Photo Credit: Maria Orlova via www.pexels.com
Countless houses in Britain have small gardens, and for many homeowners and renters, this is the only way to afford a garden at all. If your house only has a small garden, don’t be discouraged – there are many things you can do to maximise your outdoor space and make your garden seem bigger than it actually is. Here are some tips to get you started.
1. Use a rotary clothes airer
Drying your laundry outside on the line is much faster than putting it on racks indoors, avoids the risk of generating mould and is much more eco-friendly than using a tumble dryer. If you have a small garden, however, stretching a couple of clothes lines through it can easily take up all your available space. Instead, use a rotary airer to maximise space – you can even fold some models down and put them away when you’re not using them.
2. Decorate with mirrors
Although mirrors might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of garden decorations, they are a beautiful way to reflect the sunlight and make your garden look bigger. Choose a model made specifically for the outdoors to ensure that it can withstand the weather, and go for a vintage look to give your garden a magical feel.
3. Build a deck
Garden decking is a low-maintenance way to make your garden look beautiful. If you turn part of your garden into a deck and use the rest for plants or lawn, you will make the space look bigger, as counterintuitive as that may sound. Decking boards can be installed directly onto paving slabs, so if your house has a paved yard, then building a deck is the easiest way to give your garden a fresh and more refined look.
4. Grow plants vertically
Who said that you need a lot of space to grow plants? There are plenty of plants that you can grow vertically on the walls of your garden, including many vegetables. You don’t have to give up your dream of building a vegetable patch because your garden is small – it will just have to be a vegetable wall instead! To help your plants grow vertically, you might want to consider using a trellis, which will also add to the aesthetic of your garden.
5. Buy outdoor shelving
Shelves made to last outdoors are a great way to add more plants and decorations to a small garden. You can buy freestanding garden shelving units or secure individual shelves to your garden walls and fill them with potted plants or garden ornaments. To make your garden look extra pretty, drape a few strings of solar fairy lights around the edges of your shelves (or anywhere else, really!) and watch the magic come to life at night. If you have children, they’re bound to love the fairy lights – they might even come to believe that there are real fairies in the garden!