ugly concrete yard woes

[yellowgladys]

Any ideas how I can cheaply transform my very ugly back yard? It's quite large - c. 10m x 5m of crumbling old concrete. I've done what I can with planting - I have big raised beds and pots, but there's still SO MUCH CONCRETE! I guess I'm looking for a cheap way that I can landscape it somehow. I rent, and the landlord isn't going to pay to dig it up and put in a lovely lawn, I don't have much of a budget myself, but if there's a cheap way I could put something on top of it, I'd do it, as it would really cheer me up.

[JT05]

Oh, also make a bin hide on the bit of concrete to the left of the picture. There are loads of examples on Pininterest.

[JT05]

I know it's a chore, but you must get rid of the grass between the slabs! The only successful way is to hand weed it. ( the voice of experience ) unless you are ok with chemicals. If you hand weed you can plant something like thyme or camomile, which will grow in the gaps, keep out the weeds and smell lovely.

[traviata]

jasper you could start by getting some sacks of manure/ mushroom compost and tipping them on the surface so the worms start to pull them down, and you will have lovely soil when you come to plant.

what look are you after?
how much maintenance are you willing to do?
where are you in the UK & what conditions? (coastal/north or south/windy/urban etc)
do you know if your soil is acidic or alkaline?

In general terms I would always say get a small tree or two (eg crab apple, weeping pear, flowering cherry, sorbus), a couple of small shrubs, plenty of spring bulbs, and some lower level frothy edging such as heucheras or alchemilla.

[JasperDamerel]

In fact, I will be brave and share a picture of it in the current state of neglect. The driveway is useful for visitors/resale, but usually empty as we don't have a car.

[JasperDamerel]

If I post of photo of my embarrassingly horrible and neglected concrete front garden could you lot give me suggestions? Other than the obvious of getting rid of the remains of the building work and cleaning everything.

[Kr1stina]

[wobblywonderwoman]

OK .. We DEMAND a photo

Bet its lovely

[Kr1stina]

Stop being so reasonable wobbly - we DEMAND a photo

[wobblywonderwoman]

Great news - can we see a snippet of a photo. Sounds great. If it identifies you don't worry about it

[yellowgladys]

You are all brilliant, my yard is transformed with bargain shrubs, big cheap pots (wish I'd known about the wheeled bases before I planted!) and some huge outdoor plastic rugs. It is just so much nicer, thanks everyone :-) I'm going to look out for a large old mirror, that's a great idea.

[HaveYouSeenHerLately]

Agree with buddleia and fatsia japonica for big impact. Fatsias are mostly evergreen - handy for keeping a bit of structure while everything else is dying back. In fact my first year or two I focused on snapping up decent sized evergreen shrubs and climbers in the sales (Homebase cheap shelf was my go-to) to add some fast shape to my empty garden.

I'm really glad I did as it made a big difference (I'm quite impatient!)

Make sure you check out their sun/ shade requirements and position accordingly I've invested in a couple of those wheeled bases (I say invested, they were probably from the pound shop/ B&M) for the largest pots so that I can push them around when it suits. They're super heavy when full of soil/ compost!

Once I got the evergreen base in place I concentrated on filling the gaps with my favourite annuals (again I try to 'rescue' them from the reduced shelf!). One of these days I'll get the hang of perennials

[HaveYouSeenHerLately]

I've also seen people make good use of mirrors in concrete yards. They can be quite rustic (check out your local ebay!) and seem to draw the eye/ add extra dimensions in their reflection. Plus you can take them with you

[JasperDamerel]

I'm stealing some ideas from here, too, as we have a hideous concrete front garden/driveway, and have lots of indoors renovations to do before we can get it landscaped, but I'm fed up with our house looking horrible and neglected.

[HaveYouSeenHerLately]

If you don't mind plastic B&M do the best range of budget, large (impact!) planters I've found. They're all listed on the website.

I have several of the 55cm bell pots (£3.99 - terracotta or black colour) and they're still doing brilliantly 2yrs on - no cracks/ fading/ splits.

I like the polystyrene tip as the cost of compost can add up! I've pressure washed my patio recently and it's surprising the difference it makes

[JT05]

I've just read the thread, great ideas. Flexitubs sound like a good cheap container idea. If you fill the bottom with broken polystyrene then you use less compost, they are lighter to handle and there is drainage material.

[Scottishthreeberry16]

My yard was concrete. Put down pavers and now it looks great. Ours were a bit on the expensive side but you can pick up quite cheap ones actually. Sometimes people put them on freecycle if you can collect. Yes to big containers and large plants - like bamboo ... something with impact. We put an old fatsia japonica (houseplant) outside and it's done well, despite living in the frozen north

[Youvegottobekidding]

We use to rent, and ours was a concrete back yard. We yearned to do something with it, but like you couldn't afford much & we're saving like mad for a deposit. We 'spruced' it up with a couple of 'pebble' beds, a few pots of lavender & some garden ornaments. Also if you can borrow a jet wash, perhaps get someone to give it a once over, it may just bring it up nicely.

[yellowgladys]

Thanks for the latest ideas, I really appreciate them -I wish I'd posted here two summers ago! There are lots of local cats, so I will avoid gravel and large uncovered sandpits I think I've just had a big boost, went to my local centre and spent £50 of my budget on a load of very reduced, large, good condition flowering shrubs for next year to put in various recycled containers and a couple of trugs, that will fill a fair bit of space. Cheap foam squares underneath a (covered) sand table area would actually be great, I think.

[Happy50]

I have cats.
They see gravel as a litter tray
Don't use it if you or the neighbours have cats

[Quodlibet]

Old pallets piled up and the gaps planted at sides to make vertical planter/insect habitat?

[froubylou]

What about some of those foam squares you can get for dcs to play on? You could glue the edges together then weight them down with pots or a tyre turned into a sandpit. They are pretty cheap to buy.

They won't last forever obviously but should get you through summer.

Also if anyone has any decking done ask for any offcuts that ate left. You can make raised beds really easily with those. Then maybe instead of normal flowers plant a 'spring meadow'. You can get those shake and sow seed boxes from pound land or aldi and Lidl.

Another thought might be that bamboo screening you can buy but put it down on the floor as matting. Again it isn't going to be a long term solution but will cover up the worst of the areas.

[yellowgladys]

Thanks for all the advice, it has made me feel less depressed by my ugly yard and I have been googling this morning to see what would be possible. I would just really like to have a yard that me and DC could be in that would be cheerful.
I can't paint unfortunately as the concrete is too crumbling, and I'm renting. Even if the landlord was ok with it, decking squares, gravel or properly laid fake grass are going to be out of my budget, especially as we might be moving in a year or so.
I have a disability, so am a bit limited in what I can do myself. I actually think plonked down fake grass / big outdoor rugs might be the way to go, and I'm going to see if I can fill some more floor space with containers. Big pots are so bloody expensive though! I'm always stalking the sales looking for them. Do you think big flexitubs with holes drilled in would work ...? or maybe they would split with the weight of the soil?
Any more ideas very welcome. I don't want to post pics as too identifying

[yellowgladys]

Thanks so much for these great ideas, im going to read properly tomorrow and have a think. I hadn't thought about fake grass, but actually it might be a good idea