A beautiful garden is every homeowner's dream. Garden for the lazy: Creating a beautiful, low-maintenance garden

Who among us does not dream of country house entwined with flowers, about a nice corner in the garden among the flowers? Let's pay a little attention to getting to know beautiful examples landscape design which will help us figure out how to do it ourselves Beautiful design garden by adding exciting new colors, shapes and scents to our beloved garden.

What makes our garden beautiful? In fact, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to garden design. Everything contributes to the overall picture: flower beds, a beautiful garden, a gazebo, paths, a gate, a bench ... we can all continue this list ourselves.


1. Think about the color palette of your garden. Your garden can include all the colors of the rainbow, as well as be solved in one color scheme - blue and pink, for example.


2. Decorate your home - use the same color scheme that you have chosen for the garden. And of course, flowers - there are never too many flowers in this place.


3. Do not be afraid to make your way to the house among thickets of flowers - the main thing is that they do not have thorns and thorns. For example, use a path slightly raised above the ground as the border of a flower garden.


4. Think over a beautiful flower garden at the entrance to the garden - right at the gate, it is difficult to underestimate the first impression that it will make.


5. Use various forms plants - tall spiers of delphinium, sage and lavender blend beautifully with roses and irises.


6. Use textural combinations of garden flowers and ornamental grasses and shrubs.


7. Make sure your garden paths run alongside beautiful flower beds so you can enjoy the scent of the flowers once again.


8. Don't forget the roses in the flower garden - traditional garden queens will add elegance to any flower garden.


9. For shady corners of the garden, use white plants - so your site will appear larger and lighter.


10. Experiment with flower beds. The prickly eryngium in the depths of the flower garden not only adds a mystical silvery color to the color scheme of the garden, but also towering over the rest of the flowers, brings a new interesting accent. And for those who love beautiful legends, the eryngium in the garden brings peace to the family.


11. Don't underestimate the importance of ornamental grasses - along with flowering plants, they will add delicate shades of green, density and rich texture to your flower garden.


12. Containerized flowers will help cover up any slip up in your first design plan.


13. Play with the height of the plants - it ranges from creeping plants to tall mallow spiers.


14. Do not become a fan of any one design solutions in the garden - it's good when there is a place for a flower garden, and for a lawn, and for a vegetable garden.


15. Before embarking on your garden design, double-check your budget and the time you are willing to spend on it.


And, of course, do not forget to take a moment to enjoy the results of your work - after all, a beautiful garden design that you yourself made is ready to delight you every minute.

photo Glenna Partridge

A beautiful verdant garden is the dream of many, but not everyone is ready to regularly spend several hours caring for it. You, too, would not refuse a beautiful garden, but doubt that you can keep it in order?

Of course, no garden is completely without hassle, but there are many ways to alleviate them. Some of them you can find out today.

In this issue, we have collected 12 tips from experienced gardeners and landscape designers on how to create a garden that is easy to care for. We are sure that you will find many valuable ideas in them.

And to illustrate the tips - more than 50 photos of gardens that do not give their owners a lot of trouble. We wish you successful finds, especially relevant now - with the onset of a new gardening season!

1. Reduce the space reserved for planting.

Of course, a garden without plants is not a garden. But no one calls to get rid of them completely - just take them under the green less space. For example, arrange such miniature green corners next to the benches - they look just as beautiful as large flower beds, but much neater. Not to mention that they require less maintenance.

2. Reduce the size of the lawn or abandon it.

Ideal or at least a decent view of the lawn - headache many gardeners. If you understand that the effort expended is not worth the result, give up the lawn or at least reduce its size. As a result, you will be freed from the lion's share of the work associated with sowing, cutting, weeding, but at the same time the garden will remain a garden.

3. Mulch the ground.

Mulch is a kind of fertilizer made from wood chips, fallen leaves and bark, which is poured over the soil. It inhibits the growth of weeds, reduces moisture loss, but the best part is that it makes the flower bed (and open land) look much more well-groomed. Just think: you only need to spread the mulch once and you will get rid of so many problems!

4. Give up whimsical crops.

Growing citruses or rhododendrons in your own garden is definitely a great idea... if you live in a dreamland. Alas, the reality is harsh: the more exotic the plant, the less likely it is to take root in the cold Russian climate.

No matter how attractive overseas cultures are, discard them in favor of those that are specific to your region. This will save you from unnecessary work and frustration in case something goes wrong.

5. Replace flower beds with picturesque bushes.

Flowers are more beautiful than just greenery, but they also require more care. If you are not ready to spend the whole summer caring for a flower bed, replace it with bushes. And don't worry that a garden without flowers will be boring - take a look at the illustrations below and see that the foliage can be pretty too. Or just plant flowering shrubs.

6. Plant colorful perennials.

If you have ever grown annual plants, you know how problematic it is to sow them every season. Discard them in favor of perennials - they bloom longer, while requiring a minimum of care.

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7. Simplify.

