Small Garden: 10 Dos and Don’ts

With a little planning and a few tips and tricks, your little garden can be a big success! We give you ten Dos and Don’ts for garden design.

For many people, their gardens are a hobby, family meeting place and oasis of relaxation. You don’t need a huge plot of land for this: a small garden can be all that! First you should ask yourself what criteria are important to you:

• Should the garden be suitable for children?
• Do you want flower beds?
• Do you need a quiet area?
• Which plants and trees do you like?
• Should existing plants be included in the design?
• How much maintenance should your small garden with plants require?

When you have found out the most important points for you, you should start planning your little garden. We have put together a list of what you should pay attention to and what you should avoid!

The dos in the small garden

1. Plan outline

Before you start designing your garden, you should think about the structure. It is important to create a clear and simple structure and to divide your garden sensibly. For example, a terrace could be the central point, and you could also plan vegetable beds or a relaxation area.

2. Set up a room divider

The divided areas should all harmonise with each other, but be visually separated from each other. As room dividers we recommend e.g. borders, perennials, espalier fruit or trellis. Due to the restricted view, the garden ultimately appears larger, as it is not possible to overlook the whole garden.

3. Choose trees & plants specifically

Although large trees provide a lot of shade, they also make the garden look very cramped. Instead, you should plant slender shrubs and trees, such as a copper rock pear or a globe acacia. And: Plant darker, large-leaved plants to the front and low and small-leaved plants to the back, this creates depth.

4. Choose few colours

If you choose many different colours for your small garden, it will quickly appear restless and overcrowded. It makes more sense to choose a small colour spectrum and to focus on cool and light tones (e.g. white, pink and blue). These colours are also well perceived from a distance and give the garden more spaciousness. Light shades also open up optically dark corners!

5. Create depth with heights

You create depth through different heights in the garden. These can be symmetrically arranged raised beds, a raised wooden terrace or half-height walls.

6. Water brings brightness

Also a water surface optically enlarges a small garden. This doesn’t have to be a huge pond that takes up half of the space. Also a nice spring stone, a galvanized garden tub or a pretty standing well serve their purpose.

7. Set accent

With a skilfully set accent you create an eye-catcher in the garden. These fixed points create depth again – this could be chic garden furniture, but also a mini-greenhouse or a nice bubble stone (see point 6).

The don’ts in the small garden

8. Planting too densely

Not only the colours should be chosen carefully. If a small garden is too densely overgrown, it quickly looks cluttered and restless. For example, a circular or oval-shaped lawn framed by shrubs is more beautiful.

9. building high walls

Privacy in your own garden must be natural, but not at the expense of the feel-good factor. High walls, hedges or screens quickly restrict a small garden. It is better to use half-height privacy screens and use rather light materials, such as untreated wooden fences.

10. Arranging garden path inappropriately

You should only consider a sidewalk if it is really necessary. If you can’t or don’t want to do without a walkway, then it should run towards a target, such as a small garden shed or a bench. If your garden is rather long and narrow, a slightly curved sidewalk makes the garden look wider. If the garden is rather small and square, you can create a diagonal garden path running through the garden.