The weather might be cooling down for the year, but there are still a few sunny days left. Rather than let them go to waste, you should grab them while you can and spend some time outside with your family. Unfortunately, if your garden is a little worse for wear, or simply isn’t fit for kids, then this could be difficult or even dangerous. Thankfully, with just a few changes and additions, you could create the outdoor haven your home and family craves. With that in mind, here are seven ways to make the perfect family-friendly garden.
1. Never Aim For Perfect
Before you even begin your gardening project, you need to understand that the space outside will never be “perfect”. It won’t ever look like a picture in a gardening or home design magazine, because these spaces simply aren’t lived in. If you want your entire family to enjoy your garden, then it won’t always be the neatest, tidiest, or best looking. Of course, you should try to avoid too much chaos, but meeting your wants and needs is more important than aesthetics.
2. Lock Your Tools Away
When you have children running around, you can’t afford to leave gardening tools just anywhere and everywhere. Even if your children know not to touch them, they could still slip and fall, landing on them and badly hurting themselves. For this reason, you should find somewhere to store your tools when you’re not using them. Preferably, this should be somewhere that you can lock, like a cupboard, tool store, or garden shed.
3. Steer Clear Of Water
Water features, like ponds and fountains, can really transform a garden when they’re taken care of properly. Unfortunately, despite their beauty, they can pose a risk to little ones and any pets you may have. With that in mind, you may find that it’s best to avoid water features altogether. If you can’t or don’t want to do this, then it’s crucial that you make the features as safe as possible. You can do this by adding gates, fences, and grids to keep kids and pets at a safe distance.
4. Create An Adult Area
Children generally take up a lot of space, which can overwhelm a garden, leaving you little room to relax and unwind alone. To remedy this, you could create a private area for just you and other adults. This could be a summer house that you build with your own two hands. To make this task a little easier, you could use prefab steel reinforcement cages, like those from Heaton Products Ltd. in the foundations. This shouldn’t require planning permission but check just in case.
5. Provide Places To Play
Of course, if you didn’t want to be limited to only one area, then you could compromise with your little ones and create specific spaces for them to play instead. These could include sandpits, areas to play football, climbing frames, or even a little playhouse of their very own. Limiting their play to these designated areas should, in theory, limit the mess they make, which will make cleaning up a lot easier when it comes time to go back inside.
6. Watch What You’re Planting
If you have somewhat of a green thumb, then you may enjoy planting and maintaining beautiful flower beds. Just make sure that the varieties you choose aren’t harmful to your children or pets. There are lots of common flowers, like lilies and daffodils, that look pretty and innocent, but are actually toxic, and can cause a lot of damage. For this reason, you need to make sure that you research the plants you’ve chosen before you add them to your garden.
7. Opt For Artificial Grass
With children and pets playing, running around, and digging, natural grass can get churned up and ruined incredibly quickly, especially during wetter months. To avoid this, you might want to consider switching out your lawn for artificial grass. This is tough and much more durable, so you won’t have to worry about it getting ruined. You’ll also be saved from the stress and clean up that comes with muddy footprints and grass stains.
With the warm weather on the outs and the colder months drawing in, now is your last real chance to enjoy your garden until spring rolls around next year. Instead of wasting what little sun we have left, grab it with both hands and spend some time outside with your family. Hopefully, with the tips above, you’ll have no trouble creating the family-friendly garden you need.
*This is a collaborative post*