In front of many terraced, semi-detached and town houses there are only a few metres between the front door and the pavement. Everything still has to fit into that space: the path to the door, the bins, often a bike, the letterbox and the doorbell. And something should grow there that still looks like something in February. This article shows how to work out the numbers for a small front garden, how the practical things take up the least space and which plants look good all year. All the rules and measurements for front gardens of any size are in the article Planning a front garden, and style ideas with pictures are in Designing a modern front garden.
At a glance
- Measure first, then draw. The path, bins and bike need fixed areas. What's left is your planting area.
- Use the path twice: if the bins and bike stand right next to the path, the path is also the space you need to pull them out.
- Everything strangers need goes at the front: letterbox, doorbell and house number on a post or at the gate.
- A framework for winter: a few small evergreen shrubs, plus grasses and perennials that stay standing until late winter.
- Gravel only as a path or between plants. In several German states a gravel surface is not allowed.
1. Measure first: what needs to fit in front of the door?
Measure the area between the house and the pavement and write down what happens there every day. In a small front garden the order matters more than the style: the practical things get their space first, then the plants.
| What | Space (approx.) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Path to the door | 1.20–1.50 m wide | DIN 18040-2 |
| 120 l bin | 48 × 56 cm | manufacturer |
| 240 l bin | 59 × 74 cm | manufacturer |
| Bike | up to 1.90 m long | ADFC |
| Gap between two bikes | 70 cm | ADFC |
The path width comes from the German standard for barrier-free housing. There, 1.20 m applies to short paths under 6 m if you can turn at both ends. For your house it's a guide, not an obligation. The bin sizes are given by the manufacturer SSI Schäfer; other bins differ slightly. The bike measurements come from the planning guidance of the German cycling club ADFC.
A worked example. Say your front garden is 5 m wide and 3 m deep, so 15 m². A path 1.20 m wide over the full depth takes 3.6 m². Three bins side by side, two small and one large, need about 1.60 m of width with a little space between them and 75 cm of depth, so about 1.2 m². Two bikes side by side need just under 1.90 m of depth and, with the ADFC gap, about 1.35 m of width, together about 2.6 m². That leaves about 7.5 m² for plants, a good half of the area. This only works if the bins and bikes stand right next to the path. If they need their own access, it gets tight quickly.
Ask your local authority whether a development plan or a front garden bylaw applies. In Germany some bylaws limit how much of the area may be paved. The town of Nidda, for example, allows up to 50 % for the path and parking, and up to 70 % for semi-detached and terraced houses if the parking spaces can't be put anywhere else. Other municipalities regulate this differently or not at all.
2. The path: direct, level and wide rather than narrow
On a few square metres the path is the biggest built element. Still, it doesn't pay to skimp on its width: a narrow path with the bins next to it becomes a bottleneck. Lead it to the door as directly as possible. People cut corners on a detour, and then a trodden track appears through the bed.
The picture doesn't show a front garden but a detail of a garden. The principle fits, though: large slabs with narrow joints let bins, buggies and bikes roll smoothly, and there are few joints for anything to grow in. Stepping stones in gravel are nice to walk on, but bin wheels judder over them and buggy wheels sink into the gravel. Let the plants grow a little over the edge, but not into the walking width.
Steps: if the door is higher than the pavement, a few wide, shallow steps are more comfortable than a steep flight. Anyone who has to drag bins up steps notices it every week. If there is room, the bins therefore get a spot at pavement level. More on surfaces and path shapes is in the article Garden paths.
3. Bins: at the edge, not in front of the window
In a small front garden there are usually only two sensible places for the bins: at the boundary with the street, or to the side of the path near the boundary with the neighbours. Both give a short way to collection. A spot right in front of the window is convenient, but you look at it every day.
- A free lid: a bin store or roof has to be high enough for the lid to open fully, or have a flip lid.
- Screening that takes little space: a trellis with climbers needs only a narrow planting strip. A hedge needs more width and has to be cut every year.
