How often do you use your garden?

tori.k

Guess we are the polar opposites the land/garden has always taken priority over the house when buying, the house has always been secondary as long as the size was right as things can be changed as required but enough land and access to it was the deal breaker.
I don't have real furniture in my garden just a bench as we have the conservatory for eating in,and other than my first coffee everyday there is always something to do out there.
The house is really just somewhere just to keep the stuff you don't want getting wet, as long as its clean I don't really give it much thought

catkins

We don't use the garden anywhere near enough. I hang washing out and me and DH cut the grass, cut the hedges, weed etc but rarely sit out.

In fact I have never known DH to sit in the garden. I will occasionally sit outside with a cup of tea or cold drink.

Last weekend we bought some new chairs and a table for outside so I am hoping we will use them.

Davesnave

tori.k wrote: »

Guess we are the polar opposites the land/garden has always taken priority over the house when buying, the house has always been secondary as long as the size was right as things can be changed as required but enough land and access to it was the deal breaker.
I don't have real furniture in my garden just a bench as we have the conservatory for eating in,and other than my first coffee everyday there is always something to do out there.


The house is really just somewhere just to keep the stuff you don't want getting wet, as long as its clean I don't really give it much thought

Apart from the last sentence, I could have written that!


I agreed reluctantly with my wife that we had to sort out the house, so spent much time and £ doing it, but the energy expended was resented. I lost 3 years outside on the land!


The key thing here is that we are both 'outdoor people' who have studied things like garden design, aspect, microclimate, soils and so forth, so we evaluate outdoor spaces differently from those for whom they're secondary. We also probably put up with indoor deficiencies that others might find annoying when selecting a property. I hated everything about this bungalow when we purchased it....apart from the immutables like location and aspect, which are an 8/10.


But again, I'm not sure that anything I write here will help the OP if they are not an outdoor person to start with. Looking out the window and wishing they had a more private, beautiful and expansive space is all very well, but it would be like me wishing my house looked like one of those in coffee table books....and it never will because I'll never spend the love and time on it.

cyantist

Our garden was what sold the house to us but we didn't appreciate just how much time and money it would swallow. We are out there whenever we can trying to make it usable.
We have BBQs or use the pizza oven as often as we can and I dry my washing outside. If it's nice and I'm working from home I'll be outside on my laptop as well.
We also have chickens so I guess we're actually using it all the time to house them.

getmore4less

It might help if you understand what you do with your time and what changes you could make to that time to use the garden more.

If I think about the inside time,
It is mainly sitting at the PC doing stuff, like MSE or other sites research.....
Sitting watching TV
eating.
if we go out to a pub if nice we sit outside
when on holiday and not doing something specific we like to spend time outside but in the shade.

What is needed outside is a sheltered area with good shade to use a portable internet device, maybe get a TV out there and power for a fridge and a BBQ for cooking.

if you can create some outside space that is a natural extension from your house spaces you may use it more.

The UK climate means you have to be able to shut off that space for a few months a year.

Just having some seats is not enough you need to be able to do some of the other stuff that you do day to day.


As others have done if not using all the space turn some over to producing food, raised beds are relatively simple additions that can be very productive, chose the right crops they grow themselves just needing a bit of attention to get started, watering if very dry or get an auto watering system and even less work.

Hopeless_Case

I'm out as much as I can be, but I don't spend that long actually sitting, I'm normally pottering weeding, watering, stirring the compost etc, I grow a few veg and the birds are my delight.

I also hang washing out reguarly

Our garden is overlooked, we're on an estate, but my reasoning is that I don't spend time stood upstairs looking out of the windows into other people's gardens so no reason why they should do this to me

The front garden is quite sociable as I always end up talking to the people who walk by so it takes much longer to get anything done there :rotfl:

Gastines3

Also a pleasure to see Grandchildren enjoying playing/picnics and taking an interest in the birds/pond/flowers and getting a bit of sunshine.Mostly shrubs and whatever has self seeded etc,not a believer in buying bedding plants to replace each year.Must admit to feeding a vixen each evening who one evening brought her cub.She must enjoy the visits as there have been no'Presents' left in the garden and cats seem to avoid us.

VfM4meplse

PasturesNew wrote: »

I never sit in mine because .... it's usually breezy or windy ... and "everything I own, want, need" is inside the house. If I take a chair out there.... then what? Coffee's inside, loo's inside, telly's inside, PC's inside, drinks are inside, food's inside....

So I usually last about 2 minutes before I'm bored rigid.

Don't have a tablet (probably wouldn't be able to see it in the sun anyway); can't read (sun glare on pages).

All I could do out there is sit and fiddle with my fingers....

I am outside several times a day, when drying washing or having a ciggie... I just don't sit there.

I have a friend who has a large garden that she's always working on - when I go there we sit out in the garden, well, under a covered part adjoined to the house ... for up to an hour, then we go inside.

You are seriously missing out! I love, love, love having a nice garden. Its full of surprises (this year being my first) and this week what I though was an half-dead old tree has bloomed some gorgeous jasmine! But in truth I probably spend more time in the conservatory looking out onto their garden than I spend in it, purely because I'm such mozzie-fodder.

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

If you've got the space for it, I really love insect-screened outdoor rooms. They are a wonderful halfway stage between inside and out. Feels like your outside but you dress it like a room with outdoor furniture and you can use it long into the night without being bothered by insects.

Thanks for the reminder, I must put my screens up.

happyandcontented

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I completely agree with getmore4less. Half the stuff you do inside, you can do outside.

If you've got the space for it, I really love insect-screened outdoor rooms. They are a wonderful halfway stage between inside and out. Feels like your outside but you dress it like a room with outdoor furniture and you can use it long into the night without being bothered by insects.

Where do you get these from? Do you have a link, please?

getmore4less

happyandcontented wrote: »

Where do you get these from? Do you have a link, please?

this one should bring up some options for screens

rooms as well