How to make my garden more appealing without spending loads...

[BlardyBlaaaaa]

Hi there

Am currently in the (soul destroying) process of trying to sell my house. The sticking point is the garden, which is a small city garden on a slight slope (but offset by the houses's fantastic location, proximity to good schools etc). It's sunny, paved at present and ideal for hanging out my washing.

My question is, how can I make it more appealing without spending a fortune. I'm sure it would be possible to dig up the concrete paving and landscape cleverly to make best use of the space, but I don't really want to be spending 1000's of pounds at the moment.

I did wonder about having it decked over completely, with raised beds for interest, but the landscaper's quote was nearly £2000. I was thinking more like £500 max. A friend suggested having some garden designs/plans drawn up to show prospective buyers as I suppose it's hard to visualise. And does anyone know how much that might cost?

Any ideas anyone? Am pretty desperate...
thanks

A few pots. Then you can take them with you.

There's no point spending any money if your house is in that desirable an area.

Plus a seating area obviously.

some nice garden furniture - rattan sofa with cushions, table and chairs for eating out and a few biggish pots full of flowers, palms etc.
It will look nice for the viewings and you can take them all with you.
I wouldn't bother with the plans myself.

A lot of the visual appeal is actually about having it really well kept and clean. Are the paving slabs clean and the fencing in good repair?

As Namechange says, good quality seating and a table make a difference.

A lot of people have a whole load of really piddling mismatched little pots, which always look unco-ordinated. You're much better off picking a colour theme for the pots and having a small number of much larger ones.

Our neighbours have a blue colour theme, for example, with blue cafe chairs and cushions at the table, and then a couple of deep blue pots mixed with terracotta pots.

You also want to have large healthy plants in the pots, keep them well fed and well watered.

How about decking a corner area using decking tiles? (then you can take them with you as well). Put a few nicely planted pots on them, and it will give a "hint" of what could be achieved without you needing to go all the way. A quick google shows 16 tiles costs around £87 (obviously not the highest quality, but it's not like they need to last years...)

Good jet wash, a few pots with lots of colour and somewhere to sit.

Great, thanks for speedy response everyone.

Off to work now but will check in again later.

Fencing does need to be addressed, that's true. And we do have a pressure washer....

Just get it neat and tidy and clean. Can we have a photo to assist in some ideas?

Don't spend any cash on it though...anyone who likes gardening will change it and anyone who doesn't - will still probably change it.