With the still ongoing pandemic forcing many of us to spend much more time at home and in our garden spaces over the past 18 months, many people are starting to grow tired of their existing garden space and want to pursue something new and exciting to spend more time in when the new year comes around.
Want to upgrade your garden space in 2024, and are looking for some inspiration? Take a look at this short guide on 3 different ways you might be able to modernize your garden, including ways to integrate technology, utilize artificial grass substitutes to make your life easier, and even ways to introduce greenery into the home where you might be working with restricted amounts of outdoor space – such as in an apartment or on a balcony/decking.
1. Install Artificial Grass
There has been a huge surge in demand for artificial grass over the past 18 months, and while some might initially feel against the idea of substituting an organic lawn into something that’s not 100% natural, the benefits are undeniable.
Leading UK supplier GrassWarehouse outlines some of the major benefits of artificial grass as a modern approach to keeping and maintaining a garden space in 2024:
- Low Maintenance: Cutting and mowing the lawn is one of the most tiring and laboursome chores on the long list of housekeeping, and even at the best of times it can be difficult to get your lawn looking the way you want it to.
Of course, artificial grass quickly gets rid of the need for regularly cutting, keeping that ‘freshly-cut’ look at all times, and the materials are also typically resilient in the elements, meaning you can rely on your garden to look the way you want even in the most adverse weather conditions.
- Pet-Friendly: Is your furry friend causing trouble in the house by bringing in mud and mess after they’ve been out in the garden? Pet-friendly artificial grass might be the answer. Not only are pet-safe varieties more durable and suitable for play with your pet, but they are also easy to wash down and clean, and ensure that they won’t get muddied when coming in and out.
- Free From Pesticides: As well as being suitable for pets to run around and play on (providing you’re purchasing the right variety), artificial grass also removes the need for use of pesticides and harmful chemicals, keeping your lawn safe for you, your children, and pets.
2. Construct an Allotment
Self-sustainability is an extremely popular trend, and something that more and more people are looking to get into in 2024. Growing your own fruits and vegetables can be a satisfying and rewarding hobby to get into – and it’s easier than you might think. Here a few tips for those wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables in their garden in 2024:
- Start Off Easy: Certain fruits and vegetables can be much more difficult to grow and sustain than others, so if you’re a total beginner, start with something simple while you’re getting used to the process. Salad leaves, tomatoes, and potatoes are among some of the easier crops, requiring not as much care and attention to grow.
- Maximize Natural Sunlight: Your crops will of course need as much sunlight as possible in order to fully grow and thrive, so try to ensure when planning your outlined garden space that you select the area that’s the biggest suntrap throughout the day. If you can’t help certain spots in your garden that are under shade, think about how you
- Get Near to a Water Source: Soil will need to be kept well-watered once seeds have been planted and germinated, so also think about how your garden layout allows you to easily irrigate and reach the required spaces with your hose.
Don’t have enough space in your garden area to build a designated area for growing fruit and vegetables? Why not get creative with the window space you have in some of the more naturally lit areas of the home that invite in the sunlight, using things like planters and window boxes to grow greenery where possible?
This is an extremely popular technique used by young professionals living in urban apartment buildings that want to invite some greenery into an otherwise grey and industrial space. Some apartment buildings even have communal rooftop garden areas, allowing a slight break from the ongoings of the bustling city below with some much-needed fresh air and greenery.
3. Integrate Technology
The growth in popularity of smart home technology has been absolutely huge in recent years, with products such as the Amazon Echo range of speakers dominating retail Christmas sales and appearing in households all around the world.
If you’ve already integrated smart tech throughout the different rooms inside your home, why not think about some of the ways that you may be able to take this tech outside? Here are a few ideas to get your started:
- Smart Watering: This first popular garden gadget may come in handy if choosing to build your own growing garden as outlined above, or simply want to easily maintain your lawn with low-effort. Automatic irrigation systems can be set on timers to release a healthy stream of water to your plants throughout the day, ensuring they don’t get too dry or waterlogged.
- Smart Lighting: Outdoor, solar powered smart lighting is a fantastic way to brighten up your garden space of an evening, perfect for sitting out and entertaining guests. Brands like the Phillips Hue line of products integrate easily with a smartphone app, allowing you to control exactly how your garden looks in an instant.
- Automatic Mower: Again as expressed above, cutting and maintaining your lawn can be an extremely tiresome process. Automatic lawnmowers do what you’d expect – taking a leaf out of the Roomba’s playbook and cutting the grass on your behalf while you sit back and relax.
Of course, this technology can be extremely expensive compared to, say, an alternative modern solution such as artificial grass, and the jury’s out on whether or not these devices are as effective and clean as cutting the grass yourself. Still, looking at these forward-thinking developments makes the gardens of the future an exciting prospect.