Get creative with a small garden

Think you’ve outgrown your plot? Think again! Louise Curley has some clever design ideas to revitalise your space

Gardeners often complain that we’ve ‘outgrown our space’. A small garden can make us feel creatively cramped (and a bit bored) – largely because we can’t experiment with new planting ideas without digging up something else first. Or nibbling away at the lawn. And yet, some of the most exciting plantings and design ideas occur in tiny gardens – just think of the Artisan Gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which measure no more than 5 x 4m (16 x 13ft). Here you’ll find a wealth of bold and dramatic planting effects. All you need is a bit of careful thought, the right plants and a handful of design tricks and you can make even the smallest of outdoor spaces a relaxing and attractive place. Instead of focusing on its limitations, embrace the positives: It’s easy to make a coherent design. A small garden is a manageable proposition, unlike a large meandering space where the multiple possibilities can be overwhelming. You can make your budget stretch further. With less space to fill, you can spend more on landscaping materials and plants, high quality furniture and mature specimens for immediate impact. You can transform the space in a weekend. Keep the design simple and you can enjoy spectacular results with little time or effort. The main thing is to make your small garden feel bigger than it actually is. To do this, accept that you won’t be able to include everything you want, and edit your ideas along the way. By keeping things simple you’ll avoid making the space feel overcrowded, mismatched and bitty – all of which conspire to make a small garden feel even smaller.