The main rule: if it is difficult, simplify. Forgo complex decisions in favor of crops that are easy to care for, even if such plants look simpler. Sometimes beautiful is what is simple.

8. Don't get involved.

This does not mean at all that you need to let the garden overgrow. But admit it, you can't control everything.

Therefore, let some corners of the garden develop on their own, and find a comfortable place for yourself and admire the moss, falling leaves, wild plants ... In general, let nature surprise you - your garden will only benefit from it.

9. Add some water.

Big pond - big worries, and if you are reading this article, you are probably not ready for them. However, water is important element that adds magic to any garden.

To enjoy this treasure of nature, put a bowl of water or even a small fountain in a prominent place - in the warm season, birds and insects will flock there, and the garden will literally come to life.

10. Organize your gardening supplies.

Finding a shovel or lawnmower part can be time consuming if the tools are scattered all over the place. Save your own energy by taking garden utensils to a certain place. This can be either an enclosed shed or a few hooks, depending on how many items you have.

So, you are a happy owner of a summer cottage. Moreover, its dimensions allow you to set up a beautiful garden - the one you have seen more than once in numerous booklets offering landscape design ideas. Of course for correct layout garden it is better to invite a specialist. But what if the budget is limited? Use the recommendations on how to create a beautiful garden with your own hands without spending extra money.

How to create a garden with your own hands without extra spending?

Before you properly set up a garden on a plot without extra expenses, think about where these costs come from, what do we pay for when we buy something? The answer is obvious: in the end, we pay money for someone's time, knowledge and experience, work. Although knowledge and experience is also the time spent on acquiring them. We spend money in order to save our time: to plant a big tree right away, and not wait five years for it to grow from a tiny twig (it's just that someone spent this time for us and worked for it to grow in a nursery).

We spend money to have a landscape designer design a garden space for us, because we ourselves do not understand the intricacies of perception, harmony and composition. We spend money so that a team of five workers in three days put up a fence that would take a month to do alone.

But if you decide that you need design, wood, and a fence, they will not arise on their own. Therefore, if you do not want to spend money on them, you will have to do everything yourself. And the result is very often much better than from hired labor. After all, you won’t cheat for yourself and you will do everything at the highest level!

How beautiful to set up a garden and at the same time save money? In order to become an advanced gardener or your own landscape designer, you do not need to graduate from universities. Smart man with a school education, he can do anything, his knowledge is more than enough to understand the intricacies of gardening. The missing information can be drawn from books and the Internet. What remains is the engine of this whole process — interest. A garden with your own hands is very exciting, and gardening can become an exciting hobby, a new direction of development. And the result will be a magnificent garden.

To make a beautiful garden with your own hands, as practice shows, is possible for everyone. When you create a garden on your own, you learn a lot, and the most versatile knowledge is required, from physics and chemistry to biology and artistic principles. It takes time to study the sciences, but in the end, all this contributes to your personal growth. The acquired skills will always remain with you, like any other education. And who knows if they will come in handy in the future?

Look at the photo beautiful gardens with their own hands - many of them are no different from those created by professionals:

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There are people who started out with an in-depth study of the aspects of garden planning to create their own garden, and as a result have become well-known landscape designers.

How to plan a garden the right way

If you are closely engaged in studying the question of how to set up a garden, remember that optimal layout lies in simplicity and conciseness.

The economical gardener is his own designer. Do-it-yourself garden planning mistakes are expensive, an eyesore and result in additional costs. And since the stage of landscaping a garden is very important, it is better to take it most seriously, study all aspects of planning, review many photographs, cultivating and honing taste, considering preferences.

If the site is not bare and has been used before, it has the buildings, structures you need, as well as trees that you would certainly like to save. Before you properly lay out the garden on suburban area, you need to put all this on the plan (in this case, it is desirable to take into account neighboring buildings). Also when planning beautiful garden you need to orient yourself to the cardinal points, determine the direction of the slope, if any, the type of soil, find out at what depth ground water. All this is the primary design data, the basis that must be reckoned with.

It's easy to say "apply to the plan". How to do it in practice? How to “arrange” garden objects on paper relative to each other in the same way as they are in reality? If you have a fairly flat area, you can easily do it yourself, without resorting to other people's services and without spending money or physical strength.

As you can see in the photo, for planning a garden on paper (optimally millimetric) you will need a ruler, a compass and a pencil, for “drawing” on the ground - a rope, tape measure and pegs:

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A rope with pegs tied on both sides will play the role of a compass, a tape measure - a ruler, and you can draw lines by driving in pegs. In order to outline a straight line, it is enough to drive in pegs at its ends; to mark a curve, you need as many pegs as possible.

To properly plan a garden, it is most convenient to take measurements in early spring or in late autumn, when there is no tall vegetation that can interfere with pulling a rope or seeing something important. To determine the location of buildings, it is enough to mark several of their corners and linear dimensions, for trees - the center of the trunk and the radius of the crown. If the crown is shifted to one side, a larger radius.

