own new storage space and furniture with just a little bit of effort.
Get practical
Work on finding creative storage space for your tools. Larger ones can be kept behind a simple bamboo screen, against which you can raise a vine, or hang decorations. Line a few hanging pots or a cloth with pockets for seeds smaller tools, or find a decorated antique chest that will double as a table. Long retractable hose reels are a life safer when it comes to conserving space, and you can add a dash of creativity and decorate them, as well, to blend them better with the surroundings.
Plants themselves
No tiny furniture or visual tricks can save your small garden from looking cluttered if the plants themselves are not suitable. If you are having spatial issues, go for narrow plant varieties that will grow in height, not in width or girth. Think carefully before introducing every new plant into your garden. Succulents, for example, are very undemanding, while providing for the most creative problem solving for the lack of space. You can plant them in a broad bed, which can then be hung on a wall like a painting, and they will continue to thrive.
Visual trickery
As devilish as it sounds, playing visual tricks on your guests (and sometimes yourself!) can greatly enhance the impact of your garden. For example, using a mirror against a wall or a fence to gain the optical illusion of a bigger garden, or to double the colorfulness of your favorite flowers. Similarly, smaller, more colorful pots will give the impression of more space, as larger pots tend to distract from the plants themselves.
Vertical gardening
Nowadays, vertical gardening is all the rage. Instead of lining a single file of plants on the ground, try adding some hanging pots directly above. Also, placing old ladders against a wall will give you an improvised shelf. For more patient gardeners, there is the option called “espalier” – planting a young tree right next to a fence, then pruning it and shaping it to condition it to grow completely flat. Fret not, this doesn’t harm the tree at all and saves you much-needed space.
Lastly…
Have fun! Gardening is a time for relaxation, reflection, and fun. Decluttering and organizing your space should not be a stressful endeavor, especially with so many ideas online. Experiences of those who managed to maintain gardens in the most unbelievable places are proof that problem-solving can be highly therapeutic and account for wonderful results. It is also a great way to practice creative thinking, and maybe by building onto someone else’s idea, you will come up with your own gardening trick. So try a few of these ideas and see how fast your perception of space shifts.
Today’s guest writer is Victoria Lim.
