Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel
With houses trending smaller, yards and space for gardens follow suit. Condos with minimal space for gardens, apartment balconies and decks all qualify for “small-space” gardening. Whether dealing with a long, narrow space behind a vintage home or a cramped backyard that lacks privacy, maxing out the space available and achieving the garden you want take both daydreaming and actual put-it-on-paper planning.
Look at your house. It’s the largest feature of any small property. Consider it a part of the garden. Visitors at your front door could linger on a terrace or patio you’ve created there. Doors and windows offer opportunities for containers filled with flowers and foliage. An element of the architecture (a doorway, building or window edge) can generate an imaginary line to help you organize your design. Projecting those lines into the garden space and then arranging pathways and garden areas within those lines will provide an orderly and cohesive design, creating a sense of refuge and a natural enclosure but providing an expansive ambience.
Plan and install the hardscape first. Think about paths to provide access, or gathering spots to enjoy the view. How can you integrate the interior design of your home with the outdoor design of its surroundings? Are you a minimalist? Or does your decor reflect your more-is-better philosophy? Does your home’s architecture lend itself to curves or to geometric straight lines? Clean lines bring an orderly feel to the garden. A clear rectilinear design can define spaces, while flowing, organic curves can be used to soften awkward angles.
How do you want to use your yard? Do you love to entertain outdoors? Versatile elements that serve more than one function are key in small spaces. Consider folding bistro tables and chairs or patio tables with extensions. Chair-seat-height, capped retaining walls and raised beds can serve as seating areas, softened with cushions. A fire pit takes up a lot of space, but a gas fire table is both a beautiful focal point and serves as a coffee table thanks to a solid rim.
Create a backdrop. It could be an existing fence (yours or a neighbor’s). Or you can create one from a wide selection of materials that complement the style of your house, from corrugated metal to stone to natural or painted wood panels or posts.
What do you want to grow? Do you want flowers you can cut for bouquets? Maybe herbs or a few veggies? It’s important to consider what you can grow yourself and what is better purchased seasonally. Flowers and produce that you use regularly, are expensive, rare or have a short shelf life would be good candidates for your space. Look for compact plants that won’t swarm over the ground. Take advantage of vertical space. Trellises, posts and railings provide options for potted plants, climbing vines and hanging baskets. Foliage-only plants provide a framework for flowering plants. Look for foliage plants with green or colorful leaves.
Make every square inch count. Layer plants from short to tall and selecting those with multiple seasons of interest, whether leaves, flowers or textures. You can create distinct environments with color choices of plants and hardscape colors and textures. Keep the color palette simple. Two or three colors in varying shades, together with green, will appear less cluttered. If your yard is wide but shallow, situate your gardens on a slight diagonal. It will create an illusion of more space.
No space to grow veggies? If you only have a deck, balcony or small space available, opting for containers is the solution. Compact bush varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, eggplant, squash and even watermelon are available. Peppers will adapt to containers and need no support. Leaf lettuces, potatoes or short
carrots, radishes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and herbs can be grown in appropriate-size pots. For most vegetables, a three- to five-gallon pot is sufficient. Lettuces can be grown in shallow pots of six inches. Strawberries grow well in a 10-inch or 12-inch hanging basket, or a “strawberry pot” with holes in the sides.
Add a water feature. Obviously, a pond or waterfall are not realistic, but even a bubbling table fountain adds a note of zen to your space. Consider adding a large piece of garden art as a visual target. Borrow views from outside your boundaries. Frame a distant tree or unique architectural detail to give the illusion of greater depth. Add outdoor lighting — lanterns with candles, battery-powered twinkle lights in bushes and trees or LED lights along a railing. They will provide an aura of mystery and extend the enjoyment of your gardens into the evening.
Do you really need a lawn? Depending on the space you have, maybe just grass paths are the answer. How much in-ground area do you have? Not much? Then growing plants in containers is your best option. When choosing a container, however, consider the following: wide, round containers take up a large footprint, while rectangular, oval or elliptical shapes will sit close to a wall or railing. One large container will have more impact and be easier to water than a bunch of small pots. Saucers with wheels make containers easy to move around to complement conversation areas or just to follow the sun.
Do you need to create privacy? Large evergreen trees and shrubs may be out of the question, but perhaps a row of a narrow, columnar variety that provides height without width would work. If only seasonal screening is needed, consider deciduous shrubs that would also provide a background. Well-behaved climbers on a vertical trellis might be a solution. Tall ornamental grasses also provide privacy. A good thing to keep in mind: if anything you plant is not well planted — at the right height, in a sufficiently sized hole, with soil properly amended — the results will not be satisfactory.
Having taken all of the above into consideration, close your eyes and visualize your garden. Try sketching your ideas out on paper. Even a rough sketch, that you will probably edit more than once, can help when it comes to actually laying out paths, choosing hardscape materials and selecting various elements for your garden. Get out the catalogs that have been arriving in your mail and find pictures of the plants you are visualizing. You’ll find it all coming together to result in the garden of your dreams.
Article Sources:
“Garden Design –For Privacy Issues,” Garden Design online newsletter – March 24, 2022
“Big Ideas for a Small Garden,” Garden Design online newsletter — May, 2022
“Tips for Gardens in Small Spaces,” Garden Design online newsletter– September 1, 2022
“Growing Veggies In Small Spaces,” by KK – Garden Artisan online newsletter – March 5, 2022
Photos from pexels.com
