Big ideas for small gardens

Go potty

■ Pots are a fantastic way to grow plants that enjoy specific soil conditions, as you can control what they grow in. For example, acid-loving plants such as azaleas, camellias, heathers, pieris and rhododendrons can be potted into ericaceous compost.
■ Wall-mounted pots, windowboxes and hanging baskets provide extra planting opportunities if your borders at ground level are full.
■ Water evaporates rapidly from terracotta pots. On a hot summer's day, this isn't a problem for Mediterranean plants and herbs, but thirstier plants will need help. Line your pots with plastic (recycle your compost bag, or use a bin bag, remembering to puncture the bottom for drainage) before you fill them with compost, as this will reduce evaporation and protect moisture lovers from dehydration. Alternatively, paint the inside with a PVA sealant to retain moisture.

Gardening without a garden

If you have a paved garden, balcony or roof, you can still grow a wide array of plants. Anything that will hold compost can add quirky appeal. Keep your eyes peeled for impromptu containers old buckets, large decorative tin cans, sinks, wheelbarrows and even dustbins can be recycled for the ultimate in green growing. Simply drill a few drainage holes in the bottom of the vessel and plant away. 

Ideas to try

✔ Go exotic to create impact with Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax), Phoenix canariensis or Chamaerops humilis.
✔ Plants trained into topiary shapes - cones, pyramids and lollipops - save space and look great in pots. Use box, clipped holly or bay.
✔ Herbs are ideal for windowboxes. On the sunny side of the house, grow basil, chives, oregano and rosemary. On the shady side, grow a salad selection of chervil, French parsley, red mustard and wild rocket.
✔ Hanging baskets (above) will form tumbling avalanches of bloom with climbers such as Clematis ‘Guernsey Cream' and-easy-to-grow passionflower. 

How to maximise space in a tiny plot

● To give an illusion of space, blur your your fence line with climbers, particularly evergreens such as Trachelospermum jasminoides, which has long-lasting scented summer flowers, whose scent is actually best enjoyed in a small space.
● Simplify your paving. Having fewer materials and doing away with contrasting edges, such as Victorian edging tiles or bricks, will make areas look less cluttered.
● Using garden mirrors will bounce reflections and light around and make the space feel bigger. Visit www.primroselondon.co.uk for a great range.
● Choose a rotary clothes line that can easily be taken down once washing is dry.
● Rendered walls are great for fixing wall containers, boosting your planting area.
● Use your home's colours as cues to your garden's design - this extends the smallest of gardens by providing visual links with the interior, drawing the eye in a continuous line.
● Use matching pots in different sizes around the garden as a unifying feature.
● Even the shortest of paths can create the illusion of space, encouraging movement around and through your garden.
● Disguise sheds or bin areas with screening, available from garden centres. If you have a shed, consider adding to your growing area by creating a living 'green' roof. A DIY guide is available to download from www.thegreenroofcentre.co.uk. 

Team things with a theme

Less is definitely more in the small garden. Think of a theme for the space to tie your garden look together, then recycle, give away or sell anything that doesn't fit into the overall design.

Develop a theme based on colour. Sticking to a palette of hot colours such as fiery reds, blazing oranges and sunny yellows in pots, plants and paint will deliver high impact and an exciting, vibrant space. Pale pastel tones have the opposite effect and seem to recede into the distance, giving depth. Layered in complementary soft shades through furniture, planting and pots, they make a space seem wider and deeper.

Keeping to certain textures such as wood, terracotta, natural fabrics and rusted obelisks can create a laidback theme, whereas modern materials such as steel, glass and render work modern minimalism to the max.

How does your little garden grow?

You can still think big when your garden's small. Don't be tempted to plant in ones or twos - groups of threes and fives will prevent your scheme looking cluttered and bitty.
■ Only include plants that earn their keep. Perennials that flower for long periods are a must: electric-blue Eryngium variifolium, the orange daisies of Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty' and superb late-flowering Rudbeckia ‘Herbstsonne' are giants that will burst through midheight mounds of Nepeta ‘Six Hill's Giant'. Others to try include Phlox paniculata, Liatris spicata, Geranium ‘Rozanne' and Gaura lindheimeri.
■ Repeat flowerers give good value, too cut back your geraniums after one flowering and you'll promote a second flush.
■ Vertical height will use your garden's volume. Build a pergola for climbers to bring blooms and scent to eye and nose level. Evergreen clematis armandii, Trachelospermum jasminoides and ivies can be woven through with scented honeysuckles, jasmine and roses. The chocolate vine and Vitis vinifera ‘Purpurea' (grapevine) are also favourites of mine.
■ Bulbs aren't just for spring. Alliums, colchicums, gladioli, iris and nerines will give a glorious year-round display.
■ Trees lift the eye upwards, making the whole area seem bigger. Sorbus aria, Amelanchier lamarckii and Cercis siliquastrum are three to squeeze in.