small garden

Hi I have a very small courtyard garden that I am desperate to turn into a peaceful seating area for my husband.It has a blue 5ft fence down one side,and 2 small boarders only approx 2ft in width by 10ft in length, a terracotta brick weave up to the back door, there is a timber framed pergola that frames the garden gate. I am looking for anyone who has any ideas on how to make this small garden look bigger, is there any thing I can do without needing a large budget as money is tight since my husbands accident.

 

We'll give you all the help and advice we can, Vernonang - and you've given us lots of info to start with. Could you just add where the sun is, in relation to your garden? And what sort of plants, colours you like, whether you'd like scent, raised beds, or whatever. A photo would be useful too. Good luck.

 

to make a small garden look bigger use cool colours.. blues, green and gray towards the rear and centre, have hot colours near the door
Small leaved plants make the garden appear bigger and vice versa, if planting climbers again go for less agressive variaties with smaller flowers
use containers to ring the changes, flowers like nasturtium are cheapish, give super value, you can put leaves in salads, pickle the seeds and keep seeds for next year, they thrive in poor soil and sun
lavender and other herbs can be picked up from 50p to �£3.50, they are easy to grow and are scented, which is ideal in a small garden, also they are easy to propgate.
spring flowers .. go for smaller daffs such as Tete a Tete, and some smaller narcissi, crocus can be good value, ask friends to donate excess bulbs, bluebells and muscari are almost epidemic round here
summer flowers, you can pick up pots of alpines and perennials for �£1 in supermarkets, read the label carefully and go for those varieties which look as tho they will do well together,
forget me nots ..... these self seed and can be very pretty en masse, also i like annual poppies and everlasting daises
for a tree you need something easy to take care of.... Buddlea [butterfly bush] are super value and only need pruning once in autumn and again in early spring,
hope this helps, dont be afraid of experimenting with containers and asking friends for cuttings, there are so many things you can nurture from tiny cuttings, eg fuschia, i always nose around the "dead plant" section for bargains, but avoid any that look as tho they have dried out completely or are diseased, sometimes they take a year to recover fully, and some never do.
re pergola s and trellis, gates and doors, these are part of the whole garden picture, and can be colour washed [some paint, mostly thinners] to form a cohesive whole, or bright contrasts to highlight a gate leading to a secret garden etc, there are also "trompe l'oil" .. a kind of 3 dimensional painting effect, i ve not been brave enuff yet to try it, yet.

[ 17. April 2006, 08:07 PM: Message edited by: Lady Gardener ]

 

I once had a small garden - ah those were the days! the trick is to lead the eye. I put in a very simple circular lawn, but had paths leading off - they actually went no where as we had run out of space/land, but they led the eye and brain into thinking thee was something beyond.

Oh and joy you can be so particular, if you have limited space, go for best vaireties of plants and sod the expense (but pick well) and most important, make sure you have vantage point to enjoy it all from.

Happy gardening!

 

Thanks for the advice so far it has given me some thought. I dont get much sun because the garden faces east so a few hours in the morning and then it,s gone around the rest of the terraced houses until the next morning. I love all plants and but blues, whites and yellows are my favourite colours, but would the blues clash with my blue fence? I love scented and did try a zephrin druin there but it didn't do anything. I will get a photo and post it asap. Thanks again

 

Don't foght your aspect, find the right plants and enjoy the challange!

Don't think Zepherine would enjoy east aspect, but ther is a yellow rose would - anyone come up with name???

 

i m pretty sure colours won t clash with fence as long as you go for the less vibrant varieties, some of the modern ones now available look good on pots by the front door, but are too distracting in a bedding situation imho.
snowdrops, monkshood, and foxglove like shade, also ferns, bizzie lizzie, tuberous begonias, hellebores, ivy, bugloss, primula, geranium spp.

 

Don't think blues clash, not like reds. I think they "harmonise"!! I agree with TLG about colours to give impression of space, but I think using yellow too would give warmth and brightness that could be missing with your lack of direct sun.
Look forward to the photo! If you have any problems posting it, there are instructions on how to do it in a thread called something like "How to post pics inyour thread" Have fun! :D

 

yellow rose - Canary bird is great! Technically a bush - I've seen it climb well

 

Ever tought sbout painting the fence?

In our holiday cottage we have horrible green fence and Martin has just painted it with old enjin oil - I am sure it sounds disgusting, but it looks great. Very littel trouble.

 

Hi sorry had to rush off for a while,thanks for the list of shade lovers will give me some ideas, there is a yellow rose called golden showers would that be any good for a shady garden does anyone know? I thought about painting fence but it means less pennies to buy the plants and making a little place of paradise for my hubby with nice pleasing smells and colours. Tanks for the info on posting photos will get them done as soon as possible, then you will see what a small garden is.

 

you don t need to spend much on painting if you do a colour wash depends how big the fence is of course

 

I suppose not but the fence at the moment is dark blue so a colour wash would be hard to cover it with.

 

Thanks everyone for your help will get back with the pictures so you can see my task on how to get a small garden to look bigger whew good job I discovered this web site.

 

Lightly rub the dark blue down with the coursest grade of glasspaper, then wash over with white, allow to dry and see what it looks like, rub lightly with medium glasspaper to almost expose the blue .. use a test area, i am assuming it is not gloss paint in which case you will have to spend a lot more time on the preparation, but using two different colours to give an "aged" look can be effective, provided you like a less formal style

[ 18. April 2006, 08:17 AM: Message edited by: Lady Gardener ]