Grass-Less Garden Ideas

Nowadays, with the busy hustle and bustle of life, more and more homeowners are choosing a grass-less garden over a high-maintenance lawn. I have to say, I can’t blame them. As much as I love getting out in the garden, I really don’t have a lot of time on my hands to give it the care and attention it needs.

If you’ve never had a grass-less garden before, you might be under the impression that they’re dull, lifeless and devoid of character. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. There are lots of things you can do to make your garden feel cosy and welcoming without adding turf or artificial grass.

Here are a few of my favourite suggestions for a charming grass-less garden. I hope you’ll give them a try!

Choose a Pretty Patio

The truth is, you really don’t need grass to create a garden with natural charm. Porcelain paving is a great alternative to grass, especially if you’re looking for something low maintenance. Porcelain outdoor tiles are designed with durability in mind, so once they’re installed you won’t need to worry about them looking dull, chipping or tarnishing over time.

To keep porcelain pavers clean, all you need to do is give them a quick wipe over with some warm soapy water. You can see how this would be a preferable choice over dragging the lawnmower out every couple of weeks during summer!

Paving is definitely a good option if you’re designing a grass-less garden. You’ll notice that porcelain pavers are available in a huge range of shades and textures so they’ll complement your garden whether you have a traditional or modern aesthetic.

I’ve even seen some porcelain tiles that have a wood flooring effect. Allowing you to create a real-wood look in your garden without worrying about maintaining real wood!

Paving is a great base for your table and chairs, your plant pots and your firepit – perfect for giving your garden a homely touch. 

Install Durable Decking

If patio doesn’t take your fancy, a garden deck might be a better option. Wooden deck boards and composite deck boards both offer a natural look that’s sure to bring your garden space to life.

If your main concern is maintenance, composite decking is the best way to go. With a polymer cap, it won’t need sanding, staining or sealing. Much like porcelain paving, all composite decking needs is a quick wipe over to remove dirt and debris making it much easier to maintain than an unruly lawn.

Wooden decking is also a good option, but doesn’t have the same low-maintenance properties as composite decking. This kind of decking can be susceptible to rotting and warping if it’s not maintained properly. That being said, it’s still going to require less attention than a lawn so it’s a suitable option for a grass-less garden. 

Take Advantage of Trees and Potted Plants

As I mentioned at the very beginning, there’s a misconception that a grass-less outdoor space is going to feel ‘cold’ and ‘unwelcoming’. Well, I’ve found that one of the best ways to combat this is to add a variety of potted plants and shrubs around on your patio or decking.

These don’t have to be plants that require constant care, they could be something easy to care for like geraniums, petunias, or something edible like mint or sage.

Either way, adding flowers, herbs and shrubs to your grass-less garden will bring so much life and vibrancy to the space that you’ll wonder why anyone bothers to have turf installed!

How to Baby-Proof Your Garden

When you’ve got a little one on the way, there are so many preparations to be made you might start to wonder if you’ll get it all done in time! For many of us, the focus is on the inside of the house where your little one will be spending most of their time. You might buy a fireplace cover, install a couple of baby gates and start re-arranging your furniture for a bit of extra crawl-space, but have you thought about your garden?

Parents often overlook outdoor spaces, but this is where a lot of hazards tend to live. Pebbles, thorny plants and water features can all be potentially dangerous for your little one. But don’t worry, I’m going to talk you through a few different ways you can address these problems and thoroughly baby-proof your garden.

Garden surfaces

While you want your garden to look great, you don’t want to choose an outdoor flooring option that’s dangerous for your child. Small stones and gravel can be a choking hazard, so if your garden is covered in them – it might be time to consider a garden renovation.

Grass is an obvious choice, it provides a soft, luscious space for your little one to play, learn and develop. Of course, the only downside with having your garden turfed is the amount of upkeep that real grass requires. You don’t want to be spending the summer holidays trudging up and down with a lawn mower when your little one wants to have a teddy bears picnic and enjoy the sunshine!

