Awkward garden, design help needed for a beginner

[User5trillion]

We moved house last year and have a lovely but bland garden. We have 3 dc from 4-8, so it gets a lot of playing and we have a trampoline, pop up pool in summer (on patio). The pergola is just about to be installed.

The garden gets sun for most of the day. There is a 5ft fence along back wall. Under trampoline is a gravelled area and several random drain covers.

The garden looks more triangular than the pic suggests. I would like to add some plants and borders to take the sharp edges from the garden. We live in the sw within sight of the sea but several miles back, on a big hill but garden relatively sheltered. Limited budget, very limited knowledge but handy fil local, needs to be kid proof. Does anyone have any advice please. Tia

Post edited by MNHQ

To get rid of sharp edges give your flower bed curves. You can make them out with your garden hose and then just lift the grass to make the beds.

Thanks cantspell2, I was thinking of curvy borders. I am not sure of plants. I need something robust, hard to kill and looks good all year round. I have plenty of pots for seasonal colour.
I quite fancy making the middle bit more oval. I am adding the pergola for some height and also somewhere to put our furniture now monstrous pool takes up all of patio.
I am keen to add some interest or height to back fence as its a hideous colour and the main view from the house. Any plant suggestions welcome, I think I prefer a neat box type bushes to cottagey planting. I have been all over pinterest but I am just confusing myself now!

Could you stain or paint the fence a better colour?

Sounds like hebe might suit you, little bushes, usually evergreen, but with nice flowers.

Its autumn gold at the moment, can I.just add another colour on the top? Its my neighbours fence, if I paint it, will it bleed through to their side? - total novice and dont want to annoy them! I think I would stain it mahogany, then green plants would stand out against it. I have heard of hebes and I like them. I love hostas but we have lots of slugs in the garden. I have several cordeylines (sp) in pots which I love. Thanks for all the advice, all welcome

For slugs I use nematodes ordered from Amazon. No chemicals, child and pet safe. You do have to wait for warmer, wet weather for the nematodes to do a good job.

I'm a fan of hebe, they come in different colours and leaf shapes. These ones change colour over the seasons: 'Heartbreaker', 'Magic Summer', 'Frozen Flame' and 'Wild Romance'. Put together, they sound like a series of cheesy romance novels...

Here are some of the plants in my garden, they're mostly evergreen (with leaves in different colours and textures) and easy to care for.

Sun:

• Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote'
• Lavandula angustifolia 'Blue Cushion' ('Schola')
• Hebe 'Emerald Gem'
• Hebe 'Heartbreaker'
• Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii (spurge)
• Rosmarinus officinalis 'Roman Beauty'

Partial sun/shade:

• Pittosporum 'Tandara Gold'
• Skimmia japonica
• Carex oshimensis 'Evergold' (Japanese sedge)
• Hebe 'Mrs Winder' (this has flowered through winter, and I'm deadheading the spent flowers)
• Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety'

Shade:

• Polystichum polyblepharum
• Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Tom Thumb'
• Buxus sempervirens (box)

As your garden is so sunny how about Mediterranean plants? Lavender, rosemary, thymes, cistus is nice. You could clip the lavender and rosemary. If you were patient you could try propagating the herbs from neighbours or friends. Annuals like poppies and nasturtiums would work, they don’t like rich soil. I agree about hebe. Can you watch tv shows like Garden Rescue, and I think it’s Love your Garden. Real afternoon telly but great ideas on design and plants. Once your fence is painted a repeat climbing rose (£18 approx) would be lovely and it’s easy to train.For me for roses try David Austin online, but Homebase, Lidl, local markets/car boots are great too. Others might shout me
down but I’d grow a golden hop over your pergola - very sturdy, grows quickly. If the hop got too jungly too quickly, say two years in, chop it down and plant a grape vine or wisteria. It’s a long slog gardening and at the beginning give yourself a chance with some big impact stuff.

