I spy with my little eye a nifty garden camera
Trellises and water features add interest space on the ground. You can make even more space by clearing the lower stems. Norway maple, hawthorne or cherry are great options.
Be as creative as you like at this point – you can always refine ideas later. Walls, garages and the side of the fence all provide great space, especially in smaller gardens.
Inside, we use walls for pictures, mirrors and cupboards. Likewise, use creepers and trailers to adorn high spaces, and get blooms up on high with containers like baskets, window boxes and wall mangers.
These draw the eye upwards, making a small garden space feel bigger.
How about creating some hidden areas by dividing your garden into sections using hedging or fences? This will make it feel bigger, because you can’t see everything in one go. Even in a small space, something like an arch will create separate garden areas.
Brightly coloured plants and features can also make a smaller space appear lighter and bigger.
Golden or sandy colours, bright foliage and trees will all help. As a general rule, hot colours make a space feel more intimate, while cool colours like purples and blues make a small space feel larger.
Bird boxes, feeding stations, roosting pouches and insect hotels will help bring your garden to life with bird and insect activity.
Garden creatures can thrive even in the smallest gardens, so make space for wildlife in your garden design. Sketching a design will help you plan Attract more wildlife by planting their favourite flowers, which will please bees and butterflies and give you lots of colour.
Don’t forget the seating area – gardens are just as much about relaxing and enjoying quality family time as working.
If you’re really strapped for space, think about buying chairs and a table that can be folded up and put away to reduce cluttering.
There’s no point having a large dining set taking up all the room in a small garden.
How about putting in a loveseat with pots on either side? Or even building a proper outdoor barbecue range? Cooking outdoors is one of the many pleasures of the British spring and
summer. Is there room to squeeze in a small greenhouse? If not, could you introduce some cold frames into your vegetable patch or borders?
Think about storage too. A wide range of quality options are now available, from hard-wearing plastic storage boxes to larger sheds or half-sheds that can sit against a wall or garage.
Once you have a good idea of where everything will go, you can start sourcing materials, looking for deals and working out how much it’s going to cost.
Then you can get started. Redesigning your garden is a brilliant winter project. Nothing will make you think more of the summer to come than working out how you’re going to best enjoy it in your garden. This clever camera is a security measure which doubles as a way of watching your garden wildlife.
The weatherproof Sony camera connects to your television to give high quality video by day, and black and white coverage at night.
It’s easy to set and is powered by a 12 volt main adaptor which will run down the same lead as the video input, so you don’t need an outside power supply. I found it on the RSPB shop at rspb.org.uk.