A great alternative to grass is composite decking, it offers a forgiving surface that (although not as soft as grass) won’t cause your little one a significant injury if they do happen to fall over. High-quality composite decking is designed not to split or chip, so unlike traditional wood decking, you won’t need to worry about your little one getting a nasty splinter. Better yet, composite decking will last a lifetime with minimal maintenance, giving you more time to spend with your family!

Plants

Having plants in the garden is a great sensory and educational experience for your child. When they get a bit older, they might even help you plant new seeds and begin to take an interest in the natural world (something that’s so often neglected nowadays).

Make sure you remove toxic plants and mushrooms, prickly plants and plants that bear fruit and berries, these plants might look nice in your garden, but they can cause real problems if children get their hands on them.

Instead, you should think about planting vegetables, larger fruits and herbs, the leaves of which are generally non-toxic and safe for curious children to explore. Better yet, if you get a good harvest of carrots and apples, you can add some home-grown vitamins into your baby’s diet.

Some beautiful non-toxic flowers are also a great choice. Pot Marigolds, Amaranthus (shown above), Lemon Balm and Daylilies are sweet smelling, taste rather delicious and will add a touch of colour to your outdoor space.

General Safety Tips

Here are a few other baby-proofing tips to help you keep your garden accident-free!

·         Keep the garden hose out of the sun – If you’ve ever picked up or stepped on a hose pipe that’s been left out in the sun, you’ll know that they can get incredibly hot! Make sure you store them in a shaded, cool place whenever possible.

·         Use plants to protect sharp corners – There are plenty of permeant features in our gardens that might pose a risk to little ones. Use greenery to create a buffer between your child and any sharp edges. 

·         Update your garden furniture – Ditch the glass tables and wooden chairs and treat yourself to a brand-new garden set with padded cushions, rounded edges and removable, washable covers (thank me later).

Hopefully these baby-proofing tips will help you relax and enjoy your garden as your little one explores, grows and changes!

*Guest post

Country courtyard garden - March update

Sat here after the first week of March wondering where the pleasant weather has disappeared too. From the daffodils at the front gate beaming with spring sunshine to damp and miserable flower tears this week, a swipe at my gardening joy. Nevertheless I have ventured out in a bid to get started and transform the front courtyard garden into the paintbox of colour it was last year.

There are lots of plants just stirring in their pots and in our larger planters, in fact some never went away as the winter has been so mild. My geraniums are still showing some bright pink petals, ready to burst out fully in a couple of months and lots of the perennials are well above the soil, not afraid of chancing some late snow and a zap by the frost. The herb bed is coming to life although I hope they don't get too comfy as they will be being moved due to my Boo dog thinking this area makes a great toilet!

We have been around the garden and cleared away leaves and debris, moved the pots together in order to sort out what has made the winter and discover what things actually are - must make a note this year and do some labelling! With the courtyard being all pots, many of them were just slotted into gaps last summer in their shop bought plastic tubs since I was after instant oomph and I had spent a lot of money on glazed, terracotta pots and other containers. This year I'll buy more pots so that the garden looks more cohesive.

Despite the cold and drizzle, we visited the local plant nursery and antique centre where I purchased a galvanised tub £15 and some plants; garlic chives for £1.40, Arum italicum £4.20 for a shaded area out of reach as it's poisonous (had just seen it funnily enough in a garden whilst on Sweep's rounds that morning) and some lamb's ears for £2

Add to them a selection of bare rooted roses from Tesco £2 each, a lilac and a forsythia for the same price - bargains! So I have lots to do without even looking at the seeds I purchased at the end of last season. However I have sown some chard and other salad leaves into a standing trough and hopefully if the Boo dog stops jumping in here to dig (!) they will be ok.

At the moment I don't have a greenhouse and will be using a table in the living room for all my seeds and probably all the window ledges too. I'd like the garden to look more cottagey which is hard with it all being in pots so we shall see how it all knits together. This will be my first full year here after gradually moving last summer and wanting to create a quick fix garden, now I will have more time to plan and study, discover the joys of container gardening a bit more and give a bit more thought to planting combinations rather than haphazard schemes.