To transfer garden objects to the plan, one of the theorems of geometry is used: if all sides of two triangles are equal, these triangles are equal. At the site, it is necessary to select at least two literally starting points for measurements. They are always there. These can be the corners of the house, the corners of the site, an electric pole, etc. These points should be separated by several meters, not be nearby.

When you have determined the location of, for example, an old apple tree relative to the house, it becomes another starting point. The next object gives another point, and so on. Accounted objects (= starting points) is getting bigger. Fixing objects one by one, we move around the site and as a result we get the desired plan of "assets".

Only after understanding and taking into account what you have, you can start planning what you want.

As shown in the photo, before setting up a garden, be sure to draw a few plans to figure out as many options as possible:

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At this stage, do not think about the layout of the trees in the garden and the cost of implementation, just draw a picture. By superimposing tracing paper on the base plan, you can get many copies and draw on them what is planned. Can also be used computer programs for design. They have many advantages, for example, they can immediately represent your plan with a three-dimensional model.

And one more important aspect that must be taken into account before setting up a garden: trees and shrubs tend to grow strongly! The approximate sizes of some trees and shrubs 10-15 years after planting in small seedlings are presented in this table.

	crown radius	Height
Scotch pine
Spruce common and prickly
Larch
Umbrella apple tree		trunk height +0.5 m
Euonymus european
Hydrangeas paniculata
Bubbles
Pedunculate oak
Oak red

Landscaping a garden: design layout on the site (with photo)

When designing a garden landscape design, first of all, decide on the style. Look at photographs of gardens on the Internet, magazines and books. Pay attention only to the general feeling. What do you like? Which gardens in the landscaping of the site attract you the most? Strict, with straight lines, angles and an abundance of geometric shapes, or something like a wild forest with winding paths and clearings?

The first is regular gardens, the second is nature-style gardens. Usually regular gardens are more appropriate for large spaces and with houses classical style. They demand perfect purity and accuracy, constant care and support. Almost everything is cut in them: from grass to bushes and trees, and this is a lot of work. They can be done in small gardens, but this requires knowledge of many landscape techniques. Otherwise, a vulgar mixture of French and Nizhny Novgorod comes out.

With natural gardens, landscape design of the site is easier. They are more democratic and less demanding on conditions, can be solved different ways, they are as multifaceted as nature, imitate it. Probably, for a budget garden, this is a more suitable style.

How do-it-yourself garden planning is done is shown in the photo below:

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Look at the resulting plan. Is it beautiful as an abstract picture? Not as a plan, but as a graphic object, a drawing? If yes, then the garden will turn out beautiful. You can start implementing.

A good test of the correctness of the garden design layout is the view of the garden in the off-season and in winter. In summer, when the garden is dressed in foliage, it hides and smooths out imperfections. A bare garden in gloomy weather, without bright flowers and contrasting leaves, shows its true nature. Do you plan to live in the garden year-round? This is especially important for you.

In the process of how to create a garden with your own hands, do not forget about moderation and accuracy.

It is not enough to create a garden (although it is the implementation of landscape ideas that takes the lion's share of finances). He still needs to be taken care of! And that also requires work and/or money. Who will mow the lawn? Who weeds the flower beds? Trim trees, cut hedges? You yourself? Is there enough energy and time? Or wage-earners? Are they affordable?

You say it's not all that necessary? And here it is not. Let us return to the comparison with a beauty: if she is not combed, her teeth are not brushed, her clothes are not ironed, will her beauty be so noticeable? The garden is a match for her: the grass needs to be cut, the shaggy lawn ceases to be a wonderful backdrop for beautiful flower beds. Plantings need to be weeded, otherwise their structure and outline of plants are lost, or even the flowers will not be visible at all due to weeds. Trees without care get sick and lose their decorative effect. Perhaps the neglected garden has some charm of decadence, but it is sad in it.

Accuracy for the beauty of garden landscape design is perhaps in second place after the original layout. And what to do, how to calculate your strength in order to maintain it at the proper level, without driving yourself into exhausting work and without attracting specialists from outside?

Before you set up a garden on the site, first of all, it is worth subduing appetites. It is very tempting to have a lot of land, and besides, a large garden provides more options in terms of design.

However, from my own experience I can say that without living permanently in the garden, it is almost impossible for 1-2 people to maintain 20-25 acres. So that the garden does not become a heavy duty, it is advisable for a small family to limit itself to 10-15 acres. That is, accuracy is largely determined by moderation.

But what if there is already a large garden? An attempt to embrace the immensity on your own will mean a fiasco. It is better (at least for a start) to select some piece of the garden and work on it, bringing it to perfection. Well, if it is visually separated from the rest of the parts. In a couple of years, on 1-2 acres, you will have an ideal corner where you can come to admire and relax. And at the same time get a good workout, make some mistakes and be able to take this experience into the rest of the space if you decide to master it. In this case, it is desirable to draw up a plan for the entire site from the very beginning and adhere to it.

