Small Space, Real Rewards

A courtyard, a narrow side return or a walled back garden barely bigger than a dining table can still earn its keep. The trick is to garden upwards and in layers, rather than across. In a family plot, that means giving children something to pick, water and marvel at, without turning every spare inch into a muddy thoroughfare. Most of the projects below can be finished in a weekend with basic tools, and all of them suit the British climate — damp winters, uncertain summers and all.

Before you buy a single pot, spend twenty minutes watching how the light moves. A courtyard that looks gloomy at nine in the morning may be baking by two. Note where the sun sits and where rain drips from the roof, then place your projects accordingly.

Project One: A Vertical Planter Against a Wall

Walls are the most wasted asset in a small garden. A simple vertical planter made from a wooden pallet, sanded and treated with a child-safe wood preserver, will hold a surprising amount. Staple landscape fabric across the back and between the slats, fill with multi-purpose compost, and plant in the gaps. Alternatively, fix three or four troughs to battens at staggered heights, spacing them about 40cm apart so plants have room to spill.

Good candidates for a sunny wall:

• Trailing nasturtiums — edible flowers that children love to spot
• Alpine strawberries, which crop for months in a warm corner
• Compact tomatoes such as a bush variety in a 10-litre pot
• Thyme and oregano, which thrive in the drier soil at the top

On a shaded wall, swap in ferns, ivy-leaved pelargoniums or hardy salad leaves. Fix the whole structure to the wall with proper screws into masonry, not cable ties. If it holds water and compost, it becomes heavy once wet and a gusty October wind will find any weakness. As a rough guide, a planted trough weighs around 15kg per 50cm of length.

Window Boxes That Actually Thrive

Window boxes fail for one reason more often than any other: not enough compost and not enough water. Choose boxes at least 25cm deep and line them with broken crocks or gravel before filling. A soil-based compost holds moisture better than a purely peat-free light mix in a windy, exposed spot, so consider mixing the two.

For a family-friendly box, combine something scented, something edible and something trailing. Rosemary, chives and a few marigolds will give you cuttings for the kitchen and colour from June until the first frost. Deadhead weekly and feed with a liquid tomato feed every fortnight from midsummer. In a hot spell, a small window box may need watering twice a day, so keep a slim watering can by the back door — it makes the job a thirty-second habit rather than a chore.

Compact Herbs for Tight Corners

Herbs are the most rewarding crop for a small space, because you use them constantly and they forgive a little neglect. A single half-barrel or a group of three 20cm pots is ample for a household's needs.

• Mint — always in its own pot, or it will colonise everything
• Parsley — sow in spring; slow to germinate but generous once up
• Chives — cut them hard and they return again and again
• Rosemary and sage — shrubby, drought-tolerant and evergreen
• Basil — keep on a sunny windowsill and pinch out the flowers

Group pots together rather than spacing them out. Clustering shades the compost, slows evaporation and creates a humid microclimate that suits most herbs. It also means one watering can covers the lot.

Making Room to Sit

However small the plot, leave one spot for a chair and a cup of tea. A folding bistro set takes up less than a square metre and can be moved as the sun shifts. If space is really tight, a wall-mounted drop-leaf table does the job, folding flat when not in use.

Keep the floor clear by raising everything you can onto feet or brackets. Pots sitting directly on paving leave damp rings and shelter slugs, so stand them on terracotta feet or a slatted wooden base. A narrow gravel margin around the edges of a courtyard also softens the hard landscaping and drains far better than solid paving.

Keeping It Tidy Through the Year

Small gardens show neglect quickly, but they also recover fast. Ten minutes a week is usually enough. In autumn, empty spent annual troughs, scrub them with warm soapy water and store them stacked and dry. Top up compost in spring rather than replacing it wholesale, and refresh the top 5cm where plants have been growing for a season.

In winter, a few evergreen shrubs in pots — skimmia, bay or a compact hebe — keep the structure going when everything else has died back. Add a string of warm-white outdoor lights on a timer, and even the smallest courtyard becomes somewhere the family wants to linger on a cold, clear evening.

The real pleasure of a tiny garden is that it never overwhelms you. One pallet, three herb pots and a well-planted window box will give you more picking, more scent and more green than you might expect — and a weekend's work is all it asks.