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How To Make The Best Of Your Small City Garden

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Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could all live in the countryside and have beautiful gardens, wooded areas, ponds and somewhere for the children to disappear off to? How about pouring a glass of cold wine and sitting with a bowl of olives on your patio looking out at the rolling hills?  Ok, this is my dream, and actually I’m sat here with a cold cup of tea looking out at a postage stamp of a garden with rolling roofs as a view.  Your city garden doesn’t have to be duff. It is possible for us city dwellers to have a really smart space that is both functional and leafy. If, like me, you’re uninspired and have no idea how to make your patio fit for a party, or your pots productive, then read on to get glean some tips.

Work out your space

It may seem tiny but you could be surprised by how large the area is once it is cleared of clutter and the general garden detritus that we collect. Get out and clear up so that you can take some proper measurements to make a plan.

How do you want to use it?

You need to decide what is you actually want from your outdoor space. We went against small city garden advice and decided to have a grassy area. We felt that it would be nicer for the children but it may suit you to have zero maintenance and go for a patio. Maybe you want to grow as much as possible or maybe you need to block a nasty view. Prioritise what your requirements are.

Style

You may already have fixed ideas about the style of your garden, but if you have no clue, then buy some gardening magazines or get some books out from the library. Make yourself a folder and snip out cuttings when you see something you like that you think may be transferable to your space. You will probably work out quite quickly what type of garden you’re drawn to, whether it’s formal and structured, or flowing like a cottage garden. Both these types and others can be incorporated into a small space.

Ambiance

Some people think of certain garden adornments as tacky but there are ways to create an atmosphere in your space with resorting to naff items. Some small lanterns or a discreet water feature can add soothing lights and sounds and make a brilliant outdoor space for entertaining or simply relaxing.

Think Pots

Pots are the small garden owner’s friend. There are countless styles, shapes, colours and sizes and numerous outlets to purchase them in. Almost anything can be grown in a container: small trees, fruit shrubs, perhaps roses or exotic plants. They can line the edges, cluster on steps or be hung from walls and fences. Box shapes are often an effective way to maximise space while adding structure to your urban design. The possibilities are endless and you don’t need to be a horticulturalist or have an urban design job to make your space fabulous. Everyone can have a go. In fact, I’m going to get a hot cup of tea and sit in my garden with a magazine and get some ideas to improve my own.

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Sam Wright is a urban journalist and dweller of small spaces with pots of advice.






Keeping Gardens Green

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In these environmentally conscious times many of us are keen to garden in as green a manner as is possible.  Just where does one to start?  So often the word green is just inserted into a description but might not mean anything more than the colour of the paint on a gardening tool.  A little bit of research can go a long way although it will take a long time before being able to do everything.  There is no need to do everything at once.  In marketing there is the well-known 20/80 split.  That means that 20% of smokers buy 80% of cigarettes!  It is a remarkably consistent pattern for many products. So with 20% of the effort required you can achieve 80% of results that you want to achieve!

Nowadays one of the big problems is that people want to pave over large parts of their garden.  On a small scale this does not matter but when whole streets cover their front gardens for parking and put down slabs for patios in their back garden the amount of rain that can be absorbed into the soil is reduced and the resulting run-off can cause flooding.

There are ways around this and still avoid the need for weeding.  Where hard standing really is a must there are various types of concrete grids which allows rainfall to seep through into the soil but is more than capable of keeping vehicles from churning up any mud.  Any greenery growing through the grid can be kept orderly by using a strimmer.  The greenery softens the visual impact of the concrete but does not hide it.

Alternatives include putting down permeable matting and topping it with chippings.  This arrangement will allow rainfall to seep into the soil and boot water supplies for nearby plants during dry spells.  This can reduce the cracking of clay soils which in turn reduces the risk of subsidence of buildings in droughts!

One can use decking instead of concrete or stone slabs for patios.  By leaving a few gaps the rainwater will soak into the soil.  If one does not want to be bothered by having to keep undergrowth in check lay down permeable matting and most problems will be kept manageable.

No option is perfect but some are definitely preferable to others.  A few stepping stones across a lawn can make it easier to cross without having much impact on the environment.  By having some herbs growing next to a path one can breathe in the scent when they are crushed underfoot!  (Do be careful not to slip!)  A garden can please more than one sense if a little thought is given to it.

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Post written by London Florist – Flowers24hours.co.uk , know more about the florist on their About Us Page.

Spring garden maintenance complete and front boulevard planted

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I’d like to thank everyone who stopped by to express their condolences on the loss of Chris’ cousin who was a very good friend of ours. I was supposed to be in another city and attending the visitations today, but I got really sick yesterday and our car broke down. So I’m home tonight … Chris can’t even drive back to pick me up as our car hasn’t been repaired yet. You can read a more detailed explanation of what happened on my main blog if you’d like.

So on to garden related stuff …

Last week, in preparation for Green Thumb Sunday, I went out into my yard and took pictures of most of the plants that were either coming up or that were blooming.

The garden looks very nice this year. Chris and I spent two days last weekend cleaning up the garden – trimming plants, getting rid of dead foliage, pruning roses and putting some compost that we picked up at a local park on Saturday thanks to Toronto’s Earth days’. (That’s a green recycling program where the city gives back the compost from the green garbage and other yard related wastes it’s picked up the year prior).

Needless to say my back took a beating and ached for a few days after I over did it in the garden. The effort payed off though as we had cooler temperatures and some rain last week and that really perked up the garden. Since the beds were tidier I could really see how my plants were progressing.

IMG_3325 Now you might remember a post I made about a month ago. It was the one where I showed photos of our front yard still covered in snow and photos of our planted boulevard that I had spent the day cleaning up.

Well the front boulevard looks even nicer now! I planted some peonies that I’d purchased in early April as well as some Dahlias, Gay Feather and a few other plants to go along with the plants that have been growing there for a few years (iris, daylilies, malva, salvia, tulips) and we placed our short bamboo fence in front of it to finish off the look and protect the garden from the teens that like to stand outside my house talking before they go their separate ways after school.

This is what it looks like now:

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and from another angle:

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Just to give you a complete picture of how the front garden looks I’ll throw in a photo of the front flower beds too:

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Now most of my plants are in the backyard. In a day or two I’ll post some photos of how the backyard garden looks right now and maybe a few photos of what’s blooming.

I hope your gardens are doing well right now!

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