As shown in the photo of the landscape design of the garden, in addition to ennobling a small piece, you can plant trees that form the basis of the site, but require a long time to develop to full size (oaks, maples, apple trees, etc.):

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They can grow in a not very combed part, it is enough to keep the trunk circles mulched. But by the time the hands reach these corners, the trees will grow up, and the backbone of the garden will already be laid.

Moderation matters in another aspect as well. When the price of plants is not too important, a lot of not very necessary ones are bought in passing - only for beautiful needles or because the picture on the label is pretty. As a result, one problem first arises: where to plant. Soon another: what to do with the overgrown. But most main problem it becomes that the garden, as if it no longer belongs to you, but to these bought strangers who filled it. There are a lot of plants, they are planted randomly, they crowd each other, they do not combine well with each other. It turns out ugly. And to get rid of part of the planted, oh, what a pity!

As shown in the photo, in the garden with your own hands, each species, it is better to plant a variety in an array of several plants, so that the size of such a flap matches the environment, other plantings and design elements:

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Most perennials are not a problem to propagate to such an amount in 2-3 years from one division. Savings and beauty is evident.

The same applies to many elements of the garden. What is usually included in the "landscape set" on the site? Lawn, "alpine" slide, pond and / or stream or fountain, humpback bridge, gazebo, pergola. Of all this, only a lawn and a gazebo can be considered really necessary (and even then not for every family). Everything else is just ways of dividing or connecting space, means, not an end. And, alas, being erected on a six to ten hundredth plot, where there is already a house, a garage and a bathhouse, they overload it excessively. Is it possible to save money on all this? Certainly yes! If you can refuse these elements, it is better to refuse all of them, or at least move them to the very bottom of the list of plans. If you really want to still entertain yourself, select only one element from this list (except for the lawn). One! But make it a decent size and quality.

How to properly and beautifully set up a garden at their summer cottage (with photo)

Often, when talking about gardening, they mention that it is an ecological activity. Usually, when laying a garden, the owner adds soil (destroying the existing soil layer), arranges drainage and watering system, changing the hydrology of the site, destroys weeds (native plants), planting poorly adapted exotics instead. It seems that the ecological approach is still more likely to preserve the original natural conditions of the site, rather than such global transformations.

When it comes to finances, it's all very expensive. Moving hundreds of cubic meters of soil, digging deep ditches, purchasing and installing irrigation equipment - it's not realistic to do it alone or with the help of a small family on weekends. We have to hire workers and equipment.

Look: the vast majority of gardens in Russia are located on the plain. It is clear that this does not automatically mean a perfectly flat area. But the slopes are usually very gentle, soil erosion and nutrient leaching do not occur on them. There is no need to bring such a site to the same height or make terraces, and even more so pour artificial mountains. If there are no real mountains and hills in the landscape surrounding the garden, such a structure looks artificial.

Adding "fertile" soil often leads to directly opposite results. For example, in middle lane the most common are loams, which are excellent soil for agriculture and gardening: they are nutritious and moisture-intensive. But inexperienced gardeners think that fertile soil should be black, and the fact that after rain water lingers on the loam, and they also dig heavily, are considered huge shortcomings. A low-nutrient peat-sand mixture is brought to the site under the guise of black soil, and then kilograms of mineral fertilizers are spent on top dressing.

Drainage, of course, is a pleasant thing. Ideally, it solves the problems of excess water in the garden, especially in the spring after the snow melts and during rainy periods. However, when you take melt water, instead of letting them soak deep into the soil, you create a summer drought problem. Now you understand why drainage and watering always come with a kit? This is a bit exaggerated, but true. For the convenience of walking around the garden in shoes after rain, and not rubber boots, have to pay. Do you really need this convenience?

look at the old orchards: no one imported tens of tons of soil to create them. And they grow and bear fruit, often even being abandoned. And these are fruit, which are very critical to excessive moisture and lack of nutrition. Ornamental plants for the most part are even less demanding, the main thing is to choose the right ones for specific conditions.

It turns out that at the stage of creating a garden according to current standards and rules, the site is brought to certain standard conditions and a system is created to control and maintain these conditions. Then the garden is filled with standard plants. Surely such a garden will be both beautiful and comfortable. But it does not satisfy our conditions: it is expensive. And in many ways lost the charm of a particular place.

Instead of creating conditions for standard plants in a beautiful garden with your own hands, take into account the special conditions of our garden and surrender to them: use, do not fight them, planting special plants suitable for our garden. Do you have a flat area? Let him stay that way! There is no need for mountains and ravines, make flower beds from traditional cultures. Slope? Excellent, water drains faster and it becomes dry, you can think about an alpine slide.

Close to groundwater? And why not arrange a water garden, dig shallow, but extensive ponds without waterproofing, and due to the excavated soil, slightly raise the area around the house where water is still undesirable? A cottage on a peat bog? Let's drop the idea of ​​a rose garden and make a garden of heather and rhododendrons. Given any natural conditions, you can make a beautiful garden. Yes, the set of plants for him will be limited and different from the standard, and their selection will require quite deep knowledge. But you don’t have to spend money on global transformations, and the garden will acquire a unique face.

