Landscaping your garden is a brilliant opportunity to rethink how to use your outside area and expand your living space into the great outdoors. Garden zoning is the process of creating different zones within your garden through the clever use of decking, paving, fencing and planting. Each zone has its own purpose and atmosphere. It’s a fantastic way to make the most of your outdoor space and create practical ‘rooms’ to suit different needs. Here are some key zones to consider incorporating into your garden if you’re preparing to landscape your yard.
Having space to entertain with a dining zone
Dining al fresco is the perfect way to enjoy warm weather and sunshine in the summer. The dining area ought to be close to the house or at least easily accessible since you’ll be carrying food out from the kitchen. You’ll want to set down a flat, sturdy base to ensure your dining furniture sits on an even surface, which means paving slabs are better than gravel.
Too much direct sunlight can make eating outdoors uncomfortable during the height of summer, so create some dappled shade by installing a pergola. If you want a barbecue in your dining area, set this far enough away from the table that the area doesn’t get overwhelmed with smoke. Properly landscaping your garden could even help increase your property value and appeal when coming to sell your home too.
Soak up the sun with a raised deck
When zoning your garden it can be effective to play around with height so that different areas get different levels of exposure to the sun. Sunken areas tend to feel quieter and more private, and they’re often a great way to generate shade. Raised zones, such as decked areas for lounging, are popular options when landscaping your garden as they can get plenty of direct sunlight and boast views of the entire garden.
If you’re looking to create a relaxing lounge area for entertaining guests or sunbathing, a raised deck is a great way to do it. Whether you need outdoor maintenance products for this space, or screws and boards for your decking, there are plenty of garden landscaping materials you can add to your list.
Landscaping your garden with a vegetable patch
Growing your own vegetables is incredibly rewarding and it’s a great way to get kids interested in eating their greens because they get to play a role in nurturing their food from seeds. Veggie patches aren’t necessarily the prettiest area of the garden to look at, but by separating them off with fencing, trellises or shrubbery you can successfully blend them into the rest of the garden.
Plus, you can also use the same area of your garden to install storage for your gardening tools and equipment. Raised beds are great for vegetable patches if you want to save your back, and when they’re surrounded by gravel, you don’t have to worry about squashing plants or grass with heavy items like compost bags.
Create peace and quiet with a private zone
When you’re landscaping your garden, sometimes it’s good to have a mixture of spaces that guests can see immediately as they enter your garden and also more secluded areas that are a pleasant surprise.
If you want a space that is purely for sitting and unwinding in the fresh air, consider creating a small and cosy private zone, perhaps at the bottom of the garden via a long and winding path. Use raised beds or dense shrubbery to create clear division and block out noise.
Another great tactic is to create a sunken area for our private zone. This is particularly effective if you want to avoid the area being overlooked by neighbouring houses but don’t want to install a taller fence in case it blocks light in your neighbour’s garden. Home & Gardens also suggests using trellis as a beautiful way to corner off a private garden zone. Paired with climbing plants, trellis can help let in light while also blocking views, helping to create a perfect secluded space.
Offer adventure with a children’s play zone
Families often struggle to achieve a garden that is both beautiful for adults to admire and fun for kids to play in, which is why zoning is a great solution. Use trellises or tall airy plants and grasses to shield a children’s zone from the rest of the garden without completely masking it off so you can keep an eye on the kids.
Things like swings and climbing frames won’t interrupt the view, and the kids will love having a sense of independence when they can head to their private playground. You could even border this garden area with gravel or decorative chippings to separate it more from other zones.
