25 Easy DIY Garden Projects to Make Your Life Greener

Viveka Neveln
·7 min read

Add a DIY touch to your garden this year with one of our favorite projects.

Perhaps you've thought carefully about every plant in your garden, and now you want to focus on making your yard more inviting or need help organizing your gardening gear. We've assembled some of our favorite DIY garden projects, ranging from a succulent wreath to a pallet potting bench. Now, grab your gloves and get started.

Related: The 58 Best Gifts for Gardeners of 2024

Concrete Table

Not only are concrete tables stylish, but they're also well-suited to the elements. Sturdy and moisture-resistant, this DIY garden table has a solid cedar base and a tinted concrete top that will last for years to come.

Related: What to Know About Concrete Countertops, from Installation to Upkeep

Miniature Succulent Garden

Bring the desert to your garden in miniature form. For this tiny succulent garden, we included an arbor, a chair, a cat, and a wheelbarrow to add whimsical charm, but feel free to use whatever figurines you please for this charming DIY garden project.

Tool-Cleaning Station

Pack away dirty gardening tools, and you may discover rusted spades and shovels come spring. Replace any broken tools (with Better Homes & Gardens Stainless Steel 2-Piece Garden Tool Set, $13, Walmart) and eliminate the hassle of the annual end-of-season clean-up with a bucketful of sand and oil. This DIY tool-cleaning station requires just three materials and ensures clean tools without much scrubbing.

Terrarium DIY Garden Project

We love terrariums for their ability to bring green to any indoor space—no matter the season outside. Make your own terrarium to adorn a desk, serve as a dining table centerpiece, or bring life to any spot in your home, so long as it's well-lit and away from a significant heat source, like a radiator or fireplace.

Related: 9 Terrarium Fairy Garden Ideas That Are Utterly Adorable

Miniature Evergreen Garden

Mini conifers and perennials make for a perpetually green and adorably petite landscape. In this DIY garden project, we used three conifers: Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Tsukumo,' Picea glauca 'Jean's Dilly,' and a Valley Cushion Mugo pine. A dwarf Heuchera brings perennial chartreuse color. Once finished, cover the soil with gravel and sheet moss to keep moisture from evaporating too quickly.

Concrete Paver Planter

Casting concrete can be tedious. So why not skip that step and use pavers for a DIY garden project instead? Our easy tutorial teaches you how to make inexpensive concrete planters that bring clean lines and modern style to your garden.

Outdoor Gardening Station

If you need a storage solution for your gardening gear, try this DIY garden project: transform an old china cabinet into an outdoor station. Paint a secondhand piece in a fun color (hint: use a durable exterior paint), then stow your tools, pots, and garden knickknacks inside the cabinets and drawers. Decorate flat surfaces with pretty tiles of your choice.

Bottle Bird Feeder

Bottle-feed your favorite winged friends. Instead of tossing glass bottles, save them to create a simple bird feeder, which you can dress up with a charm or bracelet hanging off of the copper wire wrapping. Fill it with safflower seeds or black-oil sunflower seeds.

Related: 8 Common Bird Feeder Mistakes You Might Be Making (And How to Fix Them)

Living Succulent Picture

Bring living art to your interior with a framed succulent installation. This vertical garden requires very little water, making it an easy piece to maintain, and you don't have to worry about your artwork becoming overgrown or unmanageable since succulents are slow-growing.

Log-Slice Steps

Utilize a fallen tree trunk or buy precut log slices to make this pretty path for a simple DIY garden project. If you're going the precut route, use different colored wood stains to give your walkway some natural-looking variation.

Hanging Wooden Basket Container Garden

Love the look of a hanging plant but don't know where to start? A hanging wooden basket container garden like this is a DIY garden project that can be made in any size and with your choice of plant. A layer of moss keeps the soil from falling through the bottom.

Dogwood Garden Orb

If you have leftover dogwood branches from pruning, we have a creative way to put them to use: Turn them into garden orbs. These easy natural garden ornaments make beautiful decorations and require minimal supplies. Our orbs were built with red twig and yellow twig dogwood branches.

Chalkboard Plant Markers

As the seasons change, so do our plants. Sometimes, it can be challenging to keep track of what sits where in your yard, seed-starter cups, or container gardens (like this Better Homes & Gardens Terrence 19" Wide Round Resin Planter, $30, Walmart). Distinguish your plants with colorful markers like these, which are coated in chalkboard paint for easy use and identification.

Related: The 10 Best Plant Markers of 2024 for a Thriving Garden

Pond Box

Water lilies are a popular choice for ponds.
Water lilies are a popular choice for ponds.

Enjoy all the benefits of an in-ground water feature with a pond box. This DIY garden project fits in smaller spaces like balconies, patios, and decks. Once you're finished making your pond box, decorate it with ornaments and water-loving plants.

Miniature Herb Garden

You can make this miniature herb garden in under an hour. It's super easy: Fill a wooden box or seed flat with soil, plant the herbs of your choice, and finish the garden with mini pebbles for decoration.

Rain Barrel

Did you know that for every inch of rain that falls on 500 square feet of roof, you can collect 300 gallons of water? Making your own rain barrel means saving water and money. Our DIY rain barrel (made from a garbage can!) even includes an attachment for your hose (Better Homes & Gardens Green River Water Hose, $40, Walmart).

Concrete Balls

Concrete balls bring a playful element to your garden design—and they're an inexpensive DIY garden project. When casting the concrete or mortar mix, use household items, like a glass globe from a light fixture or a glass Christmas ornament, as molds. Once they're dry, dab on a bit of paint to create a mossy look.

Related: 25 Garden Decor Ideas for Taking Your Yard from Drab to Fab

Terra-Cotta Pot Makeovers

Tired of the same old orange terra-cotta pots? Borrow some makeover tips from Stephanie Rose of Garden Therapy to upgrade your garden containers. Your pots will look like pieces of art rather than boring basics.

Potting Bench

Turn recycled wood pallets into a functional outdoor workstation. Our DIY garden potting bench is totally customizable, whether you want to stain or paint it, add hooks, or stow freestanding containers.

Pallet Garden Organizer

Upcycle a cast-off pallet into a garden tool organizer to hang in your garage or shed. Simply stain the pallet with your choice of color, mount it securely to a wall, then attach pegboard wall hooks to hold your tools.

Compost Bin

Helping the environment has never been simpler. Use a drill with a paddle bit to make several rows of holes in an empty trash can for a DIY compost bin. The holes let air in to enable your compost to break down quickly.

Related: How to Use Compost: 9 Ways to Give Your Plants a Boost

Marbleized Pots

The best part about these DIY garden projects is that these marbleized pots will each have a unique look. Lightly swirl paints to create a marble pattern on a terra-cotta pot and saucer, then fill it with soil and your favorite container flowers.

Vertical Herb Gardens

A vertical DIY garden project is the ideal solution for expanding compact outdoor spaces or adding greenery to a porch or patio. Kate Richards of Drinking with Chickens designed nine eye-pleasing—and space-saving—ways to grow your herbs upright.

Raised Bed

Not only do raised beds make it easier to control soil conditions, but your back will thank you when you don't have to bend over as far to tend to your plants. You could buy a raised bed kit, but why not give our inexpensive (and easy) DIY raised bed a try?

Succulent Wreath

A succulent wreath suits any season; it requires little water and adds unexpected texture to your door (or even the gate of your garden). Make one of these for indoor or outdoor use.

Update Your Outdoor Space with These DIY Projects

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