When it comes to design, a garden is similar to an open-plan room: it is one space in which you will relax, entertain, eat, and even cook.
Borrowing from a design ethos often used in open-plan design within the home, leading interior design house Neptune recommends using zoning as a strategy to get the most out of your outdoor space.
Zoning creates sections within a space based on how you would like to use it – making the most of every corner and creating a considered and practical layout.
The good news is you don’t need a big garden to use this technique, and zoning really comes into its own in a smaller space.
Garden zoning can be as functional or as fanciful as you like: if you would rather keep it to a few core zones such as a place to eat, a place to store things, and place to grow, that is a great start.
Neptune recommends starting with your biggest wish for the space - one of the main things that we enjoy doing in our gardens is eating and entertaining at the garden table.
If that is true for you, invest in a table that works with your space and your lifestyle, and set it up in the perfect spot, balancing light with shade.
If your outdoors is on the roomier side, a nice touch is to introduce another table and chairs group with a different purpose, such as a more low-key and intimate bistro set for you to share a morning coffee with a loved one.
By zoning a small section of your garden into a place for you to relax with a good book, you are essentially building yourself an al fresco living room.
Add in a coffee or side table to echo your interior version, dress it with cushions and keep a blanket to hand, and it soon becomes something that is near-impossible to walk past.
Children will love the suggestion of having a patch of garden dedicated to their fun and games. And for the grown-ups, it could be fun to have a raised deck or a cosy terraced section in your garden dedicated to pre-supper cocktails for special occasions.
Finally, what would a garden be without plants — something that can be done on a big scale or be as small as a group of pots.
Consider dividing your garden into sections that become an environment for one type of plant: a herb garden, a cutting garden, even fruit trees if you have the luxury of space and time – and consider if your plant placement can aid in sectioning off the zones with a bit of planning.
You could also earmark a corner for a potting bench, giving you a clear-cut space to enjoy your green-fingered hobby (and, with a bit of clearing up, this could also double as a cocktail console table ).
However small or large your outdoor world, and whatever you decide to devote it to, it should, above all, be a space that restores and energises — somewhere you long to return to and love to spend time in — and these tips can help you make the most of the space you have.
