When looking for a new home, or building one from scratch, all of us have our priorities. For some, it is the kitchen. We’ll settle for less room in living areas and bathrooms as long as the kitchen is spacious. For others, it may be the view, and we’ll compromise on anything else to get a good one. When we are deciding on a layout, we’ll confer with family and seek to get the best solution for all concerned.
Although sometimes ignored, for a lot of people the most important thing in any new house is actually outside the house. More precisely, the garden. It is the one part of any new property which changes itself whatever you do. So it naturally requires work and focus. If you’re a gardener, you want something that is easy to work with. If you’re not, you want something that won’t take forever to tame.
Planting A Working Garden: Growing To Harvest
You’d be amazed how much of a return you get when you simply plant a few seeds and saplings to grow fruit and veg. Money that you’d expect to spend weekly on your grocery shopping can be saved easily if you’re up for a bit of work. Tomatoes, pumpkins, beets, corn. Whatever you want to serve for lunches and dinners, check out the seed prices. Bear in mind a couple of packets of seeds will last a year.
Setting The Garden Up To Entertain
If gardening is your idea of what Hell looks like, then you may wish to turn your outside area into a lower-maintenance garden. Don’t get too excited – low maintenance doesn’t mean “no” maintenance. However, you can clear and turn over the green areas and lay a patio. You can do this all over, or leave a small green area for growing. Pick up some outdoor tables and Adirondack Chairs Online, and it’s a great place to have a barbecue in summer. Place a water feature, install a grill and you can even bring up the resale value.
Space For A Menagerie
Many of us are animal lovers and have one or more cats and dogs. What we often don’t think about is how a garden means we have space for exotic (or unusual) pets. You may never before have considered chickens, aviary birds or even a goat, but if you love the idea of a family of pets, a big garden can really work. You do need to make sure their accommodation is suitable for all weathers, which can be pricey. However, it can pay for itself through eggs, breeding and sheer joy.
Having an outside space allows for utility, entertaining or the little pleasures in life. It may not be something that crosses your mind the first time you look for a house. However, the more you move the more you’ll appreciate the difference a garden makes. As you make it more and more your own, your garden will be a venue for memories, a place to sit out in summer and build snowmen in winter.
And if all of that sounds a little too much like hard work, then get an apartment. You won’t have a garden to worry about, but you’re missing out, believe me.
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