With May dawning now is the time to start thinking about your outdoor space if you haven’t already. With one bank holiday out of the way and another pleasingly on the horizon, there’s no better time to refresh your space, especially after the tough year of indoor focussed activity. It’s time to celebrate your space! This is why we’ve pieced together this easy use guide on how to prepare your garden for summer in 5 easy steps. So, without further delay let’s all dig out the sunglasses and factor 50 and get ready to shine some rays on this years’ ideas.
Step 1. Furniture refresh – best cleaning practices
It’d be very simple to just lay out or reassemble your garden furniture and let that be the end of it. Job done, summer is ready. The temptation is real. However, we find the best way to approach each garden season is to reinvigorate your space with what’s at your disposal, starting with the garden furniture you have. Perhaps it’s in need of a bit of a spring clean having been stored for months, or simply a visual spruce to bring it back to its inviting best.
Cleaning Rattan Furniture
If you own rattan garden furniture, you’re in a fortunate position as its synthetic fibre construction is extremely durable and can easily withstand anything your typical British weather could throw at it. On the other hand, the weave design is susceptible to garden grime, animal droppings and outdoor bits such as tree debris to get in amongst the strands. Luckily, it’s easy to clean and we’ve pieced together a handy guide to cleaning rattan furniture to take you through the process. Plus, if you want to really take the hassle out of the equation and remove the need to clean as frequently, investing in a garden furniture cover is definitely worth considering. Read our handy protective furniture covers article on why these are a great option.
How To Clean Cast Aluminium Furniture
Perhaps your furniture is cast aluminium, which is also impressively durable against the elements. However, certain outdoor grit and dirt can get into the nooks and generally make themselves known. Again, there are very easy steps to take in refreshing your garden furniture set and you can read the best ways to go about this in our cast aluminium cleaning guide. To lessen how often you’ll need to clean your garden furniture, consider a protective cover for the months of less use or simply to keep it tidy when not in use.
Step 2. Space planning
Spatial awareness and how your garden features are positioned is the next stage in how to prepare your garden for summer 2021. So, you’ve spruced the garden furniture so that it’s looking guest-ready, now to configure it. We’ve learned that segmenting space is a great way to help define areas of the outdoors for their different means, at no visual cost to garden design. Defined spaces like a section of lawn for games and the kids. Or decking and paved areas that are shielded with a well-placed garden parasol or trellis to then place your outdoor furniture within the confines of. Equally as useful is a garden pergola, helping to define a boundary for where the garden set should go, not to mention the shade and wind cover they provide. Just as important are the flower beds and horticulture focussed areas, places to unwind away from the hubbub. Often segmenting can result in the most function from the garden.
The flip side of this is of course to embrace the idea of an open plan garden where areas merge and collide, this may work best if the kids are very young and need adult supervision, or if there’s a large feature that forms the centre of the space like a pond, fountain or firepit. Either way, it’s a preference choice and ultimately whichever works best for your space will guide you in how to prepare your garden for summer.
Step 3. Additional seating – be ready to socialise
This year more than ever is going to be important for your outdoors, the months of endless guidelines and indoor-based activity are about to end! It’s a great idea to be ready for socialising, this may mean having to boost the number of seats you can currently cater to. We’ve found the plentiful options available in the Hartman Heritage Garden Furniture range to tick many boxes. The garden experts over at Hartman have pieced together, for 2021, a range of impressive multi seating sets consisting of; corner sets, rectangular dining sets, reclining chairs sets and fire pit furniture sets. It covers seating for as little as 2 people all the way up to 10+ people.
Alternatively, Bramblecrest offers another fantastic option to consider in how to prepare your garden for summer 2021, with seating options and sociable designs to enjoy. There’s round table dining, corner sofa sets, firepit dining, and comfortable duo sets like the Monterey Bramblecrest Recliner Set.
With socialising thankfully back on the agenda many will be looking to host a summer garden party. Perhaps there’s a budget in mind, in which case you may find our DIY garden party decoration ideas article as useful reading.
Step 4. Material gains – decide which is best for your needs
Building on that last point; when thinking about how to prepare your garden for summer it’s important to keep in mind how frequently it may be relied upon, will it meet the challenge? This is why if you’re upgrading or adding garden furniture to your space, it’s crucial to think about which garden furniture materials you should consider. For instance, which will best suit your needs and offer the resilience and style that’s best for your space? There’s a pleasing amount of material options within the brands Inside Out Living offers. As covered; Hartman Heritage and Bramblecrerst Monterey are just two options with those brands. However, Kettler is our other resident brand and brings fabulous design-led pieces with quality in abundance. Their Kettler Palma range is especially filled with social-ready features with differing materials to look over.
It can be a headache trying to consider which materials will best suit your needs, so we’ve created two guides to help steer you through this, find the links below:
- The Pros & Cons of the 5 Top Garden Furniture Materials
- What Material Is Best For An Outdoor Garden Table
Step 5. Don’t be afraid to accessorise
Our final step in how to prepare your garden for summer 2021 may just be the easiest to fulfil in our round up; accessorise your garden and patio furniture in your own vision. There’s certainly no strict rule for how best to do this so go with your gut. We think the Bramblecrest scatter cushions in particular are a wonderful means of injecting colour into seating arrangements. We’ve written a handy Bramblecrest scatter cushion run down of 2021’s new additions with some styling tips thrown in and there are other garden accessories to consider such as lanterns, chimineas, heaters and of course firepits. These final touches can make all the difference in terms of home comforts brought into the garden. In some ways it’s useful to treat your garden like your living room!
Based on how things are going we think that this summer, more than ever, will be one spent in the garden, so it’s important to get it right and be prepared. We’re hopeful the pointers above and the links to our other guides will help your garden experience be at its best this year. : )
