Garden furniture and accessories: planning and planting a successful garden

Gardening is one of my favourite hobbies. Many people say that the English are crazy for gardening. I do not know if this can be considered absolutely true, but I confirm that many English people love spending time tending their gardens.

In my life, I reached a great result when I bought a house with a garden. The typical image of the English house, with a garden all around (as seen in thousands of images and movies), was exactly corresponding with my idea of the perfect house.

Why is it so important to be happy with your garden furniture?

My garden has always been an important part of my life: it is the place where I can have a break from my ordinary daily life, meaning traffic and office job, every day subject to very close and strict timetables. It is easy to understand that, when I get back home, far from the noise and from the stress of the city, I love to stay in my garden in a complete silence.
However, to live your garden at its better, some basic garden furniture is required, in my opinion. First, a nice garden gate gives you a better impression and it introduces you to the garden; therefore, some think that a beautiful garden gate would mean a beautiful garden. There are many types of garden gates, just check the measures and choose the one you like, between timber gates and metal gates. Personally, I did not care about the importance of the garden gate but I recently have seen some very nice garden gates on Internet and I consequently changed my mind about it. What I am really interested in now is it the right garden furniture.

How to choose the furniture that fits best with the aesthetic of your garden?

There are so many different types of furniture styles and materials on the market today, that choosing your own can be a hard work. Furniture styles go from the most traditional ones (usually timber furniture) to the modern styles (usually metal furniture); honestly, there is an embarrassing wealth of choices. Hardwood furniture is very long lasting and expensive, while softer woods are cheaper and more easily available. This delicate garden furniture must be kept in good condition. You need therefore to wash them on a regular basis with a proper cleaning product and, in addition, use the wood protective products when necessary.
As already pointed out, you have so many options to choose from starting from the main difference between the standard timber or metal range of furniture, such as:

	Teak garden furniture
	Rattan garden furniture
	Aluminium garden furniture
	Tall square garden gate

In general, I suggest to carry on the maintenance of the furniture or other garden accessories waiting for the dry weather till autumn. Pay attention to areas collecting water or close to damp soil. The market offers now dozens of wood staining products in a range of colours. Metal garden furniture needs to be cleaned and must be controlled to avoid the rust. The best way is to use the proper rust preventing paint once you have eliminated rust powder. All the jointing parts must be oiled regularly to permit perfect movement of the furniture.
For example, plastic furniture is easier to be kept in perfect order. You only need to clean it frequently, having a particular look at pale coloured furniture, avoiding, as much as possible, to left out your furniture in winter. The summer exposure to sunshine may cause fragility to your furniture.  At this purpose, if space is available in your garage, my advice is to store your garden furniture during the winter.

Looking for heads up in garden furniture

Last year, I went to one of the most important and largest event dedicated to the decorative greenery and equipment for gardens: the Gartentage Lindau. It is a Garden Furniture Fair held every year during the month of May in Lindau, a pleasant location on the eastern side of Lake Constance (Germany). Firstly, I took the opportunity to visit such a beautiful and charming Bavarian city, then to buy as much as possible exhibitors at the fair: flowers, plants, handcrafted accessories and high quality natural products. After that, I am so eager to devote a significant portion of my spare time to gardening that I am currently planning my next trip to the Trade Show for Garden Furniture and Barbecues "SOLEX 2012" held in the middle of next month of July at the Telford International Centre (West Midlands, UK) where I will have the chance to see before a selection of new products from the best producers in this field such as the Irish Culcita, the original Westminster Furniture, the innovative Pagoda Furniture or the German Kettler which, since more than 60 years, guarantees high quality products combing contemporary design with world-class manufacturing standards.     
Apart from loving gardening, I am now very fond of visiting fairs and exhibitions in this specific area of interest because so far I had the opportunity, since my first experience as visitor, to see in advance the latest home and garden trends and innovations, and also to listen to celebrity designers, and watch very creative demonstrations expressly conceived for the customers attending this kind of events.