Can I ask for easy ways to make my garden look good

[chocolathotel]

Preferably which don't cost a fortune. Have been looking at pots but they're so expensive. It's a little garden, about half patio and it's very plain at the moment, I've got a few plants in but they're all green ones eg shrubs so there's no colour. Have a shed which needs painting as well but don't know what colour. Any ideas?

I should have said as well that I'm looking ahead to spring/summer!

Plastic planters are a cheap way to do it but you can plant stuff in pretty much anything with a hole in the bottom. If its ugly, hide it with trailers.

Fast growing climbers offer good bang for buck too. One pot can cover a whole fence. Clematis, nastertium, wisteria.

Sweet peas are cheap as chips and have lovely flowers. Just knock up a simple wire lattice and put a long plastic tub on the floor.

Trough style planters are good to put along the border of the patio and the lawn if you want to create a divide. You can fill them with colourful heathers that are fairly cheap and indestructible and add a bit of height.

www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-plant-pot-trough-charcoal-50cm/p/0487681

Sage green is great for sheds, not too bright but not boring. You could get hanging baskets for it and bunting in the summer

You tube tutorials tell you how to make planters out of pallets which are easy, attractive and very low cost. Lidl/Aldi do cheap camellias, lavender, seed packets.Agree with PP about sage green shed did mine last summer, it looks good. Good luck Op.

These are brilliant ideas thank you all

Paint the fence (if you have one) and shed, jet wash the patio. I've got a kind of sage green on my fences but there are loads of nice colours. I really like dark purple.

For plants I like colorful perennials that come back every year, and bulbs are nice in the spring. I have snowdrops and a purple Hellebore in flower at the moment.

On shed colours - will you have much growing against it? I've painted my fence a really dark grey - almost black, and greenery looks really great against it. Appreciate not everyone's cup of tea though!

I discovered plastic pots last summer. I'm not sure what took me so long but our local garden centre has some really lovely plastic pots that look like ceramic, even close up, until you pick them up. Less than £5 for large planters. Maybe not quite as nice as the real thing but much better than what you're imagining!

Re the shed, can I suggest not trying to change the colour too much? I painted my rustic "orange" shed sage green. It looks nice now but OMG that thing soaked up the paint and took literally a dozen coats.

My shed is painted lavender, its gorgeous.

These are all very helpful. I'm definitely going to look out for plastic containers. Sage green sounds good for the shed - there'll be nothing against it no. I'm a bit worried about painting the fence in case it leaks through to my neighbours! Like the idea of a black or purple fence though. Am going to take a look in lidl and wilko and also to try a climber. Not the most green-fingered person so I always worry about keeping things going. Patio jet wash would be good I'll have to ask around in case anyones got one.

that sounds nice too userxx

Look on gumtree or Facebook marketplace. People are often giving away free pots and plants.

Yes unfortunately fences do leak through - i asked next doors, and offered to paint their side as well as a compromise. As above though - this cost us an absolutely fortune in paint!