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What did your garden teach you this summer? Seven signs your garden needs a rethink before next summer
Summer has a habit of showing you exactly what works – and what doesn't – in your garden.
Perhaps you discovered that your patio isn't quite big enough when friends come round. Maybe the place you thought would be perfect for evening drinks loses the sun by five o'clock. Or perhaps another summer of dragging chairs across the lawn has finally convinced you that your garden simply isn't working as hard as it could.
These little frustrations are easy to forget once autumn arrives. But they're also some of the best clues you have when it comes to planning a better outdoor space.
Before you pack away the garden furniture for another year, our garden expert and Product Portfolio Lead Nicole Bennett recommends taking a proper look at what your garden taught you this summer.
Here are seven signs it might be time for a rethink before next summer.
1. You never had enough room when people came over
Your patio might feel perfectly adequate when it's just you and a cup of coffee (or a G&T!).
Add a table, six chairs, a barbecue and a few guests, however, and suddenly it can feel very different.
If entertaining meant squeezing chairs into corners, putting furniture on the lawn or asking people to move every time somebody wanted to get past, your patio may simply be too small for the way you actually use it.
When planning a new space, don't just think about whether a table physically fits.
Think about the room you need around it. Can people comfortably pull their chairs out? Can you walk around the table? Is there space for a barbecue or outdoor kitchen? Where will people naturally stand and chat?
Design for what happens when your garden is being used, rather than how it looks when it's empty.
2. You kept moving the furniture to chase the sun – or escape it
Where the sun falls can completely change how you use your garden.
Perhaps your existing patio is beautifully sunny at breakfast but in complete shade by the time you finish work. Or maybe it's so exposed in the middle of the day that you rarely sit there.
Think about where you naturally gravitated towards this summer.
If you repeatedly carried a chair to another corner of the garden, that's useful information.
It doesn't necessarily mean moving your entire patio. Creating a second, smaller seating area, changing the layout or introducing different zones can give you much more flexibility throughout the day.
Before redesigning anything, watch your garden in the morning, at lunchtime and during the evening. Your garden will often tell you where the best places to sit actually are.
3. Getting from the house to the garden felt awkward
A good garden should be easy to move around.
If people have to squeeze past furniture when they step outside, cross muddy grass to reach another area or navigate an awkward step between the house and patio, the problem may be the layout rather than the size of your garden.
Think about the journeys you make most often.
From the kitchen to the dining table. From the back door to the shed. From the patio to the lawn. From the house to wherever you keep the barbecue.
Paths, paving and different zones can help connect those areas and make the whole garden feel more considered.
Sometimes improving how you move through a garden can make a bigger difference than simply adding more of everything.
4. Your garden didn't cope particularly well with the British weather
We'd all like to imagine our gardens permanently bathed in sunshine. But in reality the British weather has other ideas.
If water pooled on your patio after heavy rain, certain areas became muddy or slippery, or you noticed water collecting close to the house, don't ignore it.
Drainage, levels and falls are fundamental parts of a successful landscaping project.
They're also exactly the sort of things that should be considered at the beginning of a garden redesign rather than once new paving has already been chosen.
A professional landscaper can assess the existing levels and ground conditions and explain what may need to change.
Because however beautiful your finished patio is, it still needs to work when the weather doesn't.
5. You had a lovely garden – but nowhere you actually wanted to sit
There is a difference between a garden looking good and a garden being enjoyable to use.
You might have plenty of lawn, attractive planting and a perfectly respectable patio, but still find that nobody spends much time outside.
Ask yourself why.
Is the seating area in the wrong place? Does it feel exposed? Is it disconnected from the house? Is the patio dominated by bins, toys or garden storage? Does your furniture never quite fit comfortably?
Think about what would make you want to spend another hour outside.
A comfortable dining area? Somewhere for a morning coffee? A more private place to relax? A dedicated cooking area?
Start with the experience you want and build the garden around it.
6. The garden and the house feel like two completely different places
Your garden doesn't have to match your home, but the two should feel like they belong together.
Look at your existing paving alongside your brickwork, render, doors, windows and other exterior materials.
Do the colours work together? Does the style of the garden suit the property? Does stepping through the back door feel like moving naturally into another living space – or into something completely unrelated?
If you're planning new paving, don't choose it in isolation.
Order samples and put them outside against your home. Look at them in different parts of the garden, at different times of day and when they're wet as well as dry.
The paving you loved on a screen may look completely different when it's sitting next to your own brickwork.
7. You spent the summer saying, "Next year we'll sort this out"
This might be the biggest sign of all.
If every barbecue, sunny weekend or evening outside prompted another conversation about extending the patio, changing the paving or finally doing something with the garden, don't wait until the first warm weekend next spring to start thinking about it again.
Autumn is a brilliant time to pause and think about what’s been working - and what hasn’t - because you can still remember exactly what frustrated you.
Write those things down.
Think about how you want to use the garden. Start saving ideas. Set a realistic budget. Order free paving samples and speak to a Marshalls Accredited Installer and find out what's achievable.
You don't need to have every detail decided now.
But starting early gives you time to make considered choices rather than rushed ones.
Written By
Nicole Bennett
Nicole Bennett is Product Portfolio Lead (Landscaping) at Marshalls, where she leads the strategic development of the company’s landscaping product portfolio across both Commercial and Domestic markets.
