5 Ways to Enjoy Your Backyard Trees When You’re Stuck at Home

A beautiful backyard is an oasis, a welcome relief when you’re stuck at home and feeling stuck in your own house. Escape from monotony with a simple retreat to your own backyard. Often, a change of scenery can have a big impact on perspective, energy, and mood. But as days and months drag on, your once personal paradise can begin to feel confining with the inability to escape the all-too-familiar and repetitive scenery.

Rather than grow tired of the scenery, spruce up your backyard—find new ways to appreciate its bounty. Little changes transform what feels ordinary so you can enjoy your backyard trees in a new way.

Add a Swing

To add some fun to your life, add a swing. It’s the perfect excuse to get outside and enjoy a few moments relaxing under the canopy of your tree. With stress and uncertainty at an all-time high, time outdoors is critical for mental health and stress management. Spend hours relaxing under your tree or just a few minutes for a quick breather during a lunch break. It’s a chance for you or your kids to release all of that pent-up energy in healthy play.

You don’t need a lot of resources to build a swing, just a few supplies. With some scrap wood, rope, and a few easy knots, you’ll quickly be on your way to enjoying your new swing. Simply cut out the wood, sand and finish it, and drill four holes for the rope. Once your seat is prepped, get online and learn some easy and reliable knots. There are a lot of websites that teach traditional sailing knots, which are perfect for securely attaching swings. Use this as an opportunity to learn new skills. Try an old sailing trick of “whipping a line”—a knot sailors use for seizing the end of the rope to keep it from fraying.

There are many styles of swings—from the traditional swing we think of from childhood to the more fashionable macramé hammock chairs. Create a vision and get creative as you experiment with your newfound DIY and knot skills.

Throw a Picnic

A picnic is an even simpler way to enjoy the fruits of your tree. All you need is a blanket or towel and your favorite tree.

Grab your family or housemates and connect with each other while enjoying your meals outside. Or take a break from commotion and chaos and dine in the pleasure of your own company.

Traditionally, a picnic is defined by enjoying a packed meal outside. However, your picnic doesn’t have to be limited to food. It’s your house, your rules, so bring your indoor activities outside. Read a book, study for class, take your phone calls, work on a project, or simply relax. Whatever task you need to spend time on, try it outdoors. Accomplish your goals in a different and refreshing environment.

If you’re feeling extra creative and looking for an outlet for your kids, throw a play under your tree. Pick your favorite story or write one yourself, and recreate it using your tree as the backdrop. Outdoor theater is a time-honored tradition. Take a break from binging your favorite shows and turn that picnic blanket into your stage.

Work in View of Your Tree

If you’re stuck working from home with a demanding workload, you may be unable to get outside as often as you would like. If you can’t get outdoors, set up a workspace in another part of your house overlooking your backyard trees. You don’t have to go outside to enjoy their beauty.

Just because you’re stuck at home doesn’t mean your work environment has to be dull. Crack open a window and get some fresh air while listening to the birds. Working in view of your trees breaks up the monotony and helps keep you focused and refreshed while working long hours. You may even find yourself eager to go to spend time in your new “office.”

Decorate

Spruce up your tree with a few decorations. Exercise your newfound woodworking and craft skills and build a bird feeder. Hang it from your tree and watch fun antics unfold from the birds and critters it attracts. It’s a great way to bring life and activity to your trees as you work from home or relax outside.

For an added boost of whimsy, wrap string lights around your tree trunk and throughout the branches. If you’re feeling bold, grab that old decorative light fixture collecting dust in your garage and hang it from a branch like a chandelier. Or craft a “chandelier” with supplies laying around the house.

Unleash your imagination and use your tree as a type of art installation. Add colored hanging orbs or wind chimes or string some lanterns throughout the branches. There are no limits to how you can transform your backyard into a magical sanctuary.

Reshape Your Trees

You may be stuck at home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t care for your trees. Regular maintenance keeps them healthy so you can enjoy them for many years to come. Are they in need of a trim or some pruning? This is the perfect opportunity to give your backyard trees some extra care.

Enhance their beauty and that of your home with tree shaping. Maybe you have been dreaming of redesigning your backyard. This might not be an opportune time to fully re-landscape your lawn, but you can change the entire look of your yard by shaping your trees. They can be formed into shapes, intricate sculptures, or even functional structures.

If your trees have become overgrown and unmanageable, tree shaping is a fun way to add design while maintaining the health of your trees. Tree shaping is a skill that comes from understanding how to manipulate and train the growth of a tree. Make sure you contact a professional arborist who understands how a tree grows and reacts to shaping, ensuring that your tree comes to life the way you envision.

Our knowledgeable and professional team of arborists at Mr. Tree offer great attention to detail. We do our best to accommodate special requests so you’re satisfied throughout the entire process. Contact us today with any questions or concerns. We’re even available 24/7 if you have an emergency.

So don’t despair if you’re stuck at home. With a little creativity, you can reimagine your backyard trees and appreciate them in a new light. Give them refreshed life with these few tips and feel yourself reenergized in return.