Mini Garden Makeover! Small Garden Ideas for Brightening Up a Low-Maintenance Garden

My lounge looks out onto the garden, and quite honestly I was sick of looking at this everyday:

So when we got back from our holiday, Richard and I set to work and changed it to this:

The things we changed were simple, easy and quick things to do for a low maintenance garden (as we both work full-time). We live in a 'new-build' house so the garden is small and the earth is not very nutritious as it was previously a brick yard! We have had to build this garden from scratch and here are some of things we have done:

1. Flower beds

A tiny garden can't take massive flowerbeds without looking overgrown and cluttered, so I dug narrow ones on one side, and a larger corner one at the back. I planted the taller plants at the back and put smaller/lower ones at the front. I also put some  bulbs underneath the tree which will look lovely in spring. 

The plants that are particularly nice colours and low maintenance are the Mexican Orange Blossom, which has bright green/yellow leaves, and the beautiful lilac iris. Also the Lupin is not in flower in the picture but is so pretty with little purple blooms in a pointed cone shape. These plants are really low maintenance and I have had to do nothing to then all year other than water them on sunny and dry days. 

Lupins and Irises

Lilac and Yellow Iris

2. Trellis & limbing plant

The brick wall is not a pretty sight so I added a jasmine plant which smells lovely and will hopefully climb quickly and cover the wall in lovely evergreen foliage (and small white flowers in summer). Although a trellis itself is generally not bad looking and definitely breaks up the brick wall nicely. 

3. Small tree

The curly willow makes a great feature at the back and in the corner. It will grow up to 6 meters which is just right for a corner like the one pictured, and not too near to the house. 

4. Bike shed

We love having our bikes available so we took them out of storage and had a small bike shed put in so we can actually use them! Also the shed breaks up the monotony of the brick wall. We ordered our shed from Garden Buildings Direct

5. Hanging basket and ladybird ornament

I added a hanging basket to make the shed look more pretty and ornamental - as with the ladybird addition to the actual shed itself. A bike shed is just a functional garden building but add a couple of pretty items and it looks totally different. 

6. Mini herb garden

Herbs smell amazing and they also make cooking more fun and delicious! I added them in small circular pebbled flowerbeds for a delicate and pretty look, and to make them stand out, and they have thrived. I used chives, lemon thyme, and corriander - which all thrive in the sun.