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You’d be forgiven for thinking that home gardening is endangered, as the size of the space around newly built houses and apartments shrinks to almost nothing.
There’s no doubt that the quarter acre ‘paradise’ is gone from Auckland, but examples from cities around the world show how gardens can be adapted to the tiniest spaces.
In small spaces, what you choose to plant carries more weight. The commonly stated advice is that small gardens need to be kept as tidy as possible as proportionately any weeds stand out. Mulch and dense planting is your friend in this respect.
But every garden and gardener is different and if you’re a carefree soul, you will of course ignore that advice. The options for a small garden are limited only by your imagination and ability to use space creatively. How about a mini wildflower, vegetable and herb garden, contrasting its colour and fruitfulness with the clean sharp lines and cream, grey, black or beige walls of a modern building? Or perhaps a little ramble of roses can be made, using pots and wall space – or whatever else you fancy. Whatever your favourite plants are, keeping to a cohesive planting theme (such as edible garden, natives, tropical) and repeat planting where possible is a good rule of thumb in a small garden.
If you’re in a newly built home, your first problem is soil quality; topsoil will be virtually non-existent, so you’ll need to bring some in, build raised beds or stick to pots. Find a corner for a compost bin or worm farm and keep piling compost onto your garden to build the soil back up. Before you plant anything, notice where the sun and shade falls throughout the day, or where it’s exposed to a prevailing wind and shelter may be needed.
The colours you use should also be given some thought. Orange is back in fashion, particularly bright orange combined with steely blue or muted tones like grey. Orange provides maximum impact in a small space. Until recently I had a potted orange gerbera in a sunny spot by my front door. It flowered non-stop for a full year, requiring little more than regular watering and liquid fertiliser. In shaded dry places such as those narrow areas between house and fence, clumps of clivias have the wow factor when they flower in spring, and the rest of the year their dark green leaves look lush and tidy.
When gardens are small, and they can be as tiny as a balcony, the connection with nature that comes from growing plants is even more important and something to treasure and tend.
