Successful Small Gardens – what makes some so lovely

One of my favourite Instagram accounts features small gardens. I love it because it shows what’s possible with imagination, design flair and passion in a really limited space. So I thought I’d devote this week’s blog to successful small gardens. They’re not all to my taste, but they work for the owner – and to my mind that makes them successful. So what are the 10 things I’ve observed which set them apart?

Focus

The first take away I’ve gleaned from looking at the most successful small gardens is that they have focus. They have avoided trying to do everything in their space. Someone has clearly decided what they want from their garden and the mood they want to create. They have then gone for it with real commitment .

For instance in this space there’s only room for a path, so they’ve accepted that and created a really lush, tropical walkway, using vertical surfaces to the max.

In the above scene, there’s more scope but the space is all about entertaining. The furniture is therefore central to the garden, with the planting cleverly surrounding the scene, creating a really intimate setting.

Pathways

A pathway is a brilliant device for taking the eye through a space. Indeed, all the successful small gardens use paths brilliantly. Of course, they don’t have them running in a straight line from front to back. This shortens the ‘visual journey.’ Instead, they have a path that meanders and goes out of view. This creates intrigue and suggests to the onlooker that there’s more to see. Even if there isn’t!

For instance, in the picture above there’s limited space, it’s a hot house after all! But the curving path and mix of planting create a sense of depth. Similarly, my own path curving past my hot bed suggests a much bigger area than is really there.

Division

I’m not very good at this in my own garden, but I can see how in small gardens, the act of dividing the space up into rooms really works. For instance, how often have you seen gardens with a jumble of furniture, a barbecue, random flower beds. It all looks a bit of a mess. However, take the same space and create a formal patio area, where the barbecue resides, together with carefully selected furniture, perhaps divided from the rest of the garden by a low box hedge or a raised bed with herbs planted in it, and the whole space looks much bigger and thought through.

Wholehearted

Small gardens have the potential to feel quite magical, but that involves a really wholehearted committment to a theme. It could be a Mediterranean look, like above, a fairytale cottage garden, a Japanese gravel garden or a sort of shabby chic effect. Whatever. Many of us don’t quite feel brave enough to go all out for one look. Or perhaps we can’t resist plants which fall outside that theme (I know I’m definitely guilty of this!) But the really successful small gardens are brimming with confidence. The person behind them has a vision, and everything in it fits with that, from the plant choices to the furniture.

Successful Small Gardens are Limited!

This sounds like I’m stating the obvious, but I’m not talking about the actual space. The really impactful small gardens use quite a limited palette of materials for paths, walls, edging and so forth. This avoids them looking bitty.

No Pic ‘n’ Mix Planting

They also restrict themselves when it comes to their plant choices. They avoid a pic ‘n ‘mix of plants and instead go for a few statement plants, perhaps a tree in a pot, or a limited colour scheme. Again this gives the small space a big impact.

Pots

I often blog about container gardening – whether it’s do’s and don’ts or plant ideas for pots. However I think in very small gardens pots and containers can really come into their own. I’ve seen people completely switch-up the look of quite a small space by simply moving their containers around. Turning an area from a secret grotto into an open area for entertaining. The trick with all of this seems to be grouping the containers well, so that you have different heights and sizes working together, and going for a few statement containers like the one above over a cluttered proliferation of tiny pots.

Such large containers are also sometimes cleverly used to create a real focal point, taking the eye across through the garden and thus opening up the space.

I think containers are so important for smaller gardens. Indeed, every single one I admire does something clever with pots, and many of these gardens have only pots to work with!

Successful Small Gardens Blur the Edges

Some of the most successful small gardens I’ve seen really take their planting right up to and over the house. Many of us do this by having climbers on our houses, or hanging baskets. But in many truly eye-catching small gardens the division between the house and garden completely blends. This not only creates a greater sense of space by using the house’s vertical face, but it creates an even more intense and intimate look.

Some experts even recommend going one step further and replicating some of the planting outside, indoors too, so that the division between the two spaces melts away even more! Not sure what Mr F-W would say if I suddenly had pots of roses and salvias inside our house! Actually that’s a lie, I know exactly what he’d say “not more blooming plants!”

Successful Small Gardens Go Vertical

With a limited garden area it makes sense to explore your vertical space and many of the smaller gardens I admire do this brilliantly. They have any manner of pergolas, archways and obelisks covered in climbers like clematis, wisteria and roses creating a gorgeous romantic, lush look which takes the eye upwards.

Furnish to Scale

So much garden furniture these days is enormous stuff which is far too dominant in a smaller space. The smaller gardens I admire absolutely ‘get this.’ They use furniture which is smaller, it’s often metal so that it doesn’t block the view.

Or in more contemporary settings, the gardens choose furniture which is lower level, slightly scaled back. Perhaps it doesn’t have arms. It’s still beautifully practical but it doesn’t swamp the garden or patio area.

Can Successful Small Gardens Have Veg?

None of the small gardens I admire on Instagram have veg. That’s probably because I’m no veg grower. It’s just not my thing. I even fast forward through the veg bits on Gardener’s World!!! As a result, my blog neglects all you veg enthusiasts. Yet so many people who have a smaller garden don’t just want to create a beautiful space, they want to create a productive one too.

So I thought I’d end this week’s blog by asking Mark Lane – Stannah’s Gardening Expert and BBC Gardener’s World and BBC Morning Live presenter – to share some advice on how a smaller garden can grow veg. Here’s what he very kindly shared with me.

Vertical Veg

“If you want to grow delicious veggies or fruit but are limited on space, then consider a vertical garden. This trendy technique involves growing plants on a vertically suspended panel, that’s either freestanding or attached to a wall. There are several vertical gardens on the market now; some even come with individual pots for plants so you can swap and change them around to get maximum sunlight.

“They can be made up of either ornamental or edible plants, and even wildflowers. Starter kits are also available from retailers like Waitrose. If you love the idea of gardening, but don’t have the luxury of time to maintain it or would like to save water, then a self-watering system may be for you. Here’s where it gets a little technical. You need an irrigation system (for example, a leaky hose or small irrigation pipes and nozzles that drip-feed and nourish your plants) plus a water collecting reservoir at the bottom.

“A solar-powered pump allows you to set a timer for when your plants get watered during the day — you can even add liquid feed! As the pump starts to work, just the right amount of water and feed will be forced through the pipes and onto the soil or coir. But rest assured, a good old-fashioned long-spout watering can or a hose with an attachment on the end can work just as well.”

So there you have it, some insights on what makes some small gardens so lovely – and productive!

Happy gardening xx