Garden help and ideas please

dancingmaster1651

Adding to previous suggestions of chatting up neighbours: find out if there's a local gardeners club and ask them for advice. Most gardeners who are keen enough to join a club are admirably willing to share their knowledge. Go to their next meeting, which may have a plants-for-free stall, and ask around. Someone may even come out and have a look at your sandy garden (of course you don't exploit them: offer a cuppa with really nice biscuits or good cake). Other sources of free plants are Freecycle, community gardens, sometimes churches in rural areas. Put a small notice in your local free paper or FB page -- though that may take longer, don't know how soon you need help. 
Use pots -- local garden centres often have stacks of second-hand plastic pots FREE. Fill them with better quality soil and quick-growing seeds or bulbs, or cuttings as described by other posters. Cluster the pots in a focal position -- don't dot them round --and remember to water them! 

Watty1

more wonderful ideas thank you.  I'm sort of looking forward to seeing what I can do on a budget now ...I might even start a diary on the garden just to keep me going.