15 Best Small Backyard Garden Ideas on Budget[Floor Plans Included]

A small backyard garden should not limit your creativity. With the help of some practical backyard garden ideas, you can entirely revamp your garden space on a budget. Ideally, the average cost to landscape a small backyard garden is $1,000 to $6,000.

Specialized tools like electric hedge cutters, grass trimmers, power drills, and leaf blowers are essential for effective grooming and landscaping of the garden. These tools need consistent power for long-lasting operations, and Jackery Solar Generators can provide that. These solar generators are noiseless and emission-free and ensure an uninterrupted power supply even if an outage occurs.

Key Takeaways

• The essential tools that are necessary for small backyard garden landscaping are loopers, rakes, garden forks, power drills, pruning shears, etc.
• Some of the best small backyard garden ideas on a budget are a DIY fire pit, vertical planters, a garden pond, a stone pathway, and a living wall.
• The cost of small backyard garden landscaping ranges from $300 to $30,000, depending on the different garden setups.
• You can implement three layouts in your garden, including a pool, pond, and lights.
• Jackery Solar Generators can power most of the required devices for small garden landscaping at a minimum cost.

Essential Tools for a Budget-Friendly Backyard Garden

If you are looking for some of the best backyard garden ideas on budget, there are some gardening tasks that you may DIY. You don’t have to worry, as some necessary tools can make your tasks easier:

• Loopers: These are easy-to-use handheld cutting tools for your garden. You can use a looper to cut out twigs and small branches up to 1 inch thick. It is a manual tool with a long handle of 16 to 36 inches.
• Garden Fork: This tool is used to dig and loosen the soil. Unlike the spade, it is easier to push into the ground and does not damage the plant roots.
• Rake: The rake is your best companion if you want to level the ground or gather fallen leaves. Its toothed crossbar ensures smooth scraping, gathering, and scooping.
• Electric Hedge Cutter: An electric hedge cutter or trimmer is an ideal grooming tool for your garden hedges. Its reciprocating or oscillating blade assembly makes trimming the shrubbery fast and easy.
• Wheelbarrow: A wheelbarrow is crucial if you need to lift extra soil, mulch, or fallen leaves across the garden. For easy operation, choose a two-wheel, one-handle wheelbarrow.

Other tools can make implementing your backyard garden ideas easier. These tools are power drills, watering cans, hand trowels, pruning shears, and gloves.

15 Best Small Backyard Garden Ideas on Budget

A well-maintained and decorated garden can enhance a good time with family, friends, or a book. If you want to add some more style and elegance to your small backyard garden, try implementing the best backyard garden ideas on a budget.

DIY Fire Pit

Relaxing around a fire pit with your family and friends is a relaxing experience. A good thing is that you can DIY a fire pit in your backyard garden without a hefty investment. Using just some old bricks, concrete, and wall blocks, you can build a fire pit to add warmth and establish a focal point in your backyard garden.

DIY Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting can instantly enhance the beauty of your small backyard garden. Several options include LED strips, string lights, step lights, mason jar luminaries, and more. They can illuminate your garden; if creative enough, you can place them across trees, pergolas, and fences to highlight the elements. To ensure optimum lighting during an outage, use an essential home backup like a portable power station.

Artificial Grass Lawns

It is not essential to have natural grass in your lawn. Artificial grass provides a good and natural look to your small backyard garden. Its advantages include color options, types, cost, and maintenance. You don’t have to use your lawnmower but must sweep to keep the dirt away.

Use Stones For a Garden Path

A path from the deck to your sitting area in the garden also adds beauty. If you want to keep it within your budget, choose stepping stones rather than a proper gravel and pavers path. Dig out some grass and soil and put big rocks on the ground. Add some soil and sand under them to balance them.

Invest in Vertical Planters

Vertical planters allow you to stack plants on different levels on a single structure or stand. You can get the plastic planters, drill a hole at the bottom, and fill them with soil and plants. The plants will grow upwards, saving your space on the ground.

