Most homes enjoy the luxury of having a backyard as it gives us comfort, fun, relaxation, and something to learn about. A backyard is a true sanctuary, especially if it’s fixed with the right plants, furniture, and other materials.
Backyards are vital for they play an important role in early child development, improve one’s mental health, produce organically grown fruits and vegetables, and improve significant life skills learned outdoors.
To turn your yard into a relaxing abode, make sure to clear it before modifying it. Also, provide comfortable seating and good lighting. Plus, a backyard is always enchanting with water and an area that preserves the privacy you want.
In this article, we will tackle the reasons why it is important to have a backyard and ways to turn your dull backyard into a relaxing and fun one.
Reasons Why Backyards are Important
A backyard provides a wide field to experience things after a stressful and bad day. Aside from boosting us as individuals as we struggle with life, it also offers us the opportunity to learn things first hand before facing the reality of the world.
Backyards are a great source of fun, exploration, relaxation, and learning. They offer us many opportunities. Here are some reasons why having a backyard is important.
1. Play in Child Development
A backyard benefits your kids’ development, especially during the early childhood stage. It helps your child grow with fine and gross motor skills, improve their coordination, determination, and balance.
To help your kids physically develop, you can install swings, slides, monkey bars, and ladders. Staying outdoors can bring about longer-term benefits, some of which are:
- More vitamin D, which positively impacts your child’s bones, heart, and brain.
- Increased activity and step count.
- Improved child’s concentration.
- Fast healing.
2. Spend More Time in Nature
Spending time outdoors can teach you significant life skills. Some people are naturally drawn to the outdoors, which is understandable given the many things we can experience in the outdoor world.
Spending time in nature makes you more creative and imaginative. The outdoors also teach us responsibilities. At an early age, learning how to respect nature and taking responsibility for any harm we may cause to a plant is a great way to learn how to give importance to nature. Planting trees and growing plants is another way to teach a kid responsibility.
3. Mental Health and Outdoor Activity
A long day at school or work can be stressful. Luckily, having a backyard can improve your mental health as a backyard or the outdoors can provide a change of surroundings and improve one’s mood. It can also help reset one’s mood after a stressful and unpleasant day.
According to a study, five minutes outdoors can help boost our self-esteem. It also provides a place to vent out and relieve anxiety and stress.
4. Food Supply
Isn’t it nice to have a backyard where you can plant your favorite vegetable and fruits? Re-make your backyard and beautify it by growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers. You may start doing it for fun, but you will soon realize that you will save money by planting these products instead of buying them at the supermarket.
You can purchase seeds and plant them in garden beds to avoid damaged soil. Harvesting your labor is a fun thing to do. Plus, you can provide your family with organically grown vegetables.
A garden is usually a planned outdoor space with plants and other forms of nature. Spending time in your garden allows your family a chance to work and bond together. However, not all of us have time to spare to manage a garden. If you are busy with everything else that is happening in your life, then you will surely love our tips to making your garden low maintenance.
Ways to Create a Relaxing Backyard
Backyards are a great way to enjoy your time, have fun, and relax. It acts as a refuge to escape the stressful world.
Here are ways to make your backyard more relaxing.
Clear the Clutter
One of the ways to make your backyard more relaxing is to clear the disordered things. You can start by pruning overgrown trees and hedges, transfer play equipment, or donate it if your children are too old for slides and swings. Also, throw away your broken furniture, accessories, and other things that seem off to be in your yard.
Whenever possible, start with a clean or bare yard. Take time to assess your backyard for the components it needs to make it more relaxing. Ensure that your outdoor space can provide sun, shade, views, and fresh air as you clear it out.
Take Advantage of the View
If you live somewhere that offers a good view, be creative by building a space where you can enjoy the scenery. There are some things you can do when designing your backyard.
First, avoid blocking the beautiful view of the backyard with outdoor furniture, trees, and hedges. Your backyard’s design or landscape should blend with the scenery and environment, and not contrast with it.
Then, frame the spot with landscaping and furnishings.
Comfortable Seating
Comfortable seating is one factor that makes your backyard more relaxing. A deep seating set, lounge chairs, loungers, or chaise loungers provide the best seating and allow you to stretch out and relax. You can even add a hammock for some deep relaxation.
A Water Feature
A private swimming pool is the perfect water feature in a yard. It cools you off, allows you to exercise, and the sound of water gushing is calming.
If building a pool is too expensive for you, here are some water features you can add instead:
- Koi pond
- Garden pond
- Wading pool
- Fountain
- Birdbath
Shade
Having some shade in your backyard is crucial. Not only does it provide you with comfort and shelter from the scorching sun and rain, but it also relaxes you.
Here are some ways to create shade in your garden:
- Umbrellas
- Gazebos
- Pergolas
- Awnings
- Vines on overhead roofs or arbors
- Trees
The Right Landscaping
Give your backyard a relaxing ambiance by carefully choosing plants that look natural in their settings. You can browse some ideas and inspirations on the internet to set a theme or mood.
Choose plants that adapt well to your environment. For example, plant shrubs, trees, vines, and perennials and make sure that they can adapt well to the climate in your area. Seek professional help from a landscape designer or ask for suggestions from your local garden store when in doubt.
You can also plant scented flowering vines and shrubs to make your backyard smell good. Choose plants with a good fragrance that you can grow near your outdoor seating.
You can also add outdoor lighting to illuminate parts of your backyard. Good lighting gives your yard that romantic and alluring vibe. Outdoor lighting will bring a relaxing atmosphere to your backyard when you host parties or intimate dinners with family and friends in your yard.
A fire pit, chimney, or fireplace are perfect additions to your yard’s landscape. These features add warmth to your yard, especially during the winter.
Create Privacy
Privacy is the innate part of chilling and relaxing outdoors. Create divisions and seclude the area with carefully placed screens, walls, or fences that will give your space a sense of excitement and surprise as you walk throughout the landscape. Overhead roofs and arbors can add a feeling of seclusion and provide the necessary shade.
Gardening styles differ from one location to another. If you want a more European look for your outdoor space, English and French gardens can be your source of inspiration. These two styles are very different from one another, so read our article to know that differences between an English and a French Garden.
Conclusion
A backyard is more than a plot of land that you have behind your house. Your backyard is a place where your children grow and learn many things, it is a place where you can feel safe and relax at the end of a long work day, it is where you can be closer to nature without leaving the comfort of your own home, and it can also be a source of sustenance and nutrition. Your backyard is an important part of your home and it won’t hurt to improve it and make it more relaxing.
Before you modify your backyard and turn it into a relaxing place, make sure you have a plan. Don’t overly design and overcrowd your backyard. It is always best to modify it with the help of a professional if you’re unsure of how to do it. Remember that your backyard is the only place where you can relax and be stress-free. So, instead of having a plain grass backyard, turn it into a relaxing abode for you, your children, guests, and pets.
