Front garden help.

[LittleLongDog]

I currently have what can best be described as a barren bit of rocky dirt for a front garden.

We’re deciding whether to:
a) put pebbles down
b) pave it
c) turf it

DP is leaning towards turfing it but I’m thinking it will end up being a pain to upkeep. How often do you have to cut a lawn and will I have to buy and store a lawn mower and a strimmer to mow it and do the edges?

It’s about 4mx4m so not huge but it feels like a big problem as it looks terrible as it is! Help!

Well - that sounds a nice little (though bigger than my back garden plot.

My plea would be to think of environmental concerns and have a go with some plants. It's a very manageable size, so you won't need to give a lot of time if you plan carefully. A few small shrubs, some ground cover plants as a living mulch, a few taller perennials and you'll have an attractive little garden. The bees and butterflies will come, your house will look welcoming and, after sorting it out to begin with, some gentle pottering should keep it nice - probably less time than maintaining a reasonable lawn.

Pebbles - don't stay where you want them. Weeds will grow through, even with weed matting

Pave - Durable. Weeds may grow through unless you do imprint concrete, which can come in a nice variety of patterns/colours. Potential for off street parking. Low maintenance - may need jet washing every so often.

Lawn - Will need weeding/mowing. In Winter, won't need to mow as much, summer may need it every 2 weeks. Don't necessarily need a strimmer if its a straight square. Visitors will walk over it and potentially make a 'path' through and/or track in mud in the Winter.

I would go for imprint concrete paving and then put some nice pots around for a bit of greenery.

Do not assume that pebbles or paving is 'low maintenance'. The weeds will still grow through and will be awkward to remove. Lawn is a pain, but mowing is relatively quick and painless in comparison to hand weeding. If you plant the whole area densely you wouldn't have to do either!

Thanks all!

The edges of the ground are either walled or a line of brick edging (eg the path and bordering the flower bed) so I’m assuming that might be the problem zone if we were to go lawn?

Don’t worry @cwg1 it does have a flower bed in it (and I’ve only managed to kill a few of the plants so hopefully I’ll be able to keep a handle on it if I keep it low key). Would you suggest more plants? I could maybe cope with a few more (if they’re the hardy type that almost care for themselves 😂). And if so what else around them covering the ground?

I feel a bit out of my depth. I look at other people’s gardens and just think ‘how do you do that?!’.

This is where it gets a bit tricky You need to work out which way the garden faces and how sunny or shady it is. A good tip is to have a stroll round locally and see what does well in other gardens nearby. Then you can start choosing plants. Hardy geraniums or cranesbills are a favourite of mine for ground cover. They take sun or part shade, are very tough and very floriferous.

You could try a clover lawn (or similar) have to like the semi wild look but low maintenance and great for bees