15 simple steps for a sensational outdoor setting

15 quick fixes to take your outdoor space from drab to dynamic

Got the backyard blahs? It’s that time of year when we long to entertain outside, but things can feel a tad dowdy after months of dark and dreary weather. Here are 15 quick fixes to take your outdoor space from drab to dynamic.

1. PLENTY OF POTS

It’s been unseasonably cold this spring! Warm weather is here at last (hooray!), and many folks have been encouraging seedlings to get growing. They will, but in the meantime get a jump on the season with large, potted-for-you tender perennials like Brugmansia, velvety purple Tibouchina and colourful Bougainvillea. A few large specimens will add some instant “WOW” to your deck or patio.

Create a mini-jungle with hardy bananas, passion vines, cannas and taro. Go ahead and move houseplants outdoors, too – but not into direct sun. Unless you do it gradually, they may suffer sunburn. (Start with half an hour in early-morning sun, double the length daily for about five days, and they’ll be good to go!)

Tender, exotic Echeveria, as well as hardier Sempervivum and Sedum look great in shallow ceramic bowls or round containers. Decorating with sand, pebbles, beach glass and bits of driftwood creates a “Georgia O’Keefe” desert-y feel. Choose containers in natural, sun-bleached pastel tones – pale rose, turquoise, celadon – these harmonize beautifully with succulents.

Jungle or desert leave you cold? If “The Tudors” is more your style, a few David Austin roses in large containers (kept well fertilized and watered) and a couple of pieces of wrought-iron furniture will do it. For authentic Henry VIII ambience, light the night with candles – dozens of them.

It’s handy to be able to move containers about to suit the occasion or to catch the sun. Filling a huge container with soil all the way will make it difficult to manoeuvre. Instead, place a layer of packing “peanuts” in the bottom and top with a screen or landscape fabric, then add 45 cm (18 in.) of soil. If you plan to move the container regularly, set it on a saucer with wheels before filling. Don’t forget to fertilize your plants regularly to keep them looking their best.

Still stumped? GardenWorks offers Saturday-afternoon seminars throughout the season, taught by experts in the field: edible container creations and more. Visit the GardenWorks website for more information.

2. LAY DOWN SOMETHING LOVELY

Highlight patio furniture with floor coverings. For a quirky old-fashioned look, use burlap sacks (often available free from coffee roasters). Decorate and define the edges of the seating area with a dozen or more terracotta pots planted up with hardy Gerbera daisies or vivacious red geraniums. For a homey look, try an old Persian rug or buy a Mad Mat. Available in a variety of patterns, they are made of recycled plastic in standard rug sizes. They can be placed anywhere (even on the lawn), and they’re easy to clean – just hose them down!

3. SPLASH THINGS UP

Create a water bowl with a used container – anything from a washtub to a Chinese egg pot. Plug any drainage holes with bathtub plugs or wine corks (from winemaking supply stores) and fish-tank caulking. Add a small pump to circulate the water and floating glass balls to move in the wind.

4. “RE-PURPOSE” GARDEN ACCESSORIES

Bright, pliable rubber containers (with handles) in psychedelic chartreuse, strawberry pink and vivacious violet make groovy ice buckets for parties – perfect for Pinot Gris storage! Making a salad for 40? Guests (kids, too) will want to help toss your greens in a (brand-new, of course) “muck bucket.” Afterwards, these "trugs" are ideal for leaf-gathering or bringing finished compost to your veggie bed.

5. LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE

Lighting reflects the personality of an outdoor space. Votive candles can be used airport runway–style to edge a walkway, highlight stair risers or outline railings on the porch. Use metal and glass lanterns to highlight entrances and welcome guests to your front door, patio or even at the front edge of your garden. Tiki torches create a festive luau atmosphere! Carry on a southwestern Christmas tradition with luminarias – brown paper bags holding an inch of sand and a lit candle.

6. ADD WORLDLY FLAVOUR

Grow herbs in the garden or in containers – or both. It’s handy to have some by the kitchen door for quick snipping. Tiny pots of herbs make great centrepieces/name holders. Write a bit of folklore about the herb on a little card. Serve taboulleh salad using half mint and half parsley. Finish the meal with Moroccan-style tea: steep washed, chopped mint leaves with green tea and serve in heatproof glasses rather than cups, garnished with mint leaves.

7. HEAT THINGS UP

Nothing says summer like fresh basil. When evening temperatures are warm enough for you to be outside without a jacket, it’s time to plant it. Pick up some pots of greenhouse-grown basil and pop them into your garden.

If you grow them yourself from seed, always use sterilized starter mix and seed lightly. Basil seedlings are susceptible to damping off and die readily from being overwatered. Once the seedlings have grown taller and stronger, they can tolerate more water, but never too much, especially if the weather cools.

If your garden harbours a lot of slugs, you’ll have better success if you transplant basil seedlings into pots rather than into the garden. As basil grows, keep it picked. This encourages branching, and prevents flowering and going to seed.

