If you’ve got an outdoor living space it should be functional, right? You’ve gone to the expense of putting together a fantastic outdoor living area, but when the nights get a bit cooler, you tend not to use it because it’s just too cold. No need to despair as there are numerous outdoor heating options available to you, and they don’t have to be expensive.

There’s nothing quite like a fire to create a wonderful ambiance and coziness to a space, and a fire pit does just that. It’s sort of like being round the campfire but so much easier to set up and use! A fire pit does, however, have real flames, so you do need to be careful with it’s location and proximity to children, pets and anything that might be flammable.

Most fire pits are wood burning, the same wood you would use in a wood burning fireplace in your home, and some of them have a grill rack so that they can double as a barbecue pit too. Fire pits come in a variety of finishes, most of which include cast iron in some form or fashion, so covering your fire pit when not in use will help to extend it’s life significantly.

Another very attractive way to provide heating for your patio is with a chiminea. Chimineas come in a limitless variety of designs, most of which are made of either cast iron or cast aluminium. Chimineas are not just about providing heat and ambiance, as you can toast marshmallows and even try your hand at open fire grilling. If you opt for a cast iron chiminea, covering it when not in use will help to prolong it’s life in the outdoors significantly.

Last but by no means least, you can use a simple propane patio heater to provide efficient heating to a patio. As with fire pits and chimineas, the finishes vary, but these patio heaters are designed and built to remain outside year round as they are made of steel. A 20-lb LPG cylinder is concealed in the base, and most have concealed wheels so that it’s easy to move the heater around the patio as needed – no need to have it connected to a gas line and therefore be limited to a fixed location on your patio.

There are no visible flames or fire with a propane heater, but it is a very efficient and effective way to heat a patio. With a fire pit or chiminea you get a wonderful atmosphere but heating is provided to a smaller area.

There you have it. Now comes the hard part – choosing from the numerous styles available with each type of patio heating solution.

Cottage gardens were originally created because the addition of flowers to vegetable gardens helped to attract bees. This became an art form including deep borders, a colorful mix of flowers and herbs, pathways and perhaps even benches tucked away in a private area of the garden. When it comes to planting ideas and tips, you can always start with recreating this look with small pathways lined with lavender, herbs, colorful perennials or even roses. It is always best to use a colorful mixture of perennials and shrubs. This abundance of flowers will attract bees, butterflies and moths, as well as the species which prey on them, birds and bats!

The trick behind cottage gardens is that the flowers and shrubs are grown very closely together and placed in such a way as to appear as though the flowers and shrubs were simply placed there without any real planning or thought behind it. The truth is that there is a lot of planning that goes into making a cottage garden appear ‘natural’. The best advice to give is to make sure that all the available space is used. This includes using both ground cover plants and plants that would add height to the fragrance and texture of the garden such as honeysuckle and Clematis, or climbing roses. This will reduce the amount of maintenance required by minimizing space for weeds and by adding habitat will encourage insects and birds. Cottage gardens are informal gardens which look like they have evolved over time effortlessly.

Drifts of plants bulbs, in the form of tear drops, made up of textures such as gravel or clay will make very natural looking beds. If the ground is uneven it can complement the garden even more as you can add tiers of planting, different levels, contours and shapes to your drifts. If you are good at gardening then the random planting of annuals growing between perennials that grow vigorously will be possible and can give your cottage garden a more old-fashioned appeal. If you’re not careful, however, the garden can become a riot of color and shapes, some may not like this; so, decide on your preferred cottage style and adhere to the plan carefully. Allow for seeding in from species such as poppy and verbena though, so the garden does evolve and doesn’t stay static. Always remember to group plants by height, color, texture or plant type so that the cottage garden is easier on the eye.