Give your garden a makeover
IF your garden’s looking a little drab, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to give it a lift. Just check out these tips and spend this weekend sprucing up your green space.
Grow tall with trellis
Bare walls and columns can look a bit drab, especially if your plaster and paintwork are old. Cover with a trellis and add growing vines and creepers.
If your walls are low, you can use taller trellises to give yourself more privacy.
Make mountains
Buy some good soil and make a few mounds in your garden. These “mini mountains” will create contours, and can be used to feature pretty plants and new trees.
You can create a landscape that starts with plain ground and then rises into the hills, or just dot the mounds around into convenient places.
Grow rocks
A pile of rocks seeded with little plants makes an attractive, eye-catching feature. If you don’t have plants, ask in your garden centre for suitable small, pretty and low growing plants.
Corners are good for rock gardens, especially if you have tall shrubs disguising your outdoor tap. You can move your tall plants to beautify a plain wall, have a rock garden to look at, and not worry about reaching through wet shrubbery.
Make a patio
It doesn’t take much space to put out two chairs and a mini table. Make your own patio by measuring how much space you need, and then buy some pretty tiles. Think blue and yellow, or red for the border and black in the centre. Lay the tiles on a firm bed of earth, and rim with stones to keep the edges trim.