OUTDOORLIVING
MAKE YOUR GARDEN Beautiful cont.
SMALL GARDEN
If you do have some outside space but it’ s on the small side, never fear. There are some plants that do perfectly well in small gardens, and there are always ways around the issue of space. In order for a small garden to look great it is best to stick to just a few varieties of plants – putting too many different types in will end up giving you a garden that feels too full, and is less enjoyable than one that is a little more restrained.
A good place to start in a small garden is with the structures that are already there. Walls, fences, ugly sheds … whatever you have in the garden can be used. If you don’ t like the look of these things you can choose climbing plants such as ivy, leylandii, star jasmine climber, clematis or wisteria amongst many others. These could even be planted in containers if there is no space for putting them directly in the earth.
If your small garden is sunny then there are some bright and beautiful blooms that will do wonderfully there including coneflowers, geraniums, lilies( particularly the Hemerocallis‘ Corky’) and catmint. For shadier land why not try tulips, narcissus, begonias or the lovely sarcococca confusa.
LARGE GARDEN
If you’ re lucky enough to have a nice big garden then there is a lot you can do with it. It depends on how much room you want to give over to the flowers and how much lawn you want to keep. Your gardening prowess may be the deciding factor here. Once you have worked out how much space you have for planting, it’ s time to start the choosing … always the most enjoyable, and most difficult, part.
If you’ re a‘ set and forget’ kind of gardener then perennials are the perfect plant for you. These are the types of plant that come back year after year with very little maintenance. They includes foxglove, salvia, tiarella, verbenas and dianthus. Beautiful when blooming they will die off at different points in the year only to re-emerge to bring colour and beauty to the garden once more.
Having a large garden means you don’ t have to choose between flowers and fruit and veg – you can have it all. The best edible produce to plant out when you have the space include potatoes, radishes, peas and broad beans, beetroot, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb. And of course, with enough room you can plant out a variety of fruit trees too.
ALLOTMENT
If your space at home is tiny or non-existent and you really do like the idea of growing your own – all of it – then you should look into an allotment. An allotment is a piece of land roughly 250 square metres in size that is leased from a local authority or private landlord. They fell out of favour once people didn’ t have to rely on homegrown produce quite so much, although there has been a resurgence of late, and you may have to go on a waiting list if you want to lease one. Most people use their allotments for growing fruit and veg, although flowering plants are welcome too.
What you can grow here will depend on the type of soil and the position of the plot, but in general you are free to plant whatever you choose. Some people even use their allotments to keep rabbits, chickens, or bees.
Allotments go back as far as Anglo Saxon times when they were more communal. Now they are a great place to enjoy some‘ me time’( whilst also attending to your flowers, fruit, vegetables, or animals of course!) and get away from the world for a while.
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