How to make your garden age-appropriate
With age, the demands and expectations of one's own garden also change. The options are numerous and can range from small changes with personal contributions to interval maintenance by a gardener to measures that garden planners take on through construction companies. There are options for every budget to be able to enjoy one's garden at any age.
The garden - a mirror of its owners
Just like its owners, the demands on the garden are also changing. Young home builders want a garden with room for children to play, and fruit trees and berry bushes are probably also in demand. In addition, a vegetable patch, a herb corner, a garden shed and, depending on the financial possibilities, a pool or pond, a staircase here, some stepping stones there - such a garden is a lot of work. But at some point the children are out of the house, mowing the lawn is no fun on the worn and uneven lawn, the vegetable patch is an increasing challenge when it stings the knees or the back. How then is it possible to make the garden a space of joy again, even and especially when the demands and expectations of the garden have changed?
What do I expect from (my) garden?
Before making any changes in the garden, you should ask yourself what you want from your piece of land. Is it more for relaxation and less work? Is it important to you that you can stay and move around in your garden for a long time without being afraid of tripping hazards? The vegetable garden has always given you so much pleasure, but increasingly the care is becoming a burden? The lawn is a dream, but mowing it is just a nuisance? There are simple solutions to all these questions that don't have to be expensive, but make an enormous contribution to garden enjoyment.
A vegetable garden rises - create a raised bed
A big trend away from gardening by the sweat of our brow - with bent backs - are raised beds; and not only among the older generation. Raised beds make it much easier to grow vegetables, as they eliminate the need to bend over, relieve the strain on joints and backs, and even produce a better harvest than a vegetable bed on the ground, thanks to the heat stored inside the raised-bed boxes, for example. Garden centres and garden designers offer many different variants and can also create these beds on request.
Mulching: less watering, fewer weeds
"Bare soil is unnatural." Moreover, it requires much more effort to regularly loosen and rake the soil, to water frequently and to weed again and again. Mulching, on the other hand, makes several things easier at once. Just as forest soil is always protected from drying out by a layer of leaves and also keeps weeds down, bark mulch in the garden is this protective layer. This or a mulch layer of (not too much) grass cuttings and/or leaves saves a lot of work and also valuable drinking water if no rain barrel is available for irrigation.
Atmospheric ambience and more safety
If you haven't already discovered the effective play of electric light sources in your garden at night, you will benefit at the latest if you also provide sufficient lighting in your garden at night. Sure, you can find your way from the kitchen to the compost heap blindfolded. But the path is safer if it is sufficiently illuminated. Solar-powered lights with integrated timers and twilight sensors are just as suitable as a professionally designed lighting concept. Tripping hazards, broken rakes or other sources of danger are easier to spot. In addition, an indirectly illuminated garden pond sets a completely different mood in the garden thanks to completely new light reflections, and trees, staged with lighting, look particularly interesting at night.
Strenuous work - do the hedges all have to go now?
Watching some garden owners shave off hedges that have grown opaque over decades because they no longer trust themselves to maintain these imposing natural walls makes the garden lover's heart heavy. It is therefore worth calculating what it would cost to have the hedge trimmed twice a year. Gardeners and landscapers offer a wide range of maintenance services for private gardens. Perhaps it doesn't have to be a professional, a nature lover might be happy to pay a small amount of pocket money for hedge maintenance, or there might be help from voluntary organisations or family members? If no solution can be found, there are opaque fence elements, mats or foils, plain or with a motif, which are guaranteed not to need trimming. If you remove an old hedge that offers a view of a neighbouring property, you should always clarify this with the neighbours concerned.
Garden redesign as an increase in value for the property
In addition to many possibilities for redesigning the garden to make work easier, one important aspect of professional garden design should not be underestimated: A well-maintained garden also increases the value of the property to which it is attached.
Gardening companies, abbreviated GaLa Bau, take care of the planning and redesign as well as regular maintenance for every garden dream. First of all, it should be discussed what atmosphere should prevail in the garden. There is the option of a wellness garden. If, for example, a terrace with barbecue facilities is available and - if the budget allows - a natural swimming pond that does not require chemicals and cleans itself naturally with water plants, this is an alternative to a high-maintenance garden pond and swimming pool in the conventional form, provided that the ground level is suitable. Other possible low-maintenance garden types include an Asian garden with bamboo, a scented garden or a rock garden, whereby the styles can of course also be combined.
Even a lawn that has been used as a children's playground for many years will look like new again after a facelift by a gardener or horticulturist. The bocce balls no longer bounce erratically over bumps and the use of a robotic mower can also be planned in the course of the lawn renovation. This saves having to push the lawn mower from now on and ensures that the lawn is always trimmed in the same way. A sprinkler system that prevents the lawn from burning out on hot summer days can also be installed at the same time.
In addition, a completely barrier-free path can be laid around the house, and with the bonus of underfloor heating, there is no need to clear snow in winter months with heavy precipitation. Thanks to digital technology, all of this can now be conveniently controlled with a smartphone. Just like smart shading technology for the awning, water features, lighting installations and, and, and ...
