Friday, October 2, 2009

How to Design a Small Front Garden

Like many front gardens that run alongside busy streets or line the roadside on housing estates, this narrow strip of land with any imagination in its design. It was simply made up of a pathway leading along the front of the house, with a bed between this and the house and a strip of grass with some larger shrubs dotted around between the path and the road. By using a zig-zag shape for the path and introducing triangular beds, you will have transformed the space into an eye-catching and luxuriant seaside garden

The cleverly designed zig-zag path of pebbles inset with paving slabs allows the slabs to be laid close together around the front door and main walkway. The pebbles are laid, as are the slabs, on a bed of compacted hardcore to stop weeds from encroaching.


'File beds arc all outlined with white painted timber. Along the roadside raised beds provide some privacy and a verdant view from the house. Wire and timber trellis to support climbers has been fixed to the house Walls around windows and the doorway.

To divide the private land front the public routes beyond it white timber posts 1 m/39 in high with swags of synthetic rope have been introduced

The same idea has been used for the taller posts that make up a pergola at one end. The ropes criss-cross above the pathway and run through large rings fixed to the top or side of each post, winding around the taller posts where they begin and end their run. This leads to a sunny seaside atmosphere to match the location.

Solar-powered lights line the pathway to show the route at night. Using stored energy from sunlight these lights avoid the expense of buying and installing electricity cables beneath the surface of the garden, as well as the upheaval this inevitably involves

This garden is designed to be colorful and interesting, around the year, with evergreen shrubs, many with variegated foliage, that require a minimum of maintenance. Strong summer color is provided by annuals such as sweet peas and busy daisies. The bright blues, purples, reds and white show up well in the clear coastal light.

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