Big ideas for small gardens

Denser housing units are here to stay, and the areas allocated to gardens are much smaller than in decades past.

Houses in contemporary estates have bigger indoor living areas, as well as swimming pools and outdoor entertainment areas, that limit the space available for a garden. On the positive side, having a smaller garden means you can get more out of your budget per square metre and apply the principle of quality over quantity, while incurring lower maintenance and irrigation costs, and save water at the same time.

If you are building a new house or renovating an existing one, making the most of your outdoor areas starts at the planning stage. You need to decide if you want your garden to be a space where you can partake in activities with your family, where your children can play, an entertainment area, or a space where you can relax, unwind and get closer to nature.

For a hardy outdoor space suitable for an active family, explore the different hard landscaping options currently available. Paving, decorative concrete and synthetic grass are elegant, long-lasting and highly functional choices. Crushed brick or gravel is a beautiful and low-maintenance paving option for small gardens. An artificial golf putting green can be an excellent and practical investment for a sporty family.

Visit www.ecoscapes.co.za and www.easigrass.co.za for examples of how you can create a space in your garden in which you and your family can spend hours of enjoyable quality time together. A wooden deck with a built-in spa bath can add a special space for hours of relaxation (www.africandecks.co.za) to your outdoor area. You could also turn a patio into an outdoor room by adding a freestanding pergola.

For those with green fingers, horticulturist Bryan Beverley has the following advice: “Planning your garden on paper with the help of your local nurseryman, along with proper soil preparation, is a top priority. Use plants with different textures, colours and heights, keeping in mind your amount of available sun, space and specific plants’ water requirements. Perennial shrubs that require little maintenance but remain neat are good small-garden plants. Clivias, agapanthus, inca lilies and gladiolus hybrids with an annual border of pansies or petunias are a good combination,” he says.

Sending climbers such as honeysuckle, clematis and jasmine over arches and up walls or fences is a great way to fill bland empty spaces. Living walls are becoming increasingly popular and are especially suited to small gardens as these gloriously textured plantings make great use of limited space. These vertical gardens are created by rooting plants into a structure that is attached to a wall. A range of perennials, grasses, small shrubs, herbs and even fruit and vegetables can be used. Talk to your local nursery about plants that will suit the prevailing conditions of the wall on which they will be grown.

Apart from looking contemporary and exciting, vertical plantings draw the eye upwards, making small spaces feel bigger. Planting tall perennials will help you achieve the same effect. Here you can choose from popular plants such as foxgloves, strelitzias, wild irises, verbascums or Verbena bonariensis.

Practical tips for small gardens from Better Homes and Gardens include the following:

Pots and other containers can instantly create height and variation.
You can get twice the amount of flowers by adding a trellis or low fence behind every planting bed.
Small gardens can be given a big boost by adding an oversize gate or arbour at one end to act as a focal point to draw the eye and make the space appear larger.
A meandering walkway will give visitors the sense that they are travelling through a large landscape.

Suburban living does not mean you have to conform to the concrete jungle. Apply these principles, combined with your own creativity, and make the most of the space you have.

The information contained in this article is of a general nature and intended for information purposes only.