Planning Considerations For Town Gardens

Town gardens have much to offer and pro­vide an exciting, if challenging, opportunity to produce many interesting and original garden designs. A little forward planning and careful thought can go a long way towards overcoming any immediate problems, such as lack of direct sunlight, shadows cast from neighbouring buildings, poor soil or atmo­spheric pollution.

Planning Considerations For Town Gardens

Generally speaking, you will find that town gardens are easier and cheaper to main­tain than most country gardens, simply because they are usually smaller. Urban sites also tend to be mote sheltered than rural ones and may even be frost-free, so that you can grow a wide range of tender plants without having to protect them or take them into a greenhouse in winter. Formal rather than informal designs rend to be more popular for town gardens because it is easier to incorporate surrounding parry walls into a methodical, precise concept. When you are choosing a design, remember that the garden will be seen as much from the upper storeys of the house as from the lower ones, and formal designs tend to look better from above than informal ones.

Size is seen as one of the most common limitations of town gardens, bur there are plenty of design options that you can use to help deceive the eye. Small plots can be made to seem larger by the use of different levels linked by steps. When it comes to floor treat­ments, diagonal or circular paving is space enhancing. Crearing separate sections within the overall framework of the garden is another way of disguising the limited size of the area. A series of hidden areas that are linked by a winding path can help to create the illusion of space. Lack of light is another constraint often encountered in town gardens. For those gar­dens surrounded by walls, it is possible to paint one or all of the walls white to reflect any light the garden receives.

Shade cast by surrounding buildings is a common problem in town gardens, and the only option here is to select shade-tolerant plants. There are many exciting ones to choose from, however, and a careful mixture of foliage and flowering plants will bring much colour and interest. Wall plants and climbers play a vital role because they increase the surface area of the garden verti­cally rather than horizontally. As an added attraction, a plant-clad wall or fence will provide a degree of privacy. Containers and hanging baskets can be used to make up for poor soil in the rest of the garden. This approach of choosing plants that positively relish the prevailing situation and making the most of the available light, water and space epitomizes town gardening.

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