Jeff Stonebanks, 71, is a gardening media writer and a multi-award-winning garden owner, who shared his best tips for making your garden bigger and more manageable.
Jeff Stonebanks (71) at Beach Gardens (Jeff Stonebanks/SWNS)
A gardening expert has revealed that the best way to deal with an unkempt or large garden is to divide it into “rooms”.
Geoff Stonebanks, 71, is a gardening writer and the owner of a multi-award-winning garden. His south coast garden, “Driftwood,” is 100 feet long and up to 40 feet wide, which Stonebanks says is larger than most inner-city gardens but small compared to most.
Geoff says his garden is “more than what he has”. To make it appear larger than it is, he set up “garden rooms” with different themes and plants, including a central gravel garden, a summerhouse patio and a beach garden. “The driftwood is 100ft long and up to 40ft wide at the back, so scale was quite important,” says Geoff, a writer from Seaford, East Sussex.
The left side of Jeff Stonebanks' garden in 2007 (left) and 2024 (right) (Jeff Stonebanks/SWNS)
“For me, the concept of no small spaces or rooms worked well. On the left side of the garden there are three little rooms, each with a different theme and plantings.” Before moving to the house in 2004, Jeff had no gardening experience and was entirely self-taught.
Initially, because his garden was uphill and had no flat surfaces, he wanted to create flat spaces for sitting, different “rooms” throughout the garden. “I created a little space at the back of the house as a writer's corner, complete with a vintage typewriter, a bistro set, a rug on the ground and a playful terrier,” he says. “By making the little garden into an extension of the interior space, it makes it feel bigger.”
“Lots of potted plants add foliage, but because the pots are movable, it gives you the freedom to change them from time to time. I use a foldable screen to help separate rooms, and a rusty old garden gate as a divider.” His best advice when designing a garden is to do it in stages, rather than doing it all at once.
Jeff in the garden (Jeff Stonebanks/SWNS)
Jeff said: “Another key for me as a beginner was not to have to think about everything at once. I knew I was looking for multiple spaces, but I still planned it out bit by bit over five years and let it evolve naturally rather than having grand plans from the start.”
“My garden is by the sea, so I needed some kind of line of defense to stop the strong salty winds damaging my plants – another reason why I thought a small room would be a good idea.” When designing a garden, using screens enhances movement from one area to another, says Jeff.
He said: “Old overturned sleepers are framed by a hedge of Grisolina littoralis to the right, dividing the rooms perfectly. At the other end of the garden is a brick-edged border, densely planted with tall plants and shrubs, which, together with the shed vines and the fig tree at the back, re-establish the room boundaries.”
Brightly colored items, such as a painted bench, add a pop of color to a small outdoor space (Geoff Stonebanks/SWNS)
“The shed was a very prominent feature, but was softened and blended into the background through the use of vines and lots of objects and small containers attached to the sides.”
The different spaces in Jeff's garden:
succulent theatre, old sleepers, corten steel pond area, beach garden in front of the house, green folly door patio area, central gravel garden, succulent patio in summer house
