6 Tips for Starting a Backyard Garden


Outdoor space / Friday, June 29th, 2018

One of the most coveted features buyers seek when shopping for Toronto houses is outdoor space – with limited space and prevalence of high-rise living in the hot Toronto real estate market, this can be a hot commodity!

But creating the perfect outdoor oasis can be daunting for green-thumb newbies. Here are six easy ways to set up your backyard garden.

Define the Edges

The first thing you should consider is adding borders between your flower bed and your lawn. Simply purchase a flew flat stones from your local gardening store and place them on the edge of your flower bed. This will instantly increase the appeal of your backyard garden and helps organize your garden into specific sections. This can be done in both the backyard and the front lawn.

Creating a Living Space

Backyards shouldn’t be limited to just grass and plants. Create an outdoor space to host dinner parties and barbeques. Lay down some tiles or create a deck for your outdoor space to exist on and purchase a few pieces of outdoor furniture. This will encourage you and your guests to be outside of the house more often during the warmer parts of the year. If you are on a budget or hate the maintenance, just keep things simple.

Rocks, Rocks, Rocks

If regular maintenance isn’t your thing but you still want a nice garden, take advantage of rocks, and a lot of them! Instead of grass, you can use decorative pebbles or boulders. The rocks are durable and you never have to water them. They will withstand harsh weather, especially useful during our long, Canadian winters, and never attract pests. If you don’t have a savvy eye for design, that isn’t an issue either – just place them wherever you think they look good, and you will have a nice view of it year-round.

Just Add Water!

Adding a water feature doesn’t need to be an extravagant affair. If you are looking for the calming sound of running water, you can consider going with solar-powered tabletop fountains. This is a cheap and easy way to have a water feature in your garden but if you are looking to go all out, consider installing a pond or a pool in your backyard. With all water features, there must maintenance on pumps, aerator, or wiggler to keep the surface moving to prevent mosquitoes and other disease-bearing insects.

Keep it Small

It might look nice to have a massive garden with overflowing flower beds, but this can be a potential turnoff for buyers when the only thing they see if upkeep and effort. Have small to medium sized beds and plant flowers that are easy for upkeep. Since Canada’s climates can be quite harsh, consider plants that can withstand the intense winters.

Go Artificial

If you have no shame in cheating your garden, fake grass is the easiest way to a mower-free life. Most modern artificial turf look and feel like the real thing, without the need of maintenance. As an added bonus, there is no need to water them constantly in the summer but yet the stay green as ever (A huge plus for people living in drought-prone regions).

Follow your Neighbour

Flowers can be tricky and unless you understand all the minute details that go into maintaining different types of flower, you are bound to fail. Instead of buying a truck-load of exotic and expensive flowers, consider just following the trend of your native landscape. This means seeing what your neighbourhood homes usually have in their front and backyard. If you don’t know what plants they are, do a google search of “native plants in [your province]”. Picking locally thriving plants can reduce the stress of keeping your garden alive.

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