If you are new to outdoor lighting, the prospect of installing garden lights might be quite daunting. What type of lights should you buy? Are solar any good? Will I need an electrician? What IP rating do I need? These are all good questions, and you can find detailed answers to them
here and
here. However, it is possible to choose, purchase and install all of your garden lights in less than one hour; with no prior knowledge except this article. If that sounds like the quick fix you’ve been looking for, read on…
Battery and solar are your friends
To get this done in such a short timeframe, mains powered lights are not an option. There simply isn’t time to find and book an electrician to install them for you, and they’ll almost certainly take more than an hour to complete the job, depending on the size of your garden of course. Even plug-and-play mains powered lights take much longer to install than battery or solar lights. Instead, we will use a combination of high quality battery and solar powered lights, which can be quickly and easily installed.
Step 1 – Decide what you want
Duration: 15 minutes Elapsed time: 15 minutes Break your garden down into the following areas:
Paths and patios Flower beds Lawns Trees and shrubs Walls and buildings
For each of these areas, you will select a certain type of garden light. When choosing which areas of your garden to illuminate, it is very much a case of less is more. The idea is to selectively light up specific features in your garden, within the list above.
Lights for garden paths, flower beds and lawns
For these features we will be using a combination of solar powered spike lights and battery powered path lights.
Spike lights are affordable, easy to install and look good. They also have the added benefit of being easy to relocate if you change your mind on positioning. Consider using solar powered spike lights for flower beds and lawns; and path lights for, well, paths.
Lighting trees and shrubs
Chinese lantern lights are becoming more popular for lighting and decorating trees and shrubs, and being solar powered, they are quick and easy to install.
Garden lights for walls and buildings
Wall lights will be utilised for these features, either solar or battery powered. These take slightly longer to install, as you have to drill holes into the wall and screw them on, but ten minutes per light is definitely realistic.
Step 2 – Order your lights
Duration: 15 minutes Elapsed time: 30 minutes With a list of what you want you can now order your garden lights online. To speed the process up look for next day delivery; and with the quantity of lights you will be ordering, free delivery should be available. Also, when you’ve chosen your lights, do a quick Google search for
voucher codes for the retailer you have selected.
Step 3 – Install your lights
While you’re waiting for your lights to be delivered, finalise where you are going to install them and make sure your drill is charged and ready to go. When your garden lights are delivered, the actual installation of them will probably be the easiest part of the process. Here’s how the final step breaks down to hit our target of under one hour (with links to the products as an example):
| 2x solar powered wall lights Installation time: 20 minutes |
 |
| 2x UltraBright battery powered path lights Installation time: 1 minute |
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| 6x solar spike lights Installation time: 3 minutes |
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| 4x 20cm solar Chinese lanterns Installation time: 2 minutes |
 |
Total duration: 26 minutes Elapsed time: 56 minutes. Job done!
Some garden lights suitable for this method...
Product
|
Link
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Suitable for:
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| Solar spike lights |
|
Paths & patios Flowerbeds Lawns |
| Solar stainless steel spike lights |
 |
Paths & patios Flowerbeds Lawns |
| Classic solar spike lantern |
 |
Paths & patios Lawns |
| 20cm solar Chinese lanterns |
|
Trees & shrubs |
| Small solar Chinese lanterns |
 |
Trees & shrubs |
| Battery powered path lights |
|
Paths & patios |
| Battery powered path lights |
 |
Paths & patios Decking |
| Solar wall light |
|
Walls & buildings |
| Slimline solar wall light |
 |
Walls & buildings |
