If your outdoor space is on the small side, this week’s episode of Alan Titchmarsh’s Gardening Club is one to watch.
Garden designer Lucy Wilcox is on hand to prove that every garden has potential to be something special, regardless of its size. She’s gathered some of the key tips and tricks from her 15 years of experience ready for you to use in your own garden.
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hi my name is Lucy Wilcox I’ve been
designing Gardens for over 15 years and
I’m going to be sharing with you some of
the things that I’ve learned along the
[Music]
way so today I’m going to be talking you
through some really good design points
on how to design small spaces
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when I first came to see this Garden it
was just white rendered walls artificial
lawn and an outdoor kitchen Unit A
really uninspiring space and we wanted
to turn it into a really usable friendly
inviting entertaining space and also
somewhere that you could cook
outside so with this project it being a
small garden I wanted to treat it like
it was an interior design scheme so I
was Crea the ultimate outdoor room so I
was thinking about the ceilings the
walls the floors the furniture and
accessories that we were going to have
in this space and the one thing that I
thought of in this space straight away
was to create some sort of structure
perlas in a small garden have a great
use because they make the garden feel
wider they create a fantastic intimate
space underneath it they draw your eye
into the space and of course you can
train climbers along them you can
replicate a perlar like this using
galvanized wire if your fences or walls
are high enough obviously if they’re
strong enough and make sure that you get
permission from your neighbors before
you start attaching galvanized wire to
the top of their
fences the Temptation in small gardens
is to use small elements but what you
want to do is the opposite you want to
create the illusion of a bigger space so
you want to use large format papers
large comfortable seating appropriate to
the size of the space more importantly
really big
pots we knew our pots were going to be a
main feature in this space and we love
the color that they came in and so we
use this as a basis for our color scheme
in small spaces I always try and use a
really dark color on the walls or the
fences because it visually pushes the
walls away it’s also a brilliant
backdrop for planting and in contrast to
that in this space I used a really Peale
pink which equally made the space feel
bigger it’s really important in small
spaces to use reliable hard workking
plants because you want to get a really
good display all year round and for that
I always use really good Evergreens this
is the star jasmine which is a great
climate has a beautiful white flower in
the summer which has the most beautiful
heady musky scent and it’s night
relasing which is great in the evening
when you want to sit outside this is
also another great plant which is an
evergreen grass it gives gives you
movement and structure in the space it’s
fantastic and in pots one great tip for
you that I’ve got is that always make
sure to get some contrast and form and
texture that you’ve got a pillar a
Spiller and a
filler to create an inviting and
welcoming entertaining space in your
garden for the evenings think about
using really warm and subtle
Lighting in this Garden we use these
Gorge gous pendant lights which create
such a warm glow it creates a beautiful
atmosphere you can replicate the same
thing in your own garden by using Fon
lights they’re perfect for that and they
help create the ultimate Outdoor Room
the beauty of small gardens is that you
can apply these points make small
changes which have a big impact enjoy
the process and make it your own