Garden Tips When Renting A House - pots and containers

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Living in a house or flat with outdoor space gives you an amazing opportunity to connect with nature and experiment with planting and landscaping ideas to extend your home. If you own your home, you can really go to town on your garden or outdoor space, knowing that it will give you pleasure and, in most cases, add value to your property. But what if you rent – how can you garden when you don’t own your home?

Garden Tips When Renting A House

As a tenant, you normally have responsibility to maintain any existing garden, unless your landlord does this as part of your lease. If you wish to change the ‘landscape’ of the property, including the garden, you must get your landlord’s permission (preferably in writing) as the law will support the landlord if you make changes without consultation – even if your intent is to improve the property.

If hard landscaping is not an option, there are still lots of things that you can do in your rented garden to make it feel more like home and reflect your ideas and personality:

Renting A House - pots and containers
Garden Pots & Containers

Pots and containers

The easiest way to transform a space is to plant your garden in pots or containers. If you have a courtyard, balcony or small space, a few plants in pots can really create an oasis of calm and give you lots of options. Choose similar pots of different sizes to create a uniform look and stick with a colour palette or theme to create a cohesive outdoor space. You can have your pots on different levels or invest in some low-cost shelving to arrange plants to create a planting wall. A word of warning though – if you invest in large pots and shrubs – think about how you are going to move them once your lease is up!

As well as plants, you can also grow vegetables in containers and vertical planters to save space, or even a Vegebag which was the RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year. This is a pop-up container that can hold about a foot of soil so you can even plant root vegetables and it even comes with its own mesh barrier to protect your prize veggies from pests. Go to Vegepod to find out more.

Garden Tips When Renting A House - garden furniture
Garden Furniture

Garden accessories and furniture

There are so many ideas for garden furniture and accessories in shops, online and even supermarkets that you should be able to find something to suit your outdoor space no matter what your budget. Bistro table and chairs are affordable and create the perfect place to have an outdoor morning coffee or evening tipple. Use outdoor rugs and shower proof furnishings to brighten up any outdoor space and make it feel like your own. Other moveable accessories are firepits which come in a range of styles and sizes and create a cosy feeling in your garden when the sun goes down.

Another idea is to use a garden screen to give you privacy or even to partition areas of your garden to create mini rooms or zones for added interest. You can use Hazel Hurdles from Primrose  or go to Esty and have a look at their chunky trellis and planter options. For an exotic feeling in the garden, Screen with Envy have some fabulous Moroccan inspired screening in a variety of colours and sizes.

Garden Tips When Renting A House - garden lighting

Add atmosphere with lighting

Lights outside in the evening always add an extra layer of magic for me and I’m a big fan of solar lighting for this. You can get some really robust column lights which look fabulous in your borders and strings of fairy lights are always enchanting in trees or pots. For more ideas take a look at Lights4Fun and Olive and Sage for some quirky lanterns and lights.

So, as you can see, renting doesn’t need to hold you back in the garden – you just need to let your creativity shine to make the most of your temporary outdoor space.

If you would like further advice or information about how to garden when you rent a house, please get in touch.