Help! Calling all those with a VERY small garden!

Hi all, we're still in the early stages of planning our build but I'm stressing a LOT over the tiny yard space we'll be left with once our family home is plonked on the block. We'll effectively have a "side yard" rather than a backyard.

I'd love to hear from other small space gardeners and what they've done to make the most of a small awkward yard. We'll have 5m x 25m down one side of the house (which living areas, alfresco and kitchen look out on to) and a 3m x 14m stretch across the back.

At the very least all I want is some grass and a neat planting of hedges or such at the fence line. Is it doable or will it be more compact and odd looking rather than green and serene?

Thanks for your help and please do share some pics if you have similar sized spaces!

Please give more details of your site location (nsw,vic, sa, qld?) Plants that do well in Qld may not be suited for Vic location.
5m x 25m is very good for landscaping. Is this area facing north?

1. Small carving parth




2. something similar to this ... section of different use for 25m side.

Shazaw they are awesome ideas, thank you! We're in South Australia and yes, the side with the most yard space is facing north. Love the stepping paver blocks down the side too - so nice and neat!

Do you need grass, like for a dog or kids? If not that size space will look much bigger and more interesting if you plan a garden around a path with plantings at different heights and spaces to fit here and there.

We do have a dog and a teen, so would love a strip of grass - if for nothing more than a cricket bat and a tennis ball.. Just got word back from the Council that a front fence is allowed so I'm looking forward to utilizing as MUCH space as possible. Due to the setback of the house, we've now got 4.5m behind the house and just under 5m down the side. It's going to be tiiiiiiiiight.

The 5m down the side will be more usable then you expect. We had a space that size and it was fine for throwing a ball for the dog plus a wide perimeter garden.

Actually you've got about 180 square metres of garden space. That is NOT considered a very small garden! If you live in a typical major city, you'll probably find that you've got two or three times as much garden as what the average house has.

Now clearly if you're planning to play cricket or footy, you're better off heading down to your local park. But as a green oasis for relaxing in, I don't think you need to worry at all. If you go to the famous garden shows, you'll find some of the show gardens will be even smaller than what you have.

And if you open up your house into the garden with large patio doors and an alfresco, creating a seamless flow between inside and outside, you'll probably find it looks even bigger.

We are having similar issue as we got limited space in our side yard. One side is 1.2m wide which doesn't give much space for having a garden bed. We have laid pavers to cover 1.1m width and kept 800mm for a narrow garden bed. Now the challenge is finding a suitable plant for privacy which would be tall enough but won't have strong root growth. At the moment I think clumping Bamboo would be the best choice. But I could be wrong!!!

Here is what our side yard look after landscaping.

i would be looking at post and gal mesh system to hold a climber/creeper

to get plants to grow well in that environment you will need a "weed" lets say