Gardening can be a very soothing and fulfilling activity. Making small garden improvements that’ll beautify and enhance this precious outdoor space can be a fun DIY process that rewards you with a more personalized backyard. Take a look at these five ideas for inspiration and maybe you’ll like one, or more, of them to add to your own gardening nook!
Scrap Tile Stepping Stones
Stepping stones can be very practical in any given garden, but they can also add to its overall aesthetic! A broken ceramic tile or plate doesn’t have to go to waste. Instead, use them to create decorative walkways in your yard. If you don’t have the materials at home, it’s easy to find damaged or chipped ceramic items at neighborhood sales or flea markets. For the base, you can use flat stones you might already have, craft them yourself using wood, plaster, or cement, or buy ready-made ones. Keep in mind, tile stepping stones could get slippery when wet!
Chalkboard Plant Markers
This item can be very useful for a gardener! These chalkboard plant markers are reusable and can be made to look simply adorable. To make them at home, create a mixture of a quarter-cup of outdoor paint and one tablespoon of unsanded tile-grout powder. With this material, coat wooden plant marker stakes. Once they dry, you can write on them using a china marker pencil or white chalk. Keep in mind, the chalk might wash away with the rain.
Hanging Planter Baskets
Making the most of your garden sometimes means taking advantage of the vertical space as well. This can be done by crafting a few of these easy-to-make hanging baskets. They’re eye-catching and practical, and a great way to add some color and greenery to other areas, like the front porch, deck, or patio. You can make the basket using wire or wood and use sphagnum moss, coco fiber, burlap, or pressed paperboard as a liner.
Stenciled Art and Murals
If your garden has walls or tall fences, there’s no need to leave them blank. Use this empty surface to show your artistry and beautify your outdoor spaces. If you’re skilled at drawing or painting, you can take some time to create a lovely outdoor mural – it’ll surely be a labor of love. Another option is to cut out or purchase a stencil and use outdoor acrylic paint to transfer the image to your chosen surface.
Custom Concrete Garden Pots
Instead of buying premade plastic pots that’ll fade from the sunlight and wear out over time, have some fun by making your own concrete garden pots! This gives you the valuable opportunity to customize the platers to your personal style and preferences. You can use anything from milk cartons to plastic buckets for the mold and something as simple as tumblers from the dollar store for the interior mold piece. To make the concrete mix, you need one part cement, two parts sand, and four parts aggregates. Add some color to personalize the design even further!