We all want a beautiful garden. They provide a private space to enjoy the outdoors, make the most of the sunny days and socialise with our family and friends.
Gardens are also a great place for children to play and explore. However, having your garden professionally renovated is a costly project.
Luckily, if you are a dab hand with a power tool, and you know a thing or two about plants, there’s a good chance you will be able to renovate your garden without getting the professionals in. Transforming your garden is quite a task, but it will be worth it when barbeque season comes back around.
Have A Good Think About What You Want
Do you want composite decking or wooden decking? Or are you thinking about a flagged patio instead? Will you have raised flower beds for your garden? If so where, will they go? What area of the garden attracts the most sunlight? Is this where you want to place your patio furniture? Do you need a brand new garden shed or can you spruce up your current one?
The questions are endless. Before you begin your DIY garden renovation, you need to know exactly what you and your family want. Having a clear idea of what you want from your new garden will make planning the garden renovation far easier.
Put In The Time And Research
A DIY garden renovation is a lot of work and it certainly won’t happen overnight. Be prepared to have a messy garden (and muddy footprints in the house) for a while. Putting in plenty of research is crucial for a DIY garden renovation. There is so much useful information and advice on the web!
Tips on anything from laying a ground-level deck to building a raised garden bed can be found online; you just have to look for it! YouTube tutorials are particularly useful for teaching yourself how to do something you are unsure of. Researching images of garden landscapes and visiting your local garden centres will also give you inspiration and help you plan out your garden renovation.
Break Up The Project
Even if you have a small garden, breaking up the DIY garden renovation into smaller projects will make your life far easier, and help you stick to your budget. For example, you may want to start with your patio area, before moving onto creating a garden path or building plant beds.
Breaking up the garden renovation gives you the time to research each project and find the right materials at an affordable price.
Plan With Your Budget In Mind
As you are doing the renovation yourself over a period of time, it is essential that you have a budget in mind. Otherwise, you will find yourself wasting money on materials, tools, and plants you have no use for, and you may even run out of money before the garden renovation is complete.
Once you know what you want your new garden to look like, and you have put plenty of research into each part of the project, you can set a budget. Your budget should cover the cost of everything required for your garden renovation including all materials, tools, waste removal, plants, garden furniture and accessories.
Shop Around For Materials
Landscaping materials can be costly. But shopping around for materials will save you plenty of money along the way! There are a whole host of DIY stores and gardening centres in the UK. Once you know what material you want, check out the price at different stores.
If you are looking to save money, always explore the sales and “last chance to buy” sections. Signing up to memberships can also save you money at a selection of DIY and hardware stores.
If you are on a tight budget, you can shop around on sites such as Gumtree, eBay and Facebook Materials for second-hand materials to re-use in your garden renovation.
Prepare You Garden (And Your Neighbours) For The Renovation
Once you have researched your DIY garden renovation and planned your budget, it is time to prepare your garden. Preparing your garden beforehand will make the garden renovation run much smoother.
Hiring a skip will be useful for getting rid of garden waste and larger materials. Although, be on the lookout for anything you can keep and re-use in your new garden. Once you have cleared out your garden, you can get a better idea of which part of the project to start first.
Also, don’t forget to tell your neighbours about your plans to renovate your garden. It may get noisy at times and the last thing you want is angry neighbours.
Once your garden is prepared, you can get started on your renovation!