How to deal with your front garden
Common Garden Conundrums
There are SO MANY photos in today’s post - if they don’t come up in your email, please do head to the home page where you’ll be able to see everything in its full splendour:
Ready? Let’s kick off then…..
The sun comes out in the UK… and I leave. Which is sort of typical but I’m not complaining as I am somewhere beautiful: an abandoned monastery island in the lagoon on one side…
…and this view on the other.
But still, I’d quite like to be back home checking on the tulips. I’m not desperate exactly, but I’m definitely curious, because just before I left, something magical was happening in the gravel garden…
All of the above have self-seeded - they are free plants - where’s the catch?! There’s nothing quite like the joy of stumbling on something you didn’t plant but which has decided that it’s very happy in its place, thank you very much. I’ll be updating you very, very soon.
A massive thank you for the feedback on this week’s CULTIVATED - there’ll be another one coming soon, and if you missed it, it’s free to read here.
If you’re new here, please do come and give us a whirl - it’s the friendliest gardening community here on Substack, and over nearing five years, you’ve grown it into a really fabulous and supportive group of garden lovers - I couldn’t have done it without you! Your support means that I’ve been able to develop and deliver original and hopefully inspirational content to you. THANK YOU.
The Garden Design Studio is one of my ways of thanking you - it’s really exciting to be able to do the things I love - write, teach and design - and you’ve enabled that.
While I’m on it, do remember to head over to the Chat on Sundays - Show Us Your Plots gets super-busy there each week. We now have members in 177 countries - imagine that?! (Still none in Greenland though, which you might remember is my mission…. if you know anyone who lives there, do please let them know).
I’ve got another Garden Design Challenge for you. Before I left, I went out on a very special mission - I want to demystify the front garden. So often, I’m asked for advice on what to do with these often small and ignored spaces - there are some simple solutions and today we’re going to take a look at some truly inspirational examples in villages, towns and cities in UK, and further afield…..
There are plenty more garden design conundrums and challenges - do have a browse through:
How to deal with a long narrow garden
And based, on your requests from the Chat, coming soon are:
How to deal with a windy garden
How to cope with wet soils
How to deal with areas that are hot and dry
You can catch up on other small garden ideas here. As ever, if you’ve got a garden challenge that isn’t listed here, let me know in the comments below or in the Chat, and I’ll write about it.
Easy planting ideas and combinations
Before we get going, I know you might be itching to head to the nurseries and garden centres. We’ve looked at many colour palettes and planting combinations here in The Gardening Mind, and I find it hard to pick my favourite - which is basically why I’m always creating new ones for you.
There are 100 different colour palettes and studies of real gardens in my book on colour. And, for inspiration right now, here are some I’ve shared over the years (sunny, shady, romantic, cottage, ornamental, edible) - just click on the photo of the one that works for your taste and location:
It’s taken me ages to get to the point today, but here we are, eventually:
Designing your front garden - how to create a space that looks welcoming and works hard at the same time
How many times have you walked down a street and seen joyous bursts of colour and jolliness which have really uplifted you? Front gardens are a real opportunity and I know that some Gardening Mind members are looking to deal with their forlorn patch of green but are not sure where to start.
SO, I’ve been investigating a street in my village, as well as some other urban locations, in order to hopefully inspire you. If you do decide to tackle your own front garden, I’m convinced that you'll in turn inspire and bring joy to everyone who sees it - I really am.
This garden below is one of my favourite front gardens in my village: I pass it every day and it makes me smile each time. As you can see, it isn’t a complicated design, and would be incredibly easy to recreate. This is what you see as you first approach, and then: