How To Grow A Lush Cottage Garden In The Desert

Before and After: English Cottage-Style Garden Takes Root

A blogger shares money-saving tips as she walks us from designing the flower beds to building the greenhouse

Amanda Pollard

April 11, 2018

Senior Content Editor at Houzz UK and Ireland. Journalist and editor specialising in interiors and architecture.

A passion for plants, an eagerness to dig in and a few budget-saving ideas helped British interiors and lifestyle blogger Rebecca Sterling and her husband create the garden of their dreams — complete with gravel paths, cottage-style planting, a little house, a garage and even a greenhouse. Here's how they did it.

Photos by Adam Crohill for Rock My Style and Rebecca Sterling

Garden at a Glance
Who lives here: Rebecca Sterling of Roses and Rolltops and her husband, Ben
Location: Hertfordshire area of England
Size: 49 by 92 feet (15 x 28 meters)

For Rebecca Sterling and her husband, Ben, the large garden at the back of their three- bedroom, two-bath Regency house in Hertfordshire, England, was a big plus when they bought the property. The plant-loving couple had pretty much filled up their old garden and hoped to gain extra space for a greenhouse.

Their new plot's expansive lawn and lack of flowers gave them an exciting blank canvas on which to create their own dream garden.

Before. "When we first bought the house, the garden was quite bare, with just a large lawn," Rebecca says. "But there were some tall leylandii trees that we had to deal with early on. I soon realized we wouldn't get any sun in the garden after 3 p.m., but as two of the trees were in the neighbors' garden, we had to ask them first if we could cut them down."

Luckily, the neighbors also wanted to remove those Leyland cypresses. The house is in a conservation area, so both parties applied to the council for permission and got a quote to take out the giant trees. Now the garden basks in summer sunshine until 7 in the evening.

Before. "The garden was actually a two-stage process," Rebecca says. "We knew we'd eventually do [a home addition], so the patio area had to wait for a while."

Before. In the meantime, the couple set about designing the lawn area. With the welcome help of Rebecca's brother's university friends, they divided the grass into four sections, with flower beds on both sides of a path.

The couple had brought many of the plants with them from their old garden, and they planted these in the beds.

Before. The couple added concrete rope edging from their local building-supply store. Then they created paths with concrete slabs and a layer of gravel on top.

At the end of the horizontal pathway, they added a cutout area for a bench and put in tall plants like foxgloves and hollyhocks behind it.

Lutyens-style bench: eBay; find similar garden benches

At the rear of the garden, Rebecca and Ben were eager to build a little house to provide a cozy spot to sit and to give the plot a focal point. The conservation area status of the property meant they had to apply to the council for approval first.

As soon as they got the go-ahead, Ben got to work. He decided to use a DIY kit, which the couple purchased online and adapted to suit their own style. It made things much quicker, which was necessary, as they wanted to get it finished before their house addition started.

Wood shed kit: Amazon; paint: Clunch and Vert De Terre, Farrow & Ball; base coat: Cuprinol

Before. The second part of their garden makeover came after they had finished their kitchen remodel, complete with huge glass doors to connect the inside and outside.

The builders stayed on to dig out and level the patio. "We had to build it up a lot to make it the same level as the house, so you can step straight out. This was one of the biggest challenges and took quite a while to get exactly right," Rebecca recalls.

Before. The patio is north-facing, so to avoid the possibility of a green layer appearing on the damp, sun-starved surface over the winter, the couple decided to have a gravel patio. "We laid very basic slabs to create a firm level and to add an extra layer of protection against weeds. Then we put sand followed by gravel on top," Rebecca says.

Paving slabs: Wickes

How to Choose the Right Gravel for Your Garden

The gravel also works well with the cottage-style planting in the rest of the garden.

"We have roses and a lavender hedge down the middle, with plenty of year-round interest everywhere," Rebecca says. "There are allium bulbs, which come up in May, and dahlias that grow through the year, and the left side is wild and unstructured with cottage flowers."

The couple swear by this money-saving tip: "Our top tip is to buy plants at the end of the season, as they're much cheaper then," Rebecca says. "Even if they're looking dead or lackluster, you can keep them in a pot over the winter and plant them out to grow vigorously the following year."

These 4 Planting Strategies Can Save You Money

To separate the lawn from the patio, and to deal with the change of level, Ben built raised beds at the rear of the gravel. "He laid breeze blocks to support the steps and built timber frames, then put [railroad ties] in front of them," Rebecca says. "We filled them with low-maintenance plants, such as box balls, lavender and 'Annabelle' hydrangeas."

Before. The couple grow lots of plants from seeds or cuttings, so they craved a greenhouse. Ben built the wood-framed greenhouse and adjacent garage at the side of the patio himself.

10 Things to Include in Your Greenhouse

"He loves doing things like this," Rebecca says, "and although building things yourself takes longer, it does save money."

Rebecca plants a lot of her flowers in galvanized steel containers, which she buys cheaply at antiques markets. "There's also a roll-top bath next to the greenhouse, which was just [$28] on eBay, and I've planted lavender and roses in it," she says.

Stock Tank Style: The Garden and Patio Edition

There are still a few projects the couple would like to complete in their garden, but for now they're looking forward to summer afternoons sitting at their patio table — another one of Ben's creations, made from old scaffolding planks and antique sewing machine bases.

Tell us: What's your favorite thing about this garden? What would your ideal garden look like? Share your thoughts in the Comments.

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