what can I do with this garden?!

[Claire28will]

I have lived in my house for 5 years and have been gradually fixing the inside and haven't had the money to really overhaul the rear garden, it's always been a big bear I hate sitting in it, it feels really dark and dirty and not modern! We got a few large trees cut down a few years ago and I have tried to de weed every year and keep it clean
I'm now on maternity leave so funds are very low, I have been out the past 2 days cutting back trees and brushing and trying to make the patio look cleaner (we need a total new patio laid hopefully next year!)
I was just looking for some advice on what I could do to the back area where the trees are, the soil here seems really dry I'm unsure if I can even plant anything! I am not great at gardening so anything low maintenance would be great!

I would buy lots of pots of a reasonable size and pot up bedding plants for summer. Buy seedlings now as cheaper than plants and there is still time for them to grow. Put drainage in bottom of pots. Buy from a gardening centre or go to a car boot sale as lots of people sell off what excess they have cheaply. If you are in the north you could also buy an azalea or two. They will flower for years. They need a different compost and I would re pot them after flowering so they have room to grow next year.
Not sure if you can grow anything under the hedge/ trees as the soil doesn't look good. Pots and hanging baskets is the way I would go.

Those trees are very shading.
The pots are probably the best idea. It would be good if you can raise them eg in an old wheelbarrow/ on some old paving propped up with stones to make them flat / in some stacked wooden boxes so that they are higher up and screening more of the bank and tree trunks. But the slope means they would need to be safely supported.
I use bleach on my paving. put some in a bucket with water, maybe 10 to 1, or 20 to 1, and slop it over the paving with an old floor mop, or a rag would do, but wear gloves and cover your clothes. Leave to dry. Wear wellies.
A lot of supermarkets have cheap trees and plants. I got a lovely crab apple tree one year. You could put three trees in tubs and group them together, that would draw your eye, even though they will not be v big this year.

Nothing much will grow under those conifers - they suck the moisture and nutrition out of the soil. Also if you cut them back into the brown wood they won't regrow green from there.

You could plant climbers in pots underneath them to grow up through them though. Cheapest would be some annual climbers like climbing nasturtium or morning glory but they will die this winter. More expensive but longer term would be a climbing rose or clematis.

Thanks for all the replies! I had thought pots were the way to go but all your suggestions are so helpful going to get bleaching and potting

I love your patio! It's retro in the best way, sort of mid century modern/60s. I'd make that the centre of the design and add loads of really bright colour - scarlet, yellow, marimekko style pattern, that kind of thing - and maybe some old retro advertisements on the side of the shed. You could even add a string of bright solar coloured lights from the fence to the shed.

Get rid of the conifers and dump some grit and compost on that bank and dig (this will be hard work) then make yourself a rockery - alpines are cheap to buy! You can even use some of the gravel in that other bed, then bring that bit into use for flowers/herbs.

Oh, and some climbers up the fence once the conifers are gone will make it feel lovely and enclosed and private!

Oh - sorry - another thing, I use trugs to plant in. You can get them in lovely bright colours for cheap (£2.99 for a big one in Aldi). Drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage, and you have a lovely, zingy-coloured planter.

Love the idea of the advertisements shovetheholly! Thanks so much for all your suggestions on feeling totally inspired now!