Like many people, you don’t have a limitless garden decorating budget. But that should not stop you from creating the garden of your dreams.
Fortunately, from plant selection to furniture, lighting, soil, and lawn care, there are diverse ways to decorate your garden without breaking the bank.
Read on to discover cost-effective ways to breathe new life into your garden.
1. Use a Theme for Focus, Unity, and Beauty
Start by choosing a theme. It will guide you while choosing other items like plants, lighting, fence colors, and furniture pieces.
Your theme will help you to blend various elements together in a space where you’ll love to spend your time.
Some themes you can explore while planning your garden decoration include:
- Bright and colorful
- Minimalist and muted
- Morrocan
- Mediterranean
- Tropical or jungle
- English garden
There are countless visual references to be found online and sites like Pinterest, Instagram and Google image search will undoubtedly yield results for inspiration.
2. Select Low-Cost Furniture for Social Gatherings
Garden furniture creates a focal point for you and your loved ones to hang around.
Furniture can be anything from a small table and a few chairs to a well-furnished space that can take a dozen guests or more.
However, furnishing your garden on a budget requires some creativity.
Using your theme as a guide, you can add any of the following items for seating:
- Stacked wooden pallets
- Wooden benches
- Stumps of trees
- Tiny deck chairs
A nice and comfortable seating arrangement will create a perfect spot for coffee while listening to the birds sing in the morning or just before nightfall.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get good garden furniture. Look out for charity shops or Facebook groups where members give garden furniture away.
3. Choose Low Maintenance Plants
Your outdoor space must have plants to look great and attract wildlife. Choose plants based on your theme, your climate, and the space available in your yard.
Potted plants will fit nicely in small spaces and they are cheap to maintain. You can hang plants from baskets, or use wooden pallets to make a wall planter filled with succulents or herbs.
If you intend to plant tropical varieties (for more information visit Jim’s Mowing), always look for them before the garden season starts. Make a list of the plants you need and make requests online and offline (local garden center).
Here are some tips to help you find low-cost plants off-season:
- Let your friends and neighbors know that you need specific plants
- Look out for the garden club, horticultural society, and yard sales
- Check online for ads for plants, pots, and other garden stuff
- Be ready to trade plants for free.
4. Repurpose Old Containers as Pots
When your garden needs a facelift, one of the easiest ways to revive it is to add container pots. These pots don’t have to be expensive. You can turn anything you can into a container.
These ideas will help:
- Convert old tins
- Bring out old wooden drawers
- Turn old watering cans into pots
- Fill unused buckets with soil
Remember that you don’t need to copy what you see in another person’s yard. Dare to be unique.
Add some paint or color to the containers to produce a unique and striking look to your front yard.
5. Use Lighting to Spruce Up Your Garden
If you want to spend a lot of time with your loved ones during spring or summer, put up some decent lighting in your garden or patio. You will enjoy the illumination it gives to your outdoor space at night.
Here are some options for you to choose from:
- Outdoor fairy lights
- Tea-light candles
- Free-standing lanterns
- Solar garden lights
All these garden lighting options come in a wide range of shapes, colors, and sizes.
If you are wondering how to install a lighting fixture, here are some ideas:
- Tie it to a tree
- Dangle it from your patio roof
- Lay it against a wall
- Drape it on an outdoor table.
6. Change Your Lawn’s Look Without Spending a Dime
Is it possible to change the appearance of your garden without buying any new items?
Yes. You’ll be amazed at what you can do by modifying the shape, layout, or structure of your lawn.
Try these simple ideas for a cost-effective lawn renovation:
- Trim your lawn to a well-defined plane shape (e.g. a square, rectangle, circle, hexagon, or star).
- Mark the boundaries with twine and large nails or pegs.
- Then cut out the grass outside the boundary with a spade or cutlass.
This simple project should not take you more than a single afternoon to finish. It’s a brilliant garden decoration idea on a budget.
7. Improve Your Plants With Good Compost
The quality of soil in your garden determines how well your plants will flourish. If you have good soil, you will save a lot of money on your plants.
Invest in good compost and make bulk orders from reputable sources. Alternatively, you can create your own compost.
A good source of compost is your old leaves. Instead of raking up and throwing away dry leaves, turn them into compost. Likewise, any food scraps can be used for the same purpose.
You can use your mower or a shredder to chop them into small pieces. Then, make a pile from your leaves. They can also serve as mulch to protect your soil during winter.
8. Grow Food Year-Round
Growing food is a smart way to get a good return from your efforts in gardening. To maximize your rewards, grow the food you love to consume and food that might be expensive in the market.
You can start by planting seeds if you can’t get nursery stock at a low price. Invest in varieties that are difficult to find in produce stores.
Also, consider growing your crops as perennials. Growing vegetables throughout the year is one of the most rewarding gardening adventures. Can you imagine what it will feel like to harvest green vegetables during winter when the stores offer limp and costly options?
These ideas for low-budget gardening are easy to apply and will bring results. Review them again, create a plan of attack and start rolling up those sleeves. The question just remains, which of them will you try out this weekend?
