Do it yourself!
Do It Yourself Summer Gardens
The furniture you choose for your summer garden is going to be a personal choice. If possible try to choose enough furniture to accommodate those guests that you feel will frequently enjoy dining in your garden. If you plan to host a wide range of barbecues and garden parties you will want plenty of garden furniture to accommodate those needs. If you are only going to have immediate family then the typical arrangements for a family should suffice. Be sure that there are seating options available for occasional guests even if there aren't dining options readily available.
One of those things that many of us love sharing with our children is our love of gardening. Whether you are creating a spectacular garden worthy of acclaim, fame, and blue ribbons everywhere or a simple garden that will hold pretty flowers and a few favorite vegetables there are many lessons that your children can learn from working the earth by your side.
The first, and perhaps best, lesson that most children learn when working in the garden is that life works in cycles.
This is a lesson that will be repeated often throughout the course of their lives.
Of course this is only one of the many lessons that gardening will teach but gardening is one of the kindest ways I've ever seen this particular lesson learned and it helps ease children into those times when lessons about the cycle of life are not so kindly or gently presented.
The next lesson that gardening teaches children is that persistent effort often pays out with delightful results. Whether their gardening efforts yielded sweet peppers or pretty flowers, there is often a desired result that is achieved through gardening. If you really want to capture your children's attention when it comes to gardening choose a fast growing plant for their first gardening experience. The ability to see the fruits of their labor quickly appear is often one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.
If you want to guide your children towards the path of creating a summer garden without quite the fanfare or responsibility you may want to begin simply-perhaps with a potted plant or a hanging tomato plant or something similar that will yield visible and tasty results with much less effort, time, or attention being required in order to achieve quick and enthusiastic results.
Be sure to point out interesting facts about the different plants in your garden that may be exciting to children to learn. Remember your first gardening experiences and share them with your children. You may be surprised to find how much you have in common with your children when it comes to ideas and enthusiasm concerning summer gardens.
Be careful that you aren't teaching them incorrect logic when it comes to gardening and growing beautiful summer plants.
More importantly, you should make a concerted effort to insure that you are teaching your children the positive aspects of gardening so that this becomes an activity they look to for enjoyment and pleasure rather than approaching with dread. You should also take great pains to insure that you allow your children to grow the things they will like in your summer garden too. Strawberries and watermelon are popular favorites for younger hands to grow because little mouths enjoy eating these delicious fruits that can be grown in most gardens. They also like to grow flowers that they can tend and watch throughout the summer if flowers are your summer garden calling rather than food.
When gardening with children there are many lessons that you can teach your children along the way. Science, math, and meteorology all have roles in gardening but you should also be on the lookout for the valuable lessons that your children can teach you aboutgardening and life in general when you take them out to work with you in your summer garden.
Once you've made all the really tough decisions about which plants, flowers, and vegetables to include in your summer garden you now have the pleasant task of making yet another decision: what type of furniture should go in your summer garden. This is no small decision and should not be taken lightly as it will ultimately affect your enjoyment of the garden you worked so hard to create.
The furniture that is ultimately selected for the summer garden should be furniture that is meant to last several years. For this reason you need to invest a little more time and effort into selecting the best possible furniture for your summer garden.
You should also include your normal flare for design when selecting your summer garden furniture. You want the furniture you select for your garden to be furniture that you find enjoyable and beautiful as well as comfortable. No one wants to sit in uncomfortable furniture for any length of time and most people do not feel comfortable in furniture that they find ugly.
Buy with all these things in mind and you should have furniture for your summer garden that is sure to delight and please all that enter your garden area. More importantly, you should have furniture that you enjoy.
Once you've decided how many will be enjoying your garden area and in need of seating arrangements you may want to discuss and decide what type of seating arrangements are needed most. The man of the house might expect a hammock and while teenaged girls and the lady of the house may expect lounge chairs in which they can enjoy the full warmth of the sun's rays on lazy summer days within your summer garden. Another common expectation for appropriate furnishing in a summer garden is a swing or a glider of some sort in which couples may sit and inspect the splendor of their creations.
Most people spend a great deal of time planning the landscape, flowers, and greenery of their summer gardens but very little time planning the decorative items that will make this little spot of heaven on earth even more enjoyable for man, woman, child, and pet. There are many things that can add to your comfort when enjoying your summer garden but here is a list of things you might want to seriously consider including in your own personal oasis from the world.
A hammock. There really can't be enough said about the value that a well placed hammock in your summer garden will add to the enjoyment of your time spent in the great outdoors. This is particularly true, for some unknown reason, for men. There is something about hanging a hammock that says this place is home to a man and this should not be overlooked when creating the outdoor place you wish to share together.
Wind chimes. There is something soothing about listening to the wind making music in your garden. Whether you are enjoying a nap in your hammock, catching some rays on a lounge chair or simply sitting outside reading a book and sipping some tea the sound of wind weaving a melody through the chimes is a very enjoyable sound.
While most men will argue that a hammock is all they need most women cannot find outdoor comfort by hammock alone. Hammocks are also woefully inadequate seating when there are crowds larger than two involved in most cases.
Flowerpots. While your summer garden may be filled with flowers, plants, bushes, trees, fruits, and vegetables there is rarely the occasion when there is too much color in a summer garden. Fill large flowerpots with impatiens or similar flowering plants and place them strategically around the seating area for a beautiful affect that brings the beauty of your summer garden well onto your patio or deck. The same thing may be accomplished on a larger scale with a few well-placed raised garden beds or a few climbing vines.
Water features. There is not enough that can be said about the drama and elegance that a water feature can bring to the average summer garden. Whether you elect to include a fountain, waterfall, or goldfish pond the additional value and enjoyment it provides to your garden is almost impossible to measure. Water features are a rather significant investment in your garden area but well worth the money you will invest when it comes to return on investment. Your family and your friends will appreciate the effect that this brings to your summer garden.
Many may consider their summer gardens decoration enough. However, a few small decorative touches can mean the different between a summer garden that is nice to stroll through and a summer garden that invites everyone to sit a while and enjoy the effort you've contributed to the creation of this little slice of your world. Plan your summer garden carefully and you too will have this reaction every time you walk through it.