David Domoney’s best tips for making the most of a smaller garden

Your garden may be defined by a fairly small space, be it a balcony, courtyard, corner or even a wall. But there is plenty of gardening you can do with some space-saving tricks.

The first goal should be maximising the area you already have. Find the best parts and make the most of their benefits. For example, small urban plots offer a warmer, protected microclimate, great for tender vegetation.

There are a few hacks you can try to make the most of your garden space. Find functionality alongside form and select furniture which doubles up as seating and storage. Also, try to maintain negative space (unoccupied areas) to avoid crowding.

Consider your garden space as an open box. Once you fold down the sides, you have a lot more space at your disposal. Therefore, try to include mirrors for the illusion of a larger space, murals, and other wall decorations.

You can also incorporate vertical climbing plants too. These add interest at height but don’t take up much space.

I am particularly fond of climbers with a gentle habit, rather than being too dense. Clematis ‘Frances Rivis’ or star jasmine are wonderful for adding interest, with dainty leaves that aren’t imposing. For some nice, variegated foliage, try ivy – I recommend Hedera helix ‘Ceridwen’.

Consider growing some productive climbing crops for vertical interest too. Some great options include cucumbers, climbing beans and peas, or vine tomatoes. If you have the space, espalier or fan-trained fruit trees are also a great space-saving, productive option. Consider fan-trained cherry trees, espalier apple trees, or even cordon pear trees.

Finding plants which are suitable for darker, shaded places in the garden is also ideal, particularly if you have disused corners, perhaps on balconies, which could be utilised. Colourful plants are a wonderful way to lift these corners. Add some shelving if you can, perhaps painted in light colours, with statement pots positioned on each of them. Plant up some lovely Heuchera and Dicentra spectabilis (bleeding heart) for a striking focal point.

There can be some hesitation with including structure in smaller spaces for the fear of taking up too much space. But this doesn’t have to be the case.

Structural plants can be discreet while also offering privacy for your small garden.

Dwarf, compact, or columnar tree varieties are fantastic space-savers, such as Prunus ‘Amanogawa’, or Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum’.

Ornamental grasses are also ideal, providing height and interest, which moves in the wind. Not only do they look stunning, but they can offer shade and privacy during the summer months.

1. You can start growing vegetables and fruits early by sowing seeds in pots indoors, either in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. Some great choices to start to plant now include tomatoes, sweet peppers, chillies and aubergines.

2. Clean watering cans will give your garden the best start this spring. For clean-looking watering cans, a solution of warm water and washing-up liquid should be sufficient. Use a sponge or brush to scrub them thoroughly. If you have substantial algae or mineral build-up, soak them with a solution of white vinegar and water, then scrub and rinse with clean water.

3. From winter, you’ll have already started to notice packets of summer-flowering bulbs appearing in garden centres. Well, spring is the ideal time to get them in the ground, as the soil starts warming.

Dahlias can be started off indoors to be planted out in late May. On the other hand, gladioli can be planted in outdoor pots from March, or directly in the ground from May.

You can watch my video on shopping for spring and summer flower bulbs on my YouTube channel @daviddomoney.

4. Wildflowers are a wonderful way to help our native pollinators population. The more wildflowers there are, the more diverse the range of pollinators they can support. Make a start on your own “wildflower meadow” indoors in seed trays or plug modules this month. This increases your germination success rate and can be planted out later.

I’ve grown a wildflower meadow in my garden, which you can watch on my channel.

5. As temperatures slowly start to increase, keep an eye on the humidity in your greenhouse.

On sunny days, open your greenhouse vents to help prevent too much humidity from building up. This will help reduce the risk of the spread of fungal diseases.

The perennial wallflower is a wonderful plant to keep in the garden year-round. Its near-consistent blooms are welcomed in borders and containers. They’re great flowerers too, always having another bud waiting.

Their flowering dates vary depending on variety. I have a lovely range in my garden – Erysimum ‘Poem Lilac’, which will flower for the bulk of April to September, producing bright purple blooms. Another very popular variety is Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’, which produces long stems of pink-purple flowers from early spring through to the autumn.

Growing to up to 75cm depending on the variety, grow perennial wallflowers in a sunny location to guarantee consistent flowering. They are pretty problem-free and low maintenance, just ensure to give them the occasional light trim to maintain their shape and avoid leggy growth.

To find out more about wallflowers, head to my YouTube channel, @daviddomoney.

Orchids have a specialised bottom lip that attracts pollinators and acts as a kind of landing pad. This makes orchids more attractive to pollinators and makes the job of pollinating them much easier.

The average carrot is almost 90% water. This makes them one of the top fruits and vegetables that can help you with hydration. Another with a particularly high-water content is cucumber, which is 96 per cent water.

Apple seeds contain amygdalin, a compound of sugar and cyanide. But don’t worry – one whole gram of apple seeds contains around 0.6mg of cyanide, so you would need to eat nearly 100 seeds to reach a toxic dose.

It takes around 450 trees to offset the annual carbon emissions of one person. The average person in the UK’s annual carbon footprint is 10 tons of carbon dioxide, while a single mature tree absorbs 22kg of carbon dioxide per year.