Stepping into a back garden resembling an arrangement at the Chelsea Flower Show used to be about as likely as a tree sprouting ten-pound notes.

That was until Finchley's Deena Kestenbaum and New Southgate's Poz Marton wowed the horticulturalists at this year's show by scooping a prestigious silver award on Tuesday (May 20) for their cheap and cheerful Proverbial Garden. The sapling designers, who a year ago set up their company, Paradise Regained, stuck to a budget of £1,200. None of their competitors managed to spend less than £20,000.

The pair met while studying horticulture at Enfield's Capel Manor college. "I was looking for a partner to work with and we clicked because we have a very similar outlook," said Dr Kestenbaum, 45, of Fitzalan Road.

"We made the antithesis of what we see at Chelsea, which is highly-conspicuous consumption.

"You need creativity and ingenuity and a lot of patience, but you don't need an enormous budget."

Ms Marton, 40, of Warwick Road, worked on The Proverbial Garden, which won its award in the Courtyard Gardens section of the Small Gardens category, using items salvaged from junkyards and skips.

The garden contains plants found in many suburban gardens.

One of its walls was made using bicycle wheels and another features gardening tools. The bench was made using a pram chassis.

The anti-consumption message is rammed home by proverbs (Necessity is the Mother of Invention', 'Waste Not Want Not') hanging from wooden squares. Emblazoned on tiles on a baby oak tree is 'Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow', an apt metaphor for the two women.

"We are flying in the face of what Chelsea is," said Dr Kestenbaum.

"We are appreciative of the fact that they are more inclusive this year. It gives a chance for two designers to do something that is not run-of-the-mill."

Being different paid off. "It has been a very satisfying experience, which has attracted a tremendous amount of press attention," she said. "It is quite overwhelming. If the Royal Horticultural Society awarded us a silver at the most prestigious flower show in the UK, it gives us a lot of confidence."