How to cheer up a small paved garden in a temporary rental (on a budget!)

[herethereandeverywhatnow]

I’ve just moved into a rented flat after leaving the family home (and years of misery but that’s another story). The children and I now have a small paved garden area with a few (empty) hanging baskets and one flower bed (about 4m x 1m) as well as some window sills that could easily have plants added and a balcony outside the 1st floor living room . When I was single I had a very sweet little garden which I filled with cottage garden plants, and would love to cheer up our outside space here too, but I’m only planning on staying 6-12 months before we buy somewhere.
I’m thinking that quick wins of some colourful plants in pots is probably the best way to go, and maybe some annuals in the flower bed, but I can’t spend much! The garden gets quite a lot of sun throughout the day, I tried to figure out which way it faces but can’t seem to work it out!
Any suggestions as to how best to cheer the garden (and me) up?

Pack of wildflower seeds from the pound shop

FYI The easiest way to find out which way the garden faces is to look on google maps.

For beds, what about a few flowering shrubs? They can often be inexpensive if you aren't too fussy? I also came across this which looks like a good, inexpensive idea for the beds?

with the hanging baskets, the're calling out for cheap flowers you can buy in quantity relatively easy - violas, begonias, petunias etc. Something I've done in the past which I liked to give a bit of height variety to hanging pots is to plant one or more herbs - so a small rosemary bush in the middle perhaps and then other flowers/herbs around it.

Your biggest expense can often be the pots, but at least you can take those with you. And you can get surprisingly cheap pots at places like B&M or home bargains or wherever.

Also what about fake flowers or strings of solar powered lights? they can look great hanging along fences etc and add some colour and life.

Nasturtiums -seeds put between the paving stones -also grow some from seed on window sills but they seem to prefer gravelly ground so don’t use rich compost.
Cosmos are good and grow quite tall and wide -you’ll need canes and string to support them. Get them from the garden centre, 6 plants. Begonias will flower all summer but they’re a bit too gaudy for me.
not so cheap though but I think good in tubs.

Is there anything in the flower bed now? If not, I would get some easy to grow seeds for the flower bed eg sunflowers, nasturtiums, snapdragons, poppies, sweet peas.

It could be fun to grow some food with the DC if there is enough sun eg split up supermarket herbs, try growing seeds from tomatoes, peppers or chillies, maybe buy some easy to grow veg seeds (peas, cucumber, salad leaves, radishes).

I would pick some drought resistant things for pots and hanging baskets so you don’t have to worry about watering twice a day in summer eg trailing nasturtiums and ivy leaf geraniums.

Catering size tins make good “pots” for free if you have a friendly local cafe or restaurant. You could paint and decorate them with the kids. Lots of things can be repurposed as pots, as long as you can make drainage holes in them.

Check Facebook marketplace/free cycle etc for pots, gardening groups for seedlings, ask friends/family/neighbours for spare pots/seedlings as if people are keen gardeners they can end up with excess

I painted lots of pots with a ton of fence paint so they all match & those have had lots of compliments - looks good 3 years on

For buying plants: I find Morrisons garden centre very good value

Try to do a few larger pots vs many small ones (looks less ‘bitty’) & group things in 3s/odd numbers

Stand at the opening to the garden. Where does the sun rise? That is east. If it is left your garden faces south. If it rises on the right, south is behind you,and your garden faces north. In front of you, east facing if behind you west facing.

use nasturtium, calendula, cosmos, nigella cornflowers, about £2 per packet from amazon. This time of year they will grow in three weeks. For tubs and window boxes, pelergoniums and geraniums, use trailing and upright.

there are loads of bargains to be had at the supermarket

If it’s a very small garden, @Rictasmorticia, shadows are probably going to be the biggest issue for shade, whichever way the garden faces.

I’d plant morning glories, climbing nasturtiums, black-eyed susans and cobaea scandens in pots with climbing supports. Our climbing supports are just arrangements of buddleia and hazel branch prunings tied together with string, so don’t cost anything and blend in very well.

Pots can be expensive but I’ve built up a nice stock cheaply by looking for collection only pots on eBay local. Sometimes you can get them for an absolute song because no one else in the area is interested.

Have fun plotting.

Thank you all for all of the suggestions so far, this is brilliant! I’m taking notes!

Packs of pansy plants are cheap and immediately brighten up a flower bed or tub. They flower for ages.

Do you think your children would enjoy growing some veg? Especially as you are only there for a few months?

B and M and Home Bargains have cheap plants and seeds, solar lights, pots etc
Happy Gardening 💜

Also if you buy bigger plants you can usually split them in 2 or 4 to get more for your money. You could look how to do it on YouTube/google

The Money Saving Gardener on Instagram talks about taking cuttings from family/friends gardens which is another cheap way to get plants.
She has a step-by-step step guide

You take any pots with you when you move

Cosmos, they grow quickly and look gorgeous

Stick to plastic pots as they will be lighter to move and stand up better to the journey (I say after having moved x20 terracotta). Lidl have lovely big pots with saucers for 4.99 each in their spring gardening week. Until then, ask family and friends for donations of pots to get seedlings started and divisions of perennials. I start peas in loo rolls and seeds plastic fruit trays and cut off milk cartons etc. As others have suggested, go for big showy annuals (marigolds, cosmos, sunflowers etc) also petunias & pelargoniums as plug plants. If you do spend money, select small things that you’ll reuse every year (heated propagator, seed trays, hand tools etc).

OP, what did you decide back then?

From personal experience I can say that pots and quick annuals are definitely a way to go for a short stay. You can get a lot of colour fast without spending much or altering the space drastically. I’d use cheap pots (or whatever containers you can drill holes in) and stick to easy plants like pelargoniums, nasturtiums, calendula etc. Or just sow a few mixed seed packets straight into pots and the bed and see what comes up. Most of them will cope fine with plenty of sun even if you’re not sure of the aspect. There is also a garden planning tool where you can add decorations and move items around to see if you like the setting.