When your life is hectic it’s time to just sit and enjoy your garden — a place of serenity where the bustle of the outside world is stilled.
Or at least that’s what a garden can be like. Too often, though, the thought of ‘time in the garden’ means weeding, watering, mowing — the very opposite of peace.
So how do you turn your garden into a place where you relax instead of watering the petunias?
1. Plan a low care garden!
One of the most important ‘low care’ tips is to get rid of the lawn, and either pave or plant with shrubs and mulch well. I know this sounds like more work – and initially it is – but it’s worth it. We mulch everything in spring then basically leave the garden alone for most of the rest of the year. Okay, we have wombats and wallabies to eat our grass. But the area around the house is paved.
2. Make your garden private:
This doesn’t mean you have to build a brick wall around your garden – walls can often make the garden seem smaller and claustrophobic. Try tall trees, like malaleucas or avocadoes, around the front, back and sides instead. You don’t need to block out every glimpse of your home – most passersby aren’t peeping Tom’s, just casual glancers, and if the space around your house is broken up by trees and shrubbery they won’t crane to get a closer look.
In front of the trees plant flowing shrubs, like hardy and ever-blooming grevilleas, camellias, strelitzia, hibiscus and buddleia, or even cumquats, Tahitian limes and dwarf apples. This will give you small irregular courtyards between your house and the trees. Pave them, or used compressed granite, or pebble mulch (raking off leaves is easier than mowing, feeding and watering).
3. Add ‘white noise’
Trees don’t just give you privacy, they also create ‘white noise’, a pleasant murmuring of the branches and leaves that hides unpleasant sounds like cars and next-door’s TV. Every home needs at least three tall trees nearby for that soft background sound that relaxes you even though you don’t quite know why.
4. Curve all paths
People mostly look in straight lines and a curve will divert their glance from your front door or garage till they’re well past.
5. Add terraces or rock gardens
Terrace your garden if it’s sloping, or add a mounded rock garden if it’s flat. Both will make your garden feel bigger and create a sense of protective space around you too. Make the rocks as large as possible – even boulders if it’s possible and they don’t look ridiculous. I don’t want to go all feng shui on you, but boulders really do give a feeling of calm and solidness.
6. Find somewhere to relax
All gardens need somewhere comfy to sit. Never buy garden furniture just because it looks good! Take a book or magazine to the shop and sit there for at least an hour to see how your backside feels after being plonked there unmoving for a good length of time. If you feel sore or stiff, they’re the wrong chairs. Be wary of metal furniture too, as it might get too hot unless it’s on a cool veranda. Hanging swings can be great – as long as you are absolutely sure you don’t get seasick in them. (I was given a big swing seat a few birthdays ago. I’d always loved them… till I discovered that three minutes in one is enough to turn me as green as the shrubbery.)
Work out where you want to sit in winter and in summer, too. Then, at the start of each new season move the furniture to its new resting place. You won’t be tempted to go and lounge in your garden if you’re sweltering in sunlight in the summer, or shivering in the shade in winter. And having a new place to sit really does give you new appreciation for different vistas in your garden.
7. Think about your garden!
Most of us spend a lot more time making the living room comfortable than our garden – even though the garden is usually larger, with far more potential for relaxation and fun.
8. Don’t feel guilty when you sit and smell the roses, or just the scent of clean green leaves.
Flowers and the smells of growing things make humans happy. It’s one of our most primitive joys. A good dose of your garden is exactly what you need to help you cope with the hustle of the world outside.
P.S. If there are weeds staring at you from the petunias, or a lost jogger is underneath the chairs, learn to ignore them, at least for a while. It’s an art that all who love their gardens need to learn. The weeds are always with us… but we need to focus on the peace for a while as well.
P.S. If there are weeds staring at you from the petunias, or a lost jogger is underneath the chairs, learn to ignore them, at least for a while. It’s an art that all who love their gardens need to learn. The weeds are always with us… but we need to focus on the peace for a while as well.