These photos show how to properly set up a garden on the site, taking into account all the above recommendations:

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Trees when planning a garden: the best plants for the middle lane

The best plants for the garden are simple and hardy. Exotics and rarities, experiments with novelties is a very exciting experience. However, passion for them leads to significant costs, as well as the inevitable loss of plants. After all, this is a roulette - to buy something new and find out whether it makes our climate or not.

If the virus of collecting has passed you, but there is a goal to create a beautiful environment for life with minimal reasonable costs, the approach to the plant component should be different. You don't need experiments, you need results. The best perennial plants for the garden are trees and shrubs that have already been tested, proven and resistant to the conditions of our site. Such plants develop well, require minimal care, almost do not get sick. They give a predictable result, which is exactly what we need!

If you live in a country house all year round, the importance of the stability of unpretentious perennial plants for the garden is even higher, because few people want to admire shelters for half a year.

Endurance, simplicity and provenness are especially important for arboreals. After all, they form the backbone of the garden, shape its appearance. Imagine that you planted an exotic tree at your own risk, several winters were mild, and it grew decently, fitting into the composition. But a severe winter happens, and our tree freezes to the level of snow. The composition disappears, and the emptiness in place of the tree is like a fallen tooth. And the replacement will not grow up soon. Reliable species and varieties will not let you down, and will only grow and please more and more year by year.

You can also look at old plantings in parks or private gardens. Anything that has been successfully growing for 20 or more years can be considered ideal plants in terms of resistance. Just do not forget to note the conditions in which the specimen that struck you is located: in the shade or in the sun, in a dry or damp place.

What usually catches the eye in the garden? Especially ladies? Perennials. Bright, profusely blooming. Phloxes, peonies, daylilies, roses are especially popular and do not cease to be fashionable - everything that blooms magnificently. But close your eyes and imagine a rectangular bed of peonies in the middle of a weed field with no woody surroundings. Is it beautiful?

So, despite the fact that they are the first to catch the eye, the main ones in the garden are not bright flowering perennials. They are more like costume details, a brooch, a fashionable scarf or a handbag. In fact, the garden is formed by trees and shrubs, coniferous and deciduous, evergreen and deciduous. They create volume, their trunks and branches set the rhythm, graphics, they delimit zones, fill the space. Among undemanding plants for the garden there can be both beautifully flowering and decorative leaf crops of various sizes and crown habit. The wood component is especially important in winter time. Just think: out of 12 months of the year, nothing blooms in the middle lane for 6 months! It's half a year! If the garden is your everyday habitat, not only during the warm season, trees become even more important, because it is them and only them that you will admire 5-6 months a year - in winter. Not a single phlox or rose blooms for so long!

Therefore, give priority to winter-hardy hardy plants that not only and not so much bloom luxuriously, but are also good for something else for a long time. Among the best plants for a garden in the middle lane are derains, maples and coniferous plants. At the Derens brightest color shoots in winter, many maples turn amazing colors in autumn, and conifers give green in winter and in the off-season, during the grayest periods.

Look at the photo, how to set up a garden on the site and what trees to plant on the site:

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These are the most unpretentious plants for the garden, they are much easier to care for. If they are chosen correctly, they need special attention only at the time of planting and the first season after it (watering). When they are rooted, woody ones develop almost independently. All that is required of their owner is perhaps some adjustment by pruning once a year, control of diseases and pests, as well as keeping the near-stem space clean.

Plantings of perennials constantly need care: watering, fertilizing, removing weeds, faded inflorescences, transplanting, thinning. Pay attention to abandoned gardens: what survives in them? Trees and shrubs. Perennials are consumed by weeds.

And now look: with a minimum of labor, woody ones give a long-term decorative effect. In addition, it is simply impossible to transplant many mature trees, and the loss of a large tree literally makes a hole in the composition. Therefore, pay special attention to their selection and landing. After all, these are the best unpretentious plants for the garden, its skeleton. And fashionable clothes - perennials - are faster and easier to pick up or change. They can be postponed until later.

As for annual flowers, if you want to save money, you can do without them altogether or reduce their number to a minimum. After all, they have to be bought or grown every year, and this is either financial or labor costs. The undoubted advantage of pilots in especially long flowering: many please us for 3-4 months.

Use local crops when choosing the best hardy plants for your garden. The same applies to materials: the more exotic they are, the more expensive they are. Yes, they can be beautiful and easy to use, but they are mined far away, which means that the cost due to delivery increases many times over. Another thing is local materials. Much can be “obtained” even on your own site: for example, in mountainous regions there are many own stone, and in the middle lane in some places boulders of various sizes come across in abundance in the soil.

If the site is poor in "minerals", there are bound to be quarries nearby, where everything is much cheaper than in the city in the stone markets. Not a large number of or waste can often be picked up for free.

The same applies to plants. Most garden centers and nurseries sell imported material. And while it reaches us, its cost increases by 3-4 times. In addition, suppliers often do not understand planting material and its stability, but they sell what is cheaper and brighter - it is bought better. Therefore, in garden centers you need to behave like in a pharmacy: even if there are a lot of bright beautiful boxes (plants) around, you only need to buy what the doctor ordered (or at least you yourself outlined in advance).

