A beautiful garden is a wonderful place to spend a sunny day, relaxing in the sunshine with a long cool drink and perhaps your favourite book. However, if you’re not naturally green-fingered, getting your garden to that perfect condition can seem like a huge challenge. There’s no need to resort to paving it all over, however – here are some essential gardening tips to help you create a glorious garden.

Have the right tools

Having the right tools is important – and whilst you can get inexpensive versions be aware that you often get exactly what you pay for. At the very basic level, you should have a shovel for digging, a rake for pulling out thick weeds and spreading soil, shears for trimming and pruning, and a hose or watering can for watering your plants. If you have a container garden, hanging baskets or window boxes, you’ll need to have a set of hand tools.

Know your soil conditions

So much in gardening relies on the soil – this is where your plants will get all their nutrients from, so of course it follows that better soil makes better gardens. This isn’t all there is to it, though. There are different types of soil to be found throughout the country, and the type of soil you have in your garden will affect how you work with it. For example, if you have the chalky soil that’s typical in south-east England, you will find that it’s very dry in summer because the water drains away very easily – your plants will need more watering and feeding as a result.

You’ll also need to know the pH value of your soil – you can get testing kits from your local garden centre to determine this. If you have very acidic or very alkaline soil, there are additives that you can use to adjust the pH value – your local garden centre should be able to advise you on this.

Prepare your soil

If you prepare your soil before you plant in it, you’ll be able to get much better results. This is ideally done in autumn for heavy soils and in spring for light soils. Dig it through to a depth of 12 to 18 inches, and add in compost, well rotted manure or leafmould as you go. For a clay soil, you may benefit from adding sharp sand to improve the structure of the soil, but this is not ideal in very heavy clay as it can make it harder to work.

Choose the right plants

Once you know the quality and attributes of your soil, you’ll be able to choose the right plants. While most plants prefer a neutral soil, there are some that like acidic conditions (such as rhododendrons) and some that thrive in alkaline soil (such as lilacs)– choosing the right plants for the soil that you have is often easier than trying to change the soil.

Different areas of your garden will suit different plants. For example, if you have a south-facing area that catches a lot of sun, this is the perfect place for roses and other plants which love sunshine and heat. Plants which are particularly sensitive to the cold can be planted close to walls which will offer them shelter. You’ll be able to find this information on seed packets and in gardening catalogues, or you can use the RHS Plant Selector to help you find the right plants based on a variety of factors.

The third factor to consider when you choose your plants – and perhaps the most important - is how much time you will have to care for them. High maintenance plants are not a good choice if you can only get out into the garden on Bank Holidays!

Shop carefully

If you buy your plants in pots, turn them over first – if you see roots crawling out of the drainage holes, then they are likely to be root-bound- they have essentially outgrown the pot, and the roots will begin to grow into the shape of the pot, leaving less space for soil and water. It is possible to separate out the roots and grow such a plant successfully, but it is easier to start from a plant with healthy roots. Similarly, small seedlings which are already flowering are likely to take longer to rebloom, as they’ve been pushed to flower at the expense of good root growth.

Schedule

The garden has a schedule of its own; you need to know when to plant, when to prune, when to harvest and more. Thankfully, modern technology makes this so much easier – you can get apps for your smartphone to give you reminders based on the plants you have and your climate. Gardenate is one such example, although it is geared more towards the vegetable patch than the ornamental garden.

Create a garden room

After all that hard work, the best way to enjoy your garden is to treat it as an extra room of your house, and furnish it accordingly. If you wouldn’t use cheap plastic furniture in your sitting room or dining room, why use it in the garden? Here at Verdon Grey we offer high quality contemporary garden furniture which is designed to withstand all weather conditions, perfect for furnishing your outdoor room.