A wild city garden - part 2

A Wild City Garden - Part 2

Although designing a new garden can seem intimidating, it's crucial to remember that gardens evolve over many years and gardening is a lifelong process. Your shrubs and trees will grow and spread as the years pass and your own tastes will change too.

Just like clothes, plants and design features go in and out of fashion, so you'll find that a planting plan that looks chic to you one year, might look more dated five years down the line.

So while it's important to have a clear idea of what you want when you first design your garden, you also need to go with the flow as the years pass and both you and the garden evolve together.

Zoning Your Garden

If you have space in your garden, creating different zones that you enjoy at different times of the day can really help to break up your space and give you multiple areas to relax in.

Think about these zones in terms of season. In the summer, you'll want an area that is shady and cool to sit in during the hottest hours of the day, while in the winter you ideally want an area that is closer to the house. Take the time to think about how you want to use your garden and what time of day you enjoy being outside.

Considering Positive and Negative Space

Balance is key when it comes to your garden, so you want to ensure that positive and negative spaces work in unison together.

When it comes to a garden, positive space is the green and growing areas while negative space is your hard standing, especially the areas that are free of furniture and pots. You need both to make a garden work, because if every square metre of your garden is covered there will be no sense of contrast.

Working with Seasonality

When you are designing your garden, make sure to consider seasonality. You will need to think about the early, mid and late flowering plants and how the space will look at all times of year.

If you're someone who goes away a lot, then pick plants that will be at their best during the months you are at home.

Planting Down the Middle of the Garden

Planting down the middle of the garden is not for everyone, especially if you have a young family or want to entertain guests. If you have the space though, it's a great design feature to consider as it creates a beautiful vista that you can look out over from your back door or your outdoor seating area.

Having a central planting scheme plus two borders means that you can include more greenery in your garden and a wildflower meadow is much more exciting to look at than a flat lawn.

Biodiversity

Gardening with biodiversity in mind is one of my number one priorities, which is why I have a wildflower meadow. Having grasses and plants of different heights gives insects somewhere to lay their eggs and pupate, while also providing nectar and pollen-rich flowers.

Water

Another way to help insects and birds is to include water in your garden. I've recently installed a large water bowl, from which I see birds and insects drinking. I've installed a little solar fountain in it to keep the water moving and a few oxygenating plants which stop the water from becoming stagnant.

Water is also beautiful to look at and it adds another layer of interest and movement to your space.