With life more stressful than ever before, many of us could do with spending a bit more time in holiday mode — and the good news is that you don’t need to jet off to a hot, distant land to enter the mindset. By making a few smart adjustments to your garden, you can transform your outside area into a space that truly invites you to relax and unwind.
Ready to unlock all the benefits of having a garden that nourishes your mental and emotional well-being? We’ve put together a list of some of the most effective garden improvement tasks that should ensure you can fully relax and unwind while at home.
This is a collaborative post.
Boost the Privacy
The outside world is nice, but it’s also important to have some private, alone time. All too often, that means curling up on the couch, with the shutters pulled shut.
But with a bit of work, you can give yourself the freedom to truly enjoy spending time in your garden while also having full confidence that no one can peek in to see you. Boosting the privacy involves building up — such as adding a fence and strategically placed trees — and installing a gazebo or other covering. This won’t just help to make the space more private, but also helps to create a well-defined living space that allows you to create what is essentially an outdoor living room.
Install a Water Feature — and Add Fish
Water features can have a powerfully positive impact on cortisol levels (the stress hormone), and simply hearing the sound of running water can put you into a relaxed, almost hypnotic state. That’s an effective way to put the worries of the day behind you. Plus, water features can add significant visual appeal to a garden, too, which can also help to put you into a serene mood.
You can ramp up the water feature benefits even more by adding fish, as well as a pond viewing window that allows you to fully observe the colourful pond life in all its glory, all year round. Studies have shown that observing fish can have the same effect as spending time in nature, reducing anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate. By installing a viewing window, you’ll be able to get the most from your water feature, since rather than just seeing the shiny backs of the fish, you’ll get to see them fully and create what is, in effect, an outdoor aquarium.
Keep it Minimalist
It’s easy to get a little carried away when designing a backyard. With a blank canvas to play with, many homeowners create ambitious plans that can help to make the garden look impressive, but don’t necessarily help with the homeowner’s relaxation levels.
Minimalist garden designs help to enhance relaxation in two ways. First, they limit ‘visual clutter,’ which can have a subtly corrosive impact on relaxation levels. Second, more complicated garden designs require more care and maintenance than minimalist designs, which can create more work at a time when more relaxation is required.
Add Comfortable Furniture
A beautiful garden can look like a work of art, but when planning your outdoor area, it’s important to keep in mind that you’re not just creating a space that will look good. You’re also trying to create a space that you will enjoy being in. In fact, of the two ambitions, you can argue that the latter is the most important. A well-designed garden is nice, but wanting to actually spend time relaxing there is key.
For that, you’ll need comfortable outdoor furniture. Many UK homeowners buy budget furniture because they assume that they won’t use it so much, or that it’ll be damaged by the elements. But by buying better, slightly more expensive furniture, you’ll be guiding yourself towards both using it more and taking better care of it. In any case, you’ll be happy you spent slightly more when you’re spending long hours unwinding on a glorious summer’s day.
Day and Night Use
When putting together a garden, many people do so with the image of a hot summer’s day in their mind.
But it’s also important to think about how you’ll use the space outside of those moments, which only really account for a small percentage of the year. Having a plan on how you’ll deal with the rain, cooler temperatures, and darkness can be a game-changer for the space, greatly extending how much time you can spend relaxing in your outdoor area.
A covered pergola, firepit, and warm string lighting can all it takes to open up the possibility of sitting outside in your garden during the times of the day/year when most people are forced to spend time inside.
Focus On Easy-To-Grow Plants
If you love gardening and already have a green thumb, then you can forget this point. If you’re like the rest of us, then listen up, because there’s nothing that’ll disrupt how relaxed you feel in your garden more than feeling anxiety every time you think about keeping it in shape. It’s easy to dream big and design a garden that incorporates wonderfully exotic plants, but those guys take work — the more complicated they are, the more time you’ll need to spend taking care of them. With many people finding that their free time is in short supply, you’d probably much prefer to be swinging in a hammock in your backyard instead of taking care of never-ending maintenance requirements.
The best way to avoid this issue is to opt for easy-to-grow plants, which typically means plants local to the native area. They’re easier to take care of, and they have the added bonus of helping to attract wildlife, which can make the space feel even more idyllic.
Make it Social
Finally, don’t forget the social element. It can be extremely relaxing to spend a hot summer’s day with your friends and family by your side in your garden. Get a BBQ, add some extra seating, and you’ll have everything you need for lovely social days right in your backyard.
