For those of us lucky enough to have some outdoor space at home, we've all come to appreciate our gardens and outdoor living even more over the past two years. It's estimated that our spending on gardens rose to a staggering £19bn between 2021 and 2022 and the trend for investing in our garden space shows no sign of stopping.
But you don't need to have Alan Titchmarsh and a massive budget to improve your outdoor space. Whether you have a vast manicured terrace, compact urban garden or even a tiny balcony, read on for some quick fixes to glam up your outdoor oasis, with everything available for either home delivery in our delivery area, or to click and collect from our AVS Fencing & Landscaping Supplies branches throughout the South and East.
So if you're planning a full garden makeover, or just tidying up one unsightly corner of the garden, here's our ten top DIY garden ideas for budding garden designers.
Paint your fence, shed or furniture
Now is a great time to give your fence, shed or garden furniture a lick of paint or preservative, and is a quick way to spruce up your garden with maximum impact. Our range of outdoor wood paints and wood treatments comes in a variety of colours and finishes, from natural browns to the more contemporary blues and greys.
Not only will you add some background colour to the garden, you'll also save money in the long run by maintaining your outdoor timber.
Read our article here for some inspiration and all you need to know about painting your shed.
Install some garden lighting
Outdoor lighting is a great way to add instant impact to your garden, especially around a seating area for evening entertaining. Solar powered lighting won’t always have received enough sun from our variable weather to charge up, so why not consider some more permanent, high quality mains powered garden lighting.
Invest in some garden storage
Unless you have a large shed, it's likely that you have garden tools, hosepipes, bikes, lawnmowers and other garden 'stuff' taking up space in the garage. If you don't have a garage the problem is even worse! So perhaps now is the time to invest in some garden storage.
Not only will this tidy up the garden, but it will also keep items such as bikes and mowers secure and away from the weather. We have a
range of garden storage solutions for both small and large spaces including compact garden chests, secure bike stores and full height wall sheds.
Are your dustbins a constant eyesore? Then our single, double or triple timber bin stores are the perfect solution, and will also keep any wildlife away from your rubbish.
Use slate or decorative gravel for a quick fix
Our range of slate chippings and decorative gravels provides a host of options to quickly cover an unsightly part of your garden. Simply lay some weed suppressant membrane over the area then rake over the slate or gravel for an instant, long lasting fix.
Top tip – if the gravelled area is over soil, cut a cross through the membrane to add plants, then re-cover around the plants for a contemporary gravel or slate flower bed.
Decorative gravel is also great for top dressing planters and pots.
Read our article for even more tips on using slate and gravel in your garden.
Go potty with container gardening
Adding plant pots and planters to your garden, patio, decked area, balcony or front door is a great way to introduce added areas of colour. With clever use of planting you can achieve year round interest with evergreen shrubs or grasses, spring flowering bulbs, summer blooms and winter flowering pansies or heathers.
Choose from our range of treated wood pots and planters, then read our article on how to get the most out of container gardening.
Top tip - a quick way to age brand new terracotta pots is to roughly brush them with watered down white emulsion paint.
Build a raised bed from railway sleepers
Raised beds made from railway sleepers are a popular way to add new raised growing areas to your garden, whether for decorative effect or for growing fruit and vegetables.
A raised bed can easily be put together in a day, even more quickly if you have one of our raised bed kits delivered.
Read our article to see how easy it is to build your own raised bed, or read about the many uses for railway sleepers in garden landscaping.
Edge your lawn or pathways
Tidying up the messy edges of a lawn will make a huge difference to the look of your garden, and stop your paths or borders from encroaching onto your carefully tended grass. There are several methods you can use, which you can
read about in our article, but one of the quickest and long-lasting methods is steel lawn edging.
Top tip - don't be tempted by rolls of plastic lawn edging in garden centres or DIY stores, they're not strong enough to provide a firm edge and won't survive a lawnmower or strimmer.
Get decorative with panels
You might not have time to erect a brand new fence (but if you do we can help), however we offer a range of decorative fencing panels that can instantly transform an area of your garden, whether as part of a boundary fence or as free standing panels within the garden.
Read our article here for examples of what to do with decorative fence panels.
Create an outdoor dining space
Outdoor dining has increased in popularity recently, so why not make the most of your garden by creating a dedicated outdoor dining space.
This can be as simple as investing in some new garden furniture, or impress your guests with a complete dining pergola for those balmy evenings (or for protection from the rain!).
Lay some bark
Mulching your flower beds or bare soil with bark chippings, laid over some weed suppressing membrane is a great way to instantly tidy up your garden space.
In addition to keeping the weeds down the bark will also reduce the drying out of the soil, protect your plants' roots over winter and provide a great eco-friendly habitat for insects in your garden.
Ask the experts
We hope the above has given you some ideas to quickly transform your garden. For any help or advice on your garden project, speak to our landscaping experts at your local AVS branch.
If you'd like to sit down for a chat about a particular project, visit our Book An Appointment page.