Family garden adventuring

After moving this year I have a new garden to work with and turn into a family space, for both adults and children, namely my 8 year old who loves the outdoors. I don't want to lose his interest in nature, mucky hands and bugs so next year me and the OH (Sweep) are going to put some plans together to create a new garden from scratch. Up until now the front area of the house was just paving stones with a few planters but over the summer I created a container garden full of herbaceous perennials to attract the bees and the hoverflies, my son loves nature as we do too. But how to add areas for children to burn off energy yet keep the garden looking lovely and keeping it safe too. I have a few ideas for the elements we are considering that will offer solutions to keep all of us happy. 

Choose non poisonous plants

Do a little homework around safe plants as many are surprisingly poisonous. Foxgloves can prove fatal if ingested, delphiniums are also toxic and other plants may cause skin irritations such as euphorbia. Check out safe plants with the RHS. Many seed companies have a children's growing range, fun to grow, educational and safe options such as calendula, sunflowers and snapdragons. We have dogs too so it is important that no accidents happen with leaves or flowers being munched. I'm going to remove the foxgloves to the flower bed outside and make sure that the flowers within the garden are nothing too nasty. Look out for anything too thorny and prickly too for small hands and paws. 

Play equipment

My boy needs some interesting outdoor play equipment to exercise and engage his imagination. I've been looking at the inspiring range from Wickey, a family run business who make wonderful wooden climbing frames, play houses, sandpits and more. The range is immense, different types of climbing frames, castles, seaside huts, space rockets that you can choose the colour of the slide and the tarpaulin to suit your garden which I think is a great way to choose equipment that compliments the home and garden. The website allows you to change colours to see what it will look like. Then there are tons of accessories from ship's wheels to climbing holds for little feet. I really love the playhouses with their cute chimneys (my Sweep will love that feature), they look like something from a fairytale and will delight the imagination of any child (and parents too) and will complete the look of a garden. I'd add swathes of wild flowers around them or tubs of pretty annual flowers. It's great for children to be encouraged to get outside and play, stimulating the senses and helping with motor and coordination skills but also great to have a pretty garden so these wooden climbing frames give an organic look amongst your flowers, shrubs and trees. There are different sizes, designs, all full of activities to climb, slide and swing from. I think even our dogs would love to whizz down the slide.

Creativity

We are also looking to add some creative areas of the garden. Even though it is relatively small, we are going to section the garden into different rooms so one area will have a seaside element where we add plants such as pink sea thrift and keep little displays of the shells, pebbles and even seagull skulls that we have found whilst beach combing on holiday. We have been around a lot of village open garden this year for inspiration and found some interesting use of found objects on our travels, dolls set into walls, vintage garden tools, skulls and other peculiar items set amongst the flowers. I like creating pockets of areas with different themes, as we like collecting things and I hope they add to my son's sensory and imaginative play. He is very tactile and enjoys discovering so shells and bones add to exploration.

Wild areas

We love wildlife too and have greatly enjoyed attracting lots of different species of hoverfly, bees and some butterflies. From just a few planters, we added more and more to create borders of containers, swapping them around and adding new ones all the time for extra colour. Next year Sweep is making a bird table to encourage them into the garden. We were lucky to have swifts nesting in the eaves this year, then soaring each evening, squealing as the sun started to set. Blackbirds made a nest in an old rake propped up in a recess and the wood pigeon was our cherry blossom tree resident although sadly with no success. A wild flower patch and log pile would be great too for other insects and perhaps the village hedgehog that we have called Chippy because we always see him/her by the chip shop. It's a rural area so I'm hoping that we get lots of wildlife venturing into the garden. 

With the limited space it will be tricky at times to accommodate all our needs but with some clever planning and using all the nooks and crannies, I'm confident that I can show you my ideal garden next year that is also a super play space for a young boy.

*Collaborative post

Creating a new garden quickly for summer

I've been moving, gradually, I've probably hinted at it since it's so very hard to contain excitement but also not say too much until it has happened. One of the aspects of the move has been my ferrying of plants and pots from one county to another to their new village location to create a new garden. I love my garden in Cheshire and losing it has been difficult but I love my man more than flowers and climbing roses so I set about changing the front yard into a little country garden. 

