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How to install solar lights in your garden

Small tree with trunk wrapped in glowing fairy lights outside a house

Overview

Solar lights are a great way to illuminate your pathways and highlight your garden beds at night. They're also great for adding atmosphere to your outdoor space and look wonderful when you're entertaining on those warm summer nights.

Tools and materials

Tools and materials

    Steps

    1Pick your lights

    We've got a huge selection of outdoor solar fairy lights and bollard lights – especially around the festive season. Head in-store to take a look at their extensive selection and pick out the look you desire. We're using bollard lights to illuminate our pathways, and a string of LED fairy lights entwined in a tree for a delightful, decorative focal point.

    Person switching on a bollard garden solar light

    2Set up your bollard lights

    Setting bollard lights up is easy. Firstly, pull out the bottom section and turn it around so the spiked part is facing down. Next, flip open the top of the light and turn on the 'on' switch. Then decide where you'd like your lights to go. The spiked part makes them really easy to stake into the ground and they're portable too, meaning you can take them with you when you move – especially handy if you're renting.

    Person pushing a bollard solar garden light into grass beside a path

    3Set up your solar fairy lights

    Fairy lights are a really easy way to make your backyard sparkle. There are lots of ways to use them – string them up under awnings, thread them through hedges, hang them down the walls of your house or do as we're doing, entwine them up the trunk of a tree. They're simple to install too – just stake the solar panel into a patch of sunny ground, then bury the lead under some soil or bark (if you can) so it looks nice and neat. Unravel your lights and hang as you like.

    Woman kneeling beside a small tree with trunk wrapped in fairy lights

    4Charge them up and let them shine

    The best part about these lights is that they only take a few hours to fully charge up – meaning by the time night falls, you'll already have your desired effect. As long as the solar panel is in direct sunlight you're good to go.

    Small tree with trunk wrapped in glowing fairy lights

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    Health & Safety

    Please make sure you use all equipment appropriately and safely when following the advice in these D.I.Y. videos. You need to be familiar with how to use equipment safely and follow the instructions that came with the equipment. If you are unsure, you may feel it is safest to consult an expert, such as the manufacturer or an expert Bunnings Team Member.

    Grave health hazards are linked to asbestos, which may be in homes built up to 1990. Health hazards may result from exposure to lead-based paints in older materials and copper chromium arsenic (CCA) treated timber. For information on the dangers of asbestos, lead-based paint and CCA treated timber and tips for dealing with these materials contact your local council's Environmental Health Officer. You can also use a simple test kit from Bunnings to indicate the presence of lead-based paint.