Garden eyesores? Here are some creative ways to hide them

Hiding drain covers:

It’s frustrating when your garden is full of greenery, but you have a nasty drain cover staring back at you from the middle of the lawn.

One of the simplest ways to make this look prettier is to plant flowers around it. Doing this helps it blend in with its surroundings better so you can hardly tell it’s there. And this isn’t only one way to hide it… there are many more. 

Here are some other creative ways to hide drains:

• Bird bath: With the right vessel, these can add a touch of elegance while still keeping the drain accessible and also inviting wildlife into your garden.
• Garden Furniture: This is one of the most simple ways to disguise your drain. By adding an outdoor sofa or table you’re adding functionality and making your garden more inviting. 
• Planters: Large planter boxes filled with flowers can completely hide your drain cover, although remember that they are a heavier option.
• Grass Topped Drain Covers: This option is great for people who don’t want to change the layout of their garden. 

Bird baths bring more wildlife to your garden

If you’re not a fan of hiding it altogether, decorating it is another option. There are many flashy designs out there, at the other end of a quick Google. Or you can make your own designs if you’re creative enough! For example, try covering it with hand-painted rocks for a colourful addition to your outdoor space.

Tanks:

Whether it’s a water tank, or an oil or septic tank, these can be super useful and even vital features in our gardens, especially for country living. In some cases though, we might want to make them look a little bit prettier if we’re trying to make our garden stand out and not our septic tank. 

If you have a small garden and you feel like your tank is taking up a lot of room, moving it underground is a labour-intensive but effective option. If this doesn’t sound like something you want to do, consider placing a wooden trellis around it. You can then grow flowering plants such as Clematis or Passiflora up it, to give it a natural and aesthetically pleasing finish. This is also another excuse to welcome wildlife into your garden who will love the new greenery. A natural barrier like a hedge or other vegetation works well for this too, though is, of course, a slightly longer game!

Plant Tip: Training Euonymus fortunei ‘Silver Queen’ up a trellis will give you evergreen enjoyment from this beautiful variegated shrub all year round. 

Plain walls and fences:

If you have a wall that feels empty or a fence that seems a bit boring, then you might want to add something to bring a dose of excitement to your outdoor space. For example, a bird box or feeder will encourage wildlife to visit your garden and add some character to your empty walls. Here are some other options:

• Vertical gardening can take your garden up a notch and make your fences look completely natural and one of the simplest ways to do this is by introducing aliving wall, also known as green walls. Living walls are stackable planter boxes or troughs that can be fixed to a wall. An easier alternative to this is an artificial version if you don’t fancy upkeep. There are plenty of guides online to constructing these from upcycled wooden pallets. 
• Climbing plants are another great option. Unlike living walls these plants are trained to climb upwards, covering a large area quickly. Plants like Ivy, climbing Roses, and Clematis would be a great fit for this. While you are waiting for your new climbers to grow, you can hang plant boxes on your fence simply by using fence hooks as a temporary measure.
• Fairy Lights are another simple way of spicing up plain areas.There are many places in your garden you can put them to add some light and make your garden look more appealing. You don’t have to get traditional ones either, you could get ones that change colour or ones which have a fun design. We like these ones.

Bins or other utilities which don’t fit in:

We all have garden utilities that we think don’t quite fit in, whether it’s a bin or some other old piece of equipment we might have lying around. In this case, you may need to  invest in somewhere to keep your utilities – like a shed or a store specifically for your bins. We’re seeing lots of smart bin storage units with planters on top appearing in our local areas and think these are fantastic. (ed. Dig have designed a few of these for our Bespoke customers as you’ll see at the link above!) You can grow herbs, succulents or flowers, while still being able to access your bins. 

If you have equipment in your garden which isn’t used anymore, for example  an old wheelbarrow, you could get creative instead of throwing it away by turning it into a giant plant pot! We’ve also seen old ladders to shelve plant pots which can look fantastic when everything is in bloom

With a blend of creativity and practicality there are very few eyesores in a garden that you can’t overcome. Hopefully this post has given you some good ideas of how you can make the more boring parts of your garden come to life!