First impressions count don’t they? If your garden looks a mess, people will assume your home is a state too. We all know visitors start judging as soon as they step over the threshold, and it’s no different in the garden. For anyone selling their house, an ugly garden can also knock a chunk off the asking price. It’s not just general mess and weed-filled borders that give a bad impression – how about the deadly sins of gardening? We’re talking massive trampolines, rusty furniture and tasteless ornaments. Let me start with gnomes…
1: Tacky ornaments
If you want a class look, then it’s a no to gnomes, fairies, faux butterflies and that collection of concrete frogs and tortoises. Your garden should be a sanctuary for living creatures, not the prefabricated kind. I know the life-size tiger is really quite something, and that kids love it, but save it for the back garden.
2: Excusing front-garden mess as ‘rewilding’
Is letting your garden go to seed rewilding? Um, no, it’s not – it’s just letting everything grow wild, and not in a good way. If you don’t want to mow a lawn – and let’s face it, who does in a tiny front garden – then cover that space with low-maintenance plants, mulch, gravel or all three. Yes, you will have to weed and tidy every so often, but nowhere near as often as you would have to cut the grass. Save your rewilding for the back garden, but for the front, keep it simple and neat, and it will always look good.
3: Container overload
Plants in pots look great – to start with. But a good container garden is not as simple as plonking a few plants in a mismatched set of pots. Believe me, fresh is also key, as no plant looks good once it’s been in a pot for a few years. Whatever your best intentions, plants in pots inevitably suffer from haphazard watering, stale old compost, and the periodical bouts of aphids/ants/ various nasty fungal complaints that stressed plants are prone to. Have a ruthless pot cull – get shot of the cracked, the chipped, and the way too tiny and opt instead for a couple of top-notch pots for each side of the front door. Bay trees, bedding plants, a couple of clematis – plant what you like in matching containers, they will look dead classy and definitely a cut above.
4: There are more toys than plants
A trampoline should not be the main focus of your garden. The same goes for the slide, paddling pool, kids’ bikes, or adult bikes. Nothing screams mayhem like kids’ toys all over the garden, and it’s far from the stylish look you’re aiming for. If you must have them, then make a place to store them. While you’re at it, make a bike store and plant a nice shrub or climber – or three – to create a screen.
5: Bins are a focal point
Bins are never, ever a great look, so put them away if you can, if not, then make a tidy screen by the garden gate. That way, it’s easy for the refuse collectors to get to, and it’s away from your front door. No one wants a sniff of an unemptied bin when they pop round to see you.
6: Hands-off gardening
Dead plants, unkempt hedges and piles of leaves might be good for insects, but they don’t often look good, so are best out of the main view. Besides, you can have wildlife as well as an attractive garden, believe me. Plant a few plants for pollinators like bees and butterflies, some wildlife-friendly, but compact shrubs, and perhaps a small tree, and your garden will be every bit as good for wildlife, but look so much better. As for those hedges, keep your neighbours and the birds happy by trimming them out of the nesting season.
7: You’ve taken the ‘distressed’ look too far
The trouble with shabby chic is that it tends to look just plain old shabby unless it’s contrasted with a sharp, classy finish on other items. It’s a tricky look to pull off and demands more maintenance than you might think to stop it descending into a mess. If the paint is peeling off your gate/ fences/ front door, then that’s not ‘distressed’ in the designer sense of the word; that’s just unmaintained. You can have a bit of rust here and there – let’s be honest, a bit of corten steel always goes down well in a garden setting. But take my advice and keep your fences, gate and front door well maintained, or it will all start looking a bit ‘junkyard’ rather than chic.