Get Foldable Furniture

Foldable furniture is the best choice when your goal is aesthetics, functionality, and space-saving. There are several options for foldable furniture that are suitable for your backyard garden, such as folding bistro tables, wooden foldable benches, folding chaise lounges, etc. You can set them around or close to the fire pit while chatting with friends.

Hang a Hammock

As challenging as it may look, a hammock can be installed in your garden to boost its appeal. Some hammocks are freestanding even if you don’t have trees in your garden. You can explore them in multiple sizes and choose the one that fits your garden. It is best for taking a nap, reading, or stargazing at night.

Build a Hanging Pallet Bar

A hanging pallet bar can be helpful if you are fond of parties and frequently host them in your small backyard garden. It is easy to DIY if you hammer nails and cut wooden pallets. You can make it on a very short budget and add it to your garden to enhance its utility.

Upgrade The Garden Shed

The shed in your garden can be used in several ways. Its window can be used as a service window to a kitchen for an outdoor Sunday lunch. A counter can be added to the window to turn it into a bar. Lastly, it can be turned into a greenhouse planting hub with polyethylene film on the walls and roof.

Consider Garden Edging

It is considered expensive, but you can do it on a budget, just like stones for a garden path. Garden edging can help separate the deck from the grassy area, the planted area from the paved area, etc. With small rocks and some essential gardening tools, you can edge the garden yourself. It will provide a tidy look to the garden.

Turn a Barrel Into a Pond

Building a pond is a lucrative small backyard landscaping idea, but it can cost you $4,000 to over $50,000. You can use an old whiskey barrel to build a small pond here. Just attach a thin plastic sheet to the inside of the barrel, and you are done. For plants, you can add lily pads.

Make a Living Wall

Here is another space-saving idea: You can create a living wall that adjoins your backyard garden. You can drill holes in the walls to attach the metal plant hangers and adjust the pots to them. If this seems too much, go for plastic plant pots with hooks. You can hang these on the wooden pallets installed on the wall.

Use an Outdoor Rug

An outdoor rug may seem odd, but not if you have a patio area within the garden. A patterned rug perfectly complements the overall look of the garden and the furniture. A rug can make your patio look bigger while remaining a cost-effective option. It would require timely cleaning, though.

Include Entertainment Elements

If you like games and movies, mount a foldable projector screen on the wall or keep a projector on the table and enjoy a movie. You can also power your gaming console outdoors with an essential home backup system. Jackery Solar Generators are ideal solar battery backups for homes that can satisfy your outdoor entertainment needs.

Get a Garden Potting Station

Managing soil, garden tools, planters, etc., can be challenging in a small space. How about a garden potting station? With a dedicated garden potting station in your small backyard garden, you can store all your essential supplies in one place. It can be a flat old table or scraps of plywood that you can use for storage.

Backyard Garden Cost Breakdown & Budgeting Tips

Small backyard garden landscaping costs depend on design complexity, location, materials used, labor costs, etc. There are three types of backyard landscaping that you can do.

Xeriscaping: If you live in a hot, arid area, Xeriscaping is the best option. It involves using drought-resistant plants, artificial grass, rocks, and stones, as well as some water-saving techniques. The overall cost is $3,000 to $24,000.

Hardscaping: Hardscaping includes all premium features, such as a patio, swimming pool, pond, outdoor kitchen, retaining wall, bar, etc. Including these elements can raise the cost to $300 to $30,000.

Softscaping: This is among the best backyard garden ideas on budget. Softscaping your backyard garden with plants, grasses, flower beds, and more will cost you the least, around $800 to $10,000.

Note: These costs are just estimates for small backyard garden landscaping. They can vary based on location, material quality, project scope, permits, etc.

Budgeting Tips

You can do DIY tasks like building a fit pit, adding plants, laying down stones for a walkway, etc. A paver can cost $1 to $25 per square foot plus installation charges. Adding plants can cost $2 to $50 per plant. You can save these costs. To save more, pick some soft scaping and repurpose existing features. Buy young plants and go for moderately expensive materials.

