Small Garden Ideas​ to Make the Most of Your Space

Everyone deserves an outdoor space that they can enjoy, no matter what size it is. Small gardens offer just as much potential as larger ones and there are so many ways for you to make the most of the space that you have – so long as you are ready to get your hands dirty and try out these small garden ideas.

The Best Small Garden Ideas

Transforming a small garden into a functional haven is less about making it look or feel bigger, and more about maximising the space that’s available to you.

Intentional design, carefully chosen focal points, and hard landscaping techniques will all turn even the smallest garden into a practical and relaxing retreat that you can be proud of, so let’s get creative with these handy small garden ideas.

1. Balance Hard and Soft Landscaping

First things first, it’s essential to get the balance right between the soft landscaping elements like plants and flowers, and the hard elements like patios and pavers.

When planning your garden redesign, it can be tempting to choose one or the other and to stick with it, but too much of either element will overpower the space and make it feel overcrowded. So, aim for a good 50/50 split between the hard elements that serve as focal points and the natural elements that bed them in to keep your garden looking beautiful all year round.

2. Divide the Space

To maintain this balance, and to make the space feel more structured and organised, try dividing your garden into different sections.

This is important in any design project, but especially in smaller gardens where you’re more pressed for space. It is also a great way to avoid clutter by separating the different planters into sections and preventing them from growing on top of each other.

Start by using hedges, flowerbeds, and wicker partitions, and move on to short garden walls and permanent dividers over the next few years as you find the best long-term layout that works for your garden.

3. Add Structure

Next, it’s time to add some structure. This means large trees, hedges, and durable shrubs, as well as the smaller plants that fill in the gaps around them, but it also includes the structural features that provide a framework throughout the garden.

Patios, flower beds, pathways, walls, and decking will all play an important role in making your garden feel like a complete space with a cohesive design. Whether you want generous planting areas that take up the majority of the space, or a small corner patio with enough room to relax and entertain, it is these structures that will define the layout, meet your needs, and make the whole garden feel bigger.

4. Create Height

If you’re ready to think a bit more outside the box, then consider this: it is only the space on the ground level that limits you and you can easily overcome this by utilising vertical space.

This can be as simple as encouraging climbing plants to grow up a trellis, or as extensive as installing an entire vertical garden, so think upwards, not outwards. Fix flower boxes to garden walls and fences, use planting stands with lots of different levels, and plant flowers in hanging baskets rather than in pots to add height and save space on the ground.

5. Encourage Movement

If you’ve got a little more budget to play with, then use it to create a good flow through your garden that encourages you to move around it.

Lots of straight lines are visually unstimulating and can actually cause the garden to feel smaller and less inviting, so install a curved path that takes you around the flower beds, plant pots, and maybe even a little pond before ending at a clear destination point. This end point should include a seating arrangement that encourages you to sit down and enjoy the garden, and should also be visible from the back door as this will draw attention to the garden as a whole and prevent you from focusing on how small the space is.

6. Call in the Experts

Unless you have previous experience in redesigning a garden you might be feeling a bit daunted by the idea of undertaking a project of this scale, even if the garden itself is quite small.

You might also be thinking that if something is worth doing then it’s worth doing properly, and we couldn’t agree more, which is why we recommend reaching out to a local landscaping company to discuss your favourite ideas and how they can be implemented.

A seasoned landscaper will be able to bring your vision to life with the right materials, an expert eye, and a balanced combination of structural and natural features to transform even the smallest outdoor space.

Get Started

We hope these small garden ideas have given you the inspiration you were searching for, and if they have, why not go ahead and get in touch with A.C.E Property Maintenance Services to request a quote for your garden redesign?