When I asked professional landscape gardeners about giving my front garden a makeover, they said it would cost about £2,000 ($2,741). What I really wanted was just a modest bit of paving to replace an awful grassed area that was looking parched and weedy, and then a profusion of flowers like an old-fashioned cottage garden. I did it for £225 ($308).
They laughed at me and said it would look awful, but I decided to go it alone, and in the end, they swallowed their words and agreed it looked quite pretty. Lots of passers-by who are complete strangers stop and say how lovely my garden looks when they see me working on it, and it makes me feel quite proud.
It was actually fairly straightforward to do, and I want to show you how you too can give your garden a cheap makeover. It’s not rocket science, and the description below will give you the confidence to make a few changes to your own garden, without resorting to expensive landscape gardening.
Putting a Plan Together
First, I drew out a plan for my new garden—nothing special, and not very detailed. The existing garden consisted of flower beds bordering the paths, and some dry, impoverished clay soil with depressing tufts of straggling grass in what could euphemistically be called a lawn, which you can just see in my photo on the left. Well, my grass was to the lawn as my house is to Buckingham Palace… I don’t think so!
The Final Plan
My idea was to remove the grassed area completely, lay a pattern of paving stones in the form of a ‘T’ shape, in order to have easy access to all parts of the flower garden, and then fill the rest of the area with flowers, which I would select according to their height, seasonal variation and growing pattern, colour, ability to flourish in half-shade, somewhat dry because of a tree in the street outside.
I would just add that for climate-change reasons, it’s better not to have too large a paved area – just enough to create a pathway and an area where you can stand whilst gardening.
Deciding on the Planting Scheme
I decided to retain all of the well-established shrubs in the borders—some because they were too difficult to remove and others because they were really quite nice and just needed to be thinned out. My reasoning was that it would take a few months for the new part to come into fruition, and therefore, it was best to go with the swim and keep the plants I knew were successful as I could always remove them later if they didn’t fit in with the new order.
I went to the local garden centre, chose a few of the rectangular paving stones, and took them home so that I could lay them out and get an idea of how many I would need and what it would look like. I then went back and bought the rest of what I needed. The paving stones cost £35 ($48).
I started digging up the turf, and it was such hard work that I got someone in to help me (there she is in the photo above). I was advised to get some good topsoil to replace the nutrient-depleted apology for soil that was there, and, in addition, to cover the area with manure. This was delivered by lorry and cost about £100 ($137). It was necessary because London (where I live) was built on clay, and the existing clay soil in my garden had not been fed or nourished since the house was built in 1935.
Laying Out the Paving Stones
So we merely laid out a bit of rubble and earth and set the paving stones on top. I wanted spaces so that I could grow small plants in the cracks. It’s now a few years down the line, and we’ve never had problems due to lack of concrete.
Organizing the Plants
Standing on the path leading to my front door, I could see that it was no good planting tall plants in the middle of the garden because they would hide the smaller plants behind them, and would also conceal the view of plants from the road and from my windows.
Tall Plants in the Back, Short Ones in Front
- I planted the tall ones on the far side–hollyhocks which take quite a long time to grow tall and don’t flower till mid-summer.
- I put in several shorter plants in front of them. I had intended to put in low bedding plants for a short period and then put in mid-height plants, but in fact, the low bedding plants looked so pretty and effective that I decided not to put in any bigger plants.
- So I had lavender, pansies, osteospermum (Cape Daisy), wild geranium, verbena. adjuga, heuchera, forget-me-nots and aquilegia (columbine) – all color-toning.
- I was delighted with the result, and, as I said before, even the professionals had to admit it looked good.
A Wooden Bench Is Useful
My son gave me a roughly made rustic stool to sit on when I was gardening, and this became a permanent feature together with two logs. He made me several for the back garden as well, so I never need to stand for long if I get tired or my back aches.
The Colour Schemed Is Also Important
All the colours had to look good together, and blend with the existing plants. I also planted up a couple of garden pots, one with marigolds and another with a large formium.
Suggestions to Create a Beautiful Cottage-Style Garden of Your Own!
- Measure anything that needs measuring.
- Work out where you need tall plants and where short plants.
- Decide on a colour scheme so the flowers blend or contrast, and don’t look a complete unthought-out mish-mash.
- Choose plants to suit the mini-climate where they will be growing—no good growing sun-loving flowers in the shade.
- Have plants that flower at different seasons, so when the early ones finish flowering, dieback and look ugly, there are new later-flowering plants either growing through them, or in front of them to hide the dead leaves.
Flowers in Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn
In January the white-green hellebore flowered, followed in early spring by yellow mahonia, yellow and white daffodils and narcissi, then pink bergenia and bluebells and forget-me-nots, bright primroses, then flame-coloured wallflowers, almost dazzling in their brightness, and grey-white osteospermum.