Do you look out of your window and see the garden as a chore, to be coped with
and tidied, instead of the life-enhancing resource it should be? Having a
cared-for garden isn’t just about adding value to your house; it puts back
the soul that the city takes out of your life. It’s about creating a space
in which you can meet Mother Nature on a daily basis and gain personal
benefits of a more subtle and lasting kind.
You might not even consider that you have a “garden”. Perhaps it is just a
gloomy passageway, balcony, tiny front yard, flight of steps or window box.
Yet these all have the same potential to please as a rural idyll. Only the
scale is different.
Most of us who live in urban environments have small gardens, but there is no
need to feel short-changed. It is easy to create a jewel-like space that
feels intimate, cosy and personal. Think of it another way: small is
manageable.
The worst thing about gardening is knowing where to start. If you are a novice
and don’t know your fork from your trowel, don’t despair — help is here.
Over the next 10 weeks, I will be going through the basics, such as which
tools to buy, explaining the difference between types of plants, helping you
to get to know your soil and conditions. Anyone can create a beautiful
garden, it is just about having the confidence to give things a go and also
to know your limits and to work within them.
Before you go outside, turn the spotlight on yourself. Successful gardening
depends on how you are going to approach it. Be realistic and honest. Are
you as keen as fresh paint or tired and tentative? Lots of time on your
hands or rushed off your feet with work and the family? Do plants so mystify
you that you would just rather not, thank you? Or do you have itchy green
fingers and fancy the Good Life? Like everything else, gardening takes up
time. If you will only use the garden on summer evenings and at weekends,
low-maintenance is a priority. Nobody needs to work their guts out in the
garden, and professionals can do what you don’t want to face. The first
steps should be simple and easy to accomplish. It matters not if you know
nothing at all; half the fun is in the learning.
Now, survey your territory. If you have a window that looks on to the garden,
can you see the whole space at once or is some of it hidden from view? The
garden might be new, overgrown, or established already. Consider what
strikes you the moment you go outside — the “mood” and character of the
garden.
Think about where you naturally gravitate towards in order to make the most of
the garden when you come home from work in summer, and where you sit when
the place is just too hot. It might take you a few days to do this exercise
because, once you start really looking, it is surprising what you will
notice.
Work out in which direction the garden faces. Then make a rough sketch marking
in the obvious features and note down everything you see as well as what you
hear and smell, too.
Here’s an example: “North-facing, seems dark. Overhanging trees from
neighbour’s garden block out the light. Next door’s ugly wall. Plaster needs
repairing. Huge unknown evergreen and plants all overgrown. Grotty concrete
paving covers half the area. High brick wall (nice bricks, though) with ivy
growing all over it. Decrepit manhole dead centre of horrid patio. Whole
space doesn’t get much sun during morning, but catches western light — good
for sitting out after work.”
Carry on noting your findings: “Boundary walls oppressive — need brightening.
Traffic fumes smell bad and noise is worse during rush hour, but not too bad
mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Trains in distance, not a bother. Garden is
overlooked by neighbour’s upstairs windows, but not overlooked from the
back. Rubbish bins are an eyesore — how can I hide them? “No back access,
which will cause problems when bringing things in and out. Don’t get much
wind in the garden seems sheltered, quite warm in fact. Soil feels very dry
and crumbles; in some areas it’s like concrete. Whole garden is dry and
shady, with one sunny wall.”
Detailed notes like these will help you to realise that your garden isn’t an
island: it is affected by what is on the other side of your boundaries.
Visually, this is all part of your space and can either blight or enhance
it. You might have a nice view of a nearby church spire and trees to the
left, with a tower block looming to the right: there will be positives and
negatives everywhere.
People who have a shady garden often despair and think they can do nothing
with it, but I have seen basements and tiny high-walled yards that feel like
mysterious jungles and assume an otherworldly atmosphere when lit at night.
Shade deserves special mention: you should see it as an asset, just as much as
it would be if your garden faced south and was sunny. In the past, gardeners
stumbled about in the dark over shade, and it developed bogeyman status.
Nowadays shady gardens are lush, cool paradises to be treasured.
Another bugbear for novice gardeners is shape. We seem to have accepted that a
garden must be roughly square or at least stretch away from the house, and
that anything else is a no-no. Square is fine, but it can be boring. The
traditional small bit of ground that comes with modern houses means you see
all of it at once, with no further surprises.
Gardens actually come in all shapes and sizes. An odd-shaped plot can be
worked into a unique, individual space. A dogleg side passageway, for
instance, means you have the chance to create an element of surprise as you
turn the corner.
Whatever you do, don’t go mad and raze every plant to the ground as soon as
you move into a new property in an attempt to start with a blank canvas.
Large shrubs and trees, particularly healthy evergreens, are worth keeping,
because they give a garden instant maturity and often mask eyesores. Think
of large specimens as being a useful framework for a future design.
Assess the hard landscaping, which includes paths, steps, structures, the
floor and walls. There are some dreadfully depressing concrete-tiled patios
about, for instance. Consider lifting the lot and re-laying it with cheap
natural stone or gravel. Wonky fencing will need to be repaired or replaced:
check out if you or your neighbour owns it.
There’s not much you can do to get rid of traffic noise and air pollution:
they are downsides of urban life that we have to accept. But you can
distract attention from the problem with fountains or tinkling wind chimes
(as long as they don’t send your neighbours up the wall), or even plants
with leaves that rustle in the wind. Growing scented plants in an enclosed
space can mask smells.
Your soil might be spade-bendingly awful and resemble a desert, but this is
not a cause for despair. Most soil can be replenished with the addition of
lots of compost to make it come to life. But if it’s gone past resurrecting,
the simple way out is to replace it with new topsoil and start again. I will
look more closely at soil later in the series.
Get as much advice as you can. Read books, chat to your neighbours, visit
garden centres and nurseries. Check out websites and professional
contractors. Build a picture of what gardening is all about.
You will find there are sometimes as many ways to do something as there are
gardeners. Don’t be put off: growing plants isn’t an exact science, so don’t
be scared of making mistakes. After all, most seeds out there germinate and
grow without any interference from us. In a nutshell, gardening is aiding
and abetting nature. And having fun, of course.
