12 Tricks to Fatten Up Your Slender Garden
Give your slender property a more expansive feel by adding curves, layering plantings, building in storage and more
Lauren Dunec Hoang
20 March 2017
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR.
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and... More
With a few clever ideas to expand views and maximise space, narrow lots can look and feel more expansive than they really are. Here are a dozen ways to transform a skinny lot into an inviting garden with room for outdoor entertaining, hidden storage, places to relax and everything else on your garden wish list.
1. Create curves
Undulating pathways and planting beds running across a narrow yard can trick the eye into thinking the space is wider. For example, consider this narrow, wedge-shaped garden in Hertfordshire, in the UK. Three circular lawns bordered by stone pathways and verdant planting beds encourage one’s gaze to meander back and forth across the property, making the garden appear larger than it is.
Undulating pathways and planting beds running across a narrow yard can trick the eye into thinking the space is wider. For example, consider this narrow, wedge-shaped garden in Hertfordshire, in the UK. Three circular lawns bordered by stone pathways and verdant planting beds encourage one’s gaze to meander back and forth across the property, making the garden appear larger than it is.
2. Go diagonal
Shift the sightline of the garden by laying out walkways, seating areas and planting beds at an angle between 30° and 70° to the house. A diagonal garden layout works much in the same way as a curving pathway to direct a viewer’s gaze and make a narrow garden feel more expansive.
In this contemporary-style garden in San Francisco, USA, the designer laid out the hardscape elements at a 62° angle to the house and property fences.
Shift the sightline of the garden by laying out walkways, seating areas and planting beds at an angle between 30° and 70° to the house. A diagonal garden layout works much in the same way as a curving pathway to direct a viewer’s gaze and make a narrow garden feel more expansive.
In this contemporary-style garden in San Francisco, USA, the designer laid out the hardscape elements at a 62° angle to the house and property fences.
3. Divide the space for different uses
Maximise space in a narrow garden by splitting it into smaller sections, giving each one a different purpose. The designer of this long, skinny garden in Strawberry Hill, London, made the most of the 27.4 x 7 metre space by separating it into three distinct areas: a tiled courtyard, a formal magnolia-flanked lawn, and a more casual children’s area with a soccer net and in-ground trampoline.
Maximise space in a narrow garden by splitting it into smaller sections, giving each one a different purpose. The designer of this long, skinny garden in Strawberry Hill, London, made the most of the 27.4 x 7 metre space by separating it into three distinct areas: a tiled courtyard, a formal magnolia-flanked lawn, and a more casual children’s area with a soccer net and in-ground trampoline.
4. Or devote the space to your top priority
If you have a small, narrow garden, it can be a better strategy to focus on having it do one thing well rather than trying to squeeze in too many elements. For example, the owners of this home in Vancouver, Washington, devoted the sunniest area of the backyard to growing a robust kitchen garden in galvanised metal feed troughs.
Read more about growing your own food
If you have a small, narrow garden, it can be a better strategy to focus on having it do one thing well rather than trying to squeeze in too many elements. For example, the owners of this home in Vancouver, Washington, devoted the sunniest area of the backyard to growing a robust kitchen garden in galvanised metal feed troughs.
Read more about growing your own food
5. Layer plantings to avoid the ‘corridor effect’
Planting beds that curve in from the sides of a garden and cut into the line of sight down the yard help break up a corridor effect and make the garden seem wider. Vary the heights of plants in the beds as well as their foliage and flower colours to emphasise dimension in a small space.
Planting beds that curve in from the sides of a garden and cut into the line of sight down the yard help break up a corridor effect and make the garden seem wider. Vary the heights of plants in the beds as well as their foliage and flower colours to emphasise dimension in a small space.
6. Maximise growing space
Look for ways to increase planting opportunities without taking up floor space. Add trellises to fences, invest in a living wall, train fruit trees into espaliers and look for tall, skinny containers to plant.
Space-saving espaliered fruit trees
Look for ways to increase planting opportunities without taking up floor space. Add trellises to fences, invest in a living wall, train fruit trees into espaliers and look for tall, skinny containers to plant.
Space-saving espaliered fruit trees
This home and garden in London, also shown in the previous photo, are hardly more than two arm’s-lengths across, yet they are inviting and light-filled inside and out. The garden makes use of plenty of space-maximising design tricks: narrow, raised planting beds; trellises attached to walls; and a grade change to separate garden areas.
