18 Small Garden Design Ideas to Transform Your Outdoor Space

Small gardens don’t have to be limiting. Whether you want a space for entertaining, a tranquil retreat or a family garden, find out how to design a garden that meets your needs and makes the most of the space you’ve got.

It’s easy to get carried away when browsing garden magazines or scrolling Instagram and believe your garden is bigger than it actually is. You may have visions of pagodas, lawns and spacious flower beds bursting with colour, then look out of the window at your own garden, generously described by the estate agent as “cosy”, and feel a little despondent. But the truth is, most gardens in the UK are small or downright tiny – but that doesn’t mean they have to be boring.

In this guide I’ll give you some tips on how to design a small garden that looks beautiful all year round – and the design rules you can break to make it work for you.

 

6 things to consider before designing your garden

Before we get into specific garden design ideas, here are six questions to ask yourself before starting any garden project:

1. What are you going to use the space for? You can’t have everything in a small garden, so prioritise day-to-day use over the dream of hosting a full family gathering.

2. How will your life change in the future? If you’re retired and not planning to move, then your future needs will be quite different to a growing family.

3. How much sun does your garden get and where? This will help you decide where to have seating areas and will somewhat dictate what you can grow.

4. How private is it? If your garden is overlooked or has a road or path running beside it, you may want to incorporate privacy features, such as a pagoda.

5. What type of soil do you have? If possible, it’s best to choose plants that suit your soil conditions, rather than trying to change the soil to fit your planting. If you have very heavy or unworkable soil, then raised beds may be a better option than fighting the ground.

6. How much time do you want to spend maintaining your garden? A patio filled with pots gives you plenty of variety and colour throughout the year, but it’s going to mean a lot of watering – daily or even twice daily during hot, dry spells.

 

Planning out your garden

Once you’ve figured out your priorities and the environmental constraints you’re working with, it’s time to map out your garden. The easiest way to do this is to measure out the space you have available and draw a scale plan on a piece of paper. You can also use design software, but sketching ideas by hand in the first instance can help get your creativity flowing!

Start by putting in any existing trees, structural features and hard landscaping that you’re planning on keeping. This shows you how much space you have to play with. You can then add in your “must-have” features and try out different layouts.

 

18 garden design ideas for small gardens

Here are my top tips and things to consider when planning and designing a small garden.

1. Be ambitious – but realistic

A lot of people look at a small garden and focus on the limitations rather than the possibilities. Start by thinking about how you will spend your time in the garden rather than specific features. For example, you may want a lawn for your toddler to play on, a raised bed to grow some strawberries and vegetables, plus a patio and an apple tree, and throw your hands up at how you fit all of that into a 15 square metre garden. If you rethink this to having somewhere for your child to play (which could be a raised sandpit or a mud kitchen built along a fence), somewhere to place a couple of chairs and a small table and some pots to grow fruit and veg in, it feels a lot more realistic. You can even have an apple tree – if you choose a compact variety or train it against a wall. 

While I don’t like ruling anything out, some level of compromise is inevitable. You may not be able to fit a swimming pool in your garden, but there’s probably space for a hot tub or ice bath. If your kids are desperate for a trampoline (and it’s not a passing phase), consider sinking one into the ground to prevent a giant frame from dominating your garden.

2. Create a focal point

In a small garden, you’re likely to only have room for one main focal point. This could be a tree, bench, table, water feature, striking plant or anything else that feels central to your garden. Having a focal point helps you organise your space, giving you a starting point which you can design your garden around. It also draws your attention – and the attention of visitors – to a single point in the garden and away from the bin store or weeding that you still haven’t got round to doing.

Your focal point doesn’t have to be in the middle of your garden. In fact, having it towards the back of your space makes it feel more of a destination and can make your garden appear longer than it is. When deciding where to put your focal point, begin by standing at the main viewpoint for your garden (in most cases, this will be from a window or door in your house) and see where your eye is drawn. Positioning a bench or chair in different spots can help you figure out what location works best.

3. Embrace curves and angles

Once you have your focal point established, you can design boundaries around it. These boundaries include areas of hard paving, paths and the edges of beds. In a small patio garden, boundaries include not just the surrounding fencing but where you position pots.

One temptation when you have a small garden is to maximise the size of the lawn or patio, having this fill most of the space with just a skinny border for plants. While you get a marginally bigger lawn or entertaining space, this type of design actually makes the garden feel smaller and sparser. Curved designs tend to give more space for generous planting, which can make your garden feel fuller and more balanced. Even a short garden path winding its way through beds or across a grassed area to a small patio at the end of the garden creates the feel of a journey and destination, which can make the garden seem longer than it actually is.

Modern small garden ideas focus more on geometric lines than curves, but the same principle of breaking up the space applies.

4. Ditch the lawn

As a parent of young children myself, this idea is tough to stomach – after all, don’t all kids need some grass to play on? Your answer to this question may be an adamant “Yes!”, in which case, go for it! I’d just suggest really thinking about how much lawn you can fit into your small garden and what alternative spaces you have nearby, for example, a park or larger grassed space at the end of the road.