Any woman who is fond of floriculture can make a home garden with her own hands. A truly attractive do-it-yourself indoor garden can be organized only with right choice plants. Before you make a home garden, you must carefully read the recommendations given on this page.

An indoor garden is a vessel containing more than one plant. Not a single pot is visible - they have been removed or hidden from view.

Indoor gardens are still rare. Colorful plants such as everflowering begonias or coleus can be placed in the house in the same way as in the garden, but they are almost always grown in separate pots.

An indoor garden is a vessel in which more than one plant is grown, and in it, unlike the potted group, individual pots are not visible. It can be a simple bowl with a few plants or a whole forest of greenery and flowers in a tiered structure, but the basic principles remain the same. The plants are either removed from the pots and planted in a vessel, or the pots are kept and masked with some sort of filling material.

Like the pot group, this is also a way to grow plants together. Both methods have whole line benefits. When the plants are close, their defects can be hidden, the humidity around the leaves increases, and it becomes easier to water.

The indoor garden also has its own unique advantages. Here you are truly gardening - planting plants together to create a sense of "oneness". The roots are better insulated, which helps protect the plants from the cold in an unheated room in the winter and from the scorching sun on the windowsill in the summer. Finally, if the pots are kept, there is a supply of water in the fill material.

Unfortunately, the indoor garden has several disadvantages compared to the potted group. It is easy to waterlog the compost as there is no drip tray to drain the run-off water when the plants are in pots. The danger of waterlogging is increased if the plants are grown directly in the substrate in a bowl or box.

They cannot be rotated to ensure uniform growth and are not easily removed when the plant needs to be replaced. However, there is something special about creating indoor gardens and this style should definitely become more popular.

Indoor gardens and mini gardens

Indoor gardens are created in various styles, which involve the use of different containers for these purposes. Further, indoor mini-gardens are offered, which are most convenient and functional in residential areas. You can choose a suitable indoor garden based on own desires and possibilities for its organization.

Standard box. The standard planting box is the main type of indoor garden. Don't buy too many plants - prefer larger ones so their shape and leaves aren't obscured by other plants. Instead of planting in compost, plant the plants directly in their pots in the infill so they can be easily rotated or replaced if needed.

Be careful when watering. The box has no drainage holes, and therefore waterlogging is common problem. Keep the infill layer damp, but not wet. It is best to put a water level sensor in the box or buy a soil moisture indicator. You will find that the box requires less frequent watering than individual plant pots.

Artistic composition. An indoor garden of this type can be no larger than a standard box. The essential difference is that the art composition consists of two or more containers, while the plants are on two or more levels.

You can use ready-made modules or buy separate containers and put them together. You can make your own container if you are a fan self made. Each lander can be considered individually, both in terms of landing and leaving. The lowest block of the composition shown in the illustration is planted with potted plants, which are replaced depending on the season - bulbous in spring, poinsettia at Christmas, etc. Tall specimens in the background form a permanent leafy backdrop.

How to make an indoor garden (with photo)

And now it's time to figure out step by step how to make an indoor garden in an apartment or in a house. To get started, you should look at the indoor garden in the photo that show various options these decorative designs:

Six steps to a successful indoor garden:

1. Choose a suitable box. Most of the boxes sold in the store are simple oblong trays made of white, black or green plastic. Wood and bamboo have more interesting surfaces, and a square or wide round shape gives more room for artistic arrangement. Any reasonably tall container can be used, but avoid patterned or brightly colored ones that can detract from or compete with plants.

2. Choose suitable plants. The first task is to find plants that have roughly the same requirements for light, warmth and watering. It's unreasonable to expect succulents and ferns to grow well together. Usually one or more tall plants, a few medium-sized plants, and then a few creeping and spreading plants are chosen to cover part of the edge of the box with them. Ornamental plants provide the basis - flowering species added to give extra color.

3. Create a drainage layer. Pour gravel into the bottom of the box with a layer of 5-8 cm.

4. Place the pots in the drawer. Place a thin layer of fill material over the drainage layer and arrange the pots in the correct order. It is better to use clay pots, always with drainage holes. A tall pot can be placed directly on top of the infill material, but smaller pots will need a stand to raise them to just below the rim of the crate. You can put a small pot on an inverted empty one.

5. Irrigation control. There are automatic watering systems with a water level indicator, but you can make a water level sensor with your own hands. Install a tube in the box, the base of which should touch the bottom of the box. Insert a stick into the tube and use it as a probe. The water level should normally be below the top of the drainage layer.

6. Place the fill material around the pots. The final step is to fill the gaps between the pots with a layer of moist compost. This fill layer should completely occupy the space between the drainage layer and the rim of the pots. Filling material should not be laid around plant stems.

There are various planting recommendations that allow you to make a garden indoor plants the most attractive. Make sure the height and shape of the plants match the dimensions of the box. Try to pick plants with large differences in leaf shape.