Small Backyard Garden Layout & Floor Plans

Here are some detailed small backyard garden layouts and floor plans to make small backyard garden landscaping easy for you.

Backyard Garden With Pool

This backyard garden with pool concept features a pool in the corner led by a walkway. On the other side of the division, there is a comfortable seating area in the garden.

Backyard Garden With Lights

The layout of this plan is the same as the previous one but with a covered pool. With a seating area, it also has glimmering floor lights that can be powered with the help of a Jackery Solar Generator.

Backyard Garden With Pond

This garden concept has two ponds. A small one is in the corner with a seating area nearby, and the other one has a walkway over it from where you can enjoy its view.

Jackery Solar Generators for Small Backyard Garden

Power is indispensable when landscaping your small backyard garden. An essential home backup is crucial for running your entertainment system, repurposing a wooden pallet, creating a new deck, and illuminating the exterior. Born with the vision of green energy, Jackery manufactures cutting-edge solar power products. The brand has sold over five million products worldwide thanks to its unique features, such as noise-free operation, zero emissions, compact design, etc.

When trimming hedges, drilling pallets, and installing lighting in the garden, use a Jackery Solar Generator to get an uninterrupted supply of clean power at any corner of your backyard garden.

Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus

With a massive power capacity, the Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus is an essential home backup solution for heavy-duty tasks. You can run outdoor entertainment systems, trim hedges with an electric hedge cutter, or power the garden lights. It is noise-free and portable for you to take it anywhere across your yard.

Appliances Running Time

• Pressure Washer (2500W) = 1.7H
• Electric Chainsaw (1500W) = 2.8H
• Circular Saw (1200W) = 3.4H
• Drill Machine (1000W) = 4.1H
• Jigsaw (800W) = 5.0H

Customer Review

“This is a great product. I am very satisfied. The smartphone app is very useful for monitoring and setting values in the system.” - Gary.

Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus

Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus is an exceptional product that can power devices with moderate power requirements. In your small backyard garden landscaping project, you can use this essential home backup system to run power drill machines, circular saws, etc. It can also power your garden lighting for an extended time while creating minimum noise. As it runs solely on solar power, your power cost is reduced to zero with Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus.

Appliances Running Time

• Electric Chainsaw (1500W) = 1.1H
• Circular Saw (1200W) = 1.4H
• Drill Machine (1000W) = 1.7H
• Jigsaw (800W) = 2.1H
• Bench Grinder    (1000W) = 1.7H

Customer Review

“Awesome product. Have a few of the smaller ones which are very handy. Sweet fit for house and car hauler to power lights and radio. Not as heavy as I thought and wheels with handle a plus” - William Grimes.

FAQs for Small Backyard Garden

What is the least expensive backyard landscaping?

Among the best backyard garden ideas on a budget,  the least expensive ones are using stones to make a garden path, garden edging, and turning a used barrel into a pond.

What is a small garden size?

A small backyard garden in the US is 100 square feet, whereas the average garden size is 600 square feet.

How much does it cost to make a garden?

The average cost to create a garden is $1,000 to $6,000. However, it can vary depending on the type of garden setting chosen, material quality, location, and scope of the project.

What is a suggested medicinal garden kit?

This is a unique garden kit that includes seeds of some common and easy-to-grow medicinal herbs, such as chamomile, lavender, peppermint, and echinacea.

How much does backyard light installation cost?

The average cost for a small backyard garden lighting installation is $3000. While the professional installation costs $4500, the low-end price is $500.

Conclusion

To make the most of your small backyard garden and turn it into a cozy community space, you should smartly utilize the space while implementing the best backyard garden ideas on budget. It is also crucial to have utilities that meet your requirements. For your power needs, you can freely rely on the essential home backup systems of Jackery. You can get an uninterrupted power supply at an affordable price without any hassle.