- Count the bins first, then buy the store. How many bins you have depends on which types of waste your municipality collects separately.
In Germany, whether a bin area is allowed in the front garden and what it may look like is set by the state and the municipality. What to consider is covered in detail in the article Planning a front garden.
4. Bikes: a rack by the path instead of a bike shed
A bike that is needed every morning is best kept at the front, by the path. In a small space a bike stand (a simple hoop to lean the bike against) or a wall bracket is often a better solution than a bike shed: it takes hardly more room than the bike itself, and you can lock the bike by its frame. A bike shed or shelter, on the other hand, is a structure. In Germany some municipalities only allow such outbuildings in the front garden if there is no room for them elsewhere on the plot. Ask the building authority before you put anything up.
Plan for the length. A bike standing across the path sticks up to 1.90 m into the area. Standing lengthwise along the path, it needs less depth but more path length.
5. Letterbox, doorbell and house number in one place
In a small space it's worth grouping everything strangers need: letterbox, doorbell, house number and a parcel box if you have one, on a post or at the gate. The delivery driver then doesn't have to cross the front garden, and the house wall stays free for climbers. The house number should be readable from the street, also at night, so that emergency services and deliveries can find your house. A light at the house number and at the steps is usually enough. Warm white and pointing downwards, it bothers neighbours and insects less.
6. Plants that look good all year
You see a small front garden every day, in January just as much as in June. The planting therefore needs a framework that works even without flowers.
This picture is also a detail of a garden, not a front garden. It shows the principle: round evergreen shapes and fine grasses alternate, and a solid edge separates the bed from the path.
- Small evergreen shrubs as a framework. Box is damaged in many places by the box tree moth. The Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology (LfULG) has tested replacements for low hedges, including Japanese holly (Ilex crenata). Yews are evergreen too, but according to the same source they are highly poisonous. With small children in the house they don't belong at the entrance.
- Leave grasses and perennials standing over winter. Their stems and seed heads give the bed structure in winter. In its care guidance for natural gardens, the German conservation charity NABU recommends cutting back only in March or April.
- Bulbs for spring. Crocuses, grape hyacinths, daffodils and wild tulips flower before the perennials come up. NABU combines them like this in its design for a sunny front garden of 15 m².
- A tree only by its final size. A small tree or multi-stemmed large shrub gives the front garden height. What matters is the size after years, not at purchase. The nursery gives the final dimensions. In front of windows the planting stays low, or it gets dark inside. At the boundary, the distances set by your state's neighbour law apply in Germany.
- Use the house wall. Climbers on a support bring green without taking up ground. A narrow planting strip along the house is enough.
- Repeat rather than collect. In a small space a few species in groups look calmer than many single plants. There is no fixed number for this.
If almost everything in front of the house is paved, large containers help. But they don't replace a planting area, and in summer they often need watering every day. Ideas for this are in the article Designing a modern front garden.
7. Gravel: what is allowed
Gravel is useful in a small front garden, as a path or as mulch between dense planting. A surface of gravel with only the odd plant is something else, and in several German states it is explicitly not allowed:
- Baden-Württemberg: since 2020, gravel surfaces for designing private gardens are in principle not a permitted use (Section 21a of the state Nature Conservation Act).
- Hesse: the same rule since 2023 (Section 35(9) of the state Nature Conservation Act).
- North Rhine-Westphalia: since 2024, gravel surfaces and artificial grass do not count as a permitted use of unbuilt land (Section 8(1) of the state Building Code).
- Bavaria: there is no statewide ban. The building code requires unbuilt areas to be permeable and planted, and municipalities can ban unplanted stone gardens by bylaw (Articles 7 and 81(1) no. 5 BayBO).
Other states and many municipalities have rules too. If in doubt, ask your local authority. What a planted front garden with gravel can look like, and how to convert a gravel garden, is in the article Nature-inspired front garden.
As of October 2026. This is not legal advice.
