What have you bought / done that has instantly enhanced your garden?

[onedayatatime73]

We have a small garden. Bit of patio and a bit of lawn.

Dp and I have been useless at making it look nice but given the glorious summer I’ve made an effort. So looking for some inspiration.

So far I have done a bit of general tidying.
Repainted the fence which was simply embarrassing.
Put up some pretty garden solar lights.
Bought a decent storage box / bench to hide all the balls and toys strewn around the garden.
Bought some decent / pretty stones for part of the patio border that was just dirt.
Only bought a couple of plants. Two hanging baskets.
Far and away the best thing is a new outdoor mirror that sits at the end of the garden.

I am pretty clueless so any suggestion or pics of things you have done. I’m happy to copy people!

And we clearly have a mole or vole problem!

Bark chipping on the borders- I was amazed at how much it transformed the overall look and made the plants stand out.

One fantastic centre piece plant.
Jelly Palm tree - cost more than I'd like to admit
It brings all areas of the garden together, and offers fantastic dappled shade under. I bought an old potato storage crate, painted and lined it and used that as a planter, we're in a bungalow and the top of it is just lower than the top of the pitched roof.
Prior to this key things were lighting. Festoon lights over the patio and shade garden (tree ferns, bamboo, hostas etc)

Thinking about it, anything that draws the eye up. The biggest let down for new gardens I think is lack of height whilst you wait for plants to mature and grow

We painted the fence a really bright colour. It really sets of the pots of plants Infront of it and makes me smile when I look at it.

A shit ton of flowering plants round your patio, really brightens it up and makes it look pretty. Make sure they are in nice pots.

I found that using the vertical spaces really transformed a small garden I had. So clematis growing up the fence on bits of trellis that I just propped up, and a quick growing climbing rose up one side.

Our garden lacked height - just lawn and patio and not much else. I've added a pergola, lighting, dug several borders and built some raised beds. I have plenty of pots too.

We attached a little bird bath to the wall because of the heatwave. It somehow looks perfect in that corner and is right in between the tree with the feeder and a large bush hat the birds flit in and out of.

We also bought some solar string lights and they aren’t super bright, but they make the whole garden a bit happier.

Was gonna say paint the fence but you have done that...

I have a solar fountain which I love, the sound of running water is very nice.

Jet wash patio slabs?

I was also going to say a solar fountain. We splashed out ( pun intended!) and bought the largest and most striking we could afford, it also works from a remote control and store the solar charge for 12 hours.

Planted a couple of trees (even the smallest garden has space for a little tree). Within 20 minutes a bird had landed in one of them, best sight ever!

Ours needed a lot of effort to spruce it up to even acceptable standards, so this is what we did (and are still doing!):

Jet wash patio and paths

Paint fence with watered down bleach to remove green algae type substances

Bought lots of pots for the patio which all have the same finish but are different sizes and heights - I am refreshing them at the moment and will be putting in dianthus pink kisses, purple and white violas, a white chrysanthemum, some late flowering salvias (Amistad, I think), some asters and saxifrage Shiranami. All of these have been chosen as they are really long flowering. I can see them from the house too. With pots I would say that a bigger pot or two (or three) make more impact than lots of smaller pots.

Bought climbers for height and more upright interest whilst the shrubs establish. The jasmine, clematis montana and upright ceanothus have been great this year.

Also bought some pretty painted bird boxes and insect houses for the fence.

You seem to have done loads already though. What about:

Some garden art type things? I see lots of mirrors, metal 'pictures' (sorry, I don't know what to call them as we don't have them), but I see that you've put a mirror.

Do you have space to plant an established tree? Instant impact. Ornamental or fruit. I love flowering cherries and magnolias.

What about an archway? Maybe to create a quieter place in the garden, and sort of invite you through. You could have climbers on this like a mix of roses and clematis. There are some very long flowering and fast growing climbing roses.

