PLACE TO BE & A WAY TO GET THERE- BRISTOL

Small urban gardens are simple. Give yourself a place to escape to and a practical way to get there. Job done. Let plants do the rest and embrace the wild.

This space was typical of city gardens, a random collection of old astroturf, pea shingle and old concrete slabs with a new family doing there best to make the most of it.

Only about 6x6m and a weird shape it was easy for the family to be stuck for ideas but by keeping it simple we massively opened this space up.

A generous terrace with reclaimed timber beams as seating surround a movable firepit to create a beating heart in the centre. Great for small gatherings and solo relaxation but also giving a feeling of openess and space.

Salvaged concrete gravel boards are reimagined as 'plank paving' giving a solid, hardwearing pathway, the gaps allowing creeping plants in to soften it over time.

The rest we went big with the planting and celebrated what was possible in small spaces with a tiered food forest. Two established multistem trees to anchor the space, great for small gardens and food source for birds, Prunus mahaleb and Amelanchier lamarckii. A good eating apple on dwarf root stock. An understorey of edible shrubs, Aronia, Elder, Rosemary, currents and gooseberries with a sea of edible perrenials, salad crops and ground covers with sedges and ferns to help naturalise and give that wild feeling. This will be booming next summer.

Easy to manage but highly impactful, the structure and hardlandscaping of this space is what gives the bravary to let the planting go mad. In small gardens especially you dont need to be an expert gardener you just learn about how to manage your space, feel free to experiment and play.

This garden was created through one of my Wild Garden Workshops and meticulously crafted by the brilliant Arlingon Landscapes based in Bristol.