7 tips for a great small garden design
If you have always wanted a big garden, then you must do your best to locate a good deal on a home with one such space. Unfortunately, the reality is often unforgiving, and sometimes you will end up with a really small garden.
Never fear – small gardens have their own unique charm! The truth of the matter is that space is a premium commodity for most, so even if you don’t have plenty of it in the garden, you needn’t worry that much. Numerous landscape gardeners advocate the idea that small gardens can be as lovely as large spaces. Of course, it does take some ingenuity, since you haven’t got much to work with, but it is still doable. Here are a few smart small garden design ideas and tricks to help you out:
- Utilise height – if you haven’t got much ground to work, turn your gaze upwards to see things from another perspective. Vertical space can be utilised just as good as horizontal. The side of your fence, the walls of the house, garage and shed can be easily utilised in the same way you use the walls inside your residence. Trailers and creepers make a wonderful addition to high spaces. Wall mangers, baskets and window boxes all make a wonderful option for creating a focal point on eyesight levels.
- Diagonal paving – one notable mistake that you should avoid when it comes to paving a small garden is that you can place the pieces with their flat edges towards the house. Instead, you should pave in a diamond pattern, because it creates the illusion of more space.
- Compartments – divide your garden into sections and add hidden areas in each. A hidden area is one that you don’t see initially unless you move around and explore from a different point of view. For instance, it could be an arch element that separates two areas of the garden.
- Keep colours bright – much like interior design, light and bright colours make a space appear larger than it really is. With that in mind, you can utilise bright trees and foliage. Consider this: hot colours don’t impede and reduce the field of vision, unlike cool blues and purple for instance.
- Invite wildlife – just because your garden is small, doesn’t mean you should keep every square meter of it for yourself. Instead, you should bring it to life with the aid of some bird boxes, roosting pouches and feeding stations. If you make your garden a hive of activity, it won’t seem as small!
- Choose furniture carefully – it goes without saying that you cannot expect to put large furniture in a small garden. It is a good thing that foldable chairs can be utilised instead. Opt for something smaller that will not reduce the usable space by that much.
- Resort to containers – don’t view containers as a way to restrict plants. If anything, they make them more movable and flexible. You can utilise containers for flowering bedding plants and small trees, which is perfect for any small garden since it allows you to revamp the space without investing too much time and effort. Your garden will be ever more flexible with containers and pots. As a bonus, you get a small relief on your garden maintenance duty, since plants in containers and pots are easier to look after.
As you can see, there are a lot of clever hacks that you can use to make a small garden space feel more spacious. Implement them all and you will see a notable difference.