GARDENS:Capitalise on good views, and use clever tricks to make the most of even the tiniest city garden, writes Jane Powers.
WHEN I WALK down the street I play a game - one that a lot of gardeners play: if I had that space, what would I do with it? Other people's gardens always seem more full of possibilities, and more interesting than my own - just because they are not mine, I suppose, and I'm looking at them with a fresh eye.
Urban gardens often have great potential, but much of it is under-realised. A scrap of lawn, a rose bush, and a few "low maintenance" conifers is the staid lot of many city spaces. Or, where parking must be found, the garden is turned into a paved or gravelled desert.
It's true that city gardens may be tiny, but a small space is so much easier to manage and to plan. And a big advantage, of which many urban-dwellers are not aware, is that gardens in built-up areas can be considerably warmer than country plots. All the hard surfaces - walls, paving, buildings - absorb heat and give it off later, like a giant, wraparound storage heater. Cities may be a couple of degrees warmer than the adjacent rural region, and may offer a congenial home to less hardy plants, such as bananas, cannas, figs, passion flower, and the wonderful Beschorneria, with its fantastical flower stalks. Indeed, the handsome and bold foliage of these tropical-looking species is well suited to the strong lines of an enclosed town garden. And never mind if the garden is truly tiny: whopping great leaves can create a striking and theatrical atmosphere.
But we're putting the cart before the horse, or rather, planting the garden before we've given it proper consideration (which is easy to do, because acquiring a plant is always fun, and often painless on the pocket). So, if you are the lucky owner of a small urban garden, there are a few bits of advice that I'd like to proffer.
The first thing to do is to take a critical look at what you have. See if there is anything interesting or appealing that could be emphasised or exploited: an old brick wall, a nice bit of paving, a well-shaped tree. Look beyond your boundaries for something that you might borrow: a church spire, a line of trees, or a glimpse of the sea. Views are important: if it's a good one, be sure to milk it for all it's worth by framing it, leading the eye to it, or echoing it. And, if it's a less attractive one (which to be honest, is more likely, in urban Ireland), then concentrate on distracting from it, and turning the eye inward. Have a look at the garden from the windows of the house, because that will be your most frequent view. And, if it is a front garden, inspect it from the road, too. Most urban front gardens are too small to allow you to screen the road, so you may as well concentrate on giving yourself and passers-by the best possible view.
In a tiny garden, every plant, pot, and piece of furniture is on view in a single glance. If you want to make it an eyeful, rather than an eyesore, then all these different elements need to get along with each other. The trick, as you might expect, is to keep things simple. A few large pots, for instance, are more impressive than a clatter of small ones, and need less maintenance. Don't mix too many styles or materials. Everything doesn't have to be matching, but it should be complementary. And remember, your outdoor space should have some stylistic connection with house. If your home's architecture is modern, then keep the rococo out of the garden - unless you're making some kind of a witty and edgy statement. Older houses, on the other hand, seem better able to cope with a spot of no-frills modernity outside.
A tiny square patch can be made to appear larger by changing the axis. The longest line is along the diagonal, so if you lay paving at a 45-degree angle, you create the illusion of more space. Long, narrow plots can be a challenge if they are not to look thin and mean: the worst thing that you can do is to put a path shooting down to the end, as this elongates the vista. Either divide the garden diagonally into a couple of diamonds, or create partial screens along its length so that your eye can't immediately find the back wall. Use bamboo, hedging, trellis, or other vertical plants or objects.
But before you plant a single thing, work out what kind of conditions your garden has. What direction does it face? Where are the sunny and shady spots? Is it exposed to wind? Is the soil acid, lime or neutral? Is the ground heavy or light, dry or damp? If it is a new urban garden, chances are that the stuff underfoot is a dire concoction of compacted soil and builders' rubble. Don't be afraid to put the worst of it in a skip, and order in new topsoil. Do add plenty of organic matter, such as compost or well-rotted manure, if you can get it.
And so to plant. In a small garden, every growing thing has to look in peak condition, so choose only those things that suit the environment. If your plot is shady and damp, you'll have to forget about roses and sunny annuals, but don't worry, there are plenty of well-shaped green things that will make the spot look restful and elegant: hostas, ferns, periwinkle, ivy, bergenia, Fatsia japonica and a hundred different kinds of ivy. If the space is a tiny, dim courtyard, or even a corridor, paint the walls white, or another pale colour, to reflect extra light back in.
If you are blessed with sun, remember that its effects will be magnified by the surrounding hard materials. Mediterranean species, herbs, and plants with leaves that are small and thin, or fleshy, or grey and downy, thrive in such a hot spot. These include many nectar-laden plants such as Verbena bonariensis, sedums and buddleja. These will attract buzzing bees and flitting butterflies, giving you the best sort of city garden: the kind that is shared with other creatures. jpowers@irish-times.ie
Further reading: City Garden by Andi Clevely (Frances Lincoln, £10.99 in UK)
• Due to an error in the production process (with spellcheck!), the word man-trap appeared instead of maincrop, in the gardening article on potatoes in the issue of April 5th. Also, the correct spelling of the some of the varieties is as follows: Remarka (not Remark); Valor (not Volar); Sarpo Mira (not Swapo Mari) and Sarpo Axona (not Swapo Axone)