Wow everyone thanks for all the advice. I have been googling plants and I have half a rough plan if anyone wants to critique it!
On the back long fence that faces the house (kitchen diner) I would plant 3 or 4 evenly spaced tall fuchsias, I will stain fence mahogany and attach fan trellis for support. In front of those I will plant hebes and nestle in miniature hostas - the fence area gets sun from 12-3 and the other plants might provide shade? This will create a curvy border but like semi circles with straight bits joining them if that makes sense. Not sure what I will plant in the straight bits!

Next to the pergola on both sides, I will plant some rhoderendrams sp in bright pinks or blues in tubs. I have some large unused tubs.

Between the patio and pergola on the short fence wall I would like to grow some lavender as that gets sun most of the day.

Then I have amassed quite a collection of tubs which I will fill with trailing lobelia in pinks, whites and blues and dot all over the place.

I didnt realise how much I liked pink! And my dd will be pleased as its her fav colour!

All suggestions welcome, if there is a flaw in my plan.

Hostas tend to prefer shade rather than full sun, but if you want a safe way to keep slugs and snails off them, I can recommend boiling a couple of peeled and squashed garlic cloves for 5 mins in a couple of pints of water. Cool it, and strain into a bottle. Simply spray this over the hosta’s leaves in the evening and repeat as necessary ( eg after rainfall has washed it off).
I’ve done this in my garden and the previously slug ravaged Hostas are pristine!

I love lavender too! Wish I had more space to put in large swathes of them.

I've never bought from them but Downderry Nursery sell a range of lavender in different colours.

www.downderry-nursery.co.uk/frost-hardy-lavender/

Rhododendrons like dappled shade so if the pergola area is in full sun you might need to rethink.
Fushia are nice and easy to grow. You could also add some standard fushia in any spare pots and maybe some trailing. There is a lovely one called marshmallow that is pale pink And white.
Have you thought about any ground cover plants. Maybe something like root geranium/cranesbill. You can get some lovely shades of pink, white and purple.
Dahlia are a good gap filler. Any easy to grow and plenty of colours to fit in with your pinks.
Lobelia are not one of my favourites. They need a lot of dead heading to keep producing flowers all summer and if we have a hot summer will need constant watering.
I prefer geraniums and Pelargoniums as they can survive a bit of neglect.
Dianthus (pinks)In pots would also fit in well with your colour scheme.

Forgot to add have you thought about growing anything up over the pergola?
Might want to avoid roses if you have young children but something like clematis would be nice and you could plant several that flower at different times so you have all year round interest.

With all that sun, you should consider a ceanothus. I so badly want one, but the garden needs serious rearranging to make a good space.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=ceanothus&client=tablet-android-samsung&prmd=isvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqhpHg-uLZAhXBFsAKHWF2A8YQ_AUIESgB&biw=800&bih=1280#imgrc=NBCppBMK3CpTlM:

Babdoc, I love hostas but they have all ended up being lunch to slugs in the past, so I will try your garlic slug repellant, eco friendly and child safe too. I have a shady bit where it says house. In front of the back door and patio door is a path with a covered walkway. By the back door there are some brick pillars supporting the roof, between them I wanted to grow ferns in hanging baskets and in front of the wall would be a good spot for hostas as it very shady there.

Mrsbertiebibby, we have that purple thing you linked to. We have a weird side raised bed attached to the garage- I suspect it a rubble dump with a layer of soil on top. That plant was put in just before we bought the house. Due to the location of this raised bed we dont see it unless we come home in one direction. That plant went from being 10cm in diameter to 3m in diameter in one summer, its a monster, we hacked it back and it still threatens to take over the raised bed. I need plants with no megalomaniac tendencies.

I was thinking of growing clematis over the pergola. I think I need to take baby steps and see what I can keep alive and I am limited in budget.

Have I got this right....? I have my nice evergreens like hebes etc, so the garden looks nice in winter. Then in summer fucshias will come back and I use bedding plants to fill in gaps in borders and provide colour in tubs?