In a small box, a narrow vertical sansevieria or openwork grevillea and dizigoteka will provide height. The choice of tall plants for a large box is easier: popular, dracaena, ficus, monstera and philodendrons.

Plants with colored leaves are suitable for a medium-sized box. Pay attention to the red leaves and yellow scindapsus, and ivy. From plants with multicolor leaves, choose croton, and royal.

Finally, the popular four ampelous plants are ivy, tradescantia, dwarf ficus and zebrina.

DIY hanging flowers in pots and their photos

In most cases, potted hanging flowers should be placed at or above eye level for their beauty to be appreciated. Pots can be placed on a stand or a high shelf. But if you want to create a composition that will decorate the upper part of the room, use hanging baskets. Baskets are usually hung in front of a window and on a long bare wall where a bracket is used to hold the container. There are two types of hanging baskets. You can make hanging flowers with your own hands in the form of standard waterproof containers suspended from chains or wire, but the best option are plastic baskets with built-in tray.

Ceiling or wall mounting must be secure. Use soilless plants and surround the pots with moist compost. Hanging baskets should not be left unattended - the air under the ceiling is warmer than elsewhere, so more frequent watering may be necessary. It is better to install a mechanism for lowering and raising the basket, but you can also use a pump-action watering can.

Don't limit your choices to the usual ampelous plants such as ivy and dwarf ficus - include flowering cascade-type species such as fuchsia, bluebells and lobelia.

A pot-et-fleur is a square or round vessel in which a small number of ornamental leaf houseplants are grown in potting compost. Its unique feature is that a deep glass or metal cylinder is inserted into the compost in front of the tallest plant and between medium-sized plants. Then it is filled with water and a small flower arrangement is placed in it. In this way, flowers from the garden or flower shop can be used to create an ever-changing and colorful arrangement.

Mini gardens from indoor plants

You can create mini gardens from indoor plants to decorate a particular residential area. For example, a garden of indoor plants can be placed on a wide dish or in a deep bowl.

Built-in garden. The built-in garden is a permanent form of placement of indoor plants. This is a container built into the floor that contains soil or compost, much like a bed in a greenhouse. In the house they are placed in spacious halls, winter gardens or rooms; in offices and public buildings they are usually built in the foyer. It is most convenient to construct it simultaneously with the construction of the building.

Garden in a bowl. Mixed plantings in bowls contain different plants, not one species. Such compositions are more durable than just spring bulbous flowers. This is one of the most popular types of indoor garden, which can be purchased ready-made. Usually the vessel is a round bowl. There is a standard landing pattern. Tall plants, such as variegated ivy, are placed at the back of the bowl. Bushy or creeping and flowering plants are planted in front of it. To soften the look of the edge of the bowl, you can add ampelous ones, such as ivy or dwarf ficus.

Watering is a major problem - the lack of drainage holes makes overwatering difficult to avoid. If you're building a pot garden from scratch, it's best to use a vessel with drainage holes and lay down a layer of gravel before adding the compost. Place the bowl on the tray.

Mixed bowls are often criticized because this is not a permanent display - the plants grow quickly and it loses its decorative effect. However, it has been around longer than the flower arrangement, and the plants can be taken out and planted elsewhere.

Garden on a platter. A small indoor garden can be set up in shallow pots using carefully selected succulents and cacti. The surface of the container should be simple, but a varied and colorful collection of plants can make a garden dish an outstanding attraction. A watertight container can be used, but having drainage holes will help avoid the risk of overwatering.

Live screen. The dining area in the living room combined with the dining room can be separated different ways. Sometimes used wooden partition. A few pots in niches will help to revive such a divider. Many plant lovers prefer a live screen. A deep and fairly wide container is placed on the floor, and trellises or a series of decorative supports are set in the substrate. These supports run from floor to ceiling. The pots are then inserted into the substrate. Suitable plants: ivy, syngonium, scindapsus, Benjamin's ficus, tiny ficus, climbing philodendron and cissus.

Here the construction of the house is completed. Now is the time to think about how to equip your own garden plot. A beautifully designed and well maintained garden is every homeowner's dream. After all, the design of the garden can become not only an indicator of the refined taste of the owner of the house, but also an object of admiration and even envy of others.

It is desirable to design the garden in a single, pre-selected style.

Moreover, at present there are a large number of opportunities for decorating garden plots, both independently and with the help of professional landscape designers who will tell you how to make the garden beautiful.

The decor of gardens and vegetable gardens should be approached competently, because correct location beds, trees, shrubs, flower beds can give the site a unique and original look. In any case, before proceeding with the design, you should either select a specific designer style and try to stick to it in the future, or to your taste, based on your own preferences and desires.

Choice of design direction

The choice of the style of the garden plot directly depends on the exterior finish of the house to which the garden will adjoin, on the size land plot and from the features of the relief. In a word, everything should harmoniously correspond to each other. Consider 2 main areas of garden design: landscape and regular.

