Mini adventure
Small gardens can make a big impression if you let your imagination run wild, writes David Overend.
Size doesn’t matter. Whether the question is how long is a piece of string, or how much space do you need to create a garden, that’s the answer – size doesn’t matter. The photo illustrating this article is proof of that statement. For anyone limited for room to cultivate a garden – whether it be for flowers, fruit, vegetables or just for the pleasure of having a small world of plants – size doesn’t matter. What is far more important is the site and the quality of the soil – and the determination and dedication of the gardener.
Prepare the site, plan the garden, purchase the plants – then plant them. The key to success is patience. The first year will be filled with patches of bare earth; the second will show who is boss and who is not; the third will be a finished picture, albeit a fresh, young, still-to-be-finished portrait.
And unlike an artistic work of art, where the finished article is the finished article, the small garden is a never-ending, nevercompleted picture. If one plant is too invasive, dig it up, put it in a pot and leave it there until you can decide what you want to do with it.
Once Leonardo da Vinci had completed his masterpiece, that was it; once a gardener has finished his or her master plan, there is still plenty of wriggle room for change – one plant out, another one in; one plant cut back or moved to a different place, another given precedence.
The garden shown is, at its most, 18ft by 18ft, yet it contains a multitude of plants capable of flowering for months. Others are more than happy to provide foliage throughout the year, while still more act merely as supporting acts. But there are no real stars; they are a complementary cast.
In this small bed are the likes of helenium, crocosmia, lavender (both English and the more continental French), yellow loosestrife, potentillas and the striking grass that is arundo.
Then there is vinca, cotoneaster, an elegant but fragile bamboo, box (Buxus), euonymus and elaeagnus.
Those that have flowered and now sleep until next year include poppies, euphorbias, polyanthus, sedums, heathers, snowdrops and tulips.
Hidden among the disorganised jungle are begonias, liatris, ivy and a host of smaller players in this great production on a tiny stage. Plus, of course, a small pond much beloved by frogs.
Never say you have no room for a garden; if there is insufficient soil, then use containers.