I really want to break up the harsh length of fence, its all you see from the house and in winter its so bland and the autumn gold colour is pretty horrid. From the house the garden looks like an acute triangle.

This is why I wanted to add the pergola so that you sit at the fat end and look down it making the garden feel squarer- if that makes sense!

When is the best time to start digging my borders? I am keen to get started and will post pictures. It really is a blank canvas at the moment.

This is our garden currently. The grass is very mossy, my dad suggested that it might be because its compacted with the children playing on it. I was thinking of using moss killer and a feed on it, in spring. We also need a big sort out!

Post edited by MNHQ

I would start the borders now whilst the soil is soft and then you should be ready to start planting late April to early May. If you are putting in young tender plants just make sure the last frost has passed.
Good source of good cheap plants like clematis and hebes is Morrison’s supermarket. If you have a Lidl nearby their plants and bulbs are always good value as well.
If you want to buy online I use jparkers and find them cheaper than the likes on t&m or hayloft.
The lawn looks like it maybe more of a long term project. I would concentrate on cutting in neat edges, raking out any moss, giving regular mows then feeding and if needed filing any dips and patching with grass seed where needed.
The patio will look nice after a good clean and some pots to soften the edges.
Your fence is in realy good condition so that is one expense you are spared.
I think I would also move the washing line away from the patio and maybe put stepping stones through the grass to it.
You have a the makings of a nice garden there and as you say you get plenty of sun I am sure it will be lovely this summer.

Great to see the photo, see what you mean by the fence. So climbers -
Ivies - fast growers, but can be invasive. Honeysuckles - some are evergreen, and some “beligica” have maroon to pink flowers, sweet smell too. There’s a lovely Virginia creeper, Henryi, that’s evergreen. You’ve got a lot of fence - frankly I’d choose two exactly the same climbers to clothe your fence in green, but that will take time. Meanwhile I’d grow loads of climbing annuals - French beans, small squash/pumpkins, black eyed Susan climber just to fill in all that space until your climbers really take off.
Dig - won’t bother unless you discover horrible rubble when planting. Just mulch a helluva lot with whatever your budget can afford - the worms do the digging for you.
Grass - 2 ways to go - accept the moss, think bio-diversity, a bit of a flower meadow sown up by your Borders. Dead cheap to do and you can have fun tweaking it to your level of meadow. Plus you’ll get butterflies and bees. Or as defeating moss is hell, take up the turf, and either sow (cheap and laborious) or re-turf.
It strikes me you’ve got a lot on with small children too. Much of gardening is just outside housekeeping and you’re probably doing a fair bit of the inside stuff at the moment. Having a shed/large garden tool box makes the endless tidying up easier, even if it’s just a place to chuck the crap at the end of the day.

We tend to store a lot of the kids stuff under the trampoline but we do have loads of outdoor play toys, they love playing in the garden. We do have a small blanket box for toys but what we really need is a cull!

The moss is much worse this year, the lawn was nicer last year. I will have a go with a moss killer but the lawn gets pretty torn up with the kids, so I am not too concerned about a pristine lawn for now.

The fence is the main priority for now as I am sick of looking at it.

We are building a bug hotel as a family project, its looking awesome!

I think a good sort out and clean up will be a start, its my day off tomorrow, so I might start there.

Can I paint a dark brown over the existing fence colour?

Will google all the plants you suggested, thanks for all your help.

My fil is going to scarify sp the lawn, he says it will help the moss. Tomorrow I start the big clear out, whilst the kids are at school. I am going to gather all my pots and tubs which are scattered all over the place and see what I have.

Cant wait to get started.

Total fail today, didnt start my big garden sort out, it was drizzly and horrid, so tackled the housework instead. I have a days annual leave tomorrow so will start then. The pergola is going in on friday, so I think that will give me a better idea of what the proportions are and where exactly the borders should be.