D.I.Y Projects for Your Garden

Taking time out in the garden is the best form of recovery and relaxation. 70% of people in Britain have said that spending time in the garden significantly helped their mental health during lockdown[i], and the psychological and physical benefits of even just being outside are endless. There are so many D.I.Y projects that you can incorporate in your garden to help receive these benefits and make your garden an outdoor space that you, your friends and your family can all enjoy. To help get you outside as the months get chillier, here are four D.I.Y garden ideas that anyone can do.

How To Build A Bird Bath

Now the months are getting colder and darker, wildlife will be looking for safe places to feed and build nests throughout winter. Your garden can play a massive part in helping conserve this wildlife, and one way to go about it is by installing a birdbath. Not only do birdbaths provide a place to wash and drink for our feathered friends, but they will attract many other animals too, including frogs, squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs, foxes and raccoons. Giving these animals a safe place to drink and bathe is vital to their survival because many animals have to travel long distances to find these things in the wild.

Building a birdbath is a fun, easy project that you can do in a couple of hours and is a great one to do with kids. They’ll be able to see what kind of species the birdbath attracts, and it will hopefully start nurturing their green fingers. Here’s how you can build a birdbath:

You Will Need:

• 17-inch plastic urn planter
• 12-inch plastic urn planter
• 25 cm terracotta saucer
• Flowers
• Potting mix
• Drill
• Craft spray paint (optional)

How To Do It:

1. First, drill 4 to 5 holes in the centre of the bigger urn planter. This is for water drainage and will reduce the risk of overflows.
2. Next, if using, spray paint both the planters. Craft spray paint is safe for the animals, so try and use this type if you can.
3. When they are dry, turn the smaller planter upside down and place it on top of the larger one.
4. Then fill the space between the smaller planter and the rim of the larger one with some potting mix, and place the flowers in one by one.
5. Finally, balance the terracotta saucer on top of the smaller planter, and fill it with water.

How To Make A Garden Bench

A garden bench is a simple addition to your outdoor space that can make all the difference. Even just sitting outside can reduce blood pressure, lower heart rate, and decrease cortisol, the stress hormone[ii], so having a comfortable bench in your garden is highly beneficial. They also provide a great social setting to show off your flourishing garden to all your friends and family.   

Made from an old door, this garden bench is the perfect recycled seat that will look brilliantly rustic in any outdoor space. Decorate with some bench cushions, get your garden up to shape, and you’ll have an outdoor paradise that you can sit in every single day.

You Will Need:

• A door – preferably an old, worn one
• A saw
• Screws or nails

How To Do It:

1. First, cut the door in half horizontally, around the halfway point.
2. Then cut one of these pieces in half vertically. Make this slightly off centre so that the longer half can be used as the backrest. The other, smaller piece will become the seat panel.
3. Next, put together a base using 2 x 4’s. Cut two long pieces the same length as the seat panel, then make a few support ‘ribs’ that are also the same width as the seat panel, but minus the 2 x 4 boards already cut. If you’d like, you can reduce the box width by 2 inches for an overhanging seat.
4. Attach the 2 x 4 base to the seat panels using the screws or nails.
5. After this, attach the back panel to the base. Give as much height to the back as possible, but leave enough room to put two rows of screws for stability.
6. To make the sides, cut the other half of the full-size door precisely in half. Attach these in the same fashion in line with the backrest.  

For a bench for all occasions, have a look at our garden benches, made sustainably and suitable for any price range.

How To Put Together A Container Garden

Container gardening involves growing edible plants in different containers rather than planting them in the ground. This is great for those with limited garden space (mini container gardens look great on balconies or windowsills) and is perfect if you want to introduce a new type of soil into your garden so you can grow a wider variety of plants. Also, a container garden is a brilliant way to give a small plot to kids where they can produce a range of herbs, vegetables and flowers all on their own.

