Beautify Your Environment with a Garden

If you look out your window and instead see patches of brown or a rough-looking shed, then this is the show for you! It doesn’t take much to make an outdoor space into a little heavenly oasis for you to enjoy. A small investment of time can result in a garden that you’re proud to share with your friends and family. If you live in an apartment, don’t worry – we also have ideas that will work for your space.

Let’s begin with an inexpensive and simple garden upgrade – the pallet garden wall. All you need is a couple of wood shipping pallets, paint or stain, plants, and soil. A similar idea is to use a trellis to build a wall of climbing plants. It can be used to hide an unsightly part of the garden or to create some privacy. Of course, the oldest and perhaps easiest way to create privacy or wall off an unattractive area is to grow a shrub or hedge.

If you dream of a space filled with orderly, geometric beds, then raised garden beds might be for you! The opposite of neat, raised beds are cottage gardens, which feature a burst of colors and textures! If you want to have a manicured space, but don’t want to spend time cutting and watering a lawn, you can replace the grass with pavers or paths.

For inspiration, we can look at the many spaces that Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has transformed. She has taken small, manufactured sheds and made them into warmly inviting homes for Her and Her dog-people companions. While in Hong Kong, Master converted an abandoned cave, a former cow-person pen, into a fairyland-like living room overnight through Her own creativity and artistic hands! Using cement and pieces of slate gathered from a nearby stream, She skillfully constructed a fireplace, giving the cave a completely fresh look. Indeed, wherever Supreme Master Ching Hai goes, what seems like an uninhabitable space is beautified and becomes invitingly comfortable. Master has also said She greatly enjoys the creative process.