Inspiration

Ten ways to quickly give your garden a facelift

Article by Your Home and Garden

10 ways to vamp up the fabulosity of your garden, relatively quickly

1 Floral pick-me-up

One of the prettiest ways to lift the mood of a garden is with flowers. Too many, mind, may overpower the greenery – a rule of thumb for a winning ratio of flowers to foliage is one to five. The quickest way to get flowers is to buy pots of annuals or perennials either in flower or just about to burst out. Simply place them in their pots among other plants, preferably hiding the pots in the other plants’ foliage. The beauty of using pots is that you can experiment with different positions to find the optimum. For maximum impact, use at least three of the same plant. Another plus is that when they are past their best, they can be consigned to the compost and the pots recycled.

2 Border patrol

This is one of the oldest truisms in the gardener’s book: no matter how random and unruly the beds, tidy lawn edges and tightly trimmed hedges will save the day and make your garden look, if not loved, then at least cared for. It may even appear to be a deliberate act of contrast, showing you understand the delicate balance between control and that soupcon of chaos, which every great garden has. To get a neat edge on the lawn, either use the proper tool – a half-moon edger – or a sharp-bladed spade and slice into the edge, flicking the soil into the garden bed.

3 Dirty deed

Another trick from the jobbing gardener’s handbook is to fluff up the soil with a fork, hoe or hand tool. It does wonders to freshen up a tired, compacted patch. Simply insert the blade or prongs in a few centimetres and twist, lifting up the soil and tossing it a little as you go. Or get in a load of compost or bark and spread it around bare soil. Just like that, the beds will look so much healthier and more loved.

4 Cut it out

Sharp pruning tools and a critical eye can give tired and overgrown gardens a makeover like no other. Like a long-overdue haircut, the lightness, freshness, sunlight and sense of rebirth once all the heavy, depressing foliage and wayward branches are gone can be truly liberating. Hedges, shrubs, climbers and perennials all benefit from a brisk trim. Cut them back from borders and paths and stop them crowding each other out.

Pruning tip: when figuring out where to start with the secateurs, think of the three Ds: dead, dying, and diseased.

5 Off with its (dead) head

How depressing is a plant heavy with dead, old, failing or ailing blooms? Its glory days over, it appears a being with no future, just a past. A quick round of deadheading will transform the plant, leaving only new or potential life on show. Most, if not all, plants will benefit from this. For many, it will be a spur to produce new blooms, while for some – bulbs, notably – it will enable the plant to divert energy it would otherwise direct into forming seeds into the actual bulb, making it all the bigger and stronger for next season.

6 Brush up

Paint is the home decorator’s friend, and can be the gardener’s too. A can of your favourite colour is perfect for zhooshing up tired furniture, pots, fences, sheds or the side of the garage. Black is in vogue for fences, but more important than mere fashion is to choose a colour you love. And if it happens to be an out-there shade – hot pink or bright blue, maybe – it may be safer, though not necessarily better, to restrict it to smaller areas such as seats or pots. It all depends on how confident you are feeling.

7 Jeepers creepers

A slower way to disguise an unattractive wall or fence is to plant a fast-growing vine up it. Try the edible hyacinth bean, scarlet runner, sweet pea or morning glory. Slower-growing but still relatively fast climbers include roses, wisteria, clematis and hops. Just remember that some climbers need the likes of string, wire netting or trellis to give them a leg-up.

8 Let there be lighting

Added lighting can enhance the garden no end after dusk, as well as swelling the time you might spend in it over the warmer months. Lights can range from simple candles in Agee jars to full-blown multi-thousand-dollar specialist schemes, from strings of solar party lights to powerful beams highlighting your favourite tree. Good places to start include lights along your paths and around outdoor seating. Placing a lone light in a far corner will add an enticing sense of mystery to your garden.

9 Aid and abet

Enlist a friend to help work in the garden and swap hours with them – you help them in theirs, they in yours. As well as giving your garden a good clean up and clear out, you will have a companion to work with, and one who may offer fresh ideas or pick out problem spots that your familiarity with the area may obscure. All going well, they may also open your eyes to the great and good things about your garden that you may have long since failed to notice, let alone appreciate.

10 Call on a hire power

Consider getting a jobbing gardener in for a day. Make sure they come with a recommendation, and be prepared to watch over them rather than letting them loose, unless you’re confident they’d know a weed if they tripped over one and that their values align with yours. It can be cathartic to have your beds weeded, hedges trimmed, shrubs and trees pruned, lawns mowed and paths tidied all in one go – especially if you don’t have to do it.