Garden renovation is a lot like de-cluttering your indoor space with a fresh look and clean sweep of the overgrown, overdone and overwhelming plants and design elements in your outdoor space. Here’s the top five tips for renovating your garden this spring:
1. Prune, snip and saw away the overgrown.
The gray weather in Western Washington demands that maximum sunlight be allowed into windows and any homeowner that hates to prune will find that the inside of their homes grows darker as trees and shrubs around the house grow larger. Don’t procrastinate with the excuse that the season is not quite right for pruning. Prune anyway.
2. Grow your health by planting more herbs and vegetables.
Simple ideas like adding a pot of mint near the back door for herbal tea or a bed of basil in a hot spot for summer fresh pesto will make even the most inexperienced gardener a success as a backyard farmer.
3. Start a collection and grow what you love.
Life is short, live with more passion. Take out the back lawn and replace with raised beds for your growing collection of dahlias or just make this the year you finally get rid of the junipers and design a more pleasing display of compact or dwarf conifers.
4. Rejuvenate the gardener
Gardens have been sanctuaries ever since Eden and making your outdoor space a place to de-stress and enjoy is as simple as practicing mindful moves such as gentle stretching while gardening. Use the right tool to avoid muscle sprains. Decide to “garden” instead of “doing yard work” and dare to leave the cell phone indoors. You’ll plug into the sounds and sites of nature as you allow your mind to slow down and wander while actually enjoying the repetitive but instant gratification of weeding, watering and planting.
5. Move your plants.
Rearranging the furniture inside your home can open up a whole new perspective and rearranging your landscape plants can have the same effect. We live in a mild winter area and February is the perfect time to image that your plants have wheels. Large plants may require lots of digging to remove and replace into new planting holes but we all need more exercise and putting the right plant in the right place fulfills the promise of both the renovated garden and rejuvenated gardener.
