Free Garden Design Advice – Garden design on a budget

garden design

London Garden Design company, Earth Designs, offer a UK garden design and build service in and around London and the South East. We also design gardens across the British Isles and rest of the world through our Garden Design by Post service. Please contact us for further information on this or any other of our services.

Garden in Streatham

This client was looking for a garden design on a budget. They had recently moved into their house and spent a lot of money on renovations. As a consequence they had little money left to spend on a major landscape project. Their brief was to create a family space with provision for vegetable growing and a secure area for two rabbits they had recently rescued. They indicated they were happy to do all the work themselves and had a small initial budget of approx. £500.00.

Katrina suggested that their budget was not sufficient to make any dramatic changes and that they would need to stick with the current layout and paving. The paving could be cleaned using a pressure washer and if a few slabs were lifted around the edge of the patio this would make space for some planting and soften the edges of the grey expanse a little.

A simple timber pergola erected in the lower part of the garden would not only create a focal point for the space, but also add privacy and offer some respite on a hot day. Once erected there are a multitude of aesthetic treatments the client could add to the structure as and when finances allowed. These could include hanging chain curtains or fabric banners, attaching rusty mesh or stainless steel mesh, or adding Perspex panels depending on the sort of look they wanted to achieve. A garden shade sail would improve privacy.

Budget garden design sketch

We suggested moving the existing shed to the left hand boundary, where it could be used to form part of the fencing where the existing fence panels have deteriorated. This would then open up the back of the space for raised vegetable beds, an area of grass and the rabbit hutch. A piece of wood could be occasionally slotted in via a notch on the raised railway sleeper beds to allow the rabbits the run of the grass without fear of escape.