When you shift your mindset from having a lawn to having a play space, you may come up with alternative options which make better use of your limited space and avoid you hanging onto a lawn mower you don’t really have space to store. Most young kids love a mud kitchen, which can easily be set up in a shady corner or along a fence. A small sandpit or water play area doesn’t take up too much space. You could even get creative and dot fairy doors and houses amongst your planting.

If you want the open, grassy feel of a lawn, then look at planting ornamental grasses. They give a lush feel and sense of space, while being drought resistant and easier to maintain than a traditional lawn.

5. Grow up, not out

While most garden designers suggest borders should be at least two metres deep,  if your garden size and plans don’t allow for this, you can make narrow beds seem larger by incorporating plants of different heights. Tall perennials like Allium ‘Gladiator’, Verbena bonariensis and Stipa gigantea add height without taking up too much space, meaning they can float above lower-growing perennials. Sweet peas and French beans can be grown up narrow obelisks, and a vigorous climber can provide a backdrop to the border.

Tiered planting areas, such as a ladder planter, and hanging baskets help make the most of small patios and courtyard gardens. You could even incorporate window baskets hung from a first-floor window or balcony into your design.

Climbing plants and green wall systems can transform even the tiniest courtyard into a tranquil retreat. Consider whether you want evergreen or deciduous climbers, flowering plants or leafy ferns.

6. Link indoor and outdoor spaces

If you’re redesigning your garden in conjunction with an extension or home renovations, you have the opportunity to create a stronger link between your indoor space and garden. Large sliding or bifold doors help with this, but also look at using similar flooring, furniture and accessories to make your home feel more spacious and your garden feel a true part of your home.

7. Think long term and multi-functional

You don’t want to be ripping up your garden every few years, so consider what stage of life you’re in at the moment, how your needs may change over time and how you can take account of that in your design. Even in a small garden, you can get creative. For example, if you have young children, you could build a brick-walled sandpit, which you can transform into a raised bed or a pond once they’ve outgrown the play space.

Garden furniture can also be multi-functional, such as a built-in bench that incorporates storage. Large entertaining spaces are tricky to incorporate into small gardens, but positioning your table along one side of the garden frees up space and lets you incorporate bench seating and hidden storage.

8. Divide your garden

It may sound counterintuitive, but dividing a garden into smaller sections can often make it feel bigger. Use narrow hedges, small trees or screens to create different zones, such as a seating area, vegetable patch, play space or secluded bower. 

You can also use screening to hide less aesthetically pleasing essentials, such as bins and storage areas. Fence screens or a trellis and a climber such as an evergreen clematis or star jasmine can turn this part of your garden into a feature rather than an eyesore.

9. Use borrowed views

If you have an open aspect, such as countryside, a woodland area or park behind your garden, you can “borrow” this view to make your garden feel bigger. You can create a borrowed view effect by mirroring elements of the surrounding landscape or by using a pair of trees, a gap in a hedge or a physical structure to frame whatever is behind your garden.

Just remember that if the land behind your home is public access, creating a window for you to look through means that others can look in.

10. Add a mirror to create depth

A carefully placed mirror can give the illusion of space, as well as reflecting light around your garden. This can be particularly beneficial in sunken courtyard gardens. Nestle a window-like mirror among green ivy to give the illusion of peeking into another garden. Remember when positioning your mirror to consider what is being reflected – your ugly downpipe doesn’t have quite the same vibe as a cosy courtyard scene.

11. Use light colours

Light colours make spaces seem larger. Using pale landscaping or painting a fence or wall in a light colour reflects light, which can make your tiny courtyard feel more spacious. Create a chic, modern look with structured paving or slap some white paint on a wall with buckets of bright flowers for a Mediterranean feel.

12. Limit your planting and colour scheme

Sticking to a limited colour palette helps small gardens feel more cohesive. Cool-toned plants are said to make gardens seem more spacious, but the effect is likely to be minimal, so I’d start with a colour you love and add a couple of complementary or contrasting colours, depending on the look you’re going for.

It’s also worth restraining yourself from filling your beds and pots with too many varieties of plants, as this can quickly look chaotic. Instead, choose a limited selection of plants, but plant multiples of each variety for a natural effect.

Lovers of maximalism may, of course, wish to break these guidelines – your garden, your rules! 

13. Double down on cosy

Some rules are made to be broken, and one of those is the less-is-more principle to designing small gardens. This design works particularly well for shady gardens in urban areas, where you want your space to feel secluded, not small.

Just as you may paint a small room in a dark colour to make it feel cosy, the same is true for your garden. Layers of deep green foliage create a jungle-like feel and disguise the boundaries of a garden, making it seem as if it doesn’t have boundaries at all. 

