7 Amazing Ways To Add Colour To Your Drought Ravaged Garden.
Is your garden struggling to look good with no rain? Would you like ideas to add colour to your drought ravaged garden?
Living with a drought is rough but I have ways to help you add colour to your drought ravaged garden.
As I am writing this blog, I know that a lot of Australia has had some recent rain. Many parts of the country has had patchy rain and some parts none at all.
Gardening is hard in a drought and I would like to offer you 7 amazing ways to add colour to your drought ravaged garden.
We’re in the patchy part. Some rain but not as much as we’d like. Not enough to fill the dams that help water the garden.
The garden looks okay. It’s certainly looked worse.
A lot of you would know living on farms/properties or even large blocks that water access at times has limitations. It’s not just turning on a tap. Bores, tanks and dams are what water stock, water the garden and provide hydration for humans and pets.
Water is liquid gold.
A couple of years ago during a particularly bad drought I looked at my struggling garden and wondered how on earth it would even survive let alone thrive. Everything looked dead and depressing.
I sat on my deck on a 46-degree stinking hot summers day and thought I had to have some other sort of colour in the garden, I just couldn’t live with dead, drooping, brown plants.
I needed colour to make me smile. If it wasn’t with plants, I was going to do it some other way. Here is what I did.
7 Amazing Ways To Add Colour To Your Drought Ravaged Garden.
1. Mosaic The Garden It Adds Colour.
I learned how to Mosaic. I did a course. It was actually fun. I thought I would start with something very simple like stepping stones.
Mosaicing does require a skill set and includes buying some tools but well worth it if you would like to add colour to your drought ravaged garden.
Stepping Stones First.
Below are very simple instructions for beginners who may be interested in learning. I may do a blog with more details in the future and will keep subscribers posted.
The below is a simple guide of what you will need to begin.
- Purchase outdoor tiles, stones that can handle UV light. I learnt the hard way and some of my practice mosaics ended up fading terribly.
- Waterproof your stepping stones and wait for it to dry as per recommendations.
- Use an outdoor tile adhesive. I don’t use liquid nails outdoors as it can become brittle.
- Attach tiles to tile adhesive in any pattern you like.
- If you need to cut them use a tile cutter.
- Make sure you wear safety glasses and cut tiles in an old pillow case to reduce shards flying everywhere.
- After the recommended drying time, grout in any colour you like. Black grout is a perfect way to make colour pop.
- Clean off the grout with a wet sponge and once dry seal with a tile sealer.
Some colourful stepping stones at the edge of the fire pit.
Mosaic an Arbour.
After I got a bit more confident I mosaiced an old tank stand my husband the builder made into an arbour. The mosaics make the garden pop, I think. The black grout compliments the black fence and the colour of the arbour.
Mosaic An Old Shed Door
Another Idea is to mosaic a shed door. My husband helped with this one and we transformed an ugly shed door into something a little bit whimsical . I painted the rest of the door in chalk paint. Adds interest and colour.
2. Add Colour By Painting Some Decorative Stepping Stones.
My chook pen area was looking very tired in the drought. I bought some decorative stepping stones from a local concrete business. I didn’t like the original grey colour so I decided to purchase some stepping stone paint. WOW! Bright colour instantly. Kids love jumping on them when they help gather the eggs. Makes it more fun.
They didn’t take long to paint and I did seal them afterwards with some concrete sealer. They haven’t faded, peeled or bubbled after three years.
3. Plant Large, Colourful & Drought Proof Plants.
I’m not an expert gardener but I have learnt over the years to plant what grows. For maximum impact mass plant. This will add an explosion of colour to your drought ravaged garden. If not sure go to your local nursery and ask the experts, ask your neighbours or drive around and see what grows in the area. No point in planting something beautiful if it won’t grow in your area. Babying a plant is painful at any time however really awful during a drought. You really, really want it to live, in my experience is usually doesn’t.
4. Paint Your Chook Pen A Vibrant Colour.
I painted my chook pen a vibrant green because it was a dull brown colour. Pretty much the same colour as the dead grass. To me looking at it only added to the misery of drought and I couldn’t stand the dead grass merging with the brown walls. The brown had to go.
The green was bright but wasn’t enough so I added some colourful recycled tin flowers from Mrs Browns Blooms.
The chooks love it 😊
5. Cushions Add Colour To Outdoor Furniture.
A lot of Australian’s have an outdoor area with some form of outdoor furniture. It’s really easy to update furniture and add colour with cushions. Get a professional to upholster old furniture for a bright elegant look. If it’s worth doing, reupholster or paint to lengthen the life of old furniture. So much satisfaction seeing it bought back to life with a bit of effort and elbow grease. Bright cushions will really jazz up the area.
6. Add Birdhouses To An Ugly Area.
We live in a rural area and love the wildlife that surrounds it. Birds are a huge part of this and I like to help in droughts with watering holes, and safe places. I also plant hardy bird attracting plants. The birdhouses add a flash of colour when walking past the ugly fire wood area. Your eyes are drawn to them rather than the mess on the floor.
7. Get The Kids To Paint Some Old Water Pipes.
Water pipes are reasonably cheap. A lot of us even have offcuts hidden under houses or in shed’s just gathering dust. I can’t take any credit for this idea as I saw it on Pinterest.
You can paint them in any colour and any pattern you like. Kids will love this idea. Give it to them to do in the holidays, it will give them hours of fun. They look better with a few bunched together. Arcylic paint is all that was used and then a sealer sprayed on to help protect from the weather.
Please have fun with these ideas. I hope they help you add colour to your drought ravaged garden. For more read about us.