A community garden is a great way to share the beauty and convenience of nature with everyone. You can even turn your backyard into a community retreat, even if the community in question is simply you and your own. While it may not be practical to invite everyone in the community into your backyard, it can be a great space for entertaining your family and friends or inviting a visitor or two once in a while. How can you make your backyard into a beautiful retreat that anyone can enjoy?
Backyard Community Spaces
Before you get started on transforming your outdoor space into any type of garden or sanctuary, be certain you follow local laws, rules, and regulations, including any Homeowner’s Association (HOA) regulations if they apply to your property or neighborhood. Incorporating these regulations and laws can help you avoid any legal issues, including removing parts of your garden!
Animal Retreat
A great way to make a space enjoyable for all is by adding some animals. While most people don’t have the acreage for a full farm, it may be practical to add a chicken coop or a few goats to your outdoor space if you have enough space for them to thrive. You’ll want animals like goats to have a space to retreat to at night, particularly in cold or inclement weather. This can be any type of barn or housing, such as a pole barn building large enough to fit on your property and house your animals. This isn’t practical for those with smaller yards or HOA regulations that don’t allow animals of this type, however.
Sensory Gardens
Sensory gardens can fit in any size yard, and they’re great for connecting with nature. A sensory garden allows visitors to get in touch with multiple senses—sight, touch, sound, scent, and maybe even taste! They can help ground people with anxiety symptoms or add relaxation to a daily routine. They’re great learning experiences as well, especially for kids. A sensory garden can be created by adding plants and flowers that vary in shape, color, smell, and texture. You can even add some edible flowers, herbs, fruits, or vegetables for tasting.
Peaceful Retreat
Sometimes a great community space in your home is simply a relaxing one. You can create a garden with sitting areas near wind chimes, shaded trees, and water features to create a relaxation zone. Gardens can make great reading spots, as well. An outdoor relaxation and reading space would be a great way to escape from daily stresses.
Fishing Areas
You can create a fishing pond or lake in your backyard! You can add various fish to catch and release. Inviting friends, family, neighbors, or other community members can make a quick and convenient way to enjoy the sport of fishing right in your own home.
Community Food Garden
One of the large bonuses of a community garden is the offerings they can provide. Planting edible gardens such as flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables for community members to freely take can help give back to your community and feed those in need. Tending this garden can help plants provide more food for yourself and your neighbors.
Butterfly Garden
Adding varieties of flowering plants that attract butterflies is a great way to create a butterfly garden in your yard. Butterflies are both beautiful and beneficial to the environment, and they provide a serene relaxation space right in your home.
Beekeeping Zone
For those interested in beekeeping, you can plant flowers that attract bees specifically. For those passionate about bees, you can even learn how to create and host a hive to help bees thrive. As a bonus, you can even harvest your honey! For more casual bee enthusiasts, a garden with a variety of pollen flowers will do the trick.
Birdwatching Sanctuary
Birdwatching is one of the most peaceful activities. Many people in the community love birdwatching, and it’s a contagious hobby for all ages. Certain trees are great for housing birds. You can also create a variety of birdhouses with feed to attract them to the space. Birdwatching can be a casual or serious hobby, and a shared space to relax and spot birds of all kinds has many benefits.
Conclusion
A community space can be a shared space between you and your household members, your friends, your neighborhood, or your entire community. How you create and share your space is entirely up to you, but there is a wide variety of both fun and relaxing options to transform your outdoor space into an oasis of any kind. From animal hosting to sensory gardens, there’s an ideal backyard retreat full of potential just waiting to be created. Be certain to follow neighborhood regulations and local laws before getting started!