I wanted to create a space for us to sit and enjoy the summer, but in the quickest time possible since I'm incredibly impatient and wanted to make the most of any sunshine and build the basics of a garden for the following year. Using what was there was, so some existing amazing planters to be filled, I added more from my house in Cheshire to build up a structure of a herbaceous border but using pots and containers.

In just over a month, we have created a beautiful knitted together flowery front garden, secluded and filled with herbs, perennials, trees in pots and roses. I have spent hours poring over my Pinterest garden board and finding ways to creatively garden using containers. The outcome has been a joy to document and watch, every week, growing and uplifting.

To create a courtyard garden for instant impact I have a few recommendations:

Local plant sales
We have been going to local plant sales, one at a local library and one at a cottage, both selling a variety of flowers cheaply. The sweet peas climbed up sticks we collected on dog walks and have provided scent and deep colour. The philadelphus little white love from the cottage sale and the bear's breeches are thriving and the coreopsis from the local shop is attracting the bees and hoverflies. For a small amount of money, the pots have been filled with colour and we've added some courgettes, pumpkins and homegrown salad leaves in for veggie crops too. Herbs too are providing a scented small garden and have been useful adding to our cooking.

Lighting
For evening use of the garden, some glowing lights for ambience extends the hours and adds a pretty look whilst sitting out with a glass of cider for me as dusk descends. Have a look at Lights for a range of outdoor lighting for patios and terraces with interesting options for every kind of style, contemporary to more traditional and eclectic such as fabulous LED illuminated plant pots and solar mosaic lights. I love the way garden lights create a cosy glow through leaves and casts shadows of flowers. The bedroom looks out over the garden and it looks so pretty and atmospheric with lights positioned around the space and we can enjoy the garden for much longer. I eventually want an electrical supply in the garden for path lights when we develop the space behind the house but for now solar is such a useful, instant and inexpensive solution. 

Adding height
We've added some patio fruit trees to bring height to the garden and interest, cherry, apple and pear trees so we will have in future years some nice fruit crops. I'm most excited about the morello cherries. My clever man has made an amazing arch gate for roses to climb up and over, spilling across and blurring the edges. It's given the illusion of a maturer garden. Different heights and textures using lavatera, buddleia and clematis, quick growers that are working hard already. Runner beans are now escaping over the wall and the garden is bursting with energy. 

Variety of containers
A bit of creativity when selecting containers has added impact to the garden, such as those I found at the cute plant place in Shropshire. Traditional pots are quite expensive so variety by way of crates and baskets has enabled many plants to be grown and a layered structure has been put together to create an exuberant mix of flowers. I've grown seeds in anything possible and we've picked up found items to pop a courgette or two into. Hopefully too creating a garden for wildlife, herbs in old sinks, bee attracting flowers in moss lines wire baskets or a drawer full of frothy butterfly attracting annuals.

I'm so pleased with how it is all looking and leaving my more traditional garden behind has felt like no problem at all as I feel so happy in our new garden and loving the space more and more. I have always admired gardens created in less typical spaces so the challenge is very fulfilling.

*collaborative post 

A little plant centre in Shropshire

I am in a whirl of new garden, one with a front yard area that needs a variety of pots and clever ways to grow and create beauty. And so with my constant wittering of herbs and clematis....I was taken here to what can only be my new favourite oasis of plant buying and various vintage item, stuff the car boot full of loveliness kind of place. 

Which way to look, corners of leafy and scented confectionery, boxes to fill with beautiful blooms and obelisks for sweet peas to climb up. Things that used to be on farms, now for peonies and not for pigs, now for hellebores and not for hens, tansy in troughs, ferns in feeders..... Dinosaurs stampeding on tree stumps, ideas in my head and being tempted by a cup of tea and cake whilst looking at wire racks to line with moss and fill with sprite-faced violas or bulbs in autumn. Antiques and items I'd faff around with, candles and lanterns, kitchenware, enamel bowls for strawberries and mint, curiosities for shelves and shelves for curiosities to peer over, dust bunny gatherers but I don't mind.

