10 beautiful and affordable ideas to try in your garden

Dod you know that all you need to start a little mini orchard in your garden is either a few fruit trees? They basically look after themselves, or you could grow some strawberries, in hanging baskets! Plants are cheap to pick up from your local garden centre and they always come with care instructions that are easy to follow.

Make your garden walls a little more exciting by adding some easy-to-make wooden planter boxes. If you keep an eye out for some free pallets, you won't have to spend any money on materials and they don't need to look perfect, as the rustic look really doesn't require square edges or anything!

If you want a garden that packs a stylish punch but needs little from you in the way of maintenance, a cacti garden is PERFECT for you! Plant some hardy little spiky friends, tuck them in with some shingle and you're done! A few decorative boulders will be a really lovely finishing touch

If you have a free weekend, you could easily build a small, simple and cheap patio! Level the surface and put some foundation struts down, then it's just a case of adding tongue and groove decking, routing the edges and giving it a coat of stain. Et voila! Instant style!

If you have an eye-catching tree or plant already in your garden, you should make more of a feature of it, as that will transform your space instantaneously. We love this idea, of installing a seat around a pretty tree, as it makes the tree itself such a central feature and won't have taken a lot of effort either.

If you are a family household, your garden should really be child-friendly and we don't just mean safe and private! Add some fun hammocks and even a shady tepee and you'll love how keen your kids are to get outside, rather than staying indoors to play computer games. You can even make your own tepee, with some garden canes and an old bed sheet. So cheap!

If you want to make your garden a little more boxed-in and private, but you don't want to splash out on expensive fencing, you can get the look for less, but adding potted plants around the perimeter! Talk about creating organic privacy! We could see this working really well on a balcony as well.

Want to make your garden look beautiful? Then you need to think about lighting! Those balmy summer evenings, when the sun starts to set are exactly when you want to be out on your patio enjoying a glass of something delicious, so fairy lights, candles and lanterns are all great choices. The best part of all, is that this is such a cheap way to add some serious style to your garden.

What could be easier or cheaper than grabbing a tin of exterior wall paint and giving your garden walls an injection of vivid colour? Even if you do nothing else with your space, apart from adding some chairs, it will still look cool, fun and exciting and it will literally only take you a few minutes to complete!

Whether you have a small or large garden, a water feature will always add a certain level of sophisticated style! You can opt for something really simple such as a wall-mounted fountain, or go extravagant, with a large and complex waterfall system, but either way, the materials won't cost a huge amount and with all the build your own fountain kits available now, it will be a doddle to make something really special!

For more garden ideas, take a look at this Ideabook: Simple and affordable patio ideas.