COMMENT

Improving Your Home? Get Gardening!

By Jane Mack (TMFJane)
April 25, 2006

I don't know how you spent your Easter weekend last week but I found the world and his wife at the three garden centres I visited on Easter Monday. And they were buying plants by the trolley load. The woman in front of me handed over nearly £140 for her purchases which, along with several other people in the queue, included a water butt. Good -- they've heard there's a hosepipe ban then!

Pottering about in the garden is not only good for the soul; it adds value to your home. According to some new research by Saga Insurance, 82% of Brits say the garden is an extremely important feature when house-hunting.

The survey of nearly 2,500 people reveals that many people believe they're adding value to their property by carrying out garden makeovers. According to the poll, most people spend at least £500 improving their garden and believe that improvements they've made, excluding the effect of general house price rises, have increased the value of their homes by more than £7,500.

I suspect that £7,500 is wishful thinking but then my husband and I completely re-vamped our garden a couple of years ago and our next-door neighbour admitted to being so envious she wanted to swap houses with us!

It wouldn't surprise me if the £1,000 we spent had added several thousand more to the value of our home. Though I say so myself, our garden looks fabulous even at this early stage of the season and it'll look wonderful in the summer when my assortment of red and yellow sunflowers come out (frugally grown from seed, of course).

Apparently two out of five homebuyers gut the garden of its original contents after they move in and start from scratch, redesigning the layout and re-landscaping. You can go overboard on it but some top tips on keeping the costs down include:

• Growing from seed -- it's cheaper than buying a ready-made plant and it's more fun;
• Growing perennials rather than annuals (although I allow myself a few of the annuals I can't be without such as sunflowers);
• Learning how to 'lift and divide' so that you can swipe a portion of the plants your friends and neighbours have in their gardens;
• Looking for plants at car boot fairs - they're much cheaper than the ones you buy at garden centres
• Make free compost out of your potato peelings, old and tired veg and teabags. If you don't want a compost heap in your garden or you don't have room for one just bury the stuff -- it'll break down over time and supply nutrients to nearby plants.

And finally, if you must spend a fortune at the garden centre, use a credit card that offers a 0% introductory rate for purchases. At least then you won't be paying interest on your irises while you're paying for them!

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