Would the budget extend to new garden furniture? Maybe a swing or a bench if not the full works.

ooh Welltidy I'm copying and keeping that list of plants .
What a lovely mix !

Can I ask where you are purchasing them from ? Any tips ?

Really chuffed that you like them peridito. I am a very very novice gardener, so I am usually the one asking for advice. I am buying from Homebase as they are so much cheaper than at my local garden centre. There may be better suggestions, but I am limited in my choices as I don't like orange, red or yellow flowers in my garden - I like more relaxing white, pink and purple.

Hanging feeders for bird suet balls. Brings life and joy into the garden and gives it meaning.

A tree or two is a brilliant idea. They add the height and the birds love them. Pick trees that won't grow too big for the garden and think about whether you want autumn colour/blossom/fruit?

I put in a mountain ash with yellow berries that goes a brilliant red in autumn and the birds love the berries.

Plants from Homebase www.homebase.co.uk/?_$ja=tsid:%7Ccid:1331476968%7Cagid:54112535955%7Ctid:kwd-297505105138%7Ccrid:260477860754%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:13570281156235606411%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:1t1&gclid=CjwKCAjwns_bBRBCEiwA7AVGHozwPVAvjSiOsJVV7TsaxC7cTK5XVRF7n1WpwNkP7fXqEeuKn3mcfxoCcTwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLvj-MWF79wCFVmiewodRN8EHA

We also bought one of these arch mirrors and hung on wall as gardens very small but makes it feel bigger amzn.to/2Mrh3uZ

Just use your imagination and do what you want not what others may want you to do good luck.

Love these suggestions thank you. Dp away tonight so planning to sit in the garden and order on line. Really helpful thank you.

And welltidy can you give me an example of your pots? I don’t have a good eye for such things. I’ve probably got room for 2 maybe 3?

And how do I put in a climber? Sorry am clueless but determined to crack it. Building the new garden storage bench this afternoon!

I am a complete novice too oneday so I can only say what I do. All of our pots are ceramic, with a bronzed type finish. With the plants I've bought for late summer/autumn, I will put the salvia Amistad either in the centre or at the back (as it is tall) and put the dianthus around it. Same with the violas. I will probably have one tall pot with salvia and dianthus and another tall pot with salvia and violas.

The violas are really cheap so I will probably have another quite shallow pot with the leftover violas. I will probably mix up the white and purple violas rather than keeping one pot of one colour and one pot of another colour.

The saxifrage will go in a separate pot.

I will put the white chrysanthemum in my biggest pot as it is large (excellent value at £5.50).

And then I group the pots together. I still have a massive pot of light pink geraniums and trailing white and lilac/pale blue bacopa going strong, and a large pot of cosmos purity and pink nemesia going strong, so they will stay in their current pots and I will put them with the new plants. So I will have two groups of pots, one at the edge of the patio and one on the back step.

Can I just restate that I have no idea what I am doing and am still learning lots so someone may well come and have much better ideas than I do.

Also maybe a bottle of wine is always a good start

Climbers www.rhs.org.uk/advice/how-to-plant-climber

Top tip is not to dig your hole too close to the wall as that tends to be really dry - better to dig 1 to 2 foot away and put a cane in to lead the climber the right way. It'll soon get the idea. You'll need to put wires or a trellis on the wall.

Put up support that's big and strong enough for how big it will eventually grown. It might look a bit daft to start with but it'll soon fill out. And you can always plant a quick growing annual climber to fill the space while its growing. You can plant a couple of climbers that do interesting stuff at different time...

Perennial geraniums are great plants for filling space - geranium rozanne is lovely.

Such good advice on here .

Welltidy - sigh of relief that it's Homebase ! And I think you must be a natural!

A dog or two.

Really livens things up.

Seriously, but pots with lots of geraniums in the same colour. Don't go for silly small pots. Go big. One colour looks much better.

Also, a jasmine and a rowan tree.