Enjoy your garden more this summer

Learn how to style your outdoor party, grow your own cocktail decorations, replant window boxes, and more.

With long days, warm sunshine, warm nights and plenty of things to harvest, taste and enjoy, summer is the season to savor what the garden has to offer. Here are some ideas for making the most of this month, including ways to spend more time outdoors and easy garden updates that will provide immediate rewards.

Change your morning routine

Even if you only have five minutes, grab a cup of coffee and a piece of toast and enjoy it outside in your yard. Maybe you want to take this time to practice mindfulness, or maybe you just want to sit and watch the birds flit between your garden beds. Starting your day in nature on your way to work can help you feel calmer and more focused.

Plant fruits, vegetables, and herbs you’ve never grown before

Whether you’re planting ‘Green Globe’ artichokes, heirloom tomatoes, purple beans, alpine strawberries or peppers, try growing something new this season. Perhaps you’ll be surprised and even delighted by the way it grows and how it tastes, and you’ll be inspired to use your new produce in your summer meals.

Is your kitchen garden already making the most of its space? Inspire your recipes by adding a few containers of unusual herbs, such as Thai basil, perilla, lemongrass, Vietnamese coriander, chocolate mint, chervil, and lemon verbena.

Celebrate in the backyard

With a few easy and inexpensive updates, your garden can feel like a new festive destination.
Consider putting on some lights, hanging paper garlands or traditional flags, breaking out colorful
pillows, or investing in a portable fire pit.

Grow decorations for your favorite summer drinks

Instead of buying herbs from the supermarket that have a short shelf life, plant a few varieties that you often use to garnish cocktails. Start with basil, mint, cilantro, or all three, and get creative with others like lavender, violet, or lemongrass.

If you have space in your garden and have a Mediterranean climate, consider adding a fruit tree or two with great cocktail potential, such as Meyer lemons, kumquats, pomegranates and limes.

Install an outdoor shower

Making your dream of washing under the sky a reality may be easier than it looks. If you have a water hookup nearby preferably on the outdoor wall of your indoor bathroom, all you need to do to install an outdoor shower is install basic plumbing and shower fixtures and create a drain away from the house. Maybe this summer.

Refresh the window box

This pint-sized garden is a great way to add color to your home without using larger garden tools.Plant long-blooming summer annuals and perennials in boxes, such as sun-loving lavender, geranium, lobelia and trailing bacopa. For partially shaded windowsills, consider begonias, impatiens, and golden creeping jenny.

Decorate your tree farm 

Plants with interesting foliage often require less care than plants planted primarily for their flowers.

At least we can skip the deadlock. To make your foliage-centric bed as beautiful as flowers, choose foliage plants with high color and texture contrast and plant them close together. For example, this flower bed displays both color and texture through the contrast of sticky, dark purple New Zealand flax leaves with lime green grass and upright architectural agave.

On the contrary, choose all the flowers and plant a single type of lush summer flowers in your flower bed for a variety of colors. It will require a little more maintenance than a flower bed with mixed leaves, but it will look like a celebration of summer. Easy to grow and delightful, sunflowers are always a good choice.

Arrange the hammock

Summer evenings are a time for relaxation. What’s better than swinging in a hammock? Hang one between two trees in your backyard, between the posts of a sturdy pergola, or on a railing on your inside patio. Don’t have the perfect place to hang it? Invest in a hammock with its own frame. The advantage is that you can choose the most attractive spot in your backyard to place your hammock.

Provide a source of water for birds and bees

If you live in a dry summer climate, native birds, insects and other wildlife may struggle in the months leading up to rain. This is especially true in areas where natural water resources have been lost to development.

Consider setting up a simple water fountain or filling an empty pot dish with water and stopping to see if you can have a drink. Remember to keep the water constantly filled and clean as these little creatures learn to use it as a water source.

Roll out your outdoor rug

Make your deck or patio more inviting with a seasonal outdoor rug. Most outdoor rugs are made from durable nylon, polyester, or polypropylene, often recycled materials, and many are treated to resist fading when exposed to sunlight. Products made from bamboo, jute, and other natural fibers are less weather-resistant and are best used on covered patios or decks.

Tell us: How are you planning to make the most of your outdoor space this summer?