Starting garden again from scratch

[WeAllHaveWings]

We are in Scotland so cooler weather up here. Moved into our first house with a small garden 12 years ago and the full garden was covered in red chips, a couple of years later we pulled all that out, laid a buff coloured patio near the patio doors and grass. Bought a big shed 9ft 7ft to keep bikes/lawnmower in. Looked lovely. What we didn't realise in our naivety is the garden is north facing so shaded most of the year round.

We now have horrible grey/black slabs that don't clean well even through we have tried various cleaners and jet washed twice a year, the grass has always been hard work/damp but since getting a dog 2 years ago it now yellow and never dries out.

So we are starting from scratch again. Its going to cost a fortune, but want to get it right this time.

Garden is approx. 8.8m by 9m.

Given up on grass and thinking about doing 4m x 7m in astro turf to let ds kick a football about with his friends. The remaining 4.8m by 9m is going to be patio and chips with planters.

Can you recommend which type of paving/stone is best in a wet north facing garden?

I have a shaded, north-facing garden on clay, so I have some inkling what you are talking about!

My first piece of advice would be this: work with the conditions you have, rather than trying to change them because the latter is an uphill battle.

Definitely think about some borders. There are loads and loads of beautiful shade plants that you can grow, and many have more spectacular and interesting flowers than the sun lovers. There are even specialist nurseries who do nothing but, and who will be happy to give you advice over the phone or email. If you buy small plants, you will spend a fraction of what you would getting mature stuff in. They will look a bit ridiculous for the first year, but they will soon bulk up, and the garden will then look the same as if you'd spent literally eight or ten times more. Shade plants often like quite rich soils, so be prepared to dig in loads of compost, and maybe some horticultural grit too.

Maybe get rid of the lawn and think about alternatives. I am a bit wary of astroturf as I don't think it always looks that nice, but others swear by it so maybe the ones I've seen have just been poor jobs. What about some other alternatives like a gravel garden?

Have you tried posting about cleaning your existing slabs in the housekeeping forum? Someone will almost certainly have some good ideas: it is, after all, just a matter of finding the right chemical. If you can get them back to a buff colour, you could then seal or treat them to make them easier to clean in future (you can buy a lot of products that do this and they are not expensive). This would save you all the cost of a new patio.