Accessorise your garden

Metal fabrications and ropes are some of the accesories you can use when gardening in limited space.
Photo by Godfrey Lugaaju

A beautiful home is a peaceful one, however small your spaces may be because space should really not be a matter when it comes to gardening.

Grace Namuli, an outdoor designer, shares that there are a lot of accessories one can use, either in huge or small spaces to break the routine and monotony of normal gardening, spicing up the look on your home’s face.

“However, before one can decide which accessories to use, they should consider carefully which spaces to place them but also, to avoid over accessorising because it can instead clutter your compound,” she says adding that one may for example decide to use ropes and hung a couple of flower pots around their shade.

“The pots may be plastic or clay, depending on one’s choice. But again, these may be well decorated wooden pots curved well to give your house a robust African look,” Namuli advises.

“For one interested in beautifying their indoor with flowers, small clay and ceramic pots can work well – especially with artificial flowers. But again, one can go natural indoors with empty wine bottles or glass tins filled with water and natural evergreen plants,” Charles Kwitonda, an interior designer at Creative Interiors says.

Metal fabrications
Accessories made out of metal designs have currently become a common sight in gardening. Henry Muliika, a metal fabricator who takes interest in designing gardening accessories shares that though these can be used in large spaces, they come in very handy for people who seek to utilise their small spaces.

“They can for example have a metal design that can hold more than four flower pots or tins vertically, which doesn’t take a lot of space. These metals come in different shapes and sizes. They are also custom made to one’s liking. A person may make one that is in a shape of a bicycle, but can hold about three pots, which you can place on your verandah, or entrance points of the house,” Muliika says.

Furthermore, these accessories are very mobile, and portable, so one can move with them from one place to another which isn’t possible with a temporary flower garden.

“They are ideal for people who are still shifting from one apartment to another. Sometimes people are hesitant to beautify their homes with flowers when they are still renting. However, this is something you can just move with from one location to another,” he adds.

Upward gardening
Though this is used agriculturally, it is one other way of accessorising your garden.
“This is where we utilise upward space for planting flowers. There are already made accessories for this type of gardening, but one can play around with it by tailor making their own racks where other gardening accessories like flower pots, bottles can be placed or hanged,” Sheila Birungi an interior and outdoor designer from Beautiful homes interior designers, Kiyembe says.

She further adds that one can have triangular pieces of wood (or pieces of any shape) fixed on their walls, either indoor or outside, have them filled with soil or any other medium and use these for planting flowers, or simply place stones, shells or any other decorative materials.

“It is all about how creative you can get with the available space you have, but also, according to your tastes and preferences. “One can still create wooden rectangles/ or squares, let them hung horizontally suspended and spaced from each other, so that in each of them, one can plant something. This whole collection can then be hung at any desired space or wall around the house,” Birungi advises.

In regards to where accessories are better suited, and placed, Namuli advises that these can be used anywhere around the house. In the sitting room, dinning, corridors, bathroom or bedrooms.

“They also work perfectly outdoors. Just make sure if you have limited space, do not over accessorise. However, one may choose a particular space or corner to place all their accessories arranged in a neat way. It is one way of attracting attention and concentrating creativity in one place,” Namuli says.

“The idea in using accessories is to; beautify homes, but to also creatively utilise the available spaces.
However, in cases where one may not be able to use accessories, then, climbing plants can play a good role. These are planted on the ground, but left to wander and climb on walls or poles around the house. Climbing plants also work well with accessories.

Prices
12 Littre plastic flower pot - Shs70,000
7 littre plastic flower pot -
Shs55,000
3 set plastic flower pots -
Shs180,000
Clay flower pots -
Shs20,000 - 200,000 depending on size
Glass table flower vase -
Shs 17,000
Flower vase + flowers -
Shs27,000 - 300,000
Metalic flower stand
Shs200,000 (Prices are negotiable)
Small compound metallic flower stand - Shs30,000
Table glass container - Shs50,000