Growing ambitions: Why my need for a garden blossomed during lockdown

In the five years I’ve lived by myself, I’ve lived in two flats - one was on the sixteenth floor with no outside space, and the other was a tiny studio in a converted house, which came with a shared courtyard and discarded, grafitti-covered chairs.

I knew that moving back to a studio and not having any outdoor space of my own would negatively affect my mental health, but finding a flat with a garden was no easy task, especially as 12 per cent of households in Sussex don’t have any kind of garden, which goes up to 23 per cent when looking at flats.

When I found my new home, with a garden bigger than my entire last studio flat and a lot of potential, I was sold.

Now I’ve moved in, and been busy planning what to do with the space.

So far I’ve swept up all the debris, and started to deweed the back garden.

Before I bring any more plants into the garden I need to finish the weeding, tidy up the front, and try to detangle the bike from the flowers that have grown around it and the railings.

After that, I know I want to have a mixture of leafy plants, some flowers, and a ‘working’ part of the garden - somewhere to grow rhubarb, tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables.

I talked to Emmy Kavanagh, my mum and an RHS-trained horticulturalist, to ask her for some advice on how to make the best of the space.

She said: “In the front you could have lots of pots with different plants that don’t mind the wind, because it can be quite windy in Brighton, and thrive in an east-facing environment.

“Dahlias, geraniums, begonias, ferns, hostas and grasses are all good options.

“In the back you could rebuild the wall around the tree to make it tidier and more sturdy.

“There’s some otherwise dead space around the side which I think would be perfect for a small shed to keep your gardening tools in.

“Because this is Brighton, and you’re so close to the sea, you could paint it to look like a beach hut - I think that would be really cute, and because it’s small you would only need sample pots of paint so it would be a cheap project that could be done in a weekend.

“A plant stand would be useful for seedlings and plants that need some more attention, and around the rest of the garden you can have rhubarb, other fruits and vegetables, and some plants like a cordyline and fatsia japonica which likes a shadier area.

“A small table and chairs could go at the top of the steps under the euphorbia.”

I’ve brought a musa basjoo plant, otherwise known as a hardy banana, from home because I’ve seen how it creates natural shade and I like a shady garden but don’t want to use a parasol which gets in the way and takes up space that could be filled by more plants.

It also adds a lot of height and interest to the garden.

Emmy is a big proponent of guerilla gardening, which can involve seed bombs and sprinkling wildflower seeds in outside spaces.

She suggested some erigeron karvinskianus seeds, a daisy-like plant, and wildflowers sprinkled around my garden, as well as dahlias and aliums.

She said: “They’re obviously really good for colour and wildlife but they also suppress weeds and stop them from coming up.”

As you can see from the photos, the garden isn’t in a bad state at all but there’s definitely a lot of work to do.

I’m excited to have a project to keep me busy over the summer, and to share in my gardening group, Sussex Gardens.

To join Sussex Gardens and share your hints and tips, visit www.facebook.com/groups/224381098919896/