See how I plan my garden, and I’ll give you some great home garden ideas! Whether it’s vegetable, cutting, hedges, or ornamental, there’s ideas for everyone! Affiliate links are included – full disclosure here.
I asked you guys on my Instagram if you wanted to see some garden content, and the answer was a resounding YES! I am so excited you guys are on board, because I am geeking out on all things garden and I want to share with anyone who will listen!
When I was figuring out how to organize this content, I was so happy to realize that I could take almost the same process that I use to design my rooms, and just bring it outside to my garden. SO here we go!
Home garden ideas :
Function first
What do you want your garden to do? Consider the function FIRST before you think about what kind of plants you want or how you want it to look. Do you need it to:
- Provide a hedge/privacy screen?
- Give you gorgeous blooms to put into vases inside?
- Provide food (vegetables or fruit)?
- Give your exterior some personality and character?
Once you figure out what your need is, and what role your garden needs to serve, then you can move onto the next step.
Different types of gardens
We are really focusing on our vegetable garden and a cut flower garden this year. While we could TECHNICALLY work on doing all of the types of gardens all in one season, it’s not really realistic for our stage of life (or lets be honest…for our budget)!
So if you’re able to focus on one or two sections of your yard/garden a year, that is wonderful! You’ll have gardens that will be beautiful and more mature over a few years time and you’ll be thankful that you took your time and designed them intentionally.
Here’s some of the gardens you can focus on (PSA: I will be writing up a post on each of these in the next few weeks to go through each garden in greater detail!)
Cut Flower Garden:
Can I tell you that I am SO excited to grow a section of my gardens that will serve the sold purpose of providing fresh cut blooms that I can bring inside and have in a vase all spring and summer long? It will bring so much joy and color into our home, and if we eventually get enough, then we’ll be able to gift them to other people too!
I wrote a whole post all about the 12 best flowers to plant in your garden that will provide the best cut flowers to make beautiful bouquets. Click here to check it out!
Vegetable Garden:
It goes without saying that we are living in some unprecedented times, and many people are more curious now more than ever about growing their own fruits and vegetables at home. One of the things I was SO excited about in this new house was a big vegetable garden, and now I feel like we will be SO thankful for that this summer!
There are a LOT of resources out there for starting your first vegetable garden, so until I make my own, I will link some of the most helpful ones down here:
- How to start a vegetable garden (this is a good comprehensive post!)
- Vegetable Gardening for Beginners
- Vegetable garden planner (you can actually “make” your own bed up online here with this tool)
Container Garden:
Outdoor flower pots for small garden, patio or terrace
If you don’t have a ton of space available, then container gardening might be a really great option for you! It can also be a great way to grow herbs, which is what we are planning on doing on our property. Even though we will have a larger vegetable garden, we will be growing herbs separately (and in a spot that is closer to the kitchen) in a tiered planter. This is the one we bought for this purpose. But here’s some others I think would be perfect for smaller scale container gardening:
Hedges/privacy screens:
It’s not technically a “garden”, but it can be really helpful or necessary to make a privacy screen out of plants! We’re planning on adding some hedges to our property over the next few years (oh man I sometimes wish budgets weren’t a “thing” and we could just do it all at once haha).
While you can build your own privacy screen (here’s a post with lots of ideas that aren’t made of plants), you can also grow a privacy screen!
Using plants like Arborvitae, Rhododendrons, and Cypress, you can create a privacy screen that will look lush in the summer months, but also still be evergreen through the winter months. This is crucial for me while we’re planning our screening plants – I don’t want it to look beautiful in the summer but then just be a bunch of twigs during the winter months!
Cut Flower Garden:
While flowers that are grown to provide beautiful blooms can be put in any garden, there is something magical about creating a garden specifically for this purpose that is so beautiful!
I wrote a whole post JUST dedicated to which flowers you would want to put into a cut flower garden – there’s 12 of them and they’re some of my VERY favorites! Also – they’re the flowers I’m planning on putting into our brand new cut flower garden!
If you want to get a FREE one page printable PDF guide to your own flower garden (think: you can easily bring it to the nursery!) then sign up for my e-mail list here:
Ornamental gardens:
And if you’re just looking for a way to add some life, character, whimsy, or outdoor decoration to the exterior of your home…then do a combination! Our front gardens serve the purpose of adding life to our home’s exterior, and softening hard edges. We’re going to be putting in multiple annuals this year since I don’t want to commit to one plant out there yet … this way, we can change our mind next year! And once we find plants that feel like they fit the house the most, we can commit to perennials.
There’s LOTS of free resources for how you can plan your own garden, and before I write my own personal approach, here’s some great ones:
- Front Garden Guide – House Beautiful
- Front Garden Design Ideas – Savvy Gardening
- 20 best front yard landscaping ideas for major curb appeal – Country Living
Which garden are you planning on working on this summer? I can’t wait to share more home garden ideas with you guys – this is going to be so fun!
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