Giving the average backyard the full treatment is a serious commitment, requiring time, adrenal stress, and a sturdy dip into the finances. Instead, here's a blueprint for taking it on yourself, one small project at a time, while making it easy on a budget (because, after all, the best gardens don't require a fortune).
The best are the ad hoc gardens, designed for and by the gardener and enjoyed in good company. Shift your garden's focus in a new direction with our top 10 quick fixes. You can tackle them creatively and at your own pace, with the intent of a modern and more personalized backyard landscape:
1. Repair, Don't Replace
Above: Furniture designer Jonathan West's garden in Sydney, Australia, photographed by Daniel Shipp for The Design Files.
Rather than dismantling a decent hardscape, work with what you have, repairing individual stones, creating a patchwork of outdoor flooring, or integrating stones into lawns or plant beds to establish a new pathway. For more suggestions, see Hardscaping 101: Design Guide to Paths and Pavers.
2. Banish Dry Patches
Above: A large patch of nothing got turned into a cutting garden at Worlds End from Green (Not Gray) Gardens: Flower Farming with Sarah Ryhanen.
Remove patches of lawn that no longer work, are dried out, or are simply undesirable and replace them with an integrated ground-level or raised garden bed. For more ideas, see Hardscaping 101: Raised Garden Beds.
3. Consider a Gravel Garden
Above: Architecture firm Lens°Ass collaborated with gallerist Veerle Wenes in designing a gravel courtyard attached to her home and gallery space, Valerie Traan, in Antwerp, Belgium. For more, see Living with Art: Gallerist Veerle Wenes at Home in Antwerp.
For unfinished backyard areas, consider a gravel garden for its modern appeal and low-mantainance quality. Raking the area during times of seasonal change could prove meditational, a happy accident of the gravel garden.
See more of our favorite gravel gardens in Low-Cost Luxe: 9 Pea Gravel Patio Ideas to Steal.
4. Style with Container Plants
Above: Photograph by Siobhan Frost of Slanted Mansion.
For the nascent gardener, working in a single container is a safe start, and for the seasoned landscaper, adding potted plants can add dimension to an otherwise flat space. Containers keep the wilder set (think fresh mint) contained in one spot, and potted plants are easy to move to find the best temperature and lighting conditions.
Try our DIY: Elegant Black Stained Window Boxes.
5. Add Atmosphere with String Lights
Above: Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.
Cafe-style string lighting is one of the quickest ways to create soothing ambient light outdoors—and has the power to define the parameters of a space, bringing life to small quarters and structure to spawning acreage. Shop our favorites in 10 Easy Pieces: Cafe-Style Outdoor String Lights.
6. Call in the Cinderblocks
Above: Portland, Oregon-based couple John and Jen Vitale fashioned a potting shelf from stacked cinderblocks and plywood. Photograph by Carissa and Andrew Gallo for Freunde von Freunden. Read an interview with the two in A Stylist and a Skateboarder Open an Online Shop.
Heavy lifting pays off when inexpensive cinderblocks, sourced from old construction sites (with permission) or your local hardware store, are fashioned into functional backyard solutions. View our favorite solutions in 10 Genius Garden Hacks with Concrete Blocks.
7. Create an Outdoor Room
Above: Interior designer Sophie Buhai fashioned a long Donald Judd-inspired dining table and benches with backs for her Silver Lake, Los Angeles, backyard. See more of her garden in At Home with LA's Ahead-of-the-Curve Jewelry Designer.
In gardens lacking protective overhead structures (a tree, an awning, or a porch roof, say), it's a constant chore to maintain expensive outdoor furniture. To avoid the fuss, source thrift furniture finds or build custom pieces from scrap wood, to create an outdoor room for entertaining.
8. Finesse a Fence
Above: A fence of horizontal slats by architect Ken Linsteadt in Mill Valley, California. See more in Fence Fashion: 11 Ways to Add Curb Appeal with Horizontal Stripes.
A coat of paint or stain, or sanding the wood can render a tired fence new again. See our favorite black fences, picket fences, and horizontal slats to inspire a weekend DIY renovation.
9. Accent with Color
Above: One of our favorite styles of colorful outdoor furniture comes from none other than Marni fashion designer Consuelo Castiglioni, the queen of successful color blocking. Read more in Fashionable Chairs for a Cause From Marni.
Adding a single accent color, or a full palette, is a nice way to reinforce a certain visual composition across the garden, connecting plant life to hardscaping and furniture. Consider using a favorite photograph as palette inspiration to apply to the backyard (and keep it in your pocket while shopping).
10. Convert a Shed
Above: A converted firewood storage shed in an Italian village from Outbuilding of the Week: A Woodshed Transformed, by StudioErrante in Italy.
Springing for a professional when it comes to converting an outbuilding—a shed, a garage, or a small conservatory—is a wise use of budget, but the rehab project also can also be tackled on your own over time, or together with willing friends. See a host of inspirational studio sheds, converted garages, organized storage buildings, and potting sheds from our Outbuilding of the Week column.
For more tips see our posts:
- 11 Best Backyard Landscaping Ideas of 2015.
- 7 New Ideas for Front Yard Landscaping.
- 9 Ways to Create Curb Appeal with Perennial Grasses.
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