Most of us would love to have a bigger garden to do with as we please, but the fact is that most garden space gets wasted in homes across the UK. Many people seem to think they must make a choice between a garden that is practical and efficient, fun and a little wild, or neat and aesthetically pleasing. However, there’s no reason that you can’t have all three at once, with a little extra planning.
In this article, we’re going to share some professional design tips that anybody can use to make the most of even the smallest garden space. Whether you use all of them or just one, they should really help you with your garden transformations.
Get in the zone
The best way to maximise available garden space is to partition it into distinct areas or zones. Do you want somewhere to relax on a summer’s evening? Somewhere for the kids to play? Somewhere to plant your favourite flowers? You can have it all (within reason) – you just need to plan ahead and stake out specific parts of the garden for specific purposes.
Vertical gardening
We tend to think of gardens as being an expanse of land with things planted or positioned across a horizontal plane, as if in an open field; however, there’s much to be said for raising the stakes with some vertical gardening. This includes features such as wooden trellises for growing climbing plants and creepers; hanging baskets attached to the side of your house; and flat-topped sheds with ‘green’ roofs. Even an old wooden step ladder can be refurbished and repurposed to hold small planters. This approach takes up much less square footage than the equivalent would do at ground level.
If you’re planting large, plant light
If you want your garden to look bigger, you need to choose wide, open-leaved plants, rather than ones with tight, dense foliage. The wider spread of leaves allows you to see through the plants at what lies beyond and this adds a sense of space to your garden.
Work with layers
Of course, you might want your garden to look full, lustrous, and packed with life. If so, layering is your friend. Start with some big plants – again, with open leaves. Start with some big plants – again, with open leaves. Now, you can use this widely foliage as a backdrop for other medium-sized plants, ideally with contrasting colours or a distinctive look to their leaves. Continue with smaller plants and shrubs, each time filling in the ever-shrinking gaps in your borders.
Use the right size of garden furniture
Now, you might be thinking: what is the right size of garden furniture? The answer, of course, is something that takes up as little space as possible in your garden, while still providing the proper comfort and support you need from it. Consider utilising an arbour, for instance. These shaded seating areas are often fitted in the corners of gardens. Smaller than a pergola or a patio, arbours give you a view of the whole garden from your vantage point and, since they lie across two adjoining walls, there’s plenty of space to fit an L-shaped couch or bench.
Be eclectic
If you’re using planters, don’t worry about them all being the same style, shape, or colour. Mix things up a little: let your traditional terracotta pots share floor space with a Grecian urn. Choose pots of differing heights, colours, materials, and designs, so no two look alike. This chaotic visual effect makes your garden seem more vibrant and therefore larger.
Add a herb garden
Home grown herbs aren’t just a tasty addition to your cooking, they smell absolutely amazing when growing wild in the garden. A small herb garden planter made from a wooden pallet attached to a wheeled trolley or a free-standing side table can help fill your garden with a vast array of redolent aromas. Raising it off the floor in this manner keeps your herbs away from slugs and other pests, while also giving you space beneath for keeping a watering can, other hand tools, or even another plant.
Remember your colours
Colour plays an important part in making your garden seem larger than it is. Bright hues against dark or muted backgrounds draw the eye’s attention to them. This could be in the form of flowers, or some sort of ornamentation. Colourful cushions on a wooden garden bench, for instance, look amazing and really add character to a garden.
Work around the seasons
To enjoy your garden to its utmost, you want it to be a riot of colour all year round, which is more or less impossible, right? Well… not if you plan ahead. We’ve already talked about layering your plants to make your garden appear bigger. When you get down to the smaller flowering plants, take care to choose varieties that bloom at different times of the year. From hyacinths in the spring, through summer roses and autumn goldenrod, all the way to snowdrops in winter, you can experience your garden in bloom at any point in the calendar.
Making the most of your garden space: final thoughts
If you’re looking to create your perfect garden in Bromley or Kent, then you have come to the right place. Here at Fost & Co, we offer a range of landscaping services, and have a dedicated team ready to help you turn your dream garden into a reality. From the initial idea to the final installation, we offer a complete end-to-end service. Call today on 0207 118 1616 or 07738 251497, or send us an email to: info@fostandco.co.uk for your free, no-obligation quote.
