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Step 1
Surround your garden with a picket fence. Originally built to protect the garden from wandering animals, the picket fence is now a design staple of the cottage garden. If building a whole fence isn't an option, try putting in an accent fence, a few feet in length, to display climbing roses or vines.
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Step 2
Design a straight walk from your front gate to your door. An arched trellis entryway over the gate completes the cottage-type look. You can incorporate the arched entryway even if you don't have a fence. Consider placing it in a corner of your yard and train a rambling rose on it as an architectural accent leading from one part of your garden to the next.
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Step 3
Prepare the beds with an abundance of organic material to enrich the soil. Plant low maintenance varieties at the back of rectangular beds, leaving the ones that need more upkeep towards the front within reach. Choose easy-to-grow flowers that thrive in your area. English and heritage roses are a staple of the cottage garden. Soften your paths with low-growing, flowering ground cover.
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Step 4
Plant small flowering trees and bushes to add height and texture. Train traditional wisteria on a pergola or trellis and fill in empty spots with bulbs or herbs.
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Step 5
Divide your plant selection between perennials and annuals. The cottage garden needs the favorite hollyhocks, daisies and verbenas that come back year after year. Also, remember to add some snapdragons, alyssum and anemones to complete the look.
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Step 6
Deadhead your blooms regularly. With so many flowers, the cottage garden can look messy very quickly if you don't tend it regularly. Pinching off spent blooms encourages new ones and keeps straggly stems at bay.
