Productive garden with space to relax

This recently approved garden project explores how a contemporary new-build plot can become a richly planted, highly functional retreat that feels immersive, generous, and deeply personal. I’m currently developing the scheme alongside local contractors and craftspeople, including a bespoke shed that has been custom designed specifically for the space to add a wildlife-friendly element.

The brief centres around creating a garden that supports everyday life from morning through to evening: a place to garden, cook, entertain, unwind, and engage closely with nature throughout the seasons. While compact in footprint, the garden is being carefully shaped to hold an impressive range of uses without feeling overfilled or compromised.

A strong planting framework sits at the heart of the design. My client is a passionate gardener, with a clear interest in soft, naturalistic planting, evergreen structure, foliage contrast, and wildlife-friendly species that remain safe for pets. Repetition and restraint within the planting palette will help unify the space, while layered perennial planting, shrubs, and productive elements will create depth and year-round interest.

The garden is being designed to balance space for productive growing with moments of retreat and enclosure. Alongside generous planting areas, the scheme integrates a greenhouse, opportunities for vegetable growing woven throughout the garden, space for composting and practical storage, as well as carefully considered circulation for daily gardening tasks.

Social use is equally important to the project. The design includes a secluded seating area intended for long evenings outdoors, with space for cooking, gathering around a firepit, and relaxing in changing light conditions across the day. Screening, vertical elements, and a strategically placed tree will help create intimacy and dappled shade while softening the boundaries typical of many new-build gardens.

Material choices throughout the scheme aim to avoid a hard landscaped feel, instead allowing planting to remain dominant and immersive. Transitions between surfaces and planting areas are being carefully resolved to ensure the garden feels cohesive, calm, and easy to inhabit.

This is a project about asking a relatively modest footprint to work exceptionally hard — not through excess, but through careful editing, layered functionality, and close attention to atmosphere. I’m very excited to see it move into the next stages on site.