Work, rest, & play

There is a place where you can bask in the sun and relax in the shade, a place where you can grow you own food and eat out with friends. There is a place where you can stimulate your senses and soothe the soul and a place where you can exercise the body and calm the mind. The old adage in the title may be more readily associated with a chocolate bar from another planet but it seems pretty well suited to summarising the breadth of a garden’s potential.

Each of us has our priorities when it comes to our own gardens. They are essentially though incredibly versatile and multi-functional places, more so than any other part of our home. So if you have designs on your garden, start by considering what you want out of it.

Work Out(side)

Gardens provide a potentially endless source of activity, a veritable ‘Green Gym’. And if the physical act of gardening is not to your liking, it is even possible to plan an exercise ‘circuit’ around the garden. And if you are going to work in the garden, you might think it only fair that the garden should also work for you, your efforts rewarded with the tangible prize of fruit, vegetables and flowers.  

Restore

For many however, the garden is principally a place to relax and re-charge, somewhere to doze in the sun or read a book. Small enclosed gardens lend themselves particularly well to creating an intimate and calm space, but larger gardens too can have cosy, or secret places planned for that quiet get-away. 

Aside from the obvious benefits of the physical exercise, people who garden swear by it as a way to relax, and there seems to be compelling evidence that such contact with the soil and with nature is an effective de-stresser.   

Play-station

And, of course, gardens are also a great place to entertain friends, for families to spend time together and for kids to release excess energy, and be distracted from the ever powerful temptations of the television and computer games.  

The snowdrops are finally out, in seemingly fragile defiance of the season, and as ever act as a gentle reminder that spring is on its way. Winter may yet have a sting in its tail, but it might just be time to re-engage with that damp, dreary place outside the back door.

To get the most out of your garden make a plan, whether with the aid of a garden designer or some books in front of the fire. That way you will make the most of its potential and strike the right balance between work, rest and play.