Protecting Your Garden from the Elements
Your garden works hard. It weathers blazing sun, sideways rain, surprise frosts, and winds strong enough to make your lawn chairs attempt an escape. So if your garden could talk, it would probably say ‘a little help, please’. One of the first ways that homeowners will boost their gardens’ defences is with something like composite fencing. But keeping your outdoor space safe from the elements involves a lot more than putting up a fancy boundary. The sun, for example, can be the enemy. It helps your plants to grow, keeps your garden warm, and gives you an excuse to sit outside with a cold drink. But it also scorches the leaves, dries out the soil, and turns your grass into a crispy carpet when it’s too enthusiastic.
Shade is your best friend here. Planting small trees, adding pergolas, or even popping open a giant umbrella can help your garden to chill out. Plus, it gives you somewhere shady to hide when the sun is at its highest point. Composite fencing that you build can be high enough to give you some shade, but you could do with some other things in your garden to really help.
And then there’s the wind, the dramatic plant snatching, hair ruining kind. With the right composite fencing, you’re not going to have to worry about your fence and your boundary line tipping over. In fact, with sturdy fencing, you’re going to be able to keep your plant pots from tipping over and your cushions blowing away like they’re auditioning for a weather documentary. Adding wind breaks like hedges, shrubs or strategically placed gardens, screens can create calmer pockets of space. Your plants will thank you and your outdoor furniture will finally stay put instead of performing surprise gymnastics.
Rain, of course, has its own personality. Sometimes it’s gentle and refreshing and other times it’s a full-blown audition for a storm movie. Good drainage is key here, because without it you’ll end up with puddles big enough to attract ducks. Make sure that your soil drains well, your gases aren’t pretending to be waterfalls, and your pathways don’t turn into a slip and slide every time it drizzles.
Cold snaps are the sneakiest of all the elements. One minute everything is thriving and the next you wake up to a frost-covered garden that looks like it’s lost a battle with a freezer. Investing in frost pots, insulating pots and choosing hearty plants can make a big difference to your garden. And if you’ve ever forgotten to bring in a delicate plant before a chilly night, don’t worry, we’ve all mourned a house plant or two.
With regular maintenance on top of all of this, with pruning, sweeping and TLC through the year, the weather isn’t going to affect your garden as much as you think. Protecting your garden doesn’t have to be complicated. With a few smart choices and a bit of determination, your outdoor space can thrive through sun, rain, wind, or whatever else the sky decides to throw at it.
This is a collaborative post.
