Brightening up our garden - ideas!

[youvegottobekidding]

Right so this is a picture of our garden, I hope you can make out my rough sketch!

It's very bare as in terms of plants etc. DH & I are useless/clueless at plants. There's not many practical (I say that as ds is always kicking a ball about) sunny areas in the garden. The newish (was laid last year) patio now looks 5 yrs old & the lawn is very very patchy & uneven. We can't afford to do anything major, so I'm thinking pots, plant & shrubs, but what & where?

Watching with interest as we need to add more colour too! I've planted loads of shrubs in ours but they are all really boring and green! although the garden looks tons better than it did when we moved in, it was a blank canvas with just patio, path and grass before.

I would try and clean up all the old grey slabs, have you got or can borrow a pressure washer, you'll be surprised how good they come up, replacing them to match the new buff ones is expensive unless you do it yourself. Move all the odd stones to one area, probably the top right, move the blue slate from the left to the right in the stones bit in front of the outhouse and buy some more to fill it out, put a nice big shrub in a blue pot and put in on the slate. Paint the outhouse a nice bright colour, maybe something to tone with the blue slate. Put up some hanging baskets on the outhouse. Move the chairs to the new patio area. It looks like its a shady garden so look at Crocus plant site to get some ideas, they are expensive but it shows you what you can grow in shade and then you can buy them from somewhere else, DIY shops, supermarkets, Wilko, local market, local garden centre. Ferns grow very well in pots and are evergreen.

Do you want to have birds, bees and butterlies - you can get plants or seeds that they like which you can sprinkle around and put up a bird box and put a bird bath somewhere. You can't hang anything on the neighbours fence without their permission. The grass might come back to life if you "weed and feed" it but if you're going to play footie on it then don't bother with it too much, you could lay artificial grass instead.

Here are some handy Crocus links:

For the shady side/corner, have a look at the plants in the border designs on the link below. If you see a plant you like, do a quick Google search to see if it will be happy in a pot.

www.crocus.co.uk/search/_/search.shady-borders/

Small acers, box, hellebores and ferns go well in pots. Clump forming bamboo like Fargesia murielae in a large pot in the corner for height?

www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/mature-japanese-maples-c141#t15

Also try this link and try out the different choices in 'Aspect' to find things for sunny spots and for shade.

www.crocus.co.uk/plant-combinations/

With pots I think less is more, maybe go for a few big, interesting plants rather than lots of small ones pushed together. You can always add more over time.

I second the pressure washer for the slabs! Mine benefit from a blast every spring.

Do you want to keep the old grey slabs? Is it worth lifting them and laying turf? Or reducing the area they occupy since you have a new patio? Not sure how much sun the area gets - do you have patio doors leading onto it? You could have a curving path leading to your new patio instead

How overgrown are the neighbour's trees? Are they open to reducing/thinning them a bit to let light through or is that a non-starter?

What direction does you garden face? I should be able to work this out but I'm feeling lazy!!

What's along the back boundary? Is it fenced? Do you have another neighbour behind? A view you want to obscure?

I limit myself to growing annuals in pots/hanging baskets for colour. I worry anything more permanent could dry out. Larger, more impactful shrubs also require more root space and large pots are expensive! I tend to favour planting in the ground for this reason
Saying that I'm trying to get into the habit of growing something evergreen (like a small cordyline) in my containers as a centrepiece with annuals dotted around and some ivy (going by the thriller/spiller/filler method!). That way I have slightly less to replace each season. Loads of ways to increase water retention in pots and baskets, we can come back to that

I'd try and get some climbers up the fences this season (bear in mind their sun or shade requirements) as they usually take 2-3 years to get going. Some may need tying in. I'm a big fan of vertical gardening, using obelisks etc for impact.

Do you have any photos?

Sorry haven't touched on planting suggestions yet!

You can paint old concrete slabs.

Thank you so much for your replies, they're really helpful!

I think the garden is east facing. Yes, we've got a pressure washer so that's on list of things to do when weather picks up. We will eventually replace the grey slabs but probably not for a least another year or so. Yes patio doors leading onto grey slab area.

Theres a fence running along the back of the garden, behind which are the back neighbours conifers, they're well kept and only come up over about a foot higher than the fence, again it's a shabby fence, but after a lick of paint it's not too bad.

The neighbour's trees on right hand side aren't really overgrown, they don't obstruct the sun when it's out!

