March 30th, 2023 by Sarah Miles

For those of us who are lucky enough to have a garden, we essentially have access to an extra room in the spring and summer and getting out into the fresh air and sunshine is great for both mental and physical well-being.

That’s why lots of people make a real effort to create a lovely space where they can enjoy spending time during the warmer months, and nothing quite personalises an area than some home-crafted items that are both lovely to look at and have a practical use too.

Here are 5 ideas for DIY crafts that can really enhance your garden:

Plant Markers

Do you ever plant perennials and then forgot what you planted and where you planted them when they die off in the winter? While it can be an exciting surprise to see what comes up in the spring, knowing what and where your plants are is useful for tending to them and for knowing where you have the space to plant new ones. Plant markers (mark the spot and tells you what it is) can be useful and very decorative.

While you can, of course, just buy some from the garden centre that you can write on, there are some more creative options you can go for that can also really brighten up your borders. How about painting stones, old wooden spoons, or even old keys? Use glow-in-the-dark paint for an extra feature when the sun goes down. Another idea is to print a photo of the plant, laminate it, and mount it on a stick or even do your own illustrations.

Pallet Furniture

Garden furniture can be expensive, but you might assume that making it yourself requires decent carpentry skills. Certainly, they can help but anyone can build something from pallets as they offer an instant structure that can be stacked, formed, and painted to create seating areas or tables. All you need is a drill and a bit of imagination.

Paint up in bright colours and combine with big outdoor cushions for a summery relaxation zone.

Water Features

The sound of trickling water can be very soothing in a garden and the presence of water can be helpful for greater biodiversity. Water features can be expensive to buy but you can make them from a simple submersible pump and all sorts of things you probably already have.

Broken plant pots, stones, or even a wheelbarrow tilted at an angle against some stacked rocks can all form the basis of something lovely. Why not create a floating optical illusion with old watering cans and some brackets that you can attach to a wall or fence?

Bird Feeders

Another species that we all want to see more of in the garden is birds so providing food and water is a great way to attract them. The options for homemade bird feeders are endless, ranging from ones you can make with old plastic bottles or tin cans to more complex ones for the DIY expert. Also, consider bird baths or bird boxes if you want to create resources they will really appreciate and you will find that you can enjoy birds coming into the garden all year round.

Living Wall

If you don’t have a lot of space in your garden for plants, how about creating some vertical planting? A living wall describes a structure where plants can cover a wall or fence, or even something freestanding that can be used as a garden divider.

There are several options for achieving this. You could mount planting containers up the wall, use a trellis and climbing plants, or hang planters from the top of the wall/fence. You could even make use of pallets here too, attaching them to studs on the wall and filling in some of the gaps with extra pieces of wood to allow you to plant into the structure. Living walls can look amazing and attract lots of the things you want into the garden such as butterflies and bees. If you enjoy cooking, you can use them to grow herbs, tomatoes, or strawberries.