Using upcycled planters and pots for your container garden makes for a more rustic appeal, and recycling these containers will help reduce waste pollution. You can make recycled containers from anything – cardboard, plastic, old boots, old watering cans, mugs, tyres, anything that you don’t use anymore and will be harmful to the environment if thrown away. So use your imagination, and create an individual container garden.

You Will Need:

• Planters (as mentioned above, you can make recycled planters from almost anything)
• Compost
• Seeds and sprouts that you would like to grow
• Hand-held cultivator

How To Do It:

1. Begin by choosing what you would like to grow. Good options for container gardens include begonias, coleus, ornamental pepper, roses, herbs like basil, sage, and mint, or fruit and veg including lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and onions.
2. Once you know what you’d like to grow, ensure that you have suitable containers. All plants have different needs (herbs require a shallow container with a large surface area, for example), so creating or choosing containers that will allow them to thrive is essential to the success of your garden.
3. Next, fill up your container/s with 2-4 inches of compost soil and add your seeds and sprouts. Make sure that you set up your garden in a place where it will get enough sun – this is especially important if your container garden is mostly indoors.
4. Now your seeds are planted and set up in the right area, water them regularly. Again, plants have different needs, so make sure you do this correctly. Regularly aerate the soil with a hand-held garden cultivator without disturbing the roots.
5. When herbs and vegetables are ready to be harvested, snip off the leaves and vegetables with scissors. Ensure that you deal with the leaves at the base of the plant first, so it can continue to grow.

How To Make A Raised Garden Bed

Raised garden beds are an absolute blessing. They make garden chores a whole lot easier, allow for a longer growing season, boost soil drainage, and are very easy to put together yourself. You can successfully develop a range of fruits, vegetables, trees and perennials in raised flower beds,

Making this raised garden bed is relatively easy, and requires little D.I.Y skill, so anyone should be able to put it together. However, with the wooden boards used to create the bed’s walls, it’s recommended that you treat them to reduce the chances of rotting. If you’re uncomfortable with treated wood – it can release potentially harmful chemicals – you can line the bed walls with polyethene instead.

You Will Need:

• Two 2 x 6-inch wooden boards
• 3-foot length of a 1 x 1-inch pine stake, cut into four pieces
• Exterior screws
• Hand saw
• Tape measure
• Drill
• Screwdriver
• A compost mix rich in nutrients
• Topsoil

How To Do It:

1. Before you start, if your two wooden boards have not been pre-cut, mark the halfway point and cut them in half, so you have four planks.
2. Then, drill pilot holes using a bit slightly thinner than the exterior screws you have. Two holes at the end of each plank should be enough. One end of each plank should overlap the end of the next, so focus your pilot holes on this.
3. For a sturdier frame, nail the four pieces of pine stake to the corners.
4. Next, screw the planks together in a square shape using the pilot holes. One end of each plank should overlap the end of the next, with the pilot holes at the overlapping end.
5. Screw these planks together with long screws to ensure each side is properly secured
6. Add the compost mix to the bottom of the bed.
7. Then add the topsoil, preferably one formulated for vegetable gardening. This will make sowing and planting easy. Make sure that you fill your beds to the top.
8. Start planting your desired seeds and plants!

Try Some D.I.Y Garden Projects Today! 

D.I.Y garden projects are a fantastic idea to get you and your family outside, bring a new addition to your space and put those D.I.Y skills to the test! So have a go at these garden projects, and let us know how you get on!

Sources

  [i] https://www.culturesouthwest.org.uk/garden/70-of-people-say-spending-time-in-the-garden-helped-their-mental-health-during-lockdown/

[ii]https://askthescientists.com/outdoors/#:~:text=Sitting%20outside%20can%20reduce%20blood,and%20reduces%20feelings%20of%20anxiety.

Anna Sharples

Anna is the marketing and office manager for Garden Benches – a premium supplier of high-quality wooden benches and other outdoor furniture.