Spring into action: Britain's best garden designers share their tips for getting into gardening
If you’re lucky enough to have outdoor space in London, you’re probably feeling the pressure to do something with it.
But that can be daunting and it’s hard to know how to begin.
The good news is that now is the perfect time of year to get into gardening. Errol Reuben Fernandes, head of horticulture at south-east London’s cutting-edge Horniman Gardens, offers advice for getting started.
“Just a little bit of well-placed work can mean that you will reap rewards for months or even years to come,” she says. “The effort that you put in will benefit wildlife, look fantastic and maybe even provide some produce in the way of cut flowers or fruit.”
There is seemingly no end to the benefits. It’s a way to express creativity, the perfect activity for mindfulness, it provides healthy outdoor exercise and even the smallest garden will boost biodiversity once it’s planted up.
Work with what you’ve got
Where once garden designers often favoured the ‘rip it up and start again’ approach, these days, now many are mindful of sustainability and keen to use what they can from the existing plot.
The award-winning garden designer and author of RHS Resilient Garden, Tom Massey, advises caution.
“Think about what you already have in the space and what can be utilised or re-used,” he says.
“This could be hard landscaping, which could
