Gardening Tips to Bring Some Color to Your Backyard

There’s nothing quite like a garden that’s in full bloom. Of course, gardens during the winter are rarely that colorful, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to work on your garden at this time of year. In fact, the winter is a great time to set up your garden so it’s ready for the beautiful spring and a frankly gorgeous summer. 

Start From Scratch

While this isn’t the answer for everyone, it can be a great way to completely renew your garden, especially during the off-season. While it might not look fantastic while your garden is being flattened, it will be worth the wait and the effort.

The easiest and probably most effective way to start from scratch is to contact a landscaping company to level your back yard and, if you have an idea for how you want it to look, to put the foundation for your new garden down.

This might include landscaping, where a gardener will use plants and natural elements to change how your garden looks, and hardscaping, where a professional will use hard materials like stone to create functional spaces. This might include patios or pathways.

An interesting way that a landscape gardener can change your garden is by creating different levels or elevations in the space. While this technically reduces the amount of functional flat space you have to play with, it does work really well at sectioning off your backyard, and can be a great way to make a large backyard area look more interesting and appealing.

Even if you want to do all of the hard work yourself, you could always hire someone to get rid of everything in your current backyard. This allows you to build it up from scratch and design a garden you love. This is an extreme option, but it can work if you’ve moved into a new home and don’t like the current layout and want to do something completely different.

Create Borders and Paths

Whether you’ve started from scratch or not, it’s time to start defining the spaces in your garden. The easiest way to do this is with borders. Borders separate lawns from flowerbeds, vegetable patches from each other, and the eating area from everything else. 

The first thing to pay down are paths. Paths create a nice, easy walkway for people to navigate your garden, ideally without trampling all over your flowerbeds. Paths are also very easy to lay out and, while you can hire someone to do it for you, you can do it yourself. 

Common path materials are paving stones or gravel. There’s not really a better option, it’s down to your preference. Paving stones are more solid and can’t be kicked about or displaced as easily as gravel, but some people like the aesthetic of the gravel and might be concerned about tripping over a mis-laid stone. Or you might prefer gravel for your flower garden and lawn, but practical paving stones for your veggie patch so you can more easily use a wheelbarrow.

Borders can also be made of a variety of materials and, yet again, it’s up to your preference. Gravel works very nicely, as do larger stones as they provide contrast against the dark soil. But another option could be to simply use soil borders where you don’t let anything grow. This can look very attractive while still being low-key, but you will have to fight the weeds for that nice empty space.

If you have a vegetable garden, you might prefer more practical borders. While you can again just use the earth itself as a border, some people like to use sleepers (large wooden planks) to create a bed. These planks will provide a good level of separation and might even allow you to create a slightly raised bed.

Finally, if you want to separate a larger garden space into sections, you can always use walls, fences, and hedges to create a more obvious border between areas. This also prevents people from wandering through your garden if you don’t want them to, as you can use larger fences as security. Try to find the balance between practicality, privacy, and appearance.

Garden Sheds and Structures

A garden shed is, first and foremost, a practical structure. So this means that it should be sturdy and secure. You don’t want a shed that will get damaged in the wind or allow water into it while it’s raining. You also, ideally, want a shed that you can lock with a key or a padlock. This will keep any unwanted visitors out of your shed and away from your stuff.

But this doesn’t mean that a shed can’t also be pretty.

Different shed materials will add different properties and aesthetics to your garden, so it’s worth doing a bit of research. Metal is a great material because it’s sturdy and can be treated to be weather-resistant. You can also paint metal sheds so that they still look nice.

If you prefer a more natural and traditional look, you can always get some lovely wooden garden sheds. In this case, make sure that the shed is sturdily constructed and that the wood has been properly treated. While a wooden shed looks nice, you do have to maintain it to keep it going. Again, you can also add a lick of paint for a splash of added color in your backyard,

What about the size of your shed? This depends on the size of your garden and what you want to use the shed for. If you only have a small backyard and just need somewhere to store your tools, extra plant pots, barbeque, and lawnmower, then you don’t need a huge shed. You can get something that can be tucked away where it doesn’t take up too much precious space.

If you have a larger garden or more significant needs from your shed, it can pay to get a larger model. This is especially true if you want to use your shed as a workshop, as you’ll need enough space for a workbench, as well as additional storage. Ideally, you should have the shed hooked up to the utilities as well, so you can use different tools and work in a well-lit environment.

What about other garden structures? Garden rooms can be great additions to your backyard, especially if you need more internal space. This might be a good place for a home office, gym, or study space. You can even put a summer house in your backyard, and it can either be a nice place to sit and get some privacy, or you can even set it up as an annex so guests can stay.

Flowerbeds and Arrangements

So you have the foundation of your new garden by now, but what about the stuff that really breathes some life into your backyard? 

This is where we consider the plantlife that you can grow.

If you want color, the best option is to grow flowers. You can get all kinds of flowers for different times of the year, and flowerbeds can range from a wild arrangement of lovely wildflowers to a more deliberate arrangement of other flowers that work well together.

Perennials are fantastic plants if you want maximum color with relatively low effort. These flowers can live in different climates and at different times of the year, but the standout thing is that they last for a relatively long time. So you can effectively halve your planting efforts by staggering perennial flowers.

Depending on your backyard, you might be able to plant directly in the ground and create beds or you might prefer to grow flowers in pots. Plantpots are a great idea for smaller backyards or even yards that don’t have any soil. You can still add so much greenery, life, and wonderful colors to your outside space.

Other Plants

While flowers provide a wonderful amount of color, they aren’t the only option for things to grow in your garden. It’s often best to pair these colorful flowers with other plants that add a backdrop of green.

Grass and lawns are like a blank canvas, and the many colors of your flowerbed might be brought out even more when they contrast against a lawn and different borders.

Other plants, like trees and shrubs, can add a nice variety of colors as well. Different leaves come in different shades of greens and even reds, all of which make your garden look more complex and interesting. And, as the seasons change, trees and bushes might bloom as well, adding even more life to your garden.

These plants will also stay around throughout the year. While they may change with the seasons and die back, they always add to your garden.

Finally, think about herbs, fruits, and vegetables that add wonderful practical value to your garden, so you can eat some of what you grow and harvest.