How to Create a Little Garden Escape — Whatever Size Your Outdoor Space

There’s something rather wonderful about having a little piece of the outdoors that feels like yours.

It doesn’t need rolling lawns.

It doesn’t need immaculate borders, an enormous patio or one of those outdoor kitchens that appears to contain more appliances than most actual kitchens.

Sometimes all you need is a chair, something growing and somewhere you genuinely want to sit.

Because a garden — however small — doesn’t have to be impressive.

It just needs to give you somewhere to escape to.

Start with what you want to do there

Before buying plants, moving furniture or wondering whether you should finally understand what south-facing actually means, ask yourself something much simpler:

What would I like to do out here?

Perhaps you want somewhere to sit with a book.

A sunny spot for breakfast.

Somewhere to have a glass of something cold at the end of the day.

A place to grow herbs.

A little corner where you can potter about when your head feels too full.

Or simply somewhere to sit for ten minutes and listen to the birds.

Once you know what you want your outdoor space to give you, it becomes much easier to decide what belongs in it.

Find your corner

You don't necessarily need to transform the entire garden.

In fact, sometimes it's nicer not to.

Find one corner.

It could be underneath a tree, beside the back door, at the end of a path or squeezed onto the smallest of balconies.

Add a chair.

Suddenly you have somewhere to go.

Add a little table and somewhere to put a drink.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Add a cushion, a planter or two and perhaps something beautiful that makes you smile...

And somehow that previously forgotten corner has become your spot.

Small spaces can actually be rather good at this.

They naturally feel tucked away.

Grow something

There is a particular kind of satisfaction that comes from noticing something you planted has produced a new leaf.

Even if you have absolutely no idea what you're doing.

You don't need to become an expert gardener.

A few pots can completely change an outdoor space, and containers are wonderful because you can move them around until everything looks right.

Herbs are especially satisfying.

They smell wonderful, they're useful and there is something deeply pleasing about wandering outside while cooking and casually announcing:

"I'll just get some rosemary."

It makes you feel approximately 37% more accomplished at life.

Window boxes, hanging baskets and wall planters can bring greenery into spaces where there isn't much floor room, too.

The important thing isn't how much you grow.

It's simply having something alive nearby.

Make room for visitors

Not necessarily human ones.

Birds, bees, butterflies and all the other tiny creatures going about their extraordinarily busy lives can make a garden endlessly interesting.

A bird bath or shallow source of water can bring surprising amounts of activity.

Flowers that pollinators enjoy add colour for us and food for them.

And once you start noticing which birds visit your garden, you may find yourself becoming unexpectedly invested in their personal affairs.

There will be favourites.

There may be disputes.

Someone will inevitably behave disgracefully at the bird feeder.

It's basically a very small soap opera happening outside your window.

Add something simply because it's lovely

Not everything in a garden has to serve a practical purpose.

Put something outside because you enjoy looking at it.

A lantern.

An old pot.

A piece of garden decoration.

A beautiful planter.

Something slightly quirky tucked amongst the flowers.

Outdoor spaces are still part of our homes, and they deserve the same little flashes of personality as the rooms inside.

You don't need dozens of things.

Often one or two pieces amongst greenery are far more effective.

The aim isn't to fill the garden.

It's to give your eye somewhere lovely to land.

Think vertically when space is tight

A tiny balcony or courtyard can still contain an extraordinary amount of life.

The trick is remembering that you don't only have floor space.

You have walls.

Climbing plants, hanging baskets, wall-mounted planters and shelves can all bring plants upwards instead of outwards.

A narrow trellis covered in greenery can completely change how a little space feels without sacrificing somewhere to put your chair.

And yes, the chair is important.

We are creating an escape here.

Standing amongst seventeen beautifully arranged pots because there is nowhere left to sit rather defeats the object.

Don't underestimate lighting

Gardens change when the sun goes down.

A few warm lights can turn an ordinary patio into somewhere you suddenly want to stay for another hour.

Solar lanterns, strings of outdoor lights or a couple of softly glowing lamps amongst pots can be enough.

It doesn't need to resemble an airport runway.

A little light tucked amongst greenery creates warmth and makes the space feel intimate.

Add a blanket when the evening cools and suddenly going back indoors seems considerably less appealing.

Let it be imperfect

Gardens are particularly good at ignoring our plans.

Things grow where we didn't expect them to.

Something we lovingly planted decides immediately that it hates us.

Another plant that received almost no attention whatsoever becomes enormous.

Leaves fall.

Weeds appear.

Birds redistribute things.

Weather happens.

And perhaps that's part of the pleasure.

An outdoor space doesn't need to be perfectly manicured to be beautiful.

A little wildness makes it feel alive.

And then actually use it

This might sound ridiculous.

But sometimes we spend so much time creating lovely spaces that we forget to enjoy them.

So once you've made your corner...

Sit in it.

Take breakfast outside.

Read three chapters instead of one.

Watch the birds.

Have lunch in the sunshine.

Take your shoes off.

Stay outside as the light changes.

Don't save the garden for barbecues, visitors or particularly glorious weekends.

A completely ordinary Tuesday evening is reason enough.

Because perhaps the best outdoor spaces aren't the biggest or the most impressive.

They're simply the ones that make us think:

I might stay here a little longer.