Number One: Grow What You Eat

Why walk to the store every day for potatoes or carrots, when you could just take some from your own backyard? Consider planting a garden with all your unused space in the back..

To make it as pretty and eco-friendly as possible, try making a small box out of wood as your base frame. Then, pick up some natural dirt and compost, not filled with chemicals, to fill your wooden frame. That’s all you have to do!

Try experimenting with different fruits and vegetables. From experience, tomatoes are pretty easy to grow, same with lettuce. Some plants grow differently in different areas, though, so it’s good to try out multiple different types of produce to see what grows best.

Don’t forget to ‘leaf’ a little produce to show your family and friends!

 

Number Two: Hand-Crafted Furniture

Nothing makes you feel more at home better than hand-crafted furniture. Just the look of the old wood, or careful carvings of the creator make your backyard look like a beautiful ranch! Consider investing in handcrafted tables and chairs to make as the center piece for your deck!

Handcrafted furniture doesn’t stop at tables and chairs, though. You can get items like lamposts, signs, animal decor, benches, and more!

Please don’t ‘bark’ these tips to your friends, they’re backyards might end up better than yours!

 

Number Three: Plant Trees

This might seem like a basic one, but it is vitally important. Trees provide a great ecosystem for multiple species to thrive in, including birds, insects, and other types of plants. Plus, if you ever need some more privacy from nosy neighbours, having a bunch of tall, leafy trees is just the way to get that and provide more secrecy to your home.

Don’t just plant one type of tree, try many different types! Cedar trees are always nice, as well as birch and maple. You could even plant some fruit trees, and make delicious fruit pies for the holiday season! If you have a big enough maple tree, you could tap for syrup!

Hope you have fun ‘sprucing’ up your backyards!

 

Number Four: Bird Bathes/Feeders

If you enjoy watching the birds fly through the trees every morning, or think the sound of their gentle chirping is the perfect song, then this tip is for you. Birds bathes and feeders provide a wonderful home and source of food for birds. Not to mention, you’ll also get to see your backyard filled with all types of birds, which is a great added bonus.

Bird baths and feeders aren’t just for the birds, you know. They make wonderful decorations, and can be a pretty natural way of making your backyard nice. They can be simple to make, or as elaborate as you want. And, not too expensive to buy either.

I would tell you a bird pun right now, but that’d be just ‘fowl’!

 

Number Five (for large backyard (ranch) spaces): Bodies of Water

I have to say, this tip is one of my personal favourites. I’ve always loved water, and having some in my very backyard would be a dream come true! If you have the space, consider digging out a small pond or creek in your backyard. If you’re not fond of the idea of a pond, you could also try digging a well. The sky’s the limit!

If you don’t have a really giant backyard, there’s other ways you can incorporate water into the space you have. You could fill up buckets of water and place them around as decoration. If you’re really dedicated, you could even dig out tiny holes and fill them with a touch of water. So, don’t think you’re restricted by having a smaller backyard.

I wish I could tell you a water joke, but it’d be too ‘shallow’.

 

Number Six: Flowers and Other Shrubs

This tip is similar to tips one and three above, but important enough to repeat. Flowers and shrubs can add a lot of color, variety, and natural vibes to your backyard. There’s thousands of different types and colours of flowers too, so you have lots to play around with.

In addition, flowers and shrubs are also very eco-friendly. Bees are starting to go into decline now, and they always need more things to pollinate. Flowers give them the perfect area to do this. The more we plant, the more we’re helping to save our bees. So, come on, help save bees by planting flowers. You won’t regret it!

‘Grow’ right now and plant some flowers!

 

Number Seven: Seasonal Decorations

What better time to put out some seasonal decorations than right now, a month until Christmas? You can buy some light strings and decorate your fence with them, or snowflake and tree decorations for everyone to see!

Another thing people always love to look at are inflatable decorations! There’s plenty at numerous different stores, so look for your favourite one and set it up! Who knows, you might find a snowman inflatable you just can’t live without.

‘Snow’ matter what you say, winter decorations are the best!

 

Number Eight: Rocks

Now, you might be thinking. Rocks? What’s so exciting about rocks? Well, I’ll tell you that there’s actually a lot of things you can do with rocks!

A common way to use rocks is to actually add them at the base of a tree. It adds a nice, natural vibe to the bottom of the trees, like you might find in a forest. Another, slightly less common, way of using rocks is to actually paint them (yes, I said paint). Grab a small brush and cheap paint, and off you go! You can draw practically anything on there. Handy, isn’t it? Besides this, rocks can be generally used to surround or decorate practically anything!

Once I told my pet rock a joke, but he just sat there, ‘stone’-faced.

 

Number Nine: Establish a ‘No Chemicals’ Policy

If there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s how harmful chemicals, such as weed killers, are to the environment. They can kill off animals, insects, and other good plants. Not to mention that they’re also bad for your personal health. In some rare cases, they can even lead to cancer. It’s best for everyone concerned if you stay away from harmful chemicals and pesticides.

That being said, there are other, more beneficial, ways to get rid of your problems. If your backyard is overtaken by weeds, pull out some gloves and dig out their roots, one by one. It might take a while, but it’s a nice project to do when you’re bored, that’s for sure. If your plants are getting eaten by insects, consider buying some ladybugs (Yes, that’s actually a thing!). Ladybugs can, and do, eat other insects, and don’t cause as much of a problem for your plants. Give it a try!

Chemical puns? I’m in my ‘element’!

 

Number Ten: Your Own Personal Touch

All of these tips above are well and good, but if you really want to make your backyard stand out, add your own personal touch! Something that says that you decorated the place, not one of your friends.

This can be as simple as carving your initials into a tree or painting them onto a rock. You could even go more elaborate by painting designs on the fence. There’s no limit to this, however, so think big and go wild! I might even suggest burying some treasured items in the ground, or make some immovable furniture. Just make sure that the next person who goes into your backyard knows, 100 percent, that it’s yours.

Since this is the personal section, I don’t have a pun to add. Instead, I’m going to leave it up to you to figure one out! Though, you have to make sure it’s ‘punny’! (Oh dear, I couldn’t help myself).

 

A Final Note

Thank you for reading this article! I’m ‘rooting’ for you guys to make the best backyards your neighbourhoods have ever seen!

-Emma W