Gardening in Small Spaces: Maximising Greenery in Urban Areas

13th December 2023

A small garden shouldn't stop you from embracing gardening. With the right garden design, you can maximise greenery in your urban garden.

There are many benefits to having a green space, no matter how small. From getting fresh air in your lungs to clearing your mind and improving your mental health, the copious benefits of getting your hands dirty and adopting gardening into your routine are worth it.

In this blog, we delve into how you can maximise greenery in your urban garden.

Challenges of Urban Gardening

It is no secret that the biggest problem faced by an urban garden is the limited space. When most people think of gardening, they think of big flowerbeds and large luscious green lawns. But this doesn't have to be the case. A well-thought-out garden design can help you make the most of your outdoor area, creating plenty of space for greenery.

Sunlight can often be another problem in small, urban gardens. However, using a garden designer in Poole to help select the plants and flowers, your garden can be filled and arranged with greenery that will thrive in the sunlight that your garden receives.

A common misconception is that you need land to be able to grow a garden. But this doesn't have to be the case! If you live in a flat or apartment with a balcony or patio, you can grow flowers and vegetables in garden pots or plastic totes. Simply line the bottom with different-sized rocks to help drainage, and half-fill them with soil before planting seeds or small-grown plants.

Creative Solutions

As a leading garden design service provider in Poole and the surrounding areas, the team at The Real Green Gardener have a range of creative solutions that will enable you to build a perfect garden to enjoy despite living in an urban area.

Vertical gardens are easy to design and make good use of walls or fences that you might have. With a vertical garden, we will use wall-mounted planters, hanging baskets or trellises for climbing plants to make use of the height that is available.

Our garden designs will often include tiered or stacking planters to create multiple levels for planting, allowing more plants within a compact area. Additionally, if you are working with a balcony space or small plant bed, choose dwarf or compact varieties of plants and vegetables that thrive in confined spaces, such as mini tomatoes, dwarf citrus trees, or compact herbs.

If you have a garden area and would like to add outdoor furniture but are short on space, you can also hang planters from ceilings or beams, incorporating trailing or cascading plants to add greenery without occupying floor space.

Plant Selection

For your small garden to thrive, selecting the right plants and flowers is key.

When planting in a compact space, you need to pick plants that will survive in the little space they will have. You will also need to consider if they will get much sunlight; if not then you will need to choose plants that can cope with little sunlight. Access to water and ease of watering will need to be another consideration too.

Plants such as Hyacinths, Dahlias, Ferns and Hardy Geraniums are great additions to a small urban garden.

Get in touch with us if you aren't sure which plants would work in your garden. Our garden packages can help you create a green space that will survive in the specific conditions of your space, helping you maximise greenery in your garden area.

Let Our Garden Design Experts In Poole Help

At The Real Green Gardener, we are passionate about helping everyone get gardening, even in small urban areas. Our team of garden designers have plenty of experience maximising greenery in small urban areas.

Once designed, we can also help landscape your garden, giving you an end-to-end experience. And don't forget, we also offer a maintenance service, should you need it, meaning you don't have to worry about the small green haven that you have just created.

Get in touch with us today by calling 01202 722943 or completing our contact form.