14. Add a water feature for tranquility

You have many options for incorporating a water feature into a small garden. A pond can be as simple, cheap and effective as a bucket or old sink dug into the ground (just make sure you include a ladder for frogs to get out!). Rills are slim channels that can be used to divide sections of paving. They look particularly effective in contemporary and modern gardens. If you have the budget, you could dedicate a larger part of your garden to water, for example, by creating a larger pond spanned by a bridge that leads to a seating area beyond.

I particularly love the sound of running water, which can help mask background noise and make your garden feel like a secluded retreat from the world. If you’re short on space, consider a tiered sculpture, a pondless waterfall or a wall-mounted water feature. The latter is also a good option if you have young children.

15. Use lighting 

One of the advantages of having a small garden is that it doesn’t cost a fortune to add lighting. Carefully placed lighting can transform your garden and give it a whole different feel. Plus, it allows you to enjoy your garden on warm summer nights and cool, crisp evenings. Warm toned lighting, such as oranges and yellows, is better for wildlife.

16. Choose plants that have year-round interest 

In a small garden, every plant has to earn its space. Consider year-round planting and structure, with trees and shrubs and a mixture of evergreen and deciduous perennials. Some of my favorite plants that pack a punch include:

• Repeat-flowering roses like ‘Carefree Days’ and ‘Precious Gold’.

• Clematis ‘The President’, a climber with gorgeous purple flowers that blooms in spring and again at the end of the summer.

• Shade-loving skimmias, which provide winter colour, spring flowers and green leaves all year round.

• Hawthorn and crab apple trees, which give you beautiful flowers, bright berries and colourful leaves in autumn, and are great for wildlife.

• French marigolds, an easy-to-grow annual that’s great for pots and beds and flowers from early summer through to the first frosts.

For patio gardens, you can plant bulbs and bedding plants in pots, which can be switched out as the seasons change. Pots are also easier to move around, if you want to create a larger space for entertaining.

17. Don’t give up on fruit and vegetables

While you may not have space for a full-sized allotment patch, it’s possible to grow fruit and vegetables in all but the most shaded gardens. You can train fruit trees up a wall or sturdy fence, or choose a stepover variety to divide a seating area from a lawn or flower bed. Patio fruit trees are grown on rootstocks to limit their final height, meaning you can successfully grow them in pots. Blueberries, strawberries and rhubarb all grow well in pots and lettuce is often better grown in a pot or shallow container on a table, away from the slugs!

Square-foot gardening is a popular method for growing vegetables intensively in a small space. Choose fast-growing crops, such as spring onions, radishes, salad leaves, and carrots, or plants like courgettes and beans that keep producing all summer.

18. Don’t neglect shaded areas

Side returns and north-facing courtyards are often left to last, when you’ve run out of budget and motivation, but when you have a small garden, every bit of space counts. The key to planting success in shade is to work with the conditions you have and embrace the greenery! Many hostas and ferns thrive in shade, along with green heucheras like ‘Lime Marmalade’, lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and Euphorbia 'Robbiae'. If you want flowering plants, there are a handful of varieties that are happy in shade, such as Camellia 'Bonomiana'.

Take inspiration from traditional Japanese courtyard gardens – tiny gardens that receive little natural light. Alternatively, if dark greenery isn’t your thing, you could create a dry garden, such as a Zen garden.

 

Budget small garden ideas

Creating a beautiful garden doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, though it may require a bit of imagination and patience! Here are some tips for small garden ideas on a budget:

• The biggest costs tend to be hard landscaping and fencing. Look for secondhand fence boards and opt for gravel over a patio as it’s cheaper and easier to do yourself. Keep an eye on local marketplaces or social media groups in case anyone is giving away materials.

• Give existing patio slabs a new lease of life by cleaning them up and laying them in a different configuration or with new edging to give it a smart look. 

• Grow annuals from seed for a cheap way to add lasting colour to beds and pots. This is a great way to fill beds temporarily for a year or two while you save up for larger plants. Some of my favorite annuals to grow from seed are cosmos, marigolds, calendula, sweet peas and nasturtiums.

• Take cuttings from plants and grow them on to create new plants for your garden for free! This takes a bit of patience, and it may take a few years for your garden to become established, but it’s a great way to create the garden you want on a budget.

• Upcycle old garden furniture and add new cushions (or ones you already own) to create comfy, unique seating.

• Use climbing plants to soften hard boundaries and disguise unsightly sheds or fences. Clematis grow quickly and can cover a large area (though less vigorous varieties are also available).

 

Feeling overwhelmed?

I’ve thrown a lot of information at you, but remember, you don’t have to do everything or do it all at once. Making changes incrementally allows you to take stock of your garden and adapt your plans as you go, as well as testing out different ideas. Gardening is all about trial and error, so don’t be afraid to try new things – there are no failures, just experiments!

If you’ve just moved into a new house, it’s worth waiting to develop your garden, so you can see how it changes from season to season and which areas get sun and shade at different times of the year. During this time, you can experiment with different layouts by positioning movable items such as furniture and pots and test out different colour schemes by growing annuals from seed or planting bedding plants.