The essence of the landscape direction is natural beauty landscape, ease of decorative forms of plants. This direction includes Chinese, English and Japanese styles of garden design. The next direction is regular. It is based on various ideas of a regular combination of shapes and colors of vegetation. Here you can highlight the Italian, Moorish, French gardens.

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Basic styles

The main element of decoration in all styles are flower beds.

Based on the above directions, designers distinguish the following styles: modern, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese styles, romantic Italian style, Russian rural style.

A feature of the design of the French garden is the so-called "solemn morality", where all the paths are parallel or perpendicular, and the trees form symmetrical groups. In this style, plants such as gray spruce, barberry, maple, thuja, decorative plums and apple trees, etc. are most often used.

The English garden is characterized by smooth lines and natural landscape. The paths are laid sinuously, and the plants are planted in tiers. This is done in order to create a feeling of naturalness. Plants can be any, there are no strict recommendations.

The Art Nouveau garden is based on the naturalness of the landscape and is characterized by the absence of straight lines and right angles. The style is quite simple, the number of elements and the variety of plants is limited. Preference is given to irises, peonies, lilies, daffodils, etc.

The Spanish garden is a platform closed from prying eyes. Usually, apple trees, plums or pears are planted around the perimeter. A reservoir is placed in the center, around which there is a rose garden. There are no lawns in this area. Flowers should be bright, and bushes should be clearly trimmed.

The Italian style is a slightly sloping site with a paved veranda and a small pond framed by a rose garden. The style implies a lot of shrubs and flowering plants, at the same time, heat-loving plants in containers are appropriate.

The Art Nouveau garden uses a minimal number of design elements and is based on the naturalness of the landscape.

The simplest in terms of care is considered a rural garden in the Russian style. It is distinguished by a natural abundance of colors. Baths, gazebos, verandas give comfort to the site. Here are present fruit trees, garden with medicinal herbs, mixed flower beds. Of the flowers most often found Turkish cloves, phlox and tobacco.

The main principle of the Chinese style is the harmony of architecture and landscape. Rounded buildings, winding paths, bridges, diverse vegetation. Red, yellow and green are the preferred colors of this style.

A feature of the Japanese style is the re-creation of the image of a natural landscape. The presence of reservoirs, originally located stones, decorative lamps is mandatory. In this style, dwarf pines are especially popular.

Thus, from the whole variety of styles, each owner of a garden plot can choose something to his taste. However, almost all of the above design solutions will not be easy to bring to life without the help of a landscape designer.

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DIY gardening

Arranging or creating your own garden is not only a creative and interesting process, but also a very laborious one. After all, I want the garden not only to be beneficial in the form of a harvest, but also to bring joy and pleasure to the soul, to be a place where you want to return again and again. Many homeowners have a stereotype that the only decoration of the garden can only be numerous and varied vegetation, but this is far from the case. There are many simple and original ideas to help and unforgettable.

The central element of the decoration of the garden in the Spanish style is a reservoir.

How to start work on the design of the garden plot? When the place for the garden is already ready, you should proceed to the selection of suitable trees. It is best to choose trees that are resistant to the Russian winter. It can be apple trees, cherries, plums, pears. good decision He will plant an apple tree on each corner of the garden, and plums or cherries between them. As the trees grow, they will create the feeling of a fence. To on garden plot no foreign plants grew, it is recommended to first plow the entire garden area, and then plant it with special grass for the lawn. In the middle, in an empty space, you can build something decorative that will attract attention, such as a pond or fountain.

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Creating a fountain

It is not necessary to buy a fountain at all, you can make it yourself. This will require the following building materials: several meters of hose, a pump and natural stones. The stones must be folded into a beautiful arbitrary shape, and drilled in the uppermost stone through hole. A hose must be passed through this hole. A ditch must be dug around the fountain to allow the water to drain, and a concrete fence must be built. The hose must be connected to the pump. To make the fountain even more beautiful, you can decorate it with glass pebbles or highlight the water.

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Arrangement of decorative paths

In the Italian style, as in the Spanish one, a pond is used, framed by shrubs and flowers.

For garden decor, paths from natural stone. But this is not a cheap pleasure. Fake diamond much cheaper than natural, so it is more affordable. In order to lay such a path, first of all, it is necessary to dig a ditch that will correspond to the length and width of the future stone path. To prevent grass from growing through the stones, you need to burn the roots of the plants. To do this, douse the dug ditch with gasoline, set it on fire and wait until the fire goes out on its own. Then you should lay a tarpaulin along the length of the entire ditch. The fabric will additionally protect the path from the germination of unnecessary plants. Now you can start laying the stone. The stone is attached to the cement. The gaps between the stones are filled with sand. It is possible, but they are not as durable as stone ones.

The cheapest way is to make a path out of cement and pieces of slate. To do this, fill half of the ditch with cement, and fill the other half with fragments of slate. After the concrete is almost dry, it is necessary to trample the pieces of slate into it so that they are immersed in the concrete. This option would be a very good replacement for a stone path.