I didn't know you could paint old concrete slabs, that's interesting! They must be the original ones laid when the house was built - 1960's - so that's some years! We'll se what the pressure washer brings them up like, but I'm not expecting a huge difference.

I might get some plum slate to put along the right hand side instead of the blue slate (the blue slate looks more like grey!) and possibly move the blue slate to the top right corner. The table & chairs are there because the trampoline is on the new patio, however, the kids never really use it anymore, so it'll be going soon.

The pressure washer will get rid of old stains, wikihow have a guide to painting slabs.

Oh what fun, to have a garden from scratch! Others have suggested hard landscape ideas, so I’ll suggest plants. Don’t forget to dig in some soil improver.
Hydrangeas are great for partial shade, or sun. They can be planted in tubs or in the soil and have a long flowering season. Get some height with climbers, such as honey suckle, clematis and climbing roses.
Clematis like their heads in the sun and roots in the shade, so ideal for a semi shaded area.
Perennial geraniums come in many varieties and range from white to dark mauve. They are very forgiving towards footballs!
Hebes are also easy and forgiving plants they will keep their leaves for winter colour.
I’d have a look at what grows in the neighbourhood as an indication of plants that do well.
For economy, gardening can be expensive, look for bargains in the local garden centre, supermarkets ( although these plants are often very small ) and plant stalls at local fetes.
Have fun.

Such good planting ideas from JT05!

The fact your neighbours' perimeters aren't overgrown is a promising start

Didn't mean to put you off gardening in pots. A mix of statementy pots/ baskets/ climbers/ growing in the ground is a good compromise. My parents have pieris (forest flame) and fatsia japonica in large pots and they look good. Fatsia can tolerate shade and looks tropical.

I started a thread about how awesome and bargainous the Morrisons garden centre is if you have one nearby. Really good selection of shrubs.

I found B&M really good for large planters two years ago. The garden section is better in the larger stores - some even have an outdoor garden centre. I can't find the exact pots I bought but they were 55cm bell pots in teracotta plastic. Wilko sells them but only in an olive green colour as far as I can see:

here

I've heard you can put chunks of polystyrene in the bottom of large pots to save on compost/ improve drainage/ reduce the weight of the pot.

Garden centres often have a ‘plant of the month’ section - just a matter of reading the label to see if it will grow in a spot you need to fill. It’s a good way to get year-round interest in your garden

What a great sketch!

I'd get some Busy Lizzies in pots (Impatiens). The New Guinea type are good for sun and shade and will last all summer. In fact I've had some that have lasted 3 years, sadly killed off by the Beast from the East.

Try and buy plants now while they’re small and plant on as they will be cheaper.
Also a few packets of cosmos will go a long way in pots.

Get some seeds going! Dahlias and cosmos are very easy to grow!

This is great, thanks so much. I'm determined to get the garden looking nice this summer, I don't mind hard work or getting my hands dirty, it's just cost that holds me back!

I'll have to sketch up a new improved garden in a few months (give or take 😂) call it the 'summer sketch!' Please please let us have a decent summer! 🙏

I love climbers too. As well as lots of different clematis, I have passion flower, sweet peas, climbing roses. You could put an arch for them to climb up and separate two areas for interest.
A bird table and bath as suggested above on the old patio. I pressure wash ours every March and it comes up like new.
I've just bought some of those plant pots that hook over a fence (from Poundland) and planning to put perlagoniums in when it's warm enough.
I have loads of large pots with big plants in yuccas, palms etc, which initially are expensive but they give year round interest and little maintenance.
Also grow aliums in pots as I love the structure as well as lots of other bulbs for interest throughout the seasons. Bulbs are cheap. Lillies are fab looking and cheap and easy to grow too.

@AnnabelleLecter talk to me about climbers please, I have old fences that I want to pretty up a bit. Passion flower sounds different, can I do a mix of different climbers?

Passion flower is easy to grow. Mine is growing up an obelisk in half sun half shade. I have several more obelisks and trellises with roses and clematis growing up just choose ones which grow to suitable height and the right aspect. Then I plant sweet peas and morning glory seeds which prefer sun. Both easy to grow and the more you pick sweet peas the more they grow. Yes you can mix them together.
The RHS website is really useful for finding information on all plants.

Placemarking did inspiration

@AnnabelleLecter thank you. Yes, I've been googling all day - I think I'll need a bigger garden! I love sweet peas so will definitely add some of those in.