Transform Your Small Garden From 5p With These Cost-Effective Tips
- Keeping a small garden looking pretty and tidy can be tough
- It’s hard to makeover a small space on a budget
- Latest Deals reveals their top budget-friendly hacks for small gardens
With the cost of living constantly increasing, it makes sense to consider making more use of your garden. Whether you want a space to sit back, relax and enjoy some colourful flowers or begin reducing your supermarket bills by growing your own vegetables, having this area can be infinitely useful.
However, many of us will have woefully small gardens which can end up being neglected or used as a dumping ground. It can be hard to find inspiration for such spaces, especially when makeovers can easily be expensive. All is not lost, though - there are ways to optimise your garden for what you need, even if it feels impossibly small and you’re on a budget to boot.
Tom Church, Co-Founder of money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘I used to have such a small garden it felt more like a shoe cupboard than an outdoor space! The good news is that I came up with some great ways to optimise the area with the help of friends and family. Plus, they don’t have to break the bank. Here are some of the best bargain-friendly tricks I picked up along the way.’
Raise Your Garden Beds With Wheels - Save £50 By Going DIY
If you don’t have enough room for a permanent raised bed for your flowers or plants - or you rent your property and don’t want the hassle of digging up your work when you move - you can go for a portable solution on wheels. There are plenty of options online if you want a raised plant bed with wheels, but instead of spending £60 or more, why not take inspiration from these space-saving ideas and go DIY? For example, you could make a simple raised bed by purchasing a 4-pack of castor wheels for under £10, then adding a container of your choice. You may have an old plastic tub that could be decorated before adding wheels on the bottom, or an old bird bath could easily be repurposed and made mobile. You could even get creative and use old wood you may have lying around to build a raised bed - which means that you’re saving over £50 as you’re only purchasing the wheels. Even if you buy your own cheap garden planter and add the wheels yourself, you’re saving plenty compared with purchasing a ready-made version - and saving space in your small garden to boot.
Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden With 5p ASDA Bargains
You may have dreams of growing vegetables at home instead of buying them each week from the supermarket, but never tried it out due to a conviction that your garden is too small to make it happen. However, one Latest Deals member has proven that it’s possible to grow vegetables in a garden of any size - and you can get started for just 5p. Kat Phoenix, 28, told LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘Every 3 months or so, I get reduced potatoes, usually for 5-10p a pack. I put them in the back of the cupboard for a few weeks until they sprout and then plant them. We are on a limited income, so we have planted our produce in containers used from other food, such as mushroom, peach and grape containers. The tips of leeks, spring onions, carrots and parsnips can be placed in soil of varying depths and go on to grow new produce. Spring onions are particularly useful as they can be placed on the windowsill in just a small amount of water.’
Think Vertically - DIY A Garden Shelving Unit For Free With Pallets
If you’re low on space in your garden, stop thinking about the floor space and look at your walls instead. If you’ve got a strong fence or wall available, optimise this area by affixing a trellis or shelving unit. It’s an easy option to reduce clutter and display additional plants, as you can weave in scented climbers such as honeysuckle, sweet peas or jasmine. Plus, you can hang your hat and gloves there to avoid losing them! You can buy an expanding garden trellis for £15 or more online, but if you go to Wilko you can get one for as little as £2.50, saving you over £10. If you want to create a slim storage unit to go on your fence or wall, consider buying used wooden pallets or getting them for free on Facebook Marketplace, then getting creative at home. Alternatively, you could combine a raised planter with wheels and a trellis, but avoid buying ready-made options if you’re on a budget as these will easily cost £60 or more.
Know Your Invasive Plants - Contain Them With £5 Pots
If you’ve got a small garden, it will be more important than usual to manage plants, flowers and crops which are considered invasive or nuisances. For example, mint is notorious for taking over a garden unless it’s been carefully potted. Similar potential problem plants include blackberries, raspberries, Japanese anemones, soapwort, passion flowers, Russian vine, cherry laurel and poplars. Issues you may have include planting trees which shoot all over the garden and even next door, shrubs which take over your nearly planted border and unexpected seedlings emerging in unwelcome places. Fortunately, bargain retailers such as B&M and Wilko offer plant pots for as little as a fiver, so you can keep these pesky plants contained in no time at all.
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