As the country collectively tightens its belt, garden designers are getting more and more inquiries about creating gardens on a budget.

While it’s certainly not a new notion — gardeners and designers have been evolving thrifty ideas for centuries — it has become one of the hottest topics in the industry in the past year.

At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show budget gardening was everywhere, with designers demonstrating some great uses for reclaimed and recycled materials — one garden even transformed a kitchen colander into a hanging basket.

As long as you can devote time to creating a garden it doesn’t have to be expensive. I have compiled a list of money-saving ideas to show you how.

Hard decisions

Usually it is the structure and hard landscaping of a garden that swallows the largest chunk of any budget, but there are some clever tricks that you can use to keep costs down.

The key to thrifty garden construction is to try to re-use as many of the materials as possible on site. This avoids the huge cost of skips, as well as reducing the number of extra materials that you will need to buy.

Removing concrete can be expensive. Instead, try breaking it up and using it to create paths. Alternatively, why not fill gabions — steel wire cages — with the broken-up concrete and use them to make raised beds or seating areas?

Gabions are a great choice for thrifty garden construction because they can be filled with anything from rubble, to wood, to recycled glass bottles.

Pushing the boundaries

Inexpensive retaining structures can also be constructed using bioengineering techniques. Willow or black poplar will quickly root from cut rods and can be used to stabilise the soil.

Living willow cuttings can also be used to create garden structures such as arbours, tunnels and sheltered seating areas. Cut lengths of live willow planted over the winter months will quickly root in soil, before sprouting green leaves.

Salix viminalis is the best choice for living willow structures; you can buy rods of willow from your local grower for as little as £1 each.

You can also weave your own plant supports, obelisques, seats and hurdle fences using dried hazel or willow. A bolt (bundle) of willow starts from about £10.

Hedges are another thrifty and elegant way to create boundaries or to give structure to the garden. Hornbeam or a native mix of hawthorn, dogwood, spindle and blackthorn are excellent choices (and if you plant your hedge during the bare root season, it will cost a third of the price of container-grown specimens).

Inexpensive garden fences can also be made from roofing batons or scaffolding planks. Making fences using horizontal hit-and-miss pieces of wood is extremely popular at the moment.

Dirt cheap

Any turf that is lifted to create borders or paths can be inverted at the bottom of new planting beds, where it will slowly break down to form lovely fertile soil. You won’t loose the worms and you can avoid buying in topsoil.

Excess soil can be used to fill raised beds or to create rammed earth walls and structures. Try using old tyres or wine bottles to give structure to your earth wall.

If you are removing plants from the garden, consider chipping them for use as mulch, or add them to the compost heap rather than disposing of them.

Skips can be an excellent place to find materials for the thrifty garden, but remember that skip diving is illegal unless you have permission from the hirer.

Explore Gardens

• Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

• Chelsea Flower Show

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