Incorporate the Japanese elements of water, wind, earth and specimen plants in your deck. Add a covered structure to act as a tea house, sculptures and lanterns that glow in the soft evening light at dusk. A Japanese garden is seemingly simple, but because there are few elements, each must be nearly perfect. Maintenance involves keeping the plants tidy and the sand raked.
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Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Power washer
- Paint
- Paintbrushes
- Clean-up materials for the paint
- Wood sandbox
- Builder sand
- River rocks
- Large jagged rock
- Smaller jagged rocks
- Half wine barrel and liner
- River pebbles
- Goldfish
- Water plants
- Umbrella
- Square pillows
- Table
- Bamboo tray
- Tea pot and bowls
- Seating and tables
- Candles
- Fire pot
- Japanese maple in pot
- Seasonal flowers in pots
- Wire shelving
- Bonsai
- Wind chime
Power wash the decking to remove grit, grease and dirt. Paint the deck a soft neutral color that blends in with the surrounding landscape. That might be dove gray to match protruding rocks in the ground, a tan that mimics the soil or an olive green to blend with trees and bushes.
Fill the sandbox with builder's sand. Mark a path that curves through the sandbox. Fill the path with smooth, small river rocks to mimic a flowing stream. Put a large jagged rock to one side of the path to represent a mountain. Add smaller rocks to the other side of the jagged rock to represent hills. You've created a miniature Japanese sand garden.
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Fill a half barrel with a plastic liner made especially to turn the barrel into a pond. Put a layer of pebbles that match the river rocks used in the sand garden on the bottom of the barrel. Fill the barrel with water. Add a small pump to create a fountain in the middle of the barrel. Wait three days so the chlorine evaporates and add in four or five gold fish and a few floating water plants.
Place a bamboo umbrella toward the back of the deck near the house. Add a low table and two large flat square pillows covered in waterproof fabric. The colors should be muted and blend in to the deck. Place a bamboo tray on the table that holds a teapot and two tea bowls. This arrangement creates a tea house.
Add other low seating and tables on the deck. Group them to form conversation areas. Scatter groups of candles on the tables and here and there on the deck railing. Add a smooth round river rock to one or two of the tables to echo the river rocks in the sand garden. If your deck is large enough, create a grouping of low chairs around a fire pot. For safety, use either a gas fire pot that sits up off the deck or one that uses a flammable gel to create the flames.
Create a garden area with a potted Japanese maple. Surround the pot with seasonal flowers. Plant iris in the spring, dahlia in the summer and chrysanthemums in the fall. Add wire shelving in a sheltered spot on the deck that receives a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight. The wire shelves let the light fall through to the lower shelves instead of blocking it. Set bonsai plants on the wire shelves.
Add a wind chime as a finishing touch.
Tips & Warnings
- Don't overcrowd the deck with furniture or plants. The Japanese look is spare.
- Japanese furniture is low. Keep candles on low tables out of the way so someone walking by won't brush them.
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