Two examples, explained
The pictures are AI visualisations by GardenPilot, not built gardens. They show design ideas, not construction plans.
Example 1: Steps and raised beds right by the pavement
The cover picture above shows a front garden that starts directly at the pavement.
- Starting point: a detached house a few metres back from the pavement. The assumption is that the front door is slightly higher than the pavement.
- Key decision: the change in level is turned into wide, shallow steps of large sandstone slabs. On the left and right, raised beds with Corten steel edges frame the planting. A low timber fence runs along the side, and there's a container at the door. On the right are a wooden bench and a shallow water trough.
- Transferable principle: a change in level becomes part of the design instead of being climbed with a narrow flight of steps. Raised beds keep the planting away from the pavement.
- Limitations: bins and bike don't appear in the picture. That's exactly the question you should answer first. Irregular slabs are bumpy for rolling. The bench and water trough take up space that many front gardens need for bins. A water trough is a risk with small children in the house, because toddlers can drown in just a few centimetres of water.
- Simpler version: level slabs with shallow steps, one bed instead of two raised beds, and a bin store with a trellis in place of the bench and trough.
Example 2: Stepping stones, hydrangeas and a screen at the door
- Starting point: an entrance in a row of houses, looking out at the houses opposite. The assumption is a partly shaded site under trees.
- Key decision: stepping stones in gravel lead to a step in front of the door. Hydrangeas grow in Corten steel raised beds. Next to the door is a half-height frosted glass screen with a bench in front of it. A small water basin with a fountain sits by the path.
- Transferable principle: the screen stands only where you spend time, not all the way round. The rest of the front garden stays open.
- Limitations: bins don't roll well over stepping stones in gravel. Hydrangeas need evenly moist soil. In dry summers that means watering. Here too, the water basin is a risk with small children. There is no visible spot for the bins.
- Simpler version: a continuous slab path, perennials that suit the site instead of hydrangeas, and a planted bowl instead of the basin.
Ideas we don't have our own pictures for yet
Three solutions are common in small front gardens, but we don't have suitable pictures of them yet:
- A bin store with a trellis at the boundary, with a narrow planting strip in front.
- A bike stand for two bikes lengthwise along the path.
- A post at the start of the path with letterbox, doorbell, house number and light.
Try it before you build
Whether a bin store at the boundary looks good, or whether there's still room for a bed next to the path, is hard to see on paper. With GardenPilot you upload a photo of your front garden, choose a theme world and add what matters to you, for example "bin store on the right at the boundary, bike stand by the path, perennials everywhere else". The first image is free, and each further variant costs 1 credit. The images are visualisations, not construction plans: you check measurements, rules and feasibility on site. How it works is explained in the article AI garden design with a photo.
Will path, bins and a bed fit into your front garden? Upload a photo – the first image is free. Start free with your photo
Frequently asked questions
How do I design a very small front garden?
First measure what the path, bins and bike need, and put the bins and bikes right next to the path. The rest becomes planting area, with a few small evergreen shrubs, grasses and perennials as a framework. Group the letterbox, doorbell and house number on a post or at the gate.
Where do the bins go in a small front garden?
At the boundary with the street or to the side of the path, so you can roll them to collection without a step. Plan for the footprint of the bins, a lid that opens fully and a slim screen such as a trellis. In Germany, whether a bin store is allowed is set by the state and the municipality.
Which plants look good in a small front garden in winter too?
Small evergreen shrubs such as Japanese holly (Ilex crenata), grasses and perennials whose stems stay standing until late winter, and bulbs for spring. Box is damaged in many places by the box tree moth, and yews are highly poisonous.
Can I use gravel in my small front garden?
As a path or as mulch between dense planting, yes. In Germany, a gravel surface with only the odd plant is in principle not allowed in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. In Bavaria, municipalities can ban it by bylaw. If in doubt, ask your local authority.
Further reading
What would this look like in your garden?
Upload a photo of your garden and see design ideas on your own space. The first image is free.
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