6 free garden makeover ideas
Are you looking for help with your garden makeover but don't want to spend any money? Luckily there are many different ideas that you can use! Try these free garden makeover ideas to give your outdoor space a fresh look - without spending a penny.
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Bold ideas and a bit of digging can reap great rewards, even when a trip to the garden centre is off the cards. These garden makeover ideas might be exactly what you need!
How to get a garden makeover for free?
1. Bursts of colour
For the first garden makeover tip, carefully dig up flowers and shrubs and replant them in clusters with similar colours to maximize the impact of what you’ve got.
Consider the overall tone of your garden, and try to choose colours that complement each other. You'll also want to take into account the time of year and the climate in your area. Some flowers are only in bloom for a short period of time, so if you're looking for year-round colour, you'll need to choose plants that will thrive in your climate.
With a little planning, you can easily add colour to your garden without spending any money.
2. Create a path
If you have a path already, enhance its look by keeping the edges well-defined and trimmed back, and keeping moss or weeds out of the gaps between paving stones. Or gather together a few good-sized stones and hunks of brick to map out a path or create a ‘curb’ where your lawn ends and flowerbeds begin.
3. Recycle old tools
If you have old forks and rakes that aren’t up to rigorous use around the garden anymore, use these as uprights to support climbing plants.
If you feel creative, you could repaint your old buckets and use them as planters and use your broken pots as drainage in larger pots. If you’ve got no use for metal hangers, you could use them as hooks for hanging plants. If you’re a wine bottle collector, another idea would be using them as edging for raised beds.
4. Decorate your walls
If your outside walls could do with a lick of paint but you don’t have any spare stone or outdoor paint in the shed, consider using an old beaded curtain in front of the wall to add colour. You could also use old fabric, wallpaper or even wrapping paper to achieve a similar look for your garden metamorphosis. If you’re feeling crafty, you could try painting your walls with murals or other designs.
To add some greenery to your walls but also purify the air around your home, try hanging some plants and herb gardens. This is a great way to add some personality to your garden and a fun way to get the whole family involved in the makeover process!
5. Ditch the shed
Got a wobbly old shed in the corner? If money is too tight to replace it right now, consider relocating its contents and simply getting rid of it until you have the funds for a new one. You’ll be amazed how much better and more spacious your garden will look if you clear it away. You could even use some of the wood to create your own veg patch.
6. Swap some cuttings
Another great garden makeover tip is to refresh your flower beds by asking friends for cuttings of plants from their gardens and offering some of yours in return.
To pick the ideal candidates for trading, take a look at what plants you have that you no longer want. Maybe there's a plant that's not doing well, or one that you've grown tired of. Then see what plants catch your eye in your friend’s garden. Maybe they have a plant that's too big for their space, or one that's not doing well in their garden. Then do the swap!
Cuttings are a great way of getting free plants into your garden and the process itself needn’t be daunting - all it requires is a little knowledge and care. The best time of year to take cuttings varies by type of plant, but some common timings tend to be mid-spring or early-summer; certain types of woody stemmed plants would be best taken late in summer.
In terms of how to transform a garden on a budget, learning how to transform a garden is far from complicated. The basic principle behind taking cuttings is quite straightforward: simply cut roughly 10cm pieces from any new growth from a plant – thicker stems should be halved lengthways or even quartered - insert them into soil (or damp sand) and keep alternating between holding moisture and allowing it to dry out. Keep at it, and soon you will learn how to transform your garden at zero cost!
Even when you do have to spend money, don’t splash the cash when it’s not needed – check these time-saving, money-saving garden tips from our expert landscape gardener.
What’s your favourite part of your garden?