5 Tips for Making Your Garden Magical

With everything going on in the world, gardening has become the hobby of choice for many who have been forced to stay at home due to social distancing restrictions. Research on urban gardening shows that people who cultivate their own gardens develop healthier habits. They’re less stressed, eat fresh produce, and exercise more often.

As humans, we usually turn to the natural world when we want to heal. Being outside helps us manage our complicated feelings and get out of our own headspace — which is amazing by its very nature. To further tap into the powers of nature, here are five tips to make your garden more magical:

Plan the layout first

Before doing anything to change your garden, it’s important to clear it first. Get rid of overgrown plants, deal with uneven ground, and identify any pests to avoid more work down the line. You don’t want to work with a wild and messy garden; you need a blank canvas if you’re going to undertake any sort of successful project.

Once you’ve prepared the space and figured out any restrictions, begin designing your garden. You can include a small table, a gate, an arch, or even a corner to meditate. You can also create sections in your garden by making pathways. These pathways can be made of stones of the same size, or you can have fun with it and use different shapes and sizes in a more creative manner.

Try moon gardening

Gardening by the phases of the moon is a concept that has been around since humans began growing food. This ancient growing theory suggests that the water in the ground and in our plants are affected by the gravitational pull of the moon, just like the ocean tides. This means that when the tides are highest, seeds will likewise absorb more water.

To practice moon gardening, you’ll need to rely on a calendar to watch out for the best days to sow, plant, or weed. As a general rule of thumb, all crops aboveground should be planted when the moon is waxing, while root crops do best when the moon is waning. In the last quarter of the moon cycle, gardeners should concentrate on improving soil quality with compost, mulch, and manure teas. Also, avoid planting until the new moon.

Choose ‘magical’ plants

For centuries, people have believed that certain plants carry special properties. While it’s difficult to imagine that a branch can bring you luck, ward off evil spirits, or throw you onto the path of true love, many herbs and plants do promote health. And you may want to choose these “magical” plants for your garden. Fortunately, there are many resources on this topic.

You can visit websites online, or better yet, read a book on magical herbs. These books feature hundreds of herbs and plants from all over the world, and they’re pretty comprehensive with illustrations, common names, and uses. Some powerful plants include rosemary, calendula, mint, basil, lavender, chamomile, sage, and lilacs. Adding these plants and flowers not only enhances your garden with scents and textures, but also attracts pollinators like bees.

Craft furniture or practical outdoor pieces

You don’t need to buy the latest garden furniture to make your space look magical. Upcycling old furniture is a fun, creative, and sustainable way to decorate your garden. You can look in your attic or basement to see if there’s anything you can use; with sandpaper and paint, you might be able to transform an old bed into a garden bench.

If you really want to challenge yourself, why not build a unique addition to your garden? A DIY outdoor pizza oven, for instance, allows you to turn your space into a social area as well. Although you might need a permit and a few hundred dollars to create one, it’s magical to use something you’ve built specifically for your backyard.

Make it your own

For a truly whimsical garden, add personal touches here and there. You can hang fairy lights or lamps to brighten up the space at night. You could also place crystals and miniature statues on the ground. Whichever you choose, try to partially conceal some of the objects within garden beds or around a bend in the path to surprise your visitors.

Lastly, it’s important to maintain your garden. As romantic as it might sound to let everything grow wild, you will need to add mulch or fertilizer to keep plants growing. Pruning overgrown bushes in late winter or early spring also helps you to get rid of any diseased, infested, or dead stems and branches, which could affect other plants. Without pruning, the bushes will make your garden look much shabbier. By taking extra care to design and care for your garden, you’ll feel its magical effect on you in no time!