How to Design a Small Cottage Garden
Cottage gardens used to be a common sight behind a home’s kitchen garden. These small gardens provided cut flowers for the dinner table and parlor. While these became outdated whenever professionally landscaped yards and the availability of store-bought flowers became popular, they are being rediscovered once again today.
Things That You Will Need
- Some graph paper
- A pencil
- Gardening references
- Decide where you want to put your garden.
- Make sure there is areas that are full of sun, as well as those that are partially sunny or partially shaded so that you can grow a variety of plants.
- Put edging or rocks around your garden so that grass will not grow in it.
- Choose old-fashioned plants that freely bloom. Make sure that these are things that are both bright and easy to grow.
- Plant some herbs (i.e. catmint, tansy, bergamot, mint) if you don't have a kitchen garden.
- Know the requirements of the plants that you're putting in your garden.
- Draw a plan for your garden.
- Place the tall plants in the back of your garden.
- Give the perennials plenty of space.
- Consider the different plans’ growing habits
- Make sure that you are using the small amount of space that you do have available for your cottage garden as efficiently as possible.
- Plan for a succession of blooms with different areas of your garden lighting up throughout the growing season.
- Fill in any open room that you want to leave for your perennials to grow in later on with shallow-rooted, bright annuals.
- Mark dates for fertilizing on your calendar so that you remember.