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What can I do with this tiny garden?

richardkHRlpLwdrichardkHRlpLwd Posts: 2
in Garden design
Hi all,

I have recently moved into a small house with a tiny 5x5 metre garden. Originally it was turfed but it was just too small to warrant buying a mower, so I have since put gravel down.

While practical, the garden (or yard?) isn't going to win any design awards. I'd like to do something with it to give it some colour/appeal but as it's so small, I'm not sure what I can do with it without making it look smaller/cluttered. 

I do plan to add small table/chairs and maybe a small BBQ but beyond that I am not sure what I can do with the small space. As you can see from the photo, it doesn't get much sunlight during the afternoons. 



Any suggestions/ideas appreciated

Cheers


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Posts

  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    Hi @richardkHRlpLwd (What a strange user name ;)) and welcome to our forum.
    That looks more like a patio than a garden, but anyway, you may find a great source of inspiration on Jack Wallington's site at https://www.jackwallington.com/littlebury-garden-redesign-part-one-goodbye-pots-goodbye-paving/
    Hope you'll keep us posted on your progress...
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    edited August 2020
    It's an exciting opportunity. The upside of small space is it's not going to be massively expensive to use 'high end' materials. Have a look on pinterest for styles that you like, but your best bet is going to be keeping things rather simple, high quality, and with year round attractiveness. You'll see that a common theme on Pinterest is light grey fences, simple high quality paving, nice furniture, and lots of green.

    contemporary-table-benches-garden-design-London

    Outdoor Living You may not have enough room in your backyard for a full set of outdoor furniture but do yourself a favor and place a small bistro table and chair set Youll be glad you have a nice area to read a book have brunch or just enjoy the natural beauty of your backyard garden  

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2013/jul/19/tiny-courtyard-garden-design


    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    That's exactly the size garden I had for 5 or six years.  It was a basement flat, so next to the house was a concreted yard about a metre deep and the width of the house, then steps up to the garden which was all soil.  After weeding and digging it all over, I laid a single row of 12" square paving slabs straight on the soil, with my mum's help, in a square about 15" in from the boundary walls.  So I had growing space all round which I filled with flowering plants and shrubs suited to the way the light fell.  And a couple of rhubarb crowns in one corner.  The inner space I divided into four.  One corner was covered in more slabs to make a tiny patio.  The opposite corner, I dug a pond for wildlife and put in a flexible liner.  In the other two, I grew a few tomatoes, herbs and beans.  I sited a rain butt in the yard and I know I had a compost bin but I can't remember where.
  • purpletreaclepurpletreacle Posts: 50
    Hi, 
    I agree with Loxley's comments.
    It's a great blank canvas, so you have plenty of options, depending on your taste and the budget. You said your house is small... which would be more important/useful to have: a garden or more space?  If the latter, and especially if you have a front garden as a focus for your green fingers, you could consider making another "room" to work from home or for your hobby by building a waterproofed structure, or maybe simply add an overhead pergola to create a more enclosed feel and prevent neighbours overlooking you.  If it doesn't get much sunlight, use materials that don't get slimy/green - Millboard decking is great for that: non-slip and can be used to construct permanent built-in furniture and planters so it's possible to create a cohesive look using just one material to link from your back door/patio doors to the garden gate.  Limit yourself to a very few well-chosen (shade-loving) plants to ensure it doesn't look bitty, and try to find room for one or two specimen trees if you can, even if they have to be in large pots.
    Would love to see you finished project!





  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 537
    edited August 2020
    I think my suggestions are

    1 - Map out where the sun is around the year, so you can put a couple of places for a chair / tiny table where you will get the sun for different seasons. There are various apps that do this that may be useful.

    2 - Have some things in that will hide your fences so that you can't see the extent. Can you switch that back fence panel for something that lets light / sun in eg half trellis or wrought iron or vertical / horizontal slats or hit and miss fencing?

    3 - Think about whether you can use eg mirrors to create illusions of depth. Lots of good ideas on pinterest.

    4 - Make thew views from inside the house interesting eg so you can't view bins.

    5 - Use height. Perhaps including something like a vertical cordon of greengages or plums.

    6 - Microveg/herbs?

    7 -  Consider what you can do with the house wall, especially if sun is incident on it.

    F
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • Kat1989Kat1989 Posts: 51
    Hi, I would definitely suggest a trellis topper on the fence at the back seems like it would get enough sun so you could grow something through it. I always say use the walls in a small space so there's more floor space. :)
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    does it face north,south,east or west.  Go big, big pots,big plants, rather than lots of small ones, architectural fancy leaves, all year round interest.
  • gjautosgjautos Posts: 429
    Some good idea's here already. If it were my garden i would create green walls (or fences in this case) perhaps using pallets attached to the fences and used for planting herbs and ivy and hardy geraniums etc. Then in agreement with @nannybeach i would have Tree's in pots. Banana and palms. Maybe some phormiums too.
  • Mandy-Mandy- Posts: 9
    Ive got a small garden too. Ive found that containers have proven successful and perhaps a clematis for the back fence that catches the sun , they like cooler roots and they could be put in a planter with a trellis. Ive also put a small wild life pond in one of my corner borders perhaps you could try something like this its really relaxing and is something else to create interest
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    That's a gorgeous space and crying out for a jungle in pots. Figs and bananas and heucheras can thrive without day long sunshine providing you are in a warm area. Throw in some bright red pelargoniums and grasses for a touch of colour and movement. You can grow ivy up the fences if you are willing to spend your life fighting with the stuff.....there are some lovely ornamental varieties and the birds like nesting in it.
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