When your courtyard walls are covered in green – and it’s not one of those fancy vertical garden installations – you have a problem. The green is moss or mould and it indicates your garden space is dark and persistently damp, a situation that puts the kibosh on your plans for vibrantly coloured flower beds. It’s time to rethink your expectations and put in plants that suit your situation, rather than your fancy!
Build a pine frame for a mirror – or three – and wall-mount to reflect light and give the illusion of more space in a small, dark courtyard.
Gather your supplies
- Frame 42 x 31mm x 5.4m primed treated pine
- 900 x 600 x 3mm acrylic mirror
- Backing 1220 x 610 x 6mm marine plywood
You’ll also need
- Trimmer fitted with 9mm rebate bit
- Mitre saw
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- PVA glue
- Nail gun with 50mm galvanised nails
- Black exterior paint
- Paintbrush
- Glass silicone
- Caulking gun
- 20mm button head screws
- 8mm screw eyes
- Hanging wire
- Wire rope grips
- 6.5mm masonry drill bit
- Green wall plug
- Galvanised 50mm screws
Here’s how
Step 1
Sit treated pine on edge and use trimmer to cut a 4mm deep rebate along 1 edge of it. Use mitre saw to cut frame pieces to size to suit your mirror. Measure, mark and cut on inside of rebate as this is the critical measurement to suit mirror. Cut ends on a 45° angle to mitre joins in corners.
Step 2
Spread glue on ends and bring pieces of frame together. Hold the frame against a block. Make 1 join tight and nail together. Repeat for all corners. Measure diagonals to check frame for square and leave to dry. Apply 2 coats of black paint to frame. Let dry after each coat.
Step 3
Run a thin bead of silicone around bottom corner of rebate and sit mirror on top, pressing it down. Squirt more silicone into gap between mirror and frame, smoothing it off with your finger.
Step 4
Cut ply backing 10mm shorter than frame. Sit over mirror with 5mm gap to all edges. Predrill and screw backing to frame with button head screws. Paint backing black.
Step 5
Towards the top, predrill and insert screw eyes through backing into frame. Attach hanging wire to screw eyes and use wire rope grips to tighten loop around eyes.
Step 6
Set out position of frame on wall and position screw to hang it on, taking into account the slack on the hanging wire. Drill hole with 6.5mm masonry drill bit, insert green plug, then a 50mm screw. Leave screw slightly proud so the hanging wire catches on it.
The best plants for dark, damp spots
Think understorey plants from steamy jungles, lush rainforests or alongside gully streams. They’ve evolved to live without too much light – many by having large leaves that quickly harness any light that comes their way – and their roots have adapted to constant wet. Their flowers are unusually shaped or coloured to attract the pollinators that also exist in these environs – think beetles, moths and wasps, rather than the birds and bees of open, sunny spots. Plants here include elephant’s ear, cordyline, plectranthus, ginger, baby’s tears, walking iris, climbing fig, tractor seat plant, and bird’s nest, blechnum and Boston ferns.
Ground space
When ground space is limited, plant your walls. Ferns trailing from wall planters are like soft curtains on a bare brick wall. They also thrive in damp conditions and take advantage of any rainwater that trickles down the wall.
Potted plants
Break up and soften the straight lines of a courtyard and the constraints of a raised garden bed with plants in round pots.
Cluster pots of various heights and sizes to create levels. Paint your plastic or terracotta pots in a shade to suit your colour scheme or as a contrast. Make sure to use a plastic primer and terracotta sealer before painting.
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