Seven Tips for Successful Summer Garden Parties

If you’re chesty of your lovely garden why keep it to yourself? Show it off by inviting friends and family to a garden party. It can be the perfect setting for a relaxed lunch, a children’s birthday party, a sophisticated dinner or a lively celebration. All you need is a tiny imagination and planning. Follow these tips to ensure an enjoyable time for yourself and your guests: 

1) Sit comfortably

Make sure everyone has somewhere to sit. If your garden furniture has spent the winter in the shed or exposed to the elements, give it a good clean. Purchase or borrow more if you need it. Indoor furniture can be brought out onto a patio and cushions can turn a low surround into a comfortable seat. For a children’s party, spread a blanket on the lawn for a picnic tea.

 2) Be kind to the cook

Don’t spend all your time in the kitchen or roasting over a hot barbecue! Light, easy food is the most appropriate on hot summer days. When deciding on the menu select dishes that can be served cold or those that can be mostly prepared in advance and cooked swiftly just before serving. If you grow your own fruit and vegetablesgive them the starring role.

3) Do a country check

Prevent an happening spoiling the celebration by inspecting your garden from a stranger’s point of view. You know about that wobbly paving slab and the low tree branch but they might catch out an unwary visitor. If you can’t remove or shield a hazard make it more visible and warn people about it. If your celebration will go on after dark make sure that paths and steps are adequately lit.

Be especially careful if there are going to be young kids around and your garden is normally a child-free zone. Check that you haven’t left any gardening tools or other potentially hazardous objects lying about. Lock sheds and other outbuildings. If you have a pond you can’t take even the smallest risk of an marooned toddler wandering too close. If it’s small enough, you might be healthy to cover the pond. If not, perhaps you can place up a temporary fence or barrier of some kind.        

4) Offer plenty of drinks

In hot weather people can become dehydrated more easily than they realise, and drinking alcohol doesn’t help! Offer iced teas and non-alcoholic cocktails along with the beer and wine for a refreshing change.

5) Create some shade

Sunshine is wonderful – in moderation. On a hot day, unless your garden is naturally shady create cool retreats with parasols, awnings or shade sails. Kids can tire swiftly in the heat so follow energetic activities with games that can be played while relaxing in the shade.

6) Beware of bugs

Flies, wasps and other insects love celebration food! Don’t bring food outdoors until people are ready to eat, and clear away any leftovers. If you’re having a buffet use mesh covers to protect food. In the evening, light citronella candles or flares to repel gnats and mosquitoes. 

7) Don’t be a nuisance

While you and your guests are having fun be aware that all the chatter and music might not be so pleasant for your neighbours and try to keep the volume down, especially at night. To refrain complaints tell them when you’re planning a celebration so they know what’s going on. Superior still, invite them round so they can enjoy it, too!

If you love the intent of outdoor pleasing but your garden isn’t as captivating as you’d like – don’t despair! A garden makeover by a professional landscape gardener needn’t cost a fortune. Find one who will give you a free consultation and a no obligation quotation. You might be surprised at how easily your ordinary plot can be transformed into a stunning celebration venue!

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Getting Your Vegetable Garden Ready for Spring

Whether you suffer through harsh, cold winters or enjoy relatively mild ones, we are coming up on the time when you need to get ready to plant your seeds for your vegetable garden.

If you need another compost bin this time of year is great to add them, if only because there’s not much actual gardening work to do. Build one or purchase one, just make sure you can easily add, remove and turn the material.

Clean up your tools. Sharpen blades if they need it. Clean off old dirt and wipe with an oiled cloth to help prevent rusting.

At this time you can also begin planning your next garden. You can figure out what you want to grow and how you’re going to lay that garden out. Planning ahead can help you make the most of your garden. Getting things started at the right time for apiece type of plant will help your garden succeed.

If you want an primeval start, get some planters and sun lamps and begin your seeds indoors. If you get adequate sunlight, placing the boxes in windows can help you get that primeval begin too.

This is a great time for looking back at how your garden did last year and your goals for this year. For example, my garden last year unsuccessful miserably due to a combination of poor soil, a neighboring shade tree that had been shading my garden being cut to pieces and an unusually hot summer.

Over the winter we’ve been preparing swift compost for the soil. This is just throwing fresh kitchen scraps into the blender with some water, then pouring it into the garden. It’s our first step in improving the soil naturally. More will be done as planting time approaches.

Obviously, factors that are out of your control you can’t do anything about. Heat waves can't be avoided and neighbors can be unpredictable (you should have seen that poor tree when they were done “pruning” it!). Some years insects are more problematic than others.

In those cases you need to have plans for how to handle it. Keep an eye on what the sun is doing to your plants during a heat wave and ensure they have enough water. Know what pest control steps you are willing to take.

Planning and preparing to plant your garden before you can actually begin planting gives you a lot of advantages when it’s time to really work your garden. It gets some of the chores out of the way and leaves you prepared for a great begin to your vegetable garden.

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