Revamp your front garden

Is your front garden in need of a boost, or even a complete new look? Joe Swift shares his tips

Joe Swift shares how to give your front garden the designer twist

Our front gardens play an important role, breathing life into our streets and helping us to feel good about where we live. They’re not only seen by the homeowner daily, but by passers-by too. A well-considered front garden can help the house to sit comfortably in its plot, both grounding and softening it. A practical approach has always been necessary with front gardens, but the added pressures of accommodating offstreet parking, wheelie bins and the like means it’s even trickier to make them work well. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be beautiful spaces that benefit wildlife too. I believe planning and good design really make a difference in a front garden, with balance and proportion being particularly pertinent. And you don’t have to break the bank to make it stylish. You’ll undoubtedly need an element of hard landscaping, but as with all good garden design, the key is to ensure any materials and plants work well together. My advice is to approach it with confidence and keep it simple.

A CLEAN SLATE

This front garden is both beautiful and practical. Climbers soften the house walls, while a mulch of slate chippings allows rainwater to soak into the ground. This ties in nicely with the paving material too. JOE’S TIP Always lay landscape fabric under loose materials – it will stop weeds coming up, but let rainwater drain through. SAVE £££S Loose materials are far cheaper than solid ones, so keep paved areas to a minimum if your budget is tight.