Garden decks offer a uniquely wonderful way to redefine your garden and outdoor spaces. From providing a place to spend warm summer evenings to allowing for more interesting gardens and planting styles, decking opens up a wide variety of opportunities for your outdoor living areas.
The great part is you can do it whether you’re a serious gardener looking to spruce up your green space, or a gardening newbie looking to create something out of a blank canvas of grass. With that in mind, here are five ways good decking brings order and beauty to your garden. Levelling out the terrain For starters, garden decking allows you to level out uneven terrain. This is especially important for homes where parts of the garden include slopes or varying levels. Decking can be a cost-efficient solution to landscaping your garden, while also opening up opportunities for creative usage of outdoor space.
One way to harness the potential of an uneven backyard is to create elevated or split-level decks that create a unique look and dimension.
Wood Magazine shares that decking best lends itself to steep slopes at the edge of homes. This is because when decks are built on ground that drops quickly away from the house, they offer spectacular, sweeping views. This way, fairly unusable parts of your garden turn into stable, functional areas. Extension of your home In addition, decking also helps you extend your home’s living spaces to the outdoors. Garden decking adds space, charm, and opportunities for outdoor activities to any property.
When planning your deck, Home Building and Renovating recommends considering the effect of the layout of your deck boards on the overall look of your home. When placed at right angles to your home, deck boards are a fantastic way to draw the eye out towards the garden from the inside. Meanwhile, if you make them run parallel to your home, deck boards add a sense of width and space to your house. A hub for vertical gardening As explained in a previous post here on the Ellen Mary Gardening blog, any green thumb would know that gardening often means a lot of bending and kneeling down, which can put a lot of strain on your back and joints. Garden decking solves this problem by providing fantastic opportunities for raising things up.
Consider adding container gardens on your deck for flowers, vegetables, or even some miniature fruit trees. Raised beds lend themselves well on garden decks, adding a splash of greenery on your deck boards. You can even put up vertical gardens to make the most out of limited space while also adding to the aesthetic appeal of your garden. Creating a functional focal point Decking makes a great functional focal point as well, because they provide a lived-in touch that breaks up garden greens, and offer a bridge between indoors and the outdoors.
When planning your deck, it’s best to start with a sturdy set of decking boards to create the base and flooring or your outdoor space. Keep an eye out for durable kits for decking that make it easy to set things up. The decking packs on Screwfix show that the installations typically last for 15 years, providing great value for your money while ensuring that your garden has a fantastic focal point for a long time. Once you’ve created a solid base, feel free to add character, structure, and colour in whatever style suits your taste and the existing feel of your home. Train climbers and vines to wrap around a balustrade or pergola to effectively incorporate your deck into the garden, or paint the railings or edges in fun colours to accentuate your outdoor space. A place to enjoy the great outdoors Lastly, decks offer a lovely outdoor area that’s ideal for children’s play, al fresco dining, and unwinding on a warm summer evening, among many other activities. The deck featured on Sunset Magazine even takes it a step further by incorporating an outdoor fireplace to extend the area's use to chilly months.
All in all, decking can add character, charm, and function to gardens of all shapes and sizes. When done right, they can bring order and beauty to any garden, creating fantastic opportunities for entertainment and relaxation for the entire family.