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With the cost of living taking its toll on many of us, investment in the garden, lawn and planting is sliding down the to-do list as money gets tight.

The annual Sandringham Flower Show boasts flowers and award-winning gardens that are worth thousands of pounds, but Norwich-based garden designer Jonathan Hall showed visitors how to create something bespoke on a budget.

At the invitation of show organisers, he unveiled a credit crunch garden at this year's event, using only plants, raised beds and fencing you would find in the local garden centre, rather than wild and obscure plants and features costing hundreds of pounds.

"It's as much about arrangement and design as it is about using the materials, but it shows what you can do using simple and available items," said Jonathan.

Planning saves the pounds

"The first thing that is essential is to have an idea at the start of what you want to do. So often I have been called into a project halfway through and thousands of pounds have been spent with not a lot to show for it.

"In terms of project time, planning should take one third of the time. If you're spending 30 minutes in the planning and then a whole day out in the garden, you've probably got it the wrong way round.

"Whether you employ a garden designer or sit down with a pen and paper yourself - work out exactly what you need, that's the most essential thing to save money," he added.

Garden designer Jonathan Hall

Jonathan grew up in Norwich and is one of only a handful of people in the country to hold an MA in landscape and garden design.

An award-winner at the Chelsea Flower Show, he's the first to admit that gardening can be expensive - particularly if you have grounds, like some of his clients, that extend to a few acres.

Budget planting

But for the more modest garden when you've maybe just a few hundred pounds to spend rather than thousands, what can be done to make the planting and design go further?

"Garden centres are very good at putting what's in flower at the front of the store so as you come in you impulse buy, but any garden designer will tell you to select a plant on the base of its foliage first," said Jonathan.

"Most of the plants here [in the Sandringham show garden] look good when not in flower, so that's another way of making your garden look good all the year round.

"I think when you go to select a plant buy smaller plants as they are usually cheaper, establish more easily and will give you a much better plant longer term.

"You perhaps need six or seven months' more patience than buying a bigger one, but in terms of the cost it will be much better.

"If you want something to grow instantly I look at the quick growing herbaceous plants, those sort of things grow up very quickly and can be divided as well. So once they get too big you can divide them and put it elsewhere in the garden or give them to a neighbour," he added.

Creating a credit crunch garden

Take your time

The great thing about gardening is that it can be done in stages.

Have an overall vision for the space, but enjoy spending time creating it - this way you can save up what you need to achieve little areas at a time.

"There's lot help on the internet, garden designers will help you and garden centres have very experienced staff," said Jonathan.

"There's lots of help around, you just need to know what questions to ask and doing that through the planning stage should help you."

And if you think a budget garden will never look as good as when you spend thousands, Jonathan's credit crunch garden at Sandringham was given a gold award by the RHS judges.