So what did I buy......borage prickle leaved and ready for bumble bee enchantment and a spidery purple centaurea montana, a square metal tub and things I've now forgotten because I'm a crazy plant buying woman. 

Gardening for health and well being

Things around here have been stressful lately what with trying to get my son a school place and having no help at all from the LEA, my dog being poorly (I'll save this for another time since I cannot quite write the words) and family stuff, well it's been all stress after stress. The one thing that keeps me sane, helps me to unwind and not be so completely consumed by stress is the garden and also the allotment - the latter of which needs a lot of work but hey ho, it's still stress reducing and I get to take home fresh fruit and vegetables.

Grow Your Own
When you sprinkle a packet of seeds onto compost or push a seed into the earth it starts the whole magic off. Every day checking and nurturing that seedling until you have a leafy plant that starts flowering and fruiting. There is something so addictive and so calming about the whole process, unless the slugs get them. But even the challenge of successful growing is a good occupier of the mind. If you're combating slugs then some of your angers are taken away by that. Most years I grow strawberries and having them in baskets on my patio is really satisfying as I can catch them when they are ready and eat them straight way, sharing with my son. I grow potatoes at the allotment and lots of beans, bringing home a full bounty of goodies to eat is very rewarding and improves how I feel.

Community gardens
If you don't have a garden of your own, or a place for even a few pots at the front of the building then have a look for a local community garden. Great places for meeting like minded people and many work with lots of local charities too, so it become a wonderful place for all working together. My local gardens are open to all and you can learn new skills there, even how to be a bee keeper. Garden therapy can work on its own or add as part of a plan with experienced psychologists and psychiatrists to help when things get too tough. Stress and depression is not an easy matter and I'm glad people are becoming more away of these issues. My son suffers with anxiety, it is part of the way he is and being out in the garden helps him so much. The social aspect of community gardening is a great way for socialising in an indirect way. Weeding and potting up require no words, is calming and informal for ways of interacting with other people.


Growing cut flowers for the home
When I was young my father grew amazing blooms such as dahlias and we would always have some in the house over the summer as a cut flower. Flowers within the home do brighten the place up and being able to pick your own from the garden is easy and a quick pick-me-up. Roses in the garden provide blooms nearly all the way through the summer. Next year I would like to grow a cutting garden, you can buy packs of seeds where they have been carefully selected for being a good cut flower. The bees win too and you will be rewarded with nature aplenty.

*Collaborative post

Five Reasons to Buy a Fake Bonsai Tree

Artificial trees, whether for the home or the office, bring a touch of beauty and nature indoors. And they are, of course, trouble-free, whereas real plants are time-consuming, dirty, wet, prone to dying, and generally more expensive to boot. In terms of dressing up a space, artificial trees are great value, and fake bonsai trees deserve special attention. They are excellent for decorating a smaller space, but they make a large impact. While many artificial plants are designed to provide a relatively subtle, casual shift in mood, bonsai trees are attention-grabbers. The create a focused, powerful statement, while also softening an interior space.

Bonsai trees are great. But let's face it: you don't need a reason to buy a fake bonsai tree. If someone asks, though, here are five:

Fake Bonsai Trees Are Portable

Going to the vacation home for the summer? Moving to a larger office? Sleeping on your friends couch during a painful divorce? These are the moments when you might regret buying a fake palm tree. A bonsai tree is tiny—that's the whole point—and you can pack it up and take it with you. You can enjoy your ersatz miniature tree experience wherever you go. Some bonsais are small enough to take as carry-on luggage, and all of them will fit easily in the footwell of a car. Let your ex keep the fake palm.

Fake Bonsai Trees Will Protect You From Intruders

No, really. Because the guy who breaks into your place at 2AM isn't a botany expert. He can't tell that your ancient gnarled cedar tree is fake. All he knows is that bonsai trees means Mr. Miyagi. If you own a bonsai tree, what are the odds that you also have a blackbelt? Decent, right? So he will be heading back out the way he came in, before the bonsai owner shows up in a bathrobe to rearrange his spine. Better than a guard dog, and much cheaper.

