DESIGN TIPS

• Shade can be dominant in inner-city plots with the proximity of other buildings and because the sun is o en fleeting. Or, a lightdrenched space is tiny. Explore your garden to find or create microclimates, then plant to suit.

• Make your indoor spaces seamlessly extend into your garden – both will then seem double their size.

• Bold foliage is not only dramatic, it also makes spaces seem larger.

• Create light in dark areas with bright hardscapes or leave bare a brick wall or blond metal fence so light is reflected back.

• Reduce your lawn area – shade will o en make it unviable anyway – and replace it with curved pathways nudging into dense plantings, creating the suggestion there is much more beyond.

• Make pathways go across your garden rather than down it. This creates gentle pockets of plots, rather than division.

• Imagine what your garden will look like 5-10 years from now and choose plants for their ultimate height and spread.

• Nothing needs to be a dead zone. Your soil may be contaminated with old building materials, such as lime from old brickwork which you can test for with a simple kit from your local nursery and then rebalance with sulphur if needed. Or, there may be lead from old paint. You can opt for costly remediation work or put your plants in pots.