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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To hate my garden ?

15 replies

10greenapples · 04/08/2017 23:17

I really hate my garden. It's literally the worst garden ever. It has a little patio area, with a massive drain in the middle of it, then it has a wall on either side, which according to my mum needs to be there or all the mud from behind it will come down on the patio area if it isn't. but it basically cuts the garden in half, it's in the middle of the garden. Then there is a little path in the centre of the walls and then on one side is a grass area and on the other side is another patio area but as it's on a slope the patio is all uneven. You can't walk on it or put anything on it. The whole garden needs landscaping but I will never have the money. Any else got a worse garden!?

OP posts:

OhTheRoses · 04/08/2017 23:18

How big is it?

HighAlert · 04/08/2017 23:21

Can you grow some climbers from pots over the wall?

MrTrebus · 04/08/2017 23:26

We need a photo or diagram to give advice

Original poster

10greenapples · 04/08/2017 23:27

It's 40ft so not tiny, but it's just horrible half of it is unusable.

OP posts:

traviata · 04/08/2017 23:33

There is always hope. Every garden can be lovely, for very little money, although it might take time instead.

Why not start a thread in the Gardening section, with a diagram? You will get loads of advice there.

(PS on your diagram, include the direction that it faces ie which way is north/south; how much sun it gets, eg all day, or 2 hours, or none; and how dry or sticky or damp the soil is, and roughly where you are in the UK)

madja · 04/08/2017 23:33

Mine is so shit. It is 2m X 4m. One side is edged by 14 ft trees. This happens to be the side the sun is at. So it is dark, wet, full of frogs, and deluged by bugs from the neighbours compost heap.
To be fair,its not really a garden at all. It's just a strip of crap that came with the house.

AlternativeTentacle · 04/08/2017 23:38

You mean it has two retaining walls?

Any garden can be improved. Diagram and a photo might help.

7Days · 04/08/2017 23:40

Post in the garden section. They are v helpful

Dancinginthemidnight · 04/08/2017 23:42

Yes post a photo it will help.

Original poster

10greenapples · 04/08/2017 23:43

Rubbish picture but that's a diagram of it. Would take a pic but it's dark now. Didn't realise there was a garden group on here so will check that out aswell thanks! But yeh the walls seem to cut the garden in half so we don't use all of it only the front patio area. The whole design of it is odd tbh. Not sure what the thinking was behind it.

OP posts:

traviata · 04/08/2017 23:55

Step 1; remove crazy patio. It has no purpose. Hopefully you can just break it up and take the bits away.

Step 2: get some nice pots and containers to go by the walls. If your Mum is right, you can't remove the walls because they are holding up the earth behind them. I assume the garden is on 2 levels.

a photo would really help!!

HighAlert · 04/08/2017 23:58

How high are the walls?

Original poster

10greenapples · 05/08/2017 00:06

The walls are not that high I haven't measured them but they come up to around the knees. the garden behind the walls is slightly sloped but I have seen people with much more hilly and sloped gardens than mine that don't have walls.

OP posts:

safariboot · 05/08/2017 00:12

Our garden is about an inch wide by a mile long. It has a public alleyway cutting through the middle of it. The near section has enough brambles to stop a charging rhino, while in the far section neighbours have dumped so much rubbish it's attracted its own moon. One set of neighbours used the fence for goalposts and now it's got more holes than the back of the net.

Gardens can bugger off.

AGrinWithoutACat · 05/08/2017 06:40

Without seeing a picture can you ...

Ditch the patio or add a large rectangular box to the side for use as a raised bed, plant with a mix of flowers / ornamental grasses / alpine plants / sedums - giving you year round interest / movement / colour ?

Add in large stones / ornaments if you like that kind of thing to give points of interest (have added a picture of what I did in a small dark space to give an idea)

For the retaining wall - plant along the top with a mix of flowers/ evergreens that will naturally cascade down, this will soften the harshness of it

If you don't like the grass area - can you add wild flowers and turn it into a meadow? Or why not dig up, lay a couple of small winding gravel paths or little stepping stones and plant it up with herbs, taller ones like fennel towards the back or side, mix in safe, rosemary, lavender, oregano etc - get lovely flowers & scents and bonus for cooking

(I planted my herb garden around my whirligig not sure if that's s consideration for you but means my clothes smell lovely when I take them in)

Hope this helps spark a few ideas for you

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