CREATING YOUR OWN COTTAGE GARDEN

SIZE

Creating a frothy tangle of pretty flowering plants may appear effortless, and depending on how you want to develop and manage your own cottage garden, it can be. If you don’t want to be overwhelmed, start small by carving out a little space around an existing feature (such as a deck or garden shed). If you’re more ambitious, create two or three more spaces and link them with a simple, winding path. Choose a sunny, sheltered situation for your garden.

SOIL

Many cottage plants will grow in poor soil, but they will also do best in rich organic material (such as weed-free compost) and a smattering of well-rotted animal manure. This combination will hold in moisture and provide natural nutrients (which can be topped up occasionally in the active growing season with liquid seaweed). Before you begin planting, cover your soil with a weed-suppressing mulch such as pea straw.

COLOUR

Individualise your cottage garden with the colour range of your choice. Use one palette of colour, stick to all-white, go for rainbow, or create several patches – each with its own mood. Pop in pockets

of spring- and autumn-flowering bulbs for early and late colour, and keep the garden alive with autumn and winterflowering annuals. Plant some of your treasures in drifts (ribbons of the same plant) to create impact. In shady spots, colour is still possible but coloured foliage (such as that of hostas and heucheras) is more reliable.

PLANTS

If your budget is limited, source plants from friends or head to fairs and roadside stalls. resist the urge to rush, and grow most of your own plants from seed (many cottage plants germinate easily and are fast-growing). Avoid wildflower mixes as they have the potential to take over. If you have a little spare cash, cottage plants are available from garden centres, and the more special ones can be ordered from nurseries such as Puriri Lane.

research the plants you acquire so that you can plant according to height – climbing plants at the back, larger clumping plants in the middle, and smaller clumping plants and groundcovering plants along the edge. Place ramblers and climbers beside natural supports such as a hedge or tree, or against a deck railing or building. Plant any edibles (if including) within easy reach, or mark out a small secondary path (using stepping stones or bricks) that will help you reach them without trampling the rest of the garden.

MANAGEMENT

To keep a cottage garden looking its best, flowering plants will need to be cut back (have their spent flower heads and any dead growth removed) after blooming. some cottage gardeners like to do this before the plants have time to drop their seed, so that they don’t come to dominate. other gardeners are happy for this natural spread to occur.

As clumping plants increase in size, they will need to be dug up and divided into several new plants to help maintain the garden plan. They can also be used to increase the size of your garden by being planted in another spot.

Pruning some climbers can help to encourage second rounds of blooming, but by and large, a cottage garden will be at its most colourful for just a couple of months of the year. This isn’t to say it will be without any flowers through the growing season, when it can still look very pretty – just not quite so full of colour.

In warm regions, creating a little space around individual plants will help discourage fungal disease. In cold regions, clumping and deciduous plants will benefit from being covered with a layer of mulch or compost to help protect them from frost.