Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2007 | Page 71

GARDENING
fashions. Your cutting-edge
style will leave large-scale
gardeners standing.

Balconies and
basement gardens

small-scale gardens. You’ll find
lots of compact varieties of
shrubs, perennials and annuals,
and many of the best new roses
grow just 3ft x 3ft, while there
are now compact clematis of
around 6-8ft, ideal for trellis,
arches, or up an obelisk in
a border or a large tub.
With a really tiny garden,
working out
your plans
is half the
battle, so
draw up
several
alternatives
on paper and
pick your
favourite.
But do your
groundwork
thoroughly
first. Clear
the area
of existing
weeds,
especially
problem
perennial
ones like
ground elder or bindweed.
If you can’t face doing it
repeatedly by hand, take the
short cut - use a glyphosatebased weedkiller. A couple of
treatments four weeks apart at
the start of the growing season,
in April, should shift them,
then you can push on with
your plans and turn as organic
as you like from then on.
With weeds out of the way,
dig the ground over, working
in as much well- rotted organic
matter as you can, then rake it
level. Mark out the area based
on your paper plan, to make
sure everything fits – designers

use cans of spray paint, but
you could fill an old soft drinks
bottle with fine, dry sand and
let it trickle out slowly through
your fingers – and make any
last-minute alterations.
Do any construction work first,
then lay turf or sow a grass
and wildflower seed mixture,
and finally plant your shrubs,
perennials
and rock
plants.
Since bulbs
are only
available
while they
are dormant,
you’ll need
to add
them in due
season,
but don’t
overlook
them as
they are a
great way
of creating
a changing
sequence
of colours
in a small space.
The final touch is placing your
garden seats, tubs, troughs
and decorative items like a
sundial, bird bath or what have
you. If you like the glisten,
tinkle and sparkle of water
but don’t want the bother of a
water feature – or the hassle
with hosepipe bans – try
creating a fake ‘fountain’ from
small cut-glass-style ‘crystals’
suspended on see-through
nylon thread or fine fishing line.
The great beauty of a really
tiny garden is the way you can
afford to experiment, innovate
and respond the changing

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Conditions can be hot and
sunny, cool and shady or wild
and windy depending on which
side of the building you occupy,
so pick plants to suit, and
choose smart, light-weight pots
with matching saucers, or stick
to a few troughs and planters.
In a basement garden that
you look down to from your
windows, go for a tapestry of
ground-covering evergreens
in contrasting colours, shapes
and textures for best effect. A
mixture of ivies, small skimmias
and box topiaries is good
in a shade; in sun go for
evergreen herbs including
trailing thymes and prostrate
rosemary, lavenders and
pinks with topiary bay or - if
it’s a London ba 6V