Lighting ideas in and around your garden

Lighting in a front garden is necessary for safety and security reasons. It will be very charming in the back garden for a warm summer's night. You will save money on lights that can switch themselves on and off when someone walks through a field around them. It will be best to get the latest models that does not need electricity cabling and that are powered by solar energy for any remoter corner of the garden. Avoid conspicuous lamps but choose round or cylindrical shapes for curved paths and angular ones for gardens that have plenty of right-angled features.

The right position:  Remember when deciding where to put your lamps that all important paths must be lit to avoid tripping at night. Lamps are needed at entrance doors, on patios, sitting areas, bends in paths and on steps. It may also be a good idea to show-off  beautiful sculptures, interesting plants, the pond, a bird bath and attractive bushes or trees.

Garden taps

Ornamental lawns, vegetable gardens and flowerbeds will need watering during the warm summer months. It might be a very good idea to install taps on the opposite sides of the house if your house is detached. A tap for an outside shower for both adults and children will do for hot summer days. It will be a great advantage to have a water basin to catch and warm up rainwater. Any form of rainwater collector will be very useful and can make watering of plants easy. If you have a newly built house it may be possible to plan in an underground cistern. The size of this cistern will depend on the size of your garden and also on whether you want to use soft rainwater for your garden or washing machine in the house.

Compost

• Contribute towards looking after the environment and help cutting cost on refuse and waste disposal by recycling your garden and kitchen refuse in your own garden. You can produce staggering amounts of green stuff for composting in even the smallest gardens. Turn mediocre soils into humus-rich garden soil within a few years with compost.

Compost Heaps For Small Gardens :

• Its not always easy to start composting in a small garden. You don't need a big, ugly compost heap but rather use one to three compost heaps made of recycled plastic, wooden battens, round posts or dense wire netting may be good enough for a small composting station.

Where to site the composting station:

• For aesthetic reasons it will be wise to start your composting station right at the and of the garden. Positioned it in such a way that it will not offend you or your neighbours. It is of great importance to make sure that your open composting station is in a slightly shady and sheltered position in order not to dry out or cool down quickly.

Designing a composting station:

• Hide your station behind dense woody shrubs (hydrangea or forsythia), or surround them by tall flowering plants like yarrow, sunflowers, campion or golden rod. You can also create a visual screen with fruit bushes. Another good solution is a shade-providing tree like an apple tree. Surround your open compost heap with gourds or nasturtium which will spread over the heap. Avoid unpleasant smells by making sure that you study a little composting theory.