Cold Comfort Corner: Gardening in Small Spaces

Dreaming of a cottage garden in a tiny space? JUDY RUMBELOW of Cold Comfort Plants offers her tips and ideas…

January and February can be a low point in the gardener’s year. The weather makes it almost impossible to spend much time in the garden and it can feel as though nothing will survive in the rain-soaked, washed-out ground. But don’t despair, you have only got to make it through another few weeks before the earliest signs of life in the garden will be showing.

When all else fails it can be fun to try to seek a little bit of inspiration for your garden and indulge in a little bit of planning for spring. I have recently been inspired by some tiny urban courtyard gardens in Singapore which provide a tranquil green space for the hundreds of people who live in high-rise apartments above them.

We have many customers who have small courtyard gardens and a frequent question is: ‘Can I grow hardy perennials in pots?’ They are keen to create a cottage garden feel in a tiny space. Fortunately the answer is yes. In our opinion the size of your garden in no way affects the pleasure and wellbeing you can gain from it.

If you are looking to garden in a tiny space – urban or rural – the key is to choose your plants carefully. Some hardy perennials will be happy in pots for several years. If you want your plants to last more than one season in pots, then it makes sense to choose those that are not going to want to get huge – things such as Geums, Silene, Achillea or Aquilegias. However, if you really want one of the larger plants to grow in a pot, choose a nice deep pot and just go for it. The worst that will happen is that you might have to move it on after a year or two into a larger pot or to a friend with a bigger garden. It’s probably also wise to avoid plants that need to be consistently damp as however hard you try to water your pots, they will dry out.

We have customers who enjoy mixing up a cocktail of compost to keep their perennials happy in pots, but a good all-purpose compost will do. I would avoid using garden soil as it hardens up in a pot. Many hardy perennials do better in poor soil – things such as rosemary that come from a hot, dry country will be happy in a stony compost.

Often a plastic pot is easier to manage than an earthenware one. It dries out less quickly and it is lighter and easier to move and a lot cheaper. If you choose some trailing plants, no one will notice the pots they are in. If your plants start to look a bit yellow or tired, you can always give them a little liquid feed in the watering can. In winter many hardy perennials will die back, but as they start to throw up new leaves in spring you can scrape out old compost  and put new compost in the top of the pot to give them a new lease of life.

Our customers have reported particular success with lupins, perennial foxgloves, salvias, osteospermum, crocosmia, to name a few, but the main message is that if you really want to grow any perennial in a pot, it’s worth a try. You may find you get more flowers than if you grow a plant in the garden, as restricting a plant’s roots can make it flower more freely.

If you have a small space you fancy trying to build up as a perennial pot garden, we are always happy to advise on plant choice at Cold Comfort Plants. We open on Friday 21 March and will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10.30am to 4.30pm till the end of June.

Contact: judy.rumbelow@gmail.com; 07809 560409.

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