Many different basils are available, and it’s fun to plant up a warm-season container with a selection – Thai, ‘Purple Ruffles’, ‘Genovese’, lettuce-leaf, lemon. Edge with tiny purple and white violas or johnny-jump-ups to toss into salads.

8. CAMOUFLAGE YOUR COMPOST

If you are a dedicated composter and your work area is visible from the rest of your garden, camouflage it with wattles or woven wood panels draped with fabric. Those who live in the Vancouver area can check out reasonably priced lengths of sari material available on South Main Street and on Fraser Street.

9. PLANT AN INSTANT KITCHEN GARDEN

It’s easy to have a homey kitchen garden. Yummy, colourful veggie seedlings are ready for transplanting now – tuck them into your garden bed and you’re ready to grow! If you’re not in a hurry, start your own from seed. ‘Giant Red’ mustard, easy-to-grow mizuna, Japanese spinach mustard (komatsuna), and deep wine-coloured ‘Redbor’ kale – all these and more sprout and grow quickly.

West Coast Seeds carries a good selection with great growing information on the packages and in their informative catalogue. Renee’s Seeds features many mesclun greens, like the beautiful ‘Monet’s garden’, as well as ‘Pan-Pacific Greens’, a stir-fry mix.

10. SERVE “SNIP YOUR OWN” SALADS

For your next outdoor dinner party, create an edible centrepiece using seedlings of ‘Rainbow’ Swiss chard, frilly kale, pansies and other edible flowers, parsley, lettuce, chervil – use your imagination! As is becoming fashionable in many fancy restaurants, provide guests with scissors so they can harvest the greens right at the table!

11. PLANT WITH GOOD TASTE IN MIND
Landscape your porch, patio and garden with edibles. It’s a growing phenomenon and will add interest and appeal to your outdoor space. Small fruits need little room and easily adapt to container growing. Blueberries provide lovely red foliage in autumn, Pieris-like blooms in spring, luscious phytonutrient-rich berries in late summer. (Two different cultivars are required for cross-pollination and a good crop. An exception is the semi-evergreen ‘Sunshine Blue’, which bears over a long period). Grow tomatoes in containers – heirloom tomatoes are making a comeback and sell for $6 a pound or more! You’ll need large pots and a regular feeding/watering regime.

12. COVER UP FOR COMFORT

Rain can put a damper on outdoor activities, and you may also want to escape the midday sun. Having at least part of your garden room covered is practical. Partial roofing can be achieved by using retractable canvas awnings, canvas tenting or fibreglass panels. Ready-made garden pergolas are available with lattice on the sides for flowering vines to clamber up.

13. WHIP UP A GARDEN ROOM

To create a sense of separation, enclose a garden “room”. Rather than putting up a wall, which excludes everything (including light), use a combination of hard structure in the form of latticework or trellis and plant material.

A simple, low-cost way to create privacy is to grow a screen from seed. Garden guru David Tarrant suggests sowing pole beans or scarlet runners in containers, or across the sunny edge of your patio in soil. Train the beans up a support structure – they grow quickly in warm weather, creating a tall edible partition. The colourful bean blossoms attract beneficial insects too. Sky-blue annual morning glory (Ipomoea tricolor, which is not invasive) looks gorgeous twining up alongside the beans.

For a permanent screening solution, add woody vines, such as honeysuckle, clematis, climbing hydrangea and Virginia creeper. Grapes are edible and make a rustic and elegant wrapping for your garden room. The shadowplay of the leaves soothes your cares away; it’s wonderful to dine under a canopy of grape leaves and you can make your own dolmades!

For year-round, evergreen screening, fragrant star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) and Clematis armandii are possibilities for zone 7; in cooler areas, create edges using coniferous hedging, Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) or evergreen honeysuckle (Lonicera henryii).

14. MAKE IT SCENT-SATIONAL!

Evoke the sense of smell! Surround yourself with lavender (Lavandula spp.), roses, anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla), carnations and pinks (Dianthus), curry plant (Helichrysum italicum). Leaves of honeybush (Melianthus major, zone 8) smell exactly like peanut butter. Direct-sow Matthiola bicornis (evening scented stock) in container edges for haunting evening fragrance. Along with fragrance comes nectar, so it’s likely you’ll have an opportunity to commune with butterflies and other pollinating insects –hummingbirds, too!

15. CREATE A RETREAT

Perhaps this is the year to take it a little easier. Proximity to plants lowers blood pressure and decreases muscle tension; the autonomic nervous system relaxes, causing the opposite of “fight or flight.” Create a calm, restful space to relax, meditate or just “be.” Green creates calm feelings in the body; a modest number of lush grasses or ferns and a simple woven rug are all you need, along with a couple of cushions or perhaps one lounge chair. Keep the space uncluttered, and “stuff” to a minimum. Then take a few deep breaths, and feel yourself unwinding.

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