Sponsored Content: This post has been kindly sponsored by GARDENA. All experiences, thoughts and opinions are by Melanie Lissack.

This week, I headed down to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival for the first time! Claiming to ‘epitomise an English summer garden party’, I was really excited to see how Hampton Court compared to other flower festivals I had attended, such as Chelsea.

To me, the RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival felt more of a relaxed horticultural event. For a start, dogs and children are welcomed at the show (rather than denied access). Shopping carts are encouraged as you can buy a wealth of plants on site, both at independent stands and within a huge pavilion. There were talks, tips and a multitude of show gardens on display, but as these were on a smaller scale than Chelsea, there was a lot of inspiration for compact garden design and a host of ideas for smaller garden spaces.

Here are five small and compact garden design tips that I took away from the festival:

Heighten colourful displays with potted plant stands

If you love bright summer planting but don’t have much border space, double what you can fit into your garden with tiered plant stands and theatres. You can even use double-shelved, slimline console or potting tables if space is extra tight. 

A great way to keep a gathering of plants watered is by using an irrigation system that will water your plants for you, even when you are not home. GARDENA, one of the industry leaders when it comes to high-quality garden tools and innovative garden solutions, had a trade stand at the show and demonstrated just how their micro-drip irrigation systems can save you time, as well as conserve water when used in compact spaces such as balconies, patios, or compact gardens. If you do not have access to an outdoor tap, GARDENA’s AquaBloom set only requires a bucket and works via solar power. Simply hook it onto your plant stand to water all your pots at your preferred time of day. The system will extract water from the bucket and feed water through the tubes, directly into the roots of your plants.

Keep it bright with beige aggregate

There was a theme at the festival for tall, dense planting around the edges of compact gardens that were lifted and brightened using beige, limestone or sandy-coloured decorative aggregate as a ground covering. Affordable, low-maintenance and providing good drainage and erosion control, aggregates such as chippings, pebbles and cobbles are a great choice for a small garden where grass may not be the best option due to a lack of light. Lighter-toned aggregate provides an illuminating base to a backdrop of lush green planting and will elevate any compact design scheme. Keep your aggregate spread level and stop any movement or build-up with a high-quality, strong rake from GARDENA. 

Dig down to step up

If the depth and width of your garden is on the smaller side, digging down to ‘step up’ allows for interesting border design and creates more space by using height and scale. The Making Sense Garden at RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival (designed by Flora Scouarnec and Victoria Pease-Cox) is a great example, with platformed stairs that curve down into a sunken area, surrounded by a delicate planting scheme of white, green, purple and blue.

Create compact features and focal points with terracotta pots

If you crave a water feature but it feels too extravagant for a small garden, get inspired by The Mediterraneo Garden (designed by Katerina Kantalis) where terracotta pots were transformed into compact water features for a delicate addition to the garden's serene Mediterranean-inspired scheme. You can easily DIY this look yourself using a decorative pot of your choice and an inexpensive solar fountain pump. To keep it clean and avoid a build-up of algae and moss on your pot, invest in GARDENA’s Cleansystem for thorough outdoor cleaning, with soft brushes and adjustable water flows for a strong yet delicate wash.

Play around with lines and shapes 

Think about how you can use lines and shapes in your compact garden to not only add visual interest but to elongate it and make it appear more voluminous. The Climate-Forward Garden (designed by Melanie Hick) uses circles in the layout, features and garden seating, while vertical lines were added to the backdrop as a direct contrast to make the space feel taller (and therefore bigger).