Last Updated on November 25, 2021 by Kimberly Crawford
If you’re a summer person, chances are once it gets cold out, you’re already thinking ahead to the next summer. Some of us get over the winter months, entirely fueled by the knowledge that warmer days are coming.
Which makes us start to plan out how we want to decorate our garden, balcony or patio in the coming spring. That’s not only fun, it’s also smart, cause most spring and summer items cost less when you buy them off-season. Here are some things to fantasize about that will get you over the winter.
Furniture
The times have passed, where garden furniture was mostly practical and weatherproof. No more uncomfy metal chairs and ugly plastic tables. If you want to decorate your garden, these days you have the same variety usual furniture has to offer. Here’s some of our favorite picks.
Chairs
The German outdoor store Schulze Outdoorliving has a wide variety of high-class garden furniture. Their prices range from 100 € to 1.000 €, which sounds hefty, but it’s worth the price if you look at the beautiful Jati & Kebon ‘Palm Socks Cloud Chair’. The chair and accompanying furniture pieces are made to look like they are woven from thick wool and are twice as comfortable. They are also weatherproof and can be used all year round.
Select items can be shipped internationally, so you might get lucky. If not, you can use the catalog to get inspired and find your new favorite brand names.
Beds
A lot of us, from childhood to adulthood, have dreamed of just placing our bed outside in especially mild and starry nights. Like most things, when you’re grown up, you can just choose to make these wishes come true. Beds and weather seem to be incompatible, but some furniture brands have made it work.
The outdoor beds come with the same weatherproof fabric that lets them survive UV-rays and rain. Some of these beds resemble lounge chairs, while others come with pavilions and look like canopy beds.
Search for ‘garden beds’ or ‘daybed’ to find your favorite style. Pavilion garden beds have the additional feature that they come with a built-in sun protection. Many of them have fabric ceilings that can be pulled out or pulled together when needed.
Related: How to Create an All-Weather Patio Space With Teak Outdoor Sofas
Fireplaces
Once the sun goes down, the most beautiful thing you can get for your garden is a fireplace of some sort. Whether you build your own out of bricks or buy one, nothing is quite as mesmerizing than staring into moving flames.
The prettiest fireplace is a large fire bowl. The metal bowls come with or without legs and move a simple bonfire up a few notches on the style scale. The ‘Feuerring’ comes in several different models and has a broad top that can be used as a grill while you enjoy your fire.
Lights
There’s no garden that does not benefit from small fairy lights and multiple light sources. Place several of them around your garden, and it quickly becomes more comfortable and magical. Whether you use lantern style lamps or modern glass spheres is all up to your personal tastes. A quick and easy solution: multiple light chains with batteries. Many of them come with a timer, so you won’t have to turn them on yourself every time you sit in your garden at night.
Gardening
A garden is only half as beautiful if it’s not taken proper care for. It pays off to start thinking about which plants you want to have in the coming year. Even if they only start blooming in spring, bulb flowers like tulips are best planted in the fall. Right before the ground gets too hard for gardening is the right time to act. This way they can gather their strength and start growing roots to be strong and ready to bloom once it gets warmer.
The Bulb Flower Lasagna is a style of planting that allows you to have blooms for all of the spring and some of the summer. They just take a bit of planning. You plant multiple layers of bulbs, with each layer using flower bulbs that bloom successively from top to bottom. This technique is especially suited for small gardens. This way you can plant a lot of flowers in a small space, since you use one container to plant several months’ worth of blooms.
You can use the rest of the fall and winter to prepare for the spring and summer. Clean your gardening tools, make inventory, clean, and oil or paint your furniture. Plan ahead on which seeds or plants you want to buy when spring comes.
It is also the time to protect your current plants. You can use fabric or hay and sticks to cover plants or the ground around their stem. This way you keep them warmer and help their roots to avoid freezing.
Conclusion — Summer Garden Dreams
As much as we enjoy fall colors and snowy landscapes, those of us who are summer people will quickly yearn for the warm days in our garden. Use the fall to start preparing for the next garden season. You can clean up and plant new flowers that will show their blooms in spring. Much more fun but also quite costly is daydreaming about all the beautiful ways you can decorate your garden.
Modern garden furniture offers everything you could ever want — From comfy chairs that seem like they should be standing in a living room to actual beds that let you read in the sun or enjoy a starry night sky. Today’s fabric garden furniture is often weatherproof and can withstand UV-rays. This makes it easier for us to invest in some pricey furniture, knowing that they won’t be ruined by next season.
Additional garden accessories like fire bowls and lights are essential for a garden’s atmosphere. A lot of low light light sources in multiple locations are a quick way to make a place more comfortable. Apart from that, they are often the perfect opportunity for a statement piece that will draw all eyes.