4. Everything and the kitchen sink
Healthy exercise in the outdoors will naturally produce a healthy appetite, but there is no reason you should have to retreat inside your house when mealtime approaches. In this case, incorporating an outdoor kitchen into your backyard landscape can be a wise choice.
A gas or charcoal grill is the heart of the outdoor kitchen, while a variety of ready-made or custom components can be added, including refrigerators, dishwashers, sinks, cabinetry, lighting, heaters, and cooktops, to create a stylish and functional space during those months when you want to move the heart of your home outside.
To ensure these spaces stand up to the elements, stone or masonry products work best, while solid countertop surfaces (e.g. granite or quartz) resist water infiltration better than tile surfaces.
One of the latest trends is incorporating a smoker into your outdoor kitchen. These typically cook food slowly over many hours, which appeals to the chef who can patiently attend the meal while visiting or supervising children at play. The opposite end of the spectrum is a pizza oven, which cooks food very quickly at high temperatures. The only downside to incorporating a pizza oven into your outdoor kitchen is that you will not want use the oven inside your house ever again.
5. A garden variety
While on the subject of outdoor kitchens, why not grow some of the food in your own backyard garden? This is a perfect family activity, especially for young children who can use a home vegetable garden to learn where food comes from and how much better it can be when you produce it yourself.
Although modern landscapes do not typically provide space for a conventional vegetable garden, container gardening is another option which many prove more advantageous. For instance, the soil warms quicker in the spring so you can extend your growing season and less time and effort is needed to work the soil and remove weeds as with conventional vegetable gardens. Further, because you can add a custom soil blend to the container/planter box, the optimal soil for drainage and fertility can be chosen. For kids, some of the best vegetables to plant are carrots, peas, salad greens, and strawberries. These can all be eaten straight from the garden and are easy to grow.
Tomatoes are another popular choice (but require a bit more attention with respect to water, fertilizing, pruning, etc.), and even the smallest space can grow a pot or two of herbs. Consider a drip irrigation system to reduce maintenance and keep them in full sun close to the backdoor for ready use.
6. Three-dimensional structures
A big part of making your property more usable is creating spaces that draw people out into your backyard. One way to do this is by adding a structure (e.g. pergola) to the space to create a third dimension. Pergolas have an open beam structure, so they do not have a solid roof, but still give a sense of enclosure and provide a measure of shade depending on the design.
A properly designed pergola can become the focal point of your landscape, whereby anchoring a corner and inviting people to visit it. They can be designed to provide screening to create privacy or block wind and, once inside the structure, it can become a place where you can overlook your garden. By incorporating a swing seat, hammock, or other comfortable furniture, this can easily become your favourite retreat for reading or relaxation when a simple break is needed from a more active area of your landscape.
