Make all things bright with DIY lights this summer

NOW this is one I particularly like having done it myself for many summers. It’s cheap, simple and so admiringly subtle, you’ll have all the neighbours following suit in no time. We all appreciate those endless summer evenings when it never fully darkens and nothing enhances this sort of atmosphere quite like soft lighting.

Now dark-less nights and a need for lighting might sound like a contradiction, but nothing could be further from the truth. The dwindling light of a summer’s evening can be illuminated spectacularly by the decorative lights you have in your garden. Depending on where you shop, solar lights are inexpensive.

Yet these subtle little conveyors of light can bedazzle even the most cynical of visitors to your garden on a summer’s night. The secret is not to just buy solar lights and plonk them in the middle of the garden. Instead, place them strategically in places where they will have the most effect. For example, why not place them along garden pathways, driveways, walkways, flower and vegetable beds?

Many people tend to locate lights where they think they are best suited during the daylight hours; but by scanning your garden at night, I bet you’ll discover areas that can be lit up beautifully that you would never have thought of by day. The secret is to locate the lights in a mapping formation around focal points in the garden which will make them stand out at night.

Another cost-effective trick is to use empty glass jars. Simply work a piece of wire around the rim of the jar, ending with a loop that can be hung on the branch of a tree. Pop a night light into the jar and you have a beautiful light. The more jars you accumulate, the more attractive the spectacle.