Fake Bonsai Trees Will Inspire You to Write Fake Haiku

There is a long-standing association between bonsai and haiku poetry. Unfortunately for English-speakers, actual Japanese haiku relies on the “on”, a phono-linguistic unit that is not quite the same the English syllable. So English haiku (in the 5-7-5 format) are necessarily fake, and it is more appropriate to write them while contemplating a fake bonsai tree than a real one:

Counting syllables

The tree never needs water

What is illusion?

Fake Bonsai Trees Will Add Years to Your Life

This is true in a relative sense. If you get into (real) bonsai trees as a hobby, you are going to spend years of your life trimming branches the size of nose hairs, and using little splints and wires to tweak the growth of tiny tree limbs. You will spend ages staring at dead branches out the window, wondering how they got to be the shape they are. So, by comparison, fake bonsai trees are going to save you years of life.

Bonsai Tree Pots Are Too Small to Collect Litter

If there is a down-side to fake plants, it is the pots or planters themselves. If they are outside, smokers see them as elaborate ashtrays. If they are inside, they seem to magnetically attract plastic wrappers, coffee cup lids, and so forth. Soon you have a small landfill with a tree in the middle. But not with bonsai trees! Real or fake, bonsai trees are too small (and maybe a little too intimidating) for people to use them as absent-minded cup-holders or trash cans.

*collaborative post

Frost

Memories of Jack Frost winter's mornings as a child with patterned window panes and crunchy grass under school shoes and breathing out a flurry of air like a little dragon. Examining frosty gems on leaf edges and being satisfied with a sparkling covering, second place to snow in its transformation of the daily landscape. Something new, a fresh angle, changing that which seemed insignificant into a glorious winter view of white rooftops, ice in buckets and tones of blue. I can stand for ages, absorbed in its beauty and admire the grasp of Old Man Winter. A ferocious grasp on any herbaceous plant that dared to have perky green shoots this far into winter, now slumped in defeat.....for now at least. A dazzle of silver as the low sun hits each crystal, ready to burn away into vapour like the circle of smoke from next door's chimney.

Autumn walled garden at Attingham Park

 Where to start with how I feel when I find a walled garden. The promise of horticultural secrets behind the brickwork, the feeling of history, the sense of escape and gaining some enlightenment. They are always clever and meticulous in their design and I find myself noting down ideas in my mind as I walk around - ooh I love that plant label or ooh look at that heirloom beetroot. Old veg varieties with great names like cosmic purple and golden ball. I imagine men with flat caps pushing their barrow around, whistling and off to turn the heated compost.

Here at Attingham Park, Shropshire there's been an exhibition around Digging for Victory, an insight into food production and the staff here during the First World War. The pumpkin scarring was a homage to the wartime phrases - the seeds of victory are the fruits of peace....
Also, how the women took up gardening roles during the war and today all the gardeners here are women.
 Voluptuous quince and her never tried but sounds wonderful offering of jelly.  Could almost be Mr McGregor on the path. Tomato wigwams, must try this neat and ordered approach.  The dishes on the endives are to blanch them, as are the bound-up chicory. This is to produce a milder flavour.  The flower beds still have plenty going on for November and a chalk sign tells us that these are used in the grand house and the veg are taken to the tea room. Just beautifully planted and if only I could keep my allotment as neat, especially at this time of year. It fills me with inspiration and a renewed interest in next year being the perfect growing season but also shows just how much work a garden and plot is, so I shouldn't be too hard on myself. The powerhouse of the walled garden supplying a huge estate can surely be replicated a little by me: mini plot to semi-detached? Wonder what they do with these poster once the exhibition has finished - oh would I love that one on the left for the garden wall.

A great aunt of mine was in the Women's Land Army and the exhibition has prompted me to find out more. There are The Landswoman magazines online to look through, very excited about finding them and can't wait to have a proper look through for more of an insight.

I'm pretty sure that I would have been a land girl with my spade and barrow, singing a tune as I walked to the compost heap....

For more garden tales go to How Does Your Garden Grow @ Mammasaurus,