About – Small Garden Ideas

Small Garden Ideas is a free informational resource about designing and using small outdoor spaces. It publishes ideas and plain step-by-step guides for planning, laying out and using small gardens, yards, courtyards and patios, written for people who have never drawn a garden plan before.

What the site covers

Small garden design: measuring a plot, drawing a simple plan, layouts, paths and flower beds, and ways to make a small space feel bigger.
Tiny garden ideas: narrow gardens, tiny patios, awkward corners and side yards.
Vertical gardening: trellises, obelisks, plant stands and other ways to grow upward when floor space is short.
Small garden plants: compact plants, climbers and small trees, and how to layer heights in a narrow bed.
Container ideas: arranging and grouping pots and planter boxes as part of a layout.
Small garden decor: focal points, outdoor lighting and garden mirrors.
Space-saving techniques: dividing a plot into zones, storage, privacy and fitting in a herb garden.
Seasonal small gardens: spring, winter and planning for interest all year.

If you are starting from a blank plot, begin with Small Garden Design: A Simple Plan for Any Small Space. From there, the most useful next reads are How to Measure a Small Garden and Draw a Simple Plan, Small Garden Layout Ideas and How to Make a Small Garden Look Bigger. The step-by-step projects are gathered under Tutorials, and every guide is listed on the Guides page.

How the guides are written

One topic per guide. Each guide covers a single subject from start to finish, so you can read the one you need without working through the others first.

Reasons are given. A suggestion comes with the reason behind it, such as why a diagonal line makes a plot look longer. When you know the reason, you can adapt the idea to a space that is not quite like the one in the guide.

Sizes are starting points. Path widths, bed depths, spacings and plant counts are given as starting points, not rules. Every garden differs in shape, slope, sun, soil and climate, so measure your own space and adjust.

The illustrations are original drawings. The pictures on this site are illustrations drawn for the guides. They are not photographs of real gardens. They are there to show an idea, such as how a layout divides a plot, and a real garden will look different in its details.

Tools, materials and supplies are described by type and not by brand, so you can use what you already have or can find locally.

What the guides are not

General design information only. The guides are not professional landscape-architecture, structural, engineering, electrical or legal advice, and they cannot take the place of someone qualified who can see your site.
No structural or load claims. The guides do not say what a wall, a fence or a support can hold. For anything you fix to a wall or a fence, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the product and the fixings, and hire qualified people for building work and for electrical work.
Check local rules first. Fences, screens, sheds and other changes at a boundary are often covered by local rules, and by covenants if you live in a homeowners’ association. Check them before you change a boundary.
Call 811 before you dig. In the United States, contact 811 a few days before any digging so that buried utility lines can be marked. 811beforeyoudig.com explains how it works in each state.
Check plants for your area. A plant that suits one region may not survive in another, and some garden plants are invasive in some places. Check a plant against your zone on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map and against your state or local invasive plant lists; the National Invasive Species Information Center is a starting point.

What you can rely on

We do not publish invented reviews, ratings or testimonials.
We do not claim credentials, awards or qualifications.
We do not guarantee results. Gardens depend on the site, the weather and the plants, and an idea that works in one space may not work in another.
Time estimates in the guides are approximate.

Corrections and suggestions

If something in a guide is unclear, looks wrong or links to a page that no longer works, please tell us through the Contact page. Mention the name of the guide and the section so the problem can be found quickly. Corrections are always welcome.