Have you heard the saying ‘good things come in small packages’? Whilst you might be frustrated by your lack of outdoor space, the principle applies! Small gardens can actually be great fun to design and maintain, if you know these helpful tricks…
Make it feel bigger by elevating levels to define small spaces. Add decking, stonework, grass, paving, gravel and anything else you can think of to create ‘zones’. By designating specific areas for particular purposes, you’ll instantly make your garden feel bigger and that it’s achieving more. For example, raise an eating area highest of all, step it down to a water feature or pond, before dropping another level to a walkway.
Choose your furniture carefully. Forgo bulky, traditional garden furniture in favour of something a little more lightweight. Use items with slim profiles, natural colours and plenty of ‘air space’ around the base to trick the eye into thinking they’re less obtrusive than they actually are. However, if you do want to use heavier, thicker furniture, why not use pieces that multitask? For example, use benches with built-in storage or tables that can be folded in or extended out to create more room for extra guests.
You don’t need acres of soil if you want to add some greenery into your backyard. Just plant your vegetables, flowers and trees in containers! Pick beautiful pots of different shapes, sizes, colours, materials and textures, and enjoy the fact that this kind of ‘small space’ gardening allows you more flexibility than bigger gardens tend to… you can move potted plants around your garden or completely change your mind every season if you want to!
Plant smartly. This doesn’t mean growing your plants in a uniform manner… in fact, being too neat can actually make your garden look smaller! Instead, grow flowering shrubs from YouGarden at different heights and pick plants with varying volumes. Place larger ones nearer your home and place the smaller ones further away – this will trick your eye into believing that your backyard extends further than it actually does by playing on your sense of perspective.
Grow up! What do we do in cities when things start to get a bit crowded? We stop building across and start engineering upwards, creating skyscrapers that reach up into the sky! Do the same in your small garden: hang planters on fences and walls, use your building for plants to climb up and consider investing in a garden tower. like this one.
Finally, make it feel less crowded by using natural elements to give you some privacy. For example, if you have a small garden, you might be overlooked from many angles. Why not use living fences or a hedge of small trees along your property’s boundary? It will separate your garden from your neighbours’ in a way that feels natural and pleasant to look at. Or, use a trellis above your garden walls to conceal the view of your private space while still letting in light and a breeze to blow through.
