How to Create a Simple Cottage Garden

Cottage gardens hail from the small plots the peasants of the Tudor period in England planted around their small homes. In these early gardens the emphasis was on vegetables and herbs, but also included were some hardy florals that have come to be recognized as traditional cottage garden plants. At first glance, this type of garden appears wild with no apparent design but, in truth, cottage gardens are based on very specific plans.

Instructions

Map out a design. Watch how the sun moves over the space you have designated for your garden. Make note of the shaded, partially shaded and full sun areas to help you determine what types of plants you will need. Observe how the soil drains and the condition of the soil. Draw your garden plan. Include where you intend to plant beds and what type. Sketch in walkways, structures and other garden features. Consult gardening books and magazines. Make note of the gardens you like best and the conditions under which they grow to see if you can adapt their design to your setting and growing conditions.

Choose an assortment of perennials and annuals so that something is blooming all through the growing season. Decide on colors. Opt for a riot of different hues or stick with a specific palette. Choose plants of different heights. Plant ground covers bordering pathways and bank flowers from shortest to tallest in various beds. Back the tallest flowers with flowering bushes like lilacs and hydrangeas. Include vines and climbing plants. Consider planting a variety of fruit trees. Include vegetables and herbs. Plant them in raised beds separated by gravel paths or intersperse them throughout the garden for interest. Create container gardens to dot around the garden on pathways and terraces.

Plan the walkways to meander throughout the garden with wider places here and there large enough for a weathered chair and a birdbath, a bistro set or a couple of wicker chairs where you can sit and enjoy nature's beauty. Choose natural materials like sand, gravel and field stone for the walkways. Follow a winding path through the flowers to a round stone terrace in the middle of the garden large enough for an umbrella table and chairs for dining.

Border your garden with a white picket fence. Opt for a hedge of rose bushes or rhododendron or build a stone wall. Place an arch fashioned from grapevines on a pathway and train a trumpet vine to grow over it, covering it with bright orange blossoms. Center the garden with a gazebo painted white and sporting trellises covered in climbing roses and wisteria. Dot bird feeders here and there. Add some whimsy with scarecrows and garden angels.

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