One of the reasons we downsized was a desire to travel more, and living in an old house with a big garden to maintain just wasn’t going to work with those future plans. We loved the idea of a place that we could just lock up and leave, but didn’t want to live in a concrete jungle either! Our garden is a north-facing, L-shaped courtyard of about 36 square metres (the equivalent size of a standard double garage), yet there are plenty of opportunities still to potter about and enjoy gardening.

Here are some of our top ideas for your very own low-maintenance urban jungle:

1. Vertical gardening

Vertical gardens are on trend right now, and it’s not hard to see why! Giving your outdoor area a lush feel while utilising otherwise bland vertical spaces doesn’t have to cost the earth – we bought as many of these stacking planters as we could find when they were on sale at The Warehouse, and simply screwed them to the fence. You don’t even need special planters either – in the picture below we’ve screwed standard plastic planters to the fence and the strawberry plants are obviously loving it.

2. Irrigation system

An irrigation system is a must for keeping your vertical garden looking green and healthy, and there are heaps of easy DIY options available at your local hardware store. You could even add a set-and-forget timer to guarantee the garden will get watered while you’re away.

3. Container gardening

We only have a couple of permanent raised garden beds in the courtyard, which are planted with hedging so there’s no room for growing herbs and vegetables. But guess what? You can grow just about anything in a pot or container, and this year we’ve even grown sweetcorn in a couple of large plastic tubs. Pots are great for ornamentals too, and add to that lush look we were wanting.

4. Indoor gardening

Why not jump on board with the current craze for indoor plants? I’ll admit I wasn’t always a fan of indoor plants, but after managing to keep one fern alive with minimal maintenance, I grew strangely addicted to indoor gardening. Growing plants indoors also brings the opportunity to have amazing exotic plants without a tropical climate, and gives your interiors a touch of jungalow style.

5. Artificial lawn

If you’re of a certain age like me, you’ll probably remember artificial turf as that shiny, crunchy feeling stuff that looked nothing like actual grass! The good news is that there have been huge advancements in this area, and it can even be hard to tell the fake stuff from the real nowadays. We’d have loved a real lawn, but when the fake stuff looks this good year round, why would you bother? Our two dogs love it too, and any ‘deposits’ they leave hose away easily 😉

6. Join a community garden

If you’re still itching to exercise your green thumbs a bit more, joining a community garden might be a good way to get your gardening fix without owning a huge plot of land. Our local community garden is literally less than a two-minute walk around the corner and there are more of these little oases popping up all over the city all the time.