The longest day of the year was last Sunday, marking the start of summer. Soon enough the school year will be finishing and children will be let loose for a couple of months to enjoy the outdoors and some time to spend with their friends. As the weather will be steadily getting better over the next couple of months, there is no excuse not to spend a lot of your free time in the garden with your family and friends, so here we give you a few ideas of what to do over summer in the garden.
Enjoy the morning sunrise
A great way to start your day is waking up with natural light of the sunrise, and while this may be a bit early for some, the sight is likely to be truly spectacular. However, if you want a slightly later start on the weekends the United Kingdom is currently experiencing unseasonable warmth, so it's a great time to get out and enjoy some outdoor activities. Hiking, nature walks, and outdoor sports can be ways to get the day off to an awesome start, and makes sure that the children aren’t wasting the days in front of the television or computer games.
Repairs and Maintenance
Spending the day outside in the garden is a great way to pass the days, but after installing solar lights, it can be a great time to catch up on repairs and maintenance. If you have a shed, playhouse or some fencing then you will need to be sure you aren’t forgetting to keep them protected. Neglecting wood will almost always result in degraded wood causing the patchy, cracked, or completely sunken pieces we're all familiar with. Taking the time to fix these common faults will ensure a summer's enjoyment of the shed for this season and future seasons to come.
Much of what we see in terms of degrading rotting wood is usually caused by a fungus. This is easily repairable using an anti-fungal pesticide found in wood treatments, which should be applied carefully according to the manufacturer's instructions. By doing this, the fungus will be eliminated and won't continue to spread to other parts of the wood and make the shed structurally unsound. Once the wood is treated, though, it will certainly leave unsightly patches and cracks due to the fungus' damage. This should be patched or replaced altogether. Similarly, a stain can be used to help create an even visual finish once all of the laborious tasks have been completed.
Harness the sun with solar power
The days can also be a great time to catch up on some of those garden chores that we might have been neglecting for some time. One of the best ways to mark the increase in sunlight is to install solar lights on garden sheds, which will help harvest all of the extra light to use as passive electricity and light when we're outside enjoying our gardens. Solar lighting needn't be expensive. In fact, it's seen a decrease in price due to the overall increase in popularity and availability in the United Kingdom. There's little reason to put it off any further and to help get the kids involved, ask them if they would like to try growing any plants, or if they would like to try their hand at painting the shed to spruce it up a little bit.
Have a family day in the garden
Getting kids involved with the outdoors, especially from a young age, can do wonders for their imagination and creativity so any activity that encourages them to use their hands is a great way to keep them interested in the outdoors. Whether this be digging soil for new plants, having friendly growing competitions amongst the family, or letting them paint their own playhouse to give them a sense of their very own creative space, anything along these lines is sure to encourage them to spend the summer days outside with family and friends.
Share your garden with friends
After all of the chores have been done around the house and the children are likely pretty tired after a day outside, then it's probably high time to get into the garden and enjoy some time with friends. After all, our evenings will grow longer with each passing day and will remain warmer for longer, making it perfect for outdoor evening meals and time with friends. This can be a great time to bring out the barbeque and let the passing day rekindle relationships with long lost friends, who might have become lost in the shuffle of our lengthy winter and wet spring.