Garden Design Budgeting: Where To Skimp & Where To Splurge

Here’s no better feeling than spending time outdoors in the warm sunshine with your friends and family. That’s why we Aussie homeowners take such great pride in designing our garden and backyard spaces. And with spring quickly coming up, now is the perfect time to plan out your dream garden.

At Outback Fencing, we know a thing or two about budget garden design. So let our experts be the first to tell you this happy news: it’s entirely possible to design a beautiful garden while sticking to a strict budget. Whether you’re looking to design a luxurious Hamptons-inspired garden or a zen Japanese garden, you can do so without spending beyond your means. We’ll go through some key garden design tips like choosing the right fence, building a pool and decorating your garden with little trinkets. We’ll also discuss where to save money and where to spare no expense when it comes to garden design.

• Where To Skimp On Garden Design
• Where To Splurge On Garden Design

Without further ado, here are all our pro tips on how to design your perfect garden on a budget.

Where To Skimp On Garden Design

Opt for DIY with low-maintenance garden elements

When it comes to budget garden design, there are plenty of tasks you can do on your own to save on hiring professional garden maintenance or even installation services. From mowing your lawn to performing basic fence maintenance, there’s actually a surprising amount of garden maintenance activities you can do on a budget. Other garden design activities you can do on your own and on a budget include trimming your hedges and grass, painting fences and installing basic garden fixtures.

Maintaining your fence is particularly easy, especially if your fence is made of a low-maintenance material like Colorbond or PVC. Most fence types can be cleaned by hosing them down with water or wiping them with a damp sponge. At Outback Fencing, we’ve also taken efforts to ensure our fencing products are super easy to install. If you need specific tips on how to set up or maintain your fence, please feel free to contact us.

Stay sensible when buying garden ornaments

Nothing improves your home’s street appeal more than designing a garden that’s both beautiful and unique. You’ll be pleased to know that it’s possible to decorate your garden with ornaments that match your aesthetic vision while staying within a budget.

When it comes to budget garden design, creativity is important. There are countless places to pick up little trinkets with which to decorate your garden on a budget, including antique stores, thrift markets, online marketplaces and estate sales. These are great opportunities to find garden ornaments like statues, miniature fountains and bird feeders on the cheap.

If you’re trying to stick to a budget, it’s important to design your garden with a vision in mind. Haphazardly buying every pretty ornament you come across without thinking of how it would look in your garden is like throwing money down the drain.

A pro tip here is to consider the wider architectural design of your property to ensure your garden decor complements these fixed elements. For example, the garden space of a contemporary property is likely to look a lot different to a mid-century or Art Deco-inspired home. Instead of rose bushes, you’re more likely to see neatly manicured hedges or other geometric plants like succulents. And instead of traditional picket fences, you’re likely to invest in monochromatic fences with sleek lines, like these horizontal slat fences. Adding the wrong decor to your garden can make your wider interior design scheme look less cohesive, so don’t add in any garden ornaments you wouldn’t expect to see in that environment – like adding gnomes into a zen garden or bohemian decor into a minimalist space.

Decorate your garden with native plants

No garden is complete without plants. If you live in Australia, there are an almost endless variety of plants to choose from when designing your garden, including fan flowers, kangaroo grass and Australian daisies. If budget is a concern during the garden design phase, consider buying seeds rather than fully-grown plants.

Just like with ornaments, it’s important to create an overall plan for your garden when purchasing seeds or plants. Planning before spending is a great way to stick to your garden design budget, whether you’re buying plants, trinkets or large furniture.

When filling your garden with plants, you might want to put some of them in planter boxes to create a more organised look for your garden. If you’re designing a garden on a budget, PVC planter boxes should be one of your top choices, as they combine elegance, durability and affordability. PVC planter boxes are available in different sizes and look great on a porch, near a pool or along a walkway.

Where To Splurge On Garden Design

Setting up a fence around your garden

Fences are an essential part of any garden. A quality fence provides security from outside threats and privacy for you and your family. Fences can also elevate your garden’s aesthetic appeal. Moreover, a good fence will last you decades, so it’s essential to buy the highest-quality fence your garden design budget allows.

When looking for a fence that will last, you have plenty of options to choose from. These include PVC fences, aluminium fences and Colorbond fences. Of course, if you’re trying to design a garden on a budget, it’s important to get an idea of the cost of a new fence.

There are also several steps you can take to maximise the durability of your fence and stretch your garden design budget. For instance, investing in a steel fence with a layer of powder coating can prevent rust and boost your fence’s heat resistance and shock absorption. It’s also important to perform regular cleaning and maintenance on your fence to reduce repair costs down the line.

Building a pool

If you plan to own a pool, chances are it’s going to be the centrepiece of your garden, so you want to allocate a sizable chunk of your garden design budget to pool landscaping. This involves choosing a high-quality decking material like Trex composite decking, building a strong pool fence and regularly cleaning your pool.

You have a number of options when it comes to pool fencing. You want to choose a fence that prevents outside debris and pests from entering your pool. Some of the most popular options out there include glass pool fencing and aluminium pool fencing. These choices are budget-friendly and high-quality.

Some other tips for building a great pool include creating an overall layout for your pool, installing quality pool decking and placing potted plants and flowers around your pool. These are things you should never cheap out on.

Installing permanent garden fixtures

It stands to reason that you’d spend most of your garden design budget on the fixtures you expect to last the longest. We’ve already gone through the various kinds of fences you can consider, but you should also allocate a significant portion of your budget to permanent structures like walkways, gazebos and large fountains.

Although you might incur higher upfront costs, you should never compromise on quality when it comes to permanent garden fixtures. Look for a reputable supplier, choose a long-lasting material and consider hiring professional help to assist during the installation process.

You should never hesitate to spend a bit more on permanent garden fixtures. In the long run, the money you save on having to repair or replace low-quality outdoor furniture will probably eat into your garden design budget more than spending a little extra in the first place.

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When designing your dream garden on a budget, it’s important to know where to skimp and where to splurge. In this blog post, we’ve gone over some ways to spend your garden design budget efficiently and intelligently.

At Outback Fencing, we can help you build the garden of your dreams, even if you’re working within a tight budget. We’re one of Australia’s premier fencing suppliers, and we offer all our fencing products at extremely competitive prices. No matter where in Australia you live, we order pickup and delivery of all products through one of our easily accessible local warehouses.

Browse through our full range of affordable and quality fencing and garden supplies now to kickstart your garden makeover planning.