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If you live in town and have a busy lifestyle but want to jazz up your small garden, BBC Gardeners World presenter Joe Swift may have some solutions.
It doesnt have to cost a fortune to jazz up your urban outdoor space if it is looking a little tired and neglected, says Swift.
So what can you do to give your garden a visual boost?
Boundaries are really important, he notes.If you have really ugly walls try and clad them or cover them with something such as plyboard, which you can paint, or screening, which comes on a roll.
Cover up an unsightly boundary because its the first thing that you see as you come out and it can be the most depressing and claustrophobic part of a small garden, where everything is at eye level.
Clean up old paving, walls and pots by hiring a pressure washer or if you can afford it, think about resurfacing, but consider the tones you are going to need, he advises.
In a small shady garden, go for a lighter shade of sandstone or a lighter colour paving, mixed with light coloured aggregates to save yourself some money.
Lawns simply dont work in small, shady gardens, but if you have a big space and you want a lawn, think about edging it with timber to define it, which will instantly make the garden look tidier.
Paint is another option which, though once popular, is now underused.
I use quite a lot of paint on boundaries, brickwork and walls, he says. Its such an easy and cheap thing to do. If you have a dark shady garden look at lightening it up. Dont use pure white, which is quite a demanding colour. Look at natural tones of off white, creams, taupes or mushroom colours, which work well in shade.
The more light you have in your garden, the more daring you can be with colour, using terracottas, purples or reds to set off the plants and intensify the greens of any plants you put next to them.
Paint terracotta pots with masonry paint, using a maximum of two colours.
You can create a lot of visual impact in a weekend with a couple of pots of masonry paint, he says. That means you might be left with a bit more money to spend on buying a few bigger plants, or some paving.
Joe himself has a mixture of grasses and perennials in his own urban garden, which provide height, colour and movement. Late summer flowering perennials such as rudbeckias and scabious mix in beautifully with ornamental grasses, such as miscanthus, he says.
Scented plants also create a more sensuous effect on a garden. Plant lavender, thyme and slightly more adventurous plants such as citrus, whose scent will fill a small garden. Fragrant jasmines and honeysuckles can be grown up boundaries, which will also provide scent.
With a little imagination, your urban garden can quickly become a little piece of paradise.
:: Joes Urban Garden Handbook, by Joe Swift, is published by Quadrille, price £20.
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