Flexible, dog friendly & relaxing kitchen garden

This garden needed to particularly work for the clients in three key ways; it needed to be flexible, dog friendly and also productive. The flexibility of the space is central to the design, as a future extension is planned to the rear of the house and therefore different zones within the garden needed to be easily movable to accommodate this.

Immediately outside of the house is the main dining area with a contemporary, painted timber pergola and sail shade to provide flexible cover from the sun and rain. The already existing paving is extended by new self-binding gravel, providing a low-cost solution to giving enough space to entertain whilst being easily converted when the new extension is built. A band of colourful perennial planting defines the space, with a mix of low species and transparent taller plants allowing the clients to see down the length of their garden - something which was necessary for keeping an eye on their dog.

Central to the space is a kitchen garden, with raised, painted L-shaped beds and trellis facing the east/west boundary of the beds to reduce shading and maintain sight lines down the garden. A central courtyard with a feature planter provides a focal point, whilst also being the same size as the pergola immediately outside the house to allow for its potential relocation when the extension is built.

At the rear of the garden is a lawned area which is screened by a further band of planting to hide any wear and tear created by the dog playing on the grass. A west-facing seating area makes the most of dappled evening sun with lush woodland planting and feature trees. A wildlife area with log piles and a container pond also features in this area and a wildlife fence with climbers runs around the entirety of the plot to create habitat and food sources.

The main theme of the planting focuses on bold, contrasting colours (indigos and yellows) with an emphasis on pollinator-friendly species. All plants also needed to be dog-friendly. Colourful highlights from Camassia leichtlinii Caerulea Group, Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' and Eurybia macrophylla 'Twilight' are to be intermingled with year-round structure and interest from ornamental grasses and shrubs.

Project stage: design completed, build yet to start