If there were 3 things that I could change about my home, it would be:
- open plan kitchen, living and dining
- double garage with extra storage
- a bigger yard
Our back yard is tiny. We have a courtyard, which houses the washing line and a small outdoor cupboard. Then, we have the garden area. All 10 square metres of it! (That is about 107 square feet for my US friends.) See – tiny!
This means that we have to be very creative if we want any sort of green space. Which leads me to my point – go vertical! It has truly changed the way in which we (ok, ok, Hubs) garden. Necessity is the mother of invention (or how does that saying go?). You get my point!
Enough rambling, get to the tips!
Okay, fine. Here we go…
1. Buy a drain pipe
Or use one that you already have. But create a hydroponic vertical garden. It is such a huge space saver and as a bonus you get to hear the relaxing sound of water gently flowing… Maybe don’t put it too close to your room, you may need to get up during the night for a bathroom break. (I’ll add the link to how we built this here, just in case you want to give it a go!)
2. Go green
Aka – synthetic grass. Yes, I know that there are debates about it, but let me tell you. Our back yard was a mud pit. A swamp. Nothing would grow there during winter. Summer would roll around and then the weeds would arrive. It was such a beautiful sight to behold. Not. The synthetic grass has helped keep the mud and sand at bay, it pet-friendly, and looks great. So it’s staying.
3. Get a hook
We used these pot hooks to hang terracotta pots on the fence. The pots are arranged in columns so that when you water them, the water will drip from the top pot down to the next one, etc. Water saving in Cape Town is a real thing!
4. Recycle
We had some copper piping and fitting lying around from a dismantled old project. We had a bare wall in the garden. And now? Now we have a unique, one of a kind, striking pot holder in the garden. The tip here is to try to use what you have lying around to create one-of-a-kind items to add personality to your space.
Long story short, the size of your space doesn’t matter. You can work with what you have to create your very own garden oasis and when in doubt, go up!
Until next time,
