2. Save your pinecones for bedding, which will keep pups and cats out of your plants.
3. This brilliant kit lets you create a trellis in any shape that you want.
Perfect for your garden graffiti wall. Get it for $24.50.
4. Use an Ikea curtain system as an impromptu shade during the summer.
Attach one side to the house and the other side to a pole or tree, then slide the curtains across for shade.
5. Paint your cinderblocks and use them as an outdoor coffee table or flower box.
6. With a few long pieces of wood, you can also use cinder blocks to create an impromptu couch.
See how they did this .
7. Use latex floor paint to color cement tiles on an outdoor patio.
Get more info about how they did this .
8. Repurpose an old chandelier as a bird feeder.
9. Rejuvenate and brighten your solar lights with clear nail polish.
Your solar lights will likely get weathered and cloudy over time. Read more about it .
10. Spray paint pebbles with glow-in-the-dark paint to light a path at night.
Or you can buy them at a nickel apiece .
11. Use concrete crack filler to keep unwanted weeds from sprouting up.
12. Turn a tree stump into a “gnome home,” or fairy garden.
13. Paint chicken wire to look like truffula flowers.
14. Make treated pine cones for colored fire in your fire pit.
It’s a heady process that involves technical-grade chemicals, but think of how MAGICAL your summer nights will be. Directions .
15. Sew together a giant pillow quilt for picnics, sleepovers, or outdoor movie viewing.
16. A mailbox makes a great outdoor toolbox.
17. A bucket table provides a storage space for things you don’t want to leave out in the rain, like citronella candles and pillows.
using just lumber and a bucket or galvanized tub.
18. You can plant little mini gardens inside of steel pipe edging.
Fill the pipes with soil and plant succulents on top. You’ll have the most meta garden ever.
19. Build a giant xylophone that your kids will love.
Watch the instructional video .
20. A DIY fence table is great for BBQs or just another surface to set drinks on.
Get the directions .
21. A tuna fish can, a PVC pipe, a dollar store vase, and a candle crafted together will create elegant walkway or patio lighting.
Get the DIY .
22. Make cement stepping stones out of large leaves.
Get the full instructions .
23. Rubber door mats also work as pretty molds for concrete stepping stones.
Get the directions .
24. Tall grass in galvanized tubs create extra privacy or partitions.
Bonus: If you plant lemongrass, it’ll keep the mosquitoes away.
25. Upside-down wine bottles are a creative way to do garden edging.
26. A painted pot doubles as a table.
Use the tray as a table top instead of a draining receptacle! Full directions .
27. Don’t have a pool? Make a leak-proof water blob.
Your kids will love it, I promise. Get the directions .
28. Purchase stair risers, add some window boxes, and you’ve got a perfect place for an herb garden.
29. Plant M&Ms.
Or at least give the illusion that you are by painting your rocks.
30. Making an outdoor movie screen is easier than you think.
If you already own a projector, you’re halfway there! Get the directions .
31. This insanely simple rope swing will provide hours of fun.
Get the directions .
32. Create a buried pot garden for easy landscaping.
Everything in its place.
33. Save your prunings so you can make awesome little twig fences for your fairy garden.
34. Apply stone or tile to the siding of the foundation of your home.
Because the outside of your home should be just as pretty as the inside.
35. Hang dollar store solar lights on basket hooks.
Apparently, you can . They’re like pretty sconce light fixtures for your backyard!
Plants look great hanging on them too, especially if you don’t have garden space for flowers.
36. Use cement or stone bricks to edge your garden — the lawn mower can cut right up to the edge!
And you don’t have to worry about mulch or pebbles getting into your lawn. Get the directions .
37. Make a towel rack out of PVC pipe.
Get the directions .
38. An old rake is just right for hanging up garden tools.
39. Stone tiles in the garden create an easy walkway.
Or make an extra big one to create a cement birdbath.
Directions here.
40. Wine corks stuck to a piece of wood makes a dibble for even seed planting.
Get the DIY directions here.
41. If you’ve always wanted a “secret garden,” a mirror in the backyard creates that illusion.
