Cottage Garden Tips

A popular type of garden, the traditional cottage garden has been loved for many generations, and is an iconic image of England, and Britain, just as much as the grand stately home formal garden. Whilst an old cottage is the perfect setting for a garden of this type, it is also well suited for the average sized UK residential garden, even if it is is a new build house. Cottage gardens are colourful, cosy and informal.

• Traditionally cottage gardens, would have a veg patch, but if you don't have space, or don't want to grow many veg, you can plant amongst the flowering plants in borders. For example, carrots, potatoes, peas and runner beans.

• For landscaping use natural materials. For example, willow or hazel fencing, timber gates, stone paving, gravel, thatch, and old recycled bricks for walls and paths, slate. Avoid metal, plastic and artificial plant hanging baskets or fake plastic grass.

• Heirloom varieties are garden plants that have been around for a long time, and make perfect plants for traditional cottage gardens. For example, heirloom roses are rose cultivars that have existed since before 1867. This is the year the first hybrid tea rose was created.

• A climbing rose on a garden arch, or around a house window or door, is a great focal point for a cottage garden, and a cheap way to create some height and colour in the garden.

• The sound of an old cottage garden, would have been a lot of house sparrows chirping in the background. Unfortunately these small birds once so common in gardens have suffered a huge decline in recent decades. To help reverse this trend, ensure you plant hedges instead of installing fences, as this will provide food and shelter for sparrows, as well as other garden birds. Sparrows enjoy bathing, so add a stone birdbath or basin of water to the garden to attract them.

• Cottage gardens are informal and wildlife friendly, and would not have had access to powered lawn mowers and strimmers. So, if there is a grass lawn in your cottage garden, perhaps use a push lawnmower, and leave edges around the borders, and around tree trunks uncut. For all lawnmowers, whether they are petrol, manual or electric, put the grass cutter at the highest setting, so the grass is cut longer, and will ensure the lawn is wildlife friendly and has daisies and red clover for bumblebees.

• Create extra wide borders, and avoid straight lines, to create an informal lay out, and fill the borders with a variety of perennials, that grow to various heights, and that flower throughout the spring and summer months, so there is always something new that is flowering.

• Plant some self-seeding flowers, these will scatter seed, so they will show up in different parts of the garden, in following years. This will increase the amount of colour, at no extra cost, and help make the borders informal. Some good self seeders are poppies, foxgloves and alliums.

• If you are adding a pond, don't bother with hard landscaping around it, keep it natural and wild. Add native flowering aquatic plants at the edges, such as marsh marigold, and in the pond, such as water lilies.

• For planters go for quirky, rustic and recycled - everything from old wheelbarrows, ceramic sinks, tin baths, teapots etc can be used, or if buying planters, terracotta pots are best suited to cottage gardens.

• Keep a small patch of garden for flowers intended to be cut for indoor vases. Plant bulbs, sow seeds and add a few of your favourite rose bushes, so that you always have something to pick from spring until late summer. Flowers, such as tulips, daffodils, sweet peas, cosmos, corncockle, dahlias, roses and gladioli are all good additions. This means that you won't be cutting flowers from the borders and removing colour from them.