What do you think is the main decoration of the countryside? Many will say, lush green vegetation and bright flower beds with exotic flowers. Yes, it is, but sooner or later, "played enough" with the formation of flower beds, you still come to the idea that you need some starting point, an important detail that would give rise to the stylistic design of the site.
This is the "point" can be a decorative mill for the garden, which, along with a wicker fence, a well and gazebos cozy rests on the expanses of the garden. Moreover, it certainly will not only be a colorful decoration of the garden, but also the main element of landscape design. Let's find out how to properly choose and use it in site design.
Wooden garden mills photo
Garden mills in landscape design
Types of decorative garden mills
Garden mills can be purely decorative, and can carry a functional load - it all depends on their types and purposes. The simplest mill, usually of small size, easily disguises the protruding elements that you would like to hide from extraneous views. These can be hatches of septic tanks, pipe valves and other elements of engineering communications. Such mills can have a height of only 0.5 m, but at the same time their function is performed "perfectly".And more global in size windmills with ease disguise the street toilet.
Unlike them, decorative windmills are impressive in size, and their area allows you to build inside the building, even a summerhouse for rest. In another case, such an element of landscape design will be advised to be used as a hut for storage of garden tools. If this option does not suit you, leave the right to be only a decorative element in the garden, surround it with the appropriate entourage and let it bring joy to its owners and guests at home.
And here is another kind of stylistic element - a decorative water mill - feels better near an artificial pond or a small waterfall. Here you can also organize a recreation area, so that on summer evenings you can observe the slow work of the mill wheel and the way water, rolling over the blades, flows into the pond.
Large garden mill
Wooden garden mills
Decorative windmills
How to use a decorative mill
Almost all mills are made of wood. And, despite the fact that this natural material perfectly fits into the landscape design of the site, there are still some subtleties of placing decorative mills from wood. First of all, you need to take into account the style of the garden design, so that all its elements are combined, without causing dissonance.
The garden mill photo
The easiest way is to put the mill somewhere in a corner or on a lawn with a tall grass. In this case, it is not necessary to take into account the various combinations of the constituent parts of the composition and to maintain a certain style of landscape design. Although, on the other hand, this negligence, when all the elements are arranged singly and it seems that they are completely irrelevant to each other, also has its own name, and it is called the "landscape style".In this case it is even allowed to age the mill artificially so that it looks somewhat abandoned.
Decorative mill for a dacha, made in the Russian style, can be both windmill and water, but it is better to choose the first option. It can be placed next to the pavilions resembling a Russian hut, a wicker fence, a well of logs and a wooden bridge thrown over an artificial pond. Also, the village cart or wheel "abandoned" nearby will fit organically into the landscape. Decorating the site in the manner described, you can safely choose a beautiful mill in a fairytale style, and illustrations of such cozy houses can always be found in Russian folk tales.
Decorative wood mill
Not far from the Russian style in the use of decorative elements went and country style, where, along with the windmill, used all the village devices: a wheel, a cart, a simple bench, an old well, a garden bridge and even a scarecrow. All these elements, including the windmill, must have not strict forms, but rounded corners and curved lines-this is how the adaptations that were necessary in those days, built today, became a decorative element.
Decorating the garden in an oriental style, do not forget to decorate it with a water mill. As you know, the central element of landscape design, executed in this style, is a pond, and you simply will not understand if it is not overturned by a mill, gently rotating blades with water. Somewhere nearby you can put a bench or pavilion in the form of a pagoda, and to the mill itself, let them lead the stone garden paths in the oriental style.
Decorative watermill
Decorative mill for a dacha
Where to install the
mill best. A decorative mill can become one of the main components of landscape design, so you do not need to hide it in the backyard, it is best to put it on elevated plots in an open area or near a pond.
In this case, necessarily relate the proportions of the plot and the mill. On a spacious lawn, a small mill can simply be lost, it will not be visible here, and vice versa, a too massive structure, disproportionate to the occupied territory, will look less ridiculous.
How to make a mill for a garden
If you were already interested in the cost of this stylistic element, you probably noticed that it is quite high, which is why many house masters willingly take up work and create real masterpieces to later decorate their site with them. Decorative mill with their own hands can be made of various materials, up to the plywood, but the most beautiful specimens are obtained from wooden boards, varnished.
So, how to make a mill for a garden yourself? Let's consider a simple variant. The lower part will be made in the form of a trapezoid, and on its top we will install a triangular roof with blades. First you need to cut out of the plywood two rectangles, which will perform the function of the supporting structure. To them with the help of nails we mount four posts in the corners and we sew the resulting structure with a lining. If you want to make a window in a mill, then do not forget to cut them.
Next, we shoot down the triangle of the board and we sew them across the lining - this will be the roof of the mill. We will fasten it to the base with the help of nails or self-tapping screws. After that, let's turn the blades. In order not to be tricky, they can be cut out of plywood, connected together and screwed with a long bolt to the roof, and so that they can freely rotate from the wind.
Decorative garden mill photo
That's it, that's all! Our decorative mill for the garden is ready! It remains to find a good place to install it on the site, and you can consider your mission accomplished.
