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.
And, borrowing from a design ethos often used in open-plan design within the home, leading interior design house Neptune recommend using zoning as a strategy to get the most out of your outdoor space.
Quite simply, 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 recommend 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.
Speaking of low-key, 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.
If you have little people in your life who love to throw tea parties with toys or to turn lunchtimes into garden picnics, they will love the suggestion of having a certain 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.
We love the idea of a couple of 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 that your plant placement can even 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 (incidentally, with a bit of clearing up, this could double as that aforementioned cocktail console table too ).
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 we hope these tips help you make the most of the space you have.
