Lighting is essential during the darker times of year when the sun goes down in the afternoon. Winter can be long and harsh if you don’t have some good lighting set up in the garden, and you certainly won’t be able to set up a magical scene out there without it!

String lights are usually recommended here, especially if you have an awning or gazebo over the patio, but solar lamps stuck into the ground are good choices too. Make sure they’re focused around areas you use a lot, such as the lawn and even a fire pit you’ve got set up, as well as an outside pizza oven or BBQ.

Now, this sounds hard to do, but there’s a lot of modern tech that makes this easy! For example, if you’ve got a built-around patio, a garage that doubles up as a conservatory, or literally a conservatory itself, you can install some Outdoor blinds to keep the space cosy no matter the weather.

Not only that, but you can also make use of greenhouse technology to keep plants flowering all year round. If there are certain blooms you love to see no matter what time of year it is, get yourself a greenhouse at the back of your garden and set the temperature early on.

The furniture you’re using in the garden won’t last forever when it’s under the sun and rain all year long. So when the time comes for the harshest weather to roll around, make sure your pieces are well covered and out of the way.

Even when it’s sunny and hot, your furniture can roast, and lose their colouring as a result. And when it’s raining, they can get wet and never quite dry out, which may turn them mouldy in the end. Pull them inside if need be, but make sure there’s always some room in your shed so any chairs can be stacked up, and a table can be slotted in.

Speaking of fire pits above, why not buy one to use in the colder times of year? This will help to really make your garden cosy when it’s cold out, because you can have hot chocolate and roast marshmallows as the wind whips around your ears.

If you’re worried about lighting a fire outside, you just need to keep the pit away from anything else and have plenty of room to move around it. And modern fire pits are built to keep the flames in as much as possible, but you should still have a bucket of water nearby just in case.

And finally, apart from using a greenhouse to grow the flowers you really love, you should also plant evergreen in the outside garden. Give yourself something to look at! Evergreen plants will remain the same all throughout the year, and you don’t have to worry about their upkeep much either.

Plant them, make sure the soil has enough nutrients, and then watch them thrive from there. Trees and bushes are the best plants for this purpose, but even some beautiful flowers can be evergreen - take a look around your garden centre for seeds and get planting!

If you want to enjoy your garden even in the off-seasons, you just need to be clever about what you plant and what furniture you use. Then try to keep the whole space clean and tidy as the leaves come down and the moss starts to grow on the ground! As such, you’ll always have an outdoor space to enjoy.