6 Landscaping Tips for 2020

It’s becoming increasingly well known that spending more time in the great outdoors is good not only for our physical health but also for our emotional wellbeing and mental health. In fact, some medical professionals are actually prescribing spending more time outside as a treatment for many conditions. One of the simplest ways to experience more nature in life is to create a relaxing and attractive garden or outside space at home, but it’s not always clear where to start. Whether you have a small or large garden, a patio or a balcony, here are six essential landscaping tips to help you improve your outside space in 2020. 

1. Embrace vertical gardening

Even people who own or rent a small home or flat with restricted outside space can create a green

space to enhance their life. From a flat windowsill to a farm with acres of land, the best way to

maximise your green space is through vertical gardening. Using wall planters, trellis, wall vases, flower

pot rings, hanging baskets and trailing plants, you can create a dazzling display on a porch, balcony or

patio or add more levels of beauty to your garden. 

2. Become more eco-friendly with composting 

Sustainability is a growing concept in gardening and it looks set only to increase in popularity in 2020.

There are plenty of ways to ensure your garden is supporting the environment including planting

flowers for bees and other pollinators, using natural pest control methods and composting.

Composting is creating a pile of organic kitchen and garden waste which will become natural fertiliser

for the plants, enrich the soil’s fertility and reduce your carbon footprint as you are not sending waste

to landfills. 

3. Try upcycling and repurposing

While on the subject of being more eco-friendly, there’s a growing trend in gardening for upcycling

and DIY’ing items rather than buying new and contributing to the issue of unnecessary consumerism.

For example, you could make a flowerbed or wall planter out of a vintage bathtub or sink or turn a

damaged birdbath into an ornate flower pot. 

4. Include a water feature

The sound and sight of a water feature in a garden can be a source of great relaxation and is a very

refreshing addition to an outside space. Whether you opt for a pond, a birdbath, a fountain or a small

rockery with a waterfall, you can create a real focal point as well as providing a source of water for

wildlife and birds. Take a look at Water-garden.co.uk for inspiration. 

5. Aim for low maintenance

With busy lives to lead, most people are opting for low maintenance gardens, but that doesn’t

necessarily mean that they have to be dull or lacking in colour. Brightly coloured foliage from shrubs

is a simple and low maintenance way to add bursts of colour and evergreen flowers like

rhododendrons will look stunning all year round. 

6. Grow your own food 

Again, sustainable and eco-friendly gardens are the way to go and being able to grow your own food

and herbs is a huge part of that. We are more aware than ever before about how our food is produced

and the easiest way to control that is to grow it in your own garden. This also has the added bonus of

enabling you to eat the freshest and tastiest ingredients, invite dinner guests to pick their own and

teach children about growing and eating herbs, vegetables, and fruit.