Make the most of your garden with top tricks for outside spaces of any size
STARING at the same four walls during lockdown has given many of us the urge to decorate, reorganise or even move home.
And priorities have now shifted when it comes to what we want in a new property.
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In a Rightmove poll, more than 60 per cent of buyers now long for outside space.
But moving home is a huge step and there are plenty of simple tips available to get the most from your existing garden.
Here, outdoor-living buyer Lynsey Abbott, landscape consultant Mark Gregory and designer Jo Thompson share some of their tricks with Julia Richardson to make your garden great.
The only way is up
LYNSEY SAYS: “Clever use of vertical planting, such as a living wall, will help save on ground space.
“These are easy to install and to maintain. They can be as big or small as you like and if you grow herbs, add a lovely fragrant scent to a small space.
“Hanging baskets will also add a vertical element. Place them near the house by the back door or, if using multiple baskets, along the side of fences to save ground space on flower beds.
“Strawberries and tomatoes can be grown in hanging baskets, so you can grow your own produce even with limited space.
“Ladder shelving is compact and provides extra space for herbs, pots and planters.
"It also avoids the need to drill holes into walls or fences to hang planters, so is perfect for rentals.”
Bigger pots, but fewer
LYNSEY SAYS: “When choosing features for your small plot, don’t think small.
"One very large pot will add more impact than lots of small ones and will stop your space feeling cluttered as you can fill it with more plants.
“If you pack the garden with an eclectic mix of tiny pots and ornaments, it will soon look busy and feel smaller.
"This also applies to furniture and features.
"One large ornament is far more effective than a collection.”
Use mirrors and trick gates
LYNSEY SAYS: “Use one large mirror at an angle against a back wall or fence. Or place smaller mirrors in clever spots around the garden.
“The reflected image tricks the mind into thinking there is more of the garden to see, effectively doubling the number of blooms.
"A tiny plot can be transformed by using horizontal-slatted fencing with mirrors or DIY trellis with mirrors behind it.
“For a more cost-effective method, choose one area of fencing as a focus feature and create two or three panels of mirrored fencing or mirrored trellis.
"You can also put in gates that don’t lead anywhere but make it feel bigger.
"Also, if you have a lot of ambient noise, put in a trickling water fountain.”
Go blue
MARK SAYS: “Pale colours are recessive, so they make things appear further away.
“You get very few true-blue plants but you do get lots of silver, grey and pale hues, which give an effect of looking out towards the horizon.
“I’d recommend pale-blue Ceanothus, Russian sage or English lavender.
“Don’t paint your fence in a dark colour or a primary colour. Bright colours jump out at you, so they appear closer.
";There is a reason lots of fast-food restaurants are yellow and red. But you do not want to live in places like that.”
Plant in odd numbers
JO SAYS: “Eyes like unity, so we tend to plant in odd numbers – threes or fives.
"This is so your eye travels through it and doesn’t divide it into twos.
“Make sure you have a variety of shapes so your flowers don’t all look the same. You need balls, spires, umbrellas. It’s nice to have a mixture.
"You could have alliums (balls), delphiniums or lupins (spires), sea holly (solid), cow parsley (umbels) and achillea (flat).
“A good mix creates the effect of a full garden. Otherwise, everything just looks the same – and not in a good way.”
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Multi-purpose furniture
JO SAYS: “If space is at a premium, opt for essential furniture that has more than one use.
“Make sure outdoor furniture is weatherproof and that it can be used for storage too, such as benches that double up as boxes or a chest to house tools if you don’t have space for a shed.
“If you’ve got hard landscaping – paving or decking, say – it can get a slippery algal build-up over winter.
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“A jet-wash will sort that out and is the same idea as vacuuming a room, instantly making it feel more spacious.”
Lynsey Abbott is an Outdoor Living Buyer at , Mark Gregory is Managing Director of and lectures at the London College of Garden Design.
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