Diarmuid Gavin shows how height lifts small gardens
Diarmuid Gavin’s advice for small gardens starts with a simple summer shift: longer evenings and better weather make people want to spend more time outside, and a bit of creative thinking can make a compact space feel open, comfortable and enjoyable. In Small gardens: A designer’s top tips on how to make best of the space, he focuses on design moves that change how a garden reads, not how big it is.
Height in Diarmuid Gavin’s plan
Introducing height with climbers, taller plants, green walls or vertical features can make a garden feel more spacious. Gavin also says that same height can create enclosure, which gives a small plot a more sheltered and private feel without adding square footage.
That is the practical trade-off in the piece: the same vertical planting that opens a garden up visually can also give it edges that feel softer and less exposed. For readers with tight outdoor space, that means the job is not to squeeze in more objects, but to shape the space so it feels intentional.
Dark edges and deeper planting
Planting hedging or climbers along a boundary can link a garden to what is beyond it, while darker boundary tones such as deep greens, charcoals or soft blacks help edges recede into the background. Gavin pairs that with a cluster of planting, a small tree or a seating area set slightly off-centre, all of which add depth to a small garden.
He says you should not see the whole garden in one go in a compact space. The advice is less about hiding the garden than about breaking up the view so the eye keeps moving, which is where the garden starts to feel larger and more interesting.
House to garden flow
Creating movement through planting arrangements or a path can also make the space feel bigger. Using similar tones or materials inside and outside can create a more continuous flow between the house and the garden, so the boundary between the two feels less abrupt.
For a reader working with a small plot, the useful takeaway is straightforward: height, dark boundaries and layered planting can do more for comfort and privacy than filling every corner. Gavin’s piece is a seasonal reminder that a compact garden does not need to be expanded to feel worth using; it needs to be arranged so the eye pauses, turns and moves on.
