Concrete Ideas for your Garden

Garden design is now recognised as a sensible investment of homeowners as well as a natural way to extend your living space.

One of Acheson & Glover’s recommended Landscape Designers Thomas Harpur talks us through making the most of a small garden.

The good news for people with small gardens is that you can have a functional space with designer appeal! With clever design, the right products and colours you can transform your small space into something which has the wow factor and gives your family an extra room to enjoy all year round.

Says Thomas: “It is important in a small garden that everything is in proportion. You don’t need a lot of space to have a functional, attractive garden. It’s all about clever design and introducing small focal points to give your garden appeal.

“The patio is one place where you can make a striking feature of something which serves a very practical purpose in your garden. One way of adding interest here is to take out two flags in a couple of spaces and use it for planting. This instantly softens the area and adds a designer dimension to your patio and garden.

“Choosing the right product for the patio is also very important as it will be a feature in itself. Acheson & Glover has just launched a new paving range with a gently undulating surface reminiscent of water-weathered rock which is perfect for small gardens. It’s called River Stone and has a colour palette that is suitable for designs for contemporary or traditional style gardens. It not only looks great but is highly durable, so is ideal for patios, porches and front and back door steps.”

The golden rule, “less is more” is even more applicable in a small garden, where it is important not to overdo it with plants and features. Keeping colours for paths and patios toned down will help and Thomas recommends the natural muted shades of Country Cobble for this.

“Country Cobble is a great product and can be used for kerbs, walls, paths, steps and raised patios.”

A pathway leading towards a water feature or small seating area at the back of a small garden is another design feature which will add interest.

Finally, Thomas advises: “Planting should also be simple. The trick here is don’t get carried away with too many plants or plants that will grow too big. Size is important and I would stick to alpines and grasses. As with any garden, planting should be done in groups of three, five or seven of the same plant, and in a small garden it would be best to stick to groups of three.

“Using shrubs, the groups are also a good way of introducing colour to your garden and in between these, you can put specimen plants that are taller, such as pillar conifers or Japanese maples. This adds dimension to your garden so that everything is not at the same level.

“Also try and break up winter flowering and summer flowering, evergreen and deciduous shrubs so that there is something happening round the garden throughout the year.”

For further information on these and other products in the extensive Acheson & Glover range call Customer Services on +44 (28) 8778 4208 or log onto www.outside-room.com