COLUMNIST: KATIE REYNOLDS
It is such an asset - both financially and physically - to have any sort of outdoor space in an urban environment that you can call your own. A town or city garden may be small but, as the saying goes, good things come in small packages, and an urban space can be cleverly designed to create something truly magnificent.
Urban gardens are often perceived to have shortcomings. Your garden may have high walls, be overlooked, or be adjacent to a noisy road. Turning each one of these characteristics into a design opportunity is the best way to make the most of your space.
A high wall can be a great spot to grow vertical climbers, softening the hard landscaping and making the most of every bit of space. And the more planting you have, the better it is for absorbing the carbon dioxide and pollution around you. If the high walls are generating a lot of shade, then embrace this and have a selection of ferns, hostas, geraniums, and other shade-loving plants in front of the wall to create a lush planting area.
Alternatively, if you are overlooked and don’t have sufficient boundaries, then you can create one with a fence, hedge, trellis, or even pleached trees which are a good way to grow a tree in a limited space.
A noisy garden due to traffic can be muffled by the use of a water feature close to your seating area. The soft sounds of babbling water create a much more serene environment and help to dilute the background noise.
As an urban garden is generally smaller that a rural one, then you have to be clever with every bit of space that you have. For example, built-in seating takes up less space and is designed to fit your space perfectly. Adding storage underneath will allow cushions or accessories to be tucked away when not needed.
Don’t create features just for the sake of it, carefully think through every design decision and whether it’s right for the space. The best example of this is a lawn. I always question in an urban garden whether it is worth it and whether there is space for it. The smaller the area, the more it will be walked on and the soil and grass will quickly become compacted without much chance for recovery. A lawn also needs to be regularly cut which is high maintenance, and the lawnmower requires storage.
Finding an alternative to a traditional lawn may be a better use of your space. Instead, make your seating area larger and your flowerbeds deeper so the hard and soft landscaping is balanced, yet maximised to its best potential. Using evergreen plants will mean that you still have greenery to look at throughout the year (as you would with a lawn), but the form and layout is now much more interesting.
Creating synergy between the indoors and the outdoors will help to extend the sense of space. Opting to have the same flooring material in the house and the garden will improve the flow, seamlessly connecting the indoors and the outdoors to make it feel more spacious, even in the smallest of gardens.
This could be decking (if there is a wooden floor inside), stone, or porcelain tiles. Many companies now have the same tile or stone paver in an indoor and an outdoor version (the outdoor version being thicker - never use an indoor tile in the garden). Consider also the natural light levels, as a pale porcelain or stone will appear much brighter outside compared to inside the house.
Urban spaces are generally milder and more sheltered than the surrounding countryside, and often benefit from their own microclimate. This creates an opportunity to grow some slightly less hardy plants compared to the town or city’s rural counterparts, so have fun experimenting.
Colour, form, and texture within a planting scheme plays a key role in any outdoor space, but especially in a smaller garden. Dwarf or more compact varieties allow for a wide range of planting to be introduced even within a more restricted area.
Containers or raised beds are a good solution to improve soil conditions, as well as being a design feature in their own right. Incorporating containers also allows a greater variety of plant options that may not thrive in the ground. I always recommend choosing fewer but larger containers for the best impact, rather than lots of little ones which can look cluttered and fussy. A larger container also has the benefit that it won’t dry out as quickly as smaller pots.
I hope that has provided you with some ideas, whether you are starting out on an urban garden redesign or perhaps looking to improve what you already have.
Katie Reynolds Design is a garden and interior design studio for residential and commercial clients in Aberdeenshire and across the North East.
Katie works on a range of projects from city flats to country houses, public gardens to coastal properties. Follow Katie on Instagram and Facebook, visit www.katiereynoldsdesign.co.uk to browse some of her recent projects, or pick up her top garden design secrets on the Scotland Grows Show.