Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
As gardeners, we notice the house with nice gardens or wonderful use of colour and texture.
As a designer, I encourage home owners to keep their front gardens simple. We spend more time in our backyard.
It was a real eye-opener the other day when I was invited to a neighbour’s for a barbecue and saw my backyard the way they see it. I did not know that the garbage bins I had hidden behind my shed where I could not see them were what they saw from their backyard.
Article content
Look at your front yard from across the street or through your neighbour’s front window and see what they see when they look at your home. Drive by your house and turn around down the block and come from a different direction. Are you pleased with how it looks?
Less is more in a front garden. You are better to have smaller gardens that you can maintain quickly.
I have been working with a young couple who just bought their first home. The front yard was so overgrown with half dead trees and shrubs and we had to remove everything. We added some topsoil to fill in the dips in the front yard along with lots of grass seed to refresh the lawn. They really like the look of white hydrangeas, so we created a nice neat straight-ended garden about the width of their front porch and planted five white bobo hydrangeas to fill in the space.
They now have colour. Everything looks tidy and with all this rain the grass has improved a lot.
Creating curb appeal does not have to be expensive. Keep the grass cut, the flower beds simple and if you have annual plants out front don’t forget to water them. It is important to keep your home looking good because if you do your bit your neighbours will likely feel the need to do their share and before you know it the street is looking really good.
Sometimes new home owners or renters have no idea where to start or even how to start the lawn mower. So step up and encourage them and help where you can.
Denise Hodgins is a professional gardening coach in London. Send your questions to coaching@diggendirtdesigns.com
Recommended from Editorial
Share this article in your social network
