garden design

[boxingbig]

How do you make a 40 foot square garden appear longer ,without getting rid of a lawn in the middle(grand children) and not spending a fortune ?
any help appreciated
many thanks

[landscaper2]

Perspective gives the idea of length, so a little trick is to make your borders narrower the further away from the house. To be really clever, you could also use slightly tapering trellis down each side. Alternatively, lay out your garden diagonally.

[boxingbig]

I do like that ,even I can see how that will work.
thanks landscaper

[vehelpfulguy]

One other option is to make a feature at the end of the garden which includes a mirror.

Put up a large mirror, hide the frame so it does not look like a mirror (it looks more like a door) and then put feature pots either side or a small pond in front

Here is a picture that shows it exactly

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/art/pacificnw /2001/0408/plant1.jpg

Here is a mirror with lattice in front that looks effective.

http://www.gardeningthoughts.co.uk/acatalog/GF 0166%5B1%5D.jpg

[gt43]

Yeah, mirrors look great and will make your space look bigger (if you can stand the shock of continually surprising someone who looks just like you wandering around your garden ...). But, the larger the mirror, the more likely birds are to fly into it, with sad consequences.

Personally, I'd go for the perspective tricks ... plus, an old artist's trick: "warm" colours (reds, pinks, oranges) "jump", while "cool" ones (blues, mauves, whites) are recessive. So design your garden with blues in the distance and hotter colours near the house.