What do I do with the garden at the side of my house?

[DarlingCoffee]

I’m not even sure if there’s a name for it but I am looking for ideas for the side garden at the back of our house. We live in a detached house and on one side, we have an old shed and an area with pebbles that is covered in weeds and looks terrible! We are thinking of laying some stone paving at the very back to replace our decking but I don’t know if I want paving going all the way that far around. Please help!

Could you just rake the pebbles?
What’s in the shed? Could you make that more decorative so it’s what we look at?

Paint the shed to look like a beach hut, keep the gravel and