7. Create a cosy outdoor room
Another strategy for narrow lots is to embrace the feeling of increased intimacy that comes with a relatively small and enclosed space. Make it look inviting with outdoor furniture, potted succulents, plants climbing up walls, and a string of twinkling cafe lights overhead.
Another strategy for narrow lots is to embrace the feeling of increased intimacy that comes with a relatively small and enclosed space. Make it look inviting with outdoor furniture, potted succulents, plants climbing up walls, and a string of twinkling cafe lights overhead.
8. Mask some areas of the garden from view
Make use of hedges, trees, outdoor screens, fences and walls to conceal some parts of the garden from view, leaving them to be discovered. Masking the far end of a narrow garden can be a particularly effective design trick to make a garden look shorter and wider than it really is. The hidden back area can be a useful spot to store garden items, conceal a compost pile or grow prickly brambles.
Make use of hedges, trees, outdoor screens, fences and walls to conceal some parts of the garden from view, leaving them to be discovered. Masking the far end of a narrow garden can be a particularly effective design trick to make a garden look shorter and wider than it really is. The hidden back area can be a useful spot to store garden items, conceal a compost pile or grow prickly brambles.
9. Go for built-in seating and storage
It can be worth it to splurge for custom seating and storage, rather than trying to fit a purchased piece into a narrow lot. In this garden in southwest London’s Clapham neighbourhood, bench seating built into the planter saves space and allows for room for a narrow dining table, a pair of colourful chairs and a garden shed. The area beneath the bench could also be enclosed for additional storage.
It can be worth it to splurge for custom seating and storage, rather than trying to fit a purchased piece into a narrow lot. In this garden in southwest London’s Clapham neighbourhood, bench seating built into the planter saves space and allows for room for a narrow dining table, a pair of colourful chairs and a garden shed. The area beneath the bench could also be enclosed for additional storage.
10. Incorporate grade changes
Varying the level of different areas of the garden can help define them and create multiple destinations in a narrow garden. Terraces are a natural solution to sloped lots, but completely flat gardens can also also benefit from grade changes. Add a raised deck under an outdoor seating area or remove soil to create a sunken patio.
Level up your flat garden
Varying the level of different areas of the garden can help define them and create multiple destinations in a narrow garden. Terraces are a natural solution to sloped lots, but completely flat gardens can also also benefit from grade changes. Add a raised deck under an outdoor seating area or remove soil to create a sunken patio.
Level up your flat garden
11. Add outdoor lighting
Soft, glowing lights give a narrow garden much more dimension in the evening. The trick to getting outdoor lighting right is to add a diversity of light types (accent lights for highlighting plants, washes for walls, and path lights for safety) and keep them subtle. The designer of this narrow garden in Sydney used soft lights on plants and clever track lighting beneath the bench to give the illusion that the seat is floating.
Soft, glowing lights give a narrow garden much more dimension in the evening. The trick to getting outdoor lighting right is to add a diversity of light types (accent lights for highlighting plants, washes for walls, and path lights for safety) and keep them subtle. The designer of this narrow garden in Sydney used soft lights on plants and clever track lighting beneath the bench to give the illusion that the seat is floating.
12. Create an ‘outdoor ceiling’
Narrow backyards can be just the right width for adding a cover in the form of a trellis, arbour or shade cloth. Creating an outdoor ceiling can increase the feeling of intimacy in a garden and help screen adjacent buildings. Here, the designer added metal arches to span the entire width of the garden and to support the growth of climbers.
Tell us
Do you have a narrow garden that you wish were wider? Share photos with the community in the Comments below.
More
See more compact gardens for inspiration
Narrow backyards can be just the right width for adding a cover in the form of a trellis, arbour or shade cloth. Creating an outdoor ceiling can increase the feeling of intimacy in a garden and help screen adjacent buildings. Here, the designer added metal arches to span the entire width of the garden and to support the growth of climbers.
Tell us
Do you have a narrow garden that you wish were wider? Share photos with the community in the Comments below.
More
See more compact gardens for inspiration
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Beautiful examples! We went "no mow" in our narrow backyard this spring, opened the side yards by moving the gates to the front of the house, and included a winding path in our yard. It feels so much bigger. Before, that little bit of grassy area in the middle of our yard, which was surrounded by flower beds, looked like a postage stamp-sized yard. Now you see the WHOLE yard as one.