GREEN PEACE

Australian celebrity landscape gardener Charlie Albone has some smart ideas for working magic in small garden spaces

- Charlie Albone

Small spaces

The small garden is the way of the future. As blocks of land shrink and houses get bigger, sadly it’s the garden that suffers – so it’s imperative you get the space right and make it feel as large as possible. Even if you have a big garden, there will be a corner to which you can apply smallspace gardening practices, thus maximising your outdoor experience, too.

The first thing I like to do in a small space is to blur the boundary edges of the garden. When the eye is drawn to a definite boundary, such as the point where fences meet in corners and where they touch the ground, the space immediately feels smaller. Well-positioned patches of greenery will soften the visible edges of the space and remove obvious sightlines, ensuring that the space appears larger to the eye.

If this point is a junction of hard surfaces, such as two bench seats meeting in a corner, then try to break up the solid vertical and horizontal lines with some soft furnishings, such as cushions. You could also add a textural detail to the surface – decorative panelling (wainscoting) works well for a vertical surface.

Bag of tricks

Deceiving the eye is key when it comes to successful small-space gardening, as this will make the area as a whole feel much larger than it is.

A focal point such as a sculpture is a lovely way to add a personal touch to a space and draw the eye into the garden. For long and skinny spaces, try including diagonal pathways and sightlines as these will accentuate the length of the space and thus make it feel bigger.