How To Jazz Up Your Garden Furniture For Spring

As soon as spring makes its first entrance there’s always the temptation to start taking your morning coffee break out in the garden. Unfortunately, if you haven’t prepared your garden furniture properly before winter, you might have to revitalise it before use.

This might only involve simple maintenance or repainting, but failure to act quickly enough might see your furniture collapse and be unusable, making an expensive visit to the garden centre inevitable.

Save money with regular maintenance

You won’t have to worry about increasing your credit card debt when your outdoor furniture requires a little sprucing up, because there are many ways that you can refurbish your garden furniture economically.

After a summer out in the sun and the rain, teak garden furniture, which is a great gardening favourite, will start to look a little shabby. A little wood oil applied with a rag can return your furniture to its pristine look.

If you favour metal outdoor garden sets, beware of leaving even the smallest scratch untreated, as rust can develop in that area and will eventually eat through your furniture, making it unusable. As soon as you see an area that needs rust treatment and painting, deal with the maintenance early to save money and time.

Clean your outdoor furniture regularly

The first step towards simple maintenance of your garden furniture is to clean it regularly. Over the longer term, this will save you a lot of repair work. Different cleaning products are required for wood or plastic, metal or wicker and your local garden superstore will direct you to the best product for your furniture. Wicker furniture needs regular oiling, whereas plastic furniture can easily be cleaned with diluted bleach.

Wooden furniture always benefits from a new coat of stain or paint before it is put away after autumn, but sanding and applying a new coat just before spring arrives will also revive your furniture.

Spray-painting your metal furniture will help prepare it for a new spring and summer season and is easy to apply.

Your furniture will benefit when you pay particular attention to any of the unseen areas, such as the underside of tables and underneath chair legs. If you can seal these areas against water damage, wooden furniture won’t rot and metal furniture won’t rust in areas that you would usually only see when you are storing your furniture away for the winter.

One easy way to restore your garden furniture is by upholstering or replacing your sets of cushions. Removable cushion covers are easily washed and look their best when you’re ready to use them.

Repairing and maintaining your garden furniture is always an easier task if you regularly check your chairs and tables and deal with any problems as soon as they arise. If you are lucky, all you will need to get ready for spring is a little paint or oil.

Jen Byiers writes for Gardens Galore Glasgow, a great source of gardening advice.