Garden Top Tips for Ashford Gardens 2022.

Use your Lawn as a centre piece. A garden will always be shaped by the lawn, whether that is a rectangle, circle or square etc, your lawn will always be your focal point. Start by deciding on a shape, then around this you can put in either boarders, flower beds or different areas for example a lounge area. If you don't have a lawn, you can also do this with decking, paving or stone.

Plan what plants go where. When creating a new boarder or flower bed, it is important to plan before going to your local gardening centre. You will want structural plants at the end and throughout, then within this you will want to include smaller pretty flowers. When buying the plants and flowers, make sure to check how tall they grow, as you will want the smaller ones at the front.

Looking to break up the garden? By using flowers and plants, you can break up your gardens into sections. For example, you may have a patio area that then goes into grass. To break these up you could have planters with pretty flowers or large pots with larger greenery such as a fern.

Looking for more privacy? Do you feel like your neighbours can see every move you make in the garden? Take a look into planting trees, not only can they help privacy, they are great for birds and also help with air pollution! P.S be mindful of putting the tree too close to the fence as you don't want it to overhang across your neighbours garden.

Bored of looking at your fence? Does your garden look very tidy but you are fed up of looking at the dull fence all the time? You can use climbers such as honeysuckle or jasmine. Alternatively, if you have a modern designed garden, you may find screens or even dangling plant lights work well especially in a seating area.

Think carefully about the patio colour. What design are you going for? What colour plants do you want? Do you want a brightly coloured garden? Golden coloured slabs, work well to show off colour as well as feeling natural. This colour is great if you have wood or brown rattan furniture. If you have grey fence panels you may find that slate or white slabs may work better, fitting nicely with green accent plants.

Add levels to segregate areas in your garden. A way to split up your garden into defined areas is to create different levels for different areas. For example, a higher level with a seating area, with flower beds on a lower level, then grass on the bottom level.

Bring the inside, outside. Use soft furnishings such as outdoor rugs and cushions to your outdoor seating area. This will make it feel more relaxing and can be used as additional living space, perfect for those summer evenings.