Gardening, landscaping, and making things snappy with a little bit of garden decor love – these are all fun, passionate hobbies I take seriously. Along the way I’ve always naturally gotten into the garden lighting aspect of things, which can create some really awesome “visuals”, so to speak, in the garden. Using garden lights, one can really enhance the appeal of the garden, creating dramatic looking drop shadows and whatnot. It is really very cool to experiment with, and the only way to get started is to do what I did – do a little research and then give it a go!.

Oh – but I will give you one advantage I didn’t have; some tips from yours truly, learned from experience.

One of the first things to keep in mind when starting is that less is more. The tendency for beginners is to over light things. I admit, it’s easy to do, getting caught up in the excitement of what garden lighting can do, the next thing you know, your garden is glowing. With a bit of testing, you’ll see that the maxium less is more works for garden lighting as well.

With that in mind, and along the same kind of thinking, it‘s not just about what you light, it’s also about what you don’t light. Using garden lighting is all about the juxtaposition between what’s lit up and what’s not. This creates a spectacular visual, with lights illuminating certain aspects of the garden and keeping other parts in shadow. The parts that aren’t hit up with lights create the contrast we’re going for, and this is an important aspect to keep in mind when setting up the lights for the garden.

You will likely find it visually preferable to conceal the light source so that no one can will (without effort) find themselves looking into the light directly, or even be able to directly see where the light originates. The easiest way to hide the light is to just throw it up behind items already in your garden, such as a nice sized rock or a plant. If this isn’t possible, simply install on a glare guard over the light!

Have fun experimenting with all the different garden lighting accessories, such as frosted lenses or beam angles. These light modifiers can help create the look you are going for, as well as providing a more unique type of lighting for the garden.

Getting your garden lighting set up just the way you want it will take a bit of work, some patience, lots of experimentatin, and a can-do attitude. But if you are a gardener worth your salt, then you already have all these qualities – in which case, I know you’ll do fine setting up your new garden lighting!

The decision to use standard garden lights or solar garden lights comes down to everyones individual situation, skill set, and budget. Here are some points to keep in mind when sizing up your options between using solar garden lights, or standard garden lights (those that require a power source via cable.)

Solar Garden Lights are a lot easier to get set up. Why? Because there’s no cables to deal with, that’s why! All it takes is purchasing them and then placing them in the garden, taking care to make sure the solar panels (either built into the lights or running attached with a small cord) are placed in such a way to capture direct sunlight. That is all it’s going to take to power the lights, and this means it’s very easy for everyone involved.

Standard Garden Lights are harder to set up. You could run a cable on top of the ground, but that would look ridiculous. Instead, you’ll need to properly bury or at least strategically conceal the power cables. This means digging and manuevering. It might also mean some kind of electrical skills as you tweak the light set up for your garden. What this offers in trade is the ability to have a lot more control over where the lights are placed, since the cables can be routed anywhere under the ground, and no light source is not in any way related to being exposed to the sun to capture solar energy.

Another factor between these two options is the price and cost of each type of lighting. Solar garden lights cost more than standard garden lights. However, the big selling point here is that you will spend zero dollars powering them. Year after year will pass and you will have garden lights on, and will not spend a penny on keeping them on. But at the same time, the cost of standard garden lights is considerably less than that of their solar counterparts. The budget may demand a less expensive choice to start with.

One more factor is this question you may want to ask yourself: How important is it to you to use energy efficient, green lighting?

Gardeners work with the earth, and many extend their respect for the plants and trees and the air and the grass by their work in the garden. For them, it only makes sense to use solar powered garden lights, as this plays a small but important role in reducing ones overall footprint. This is something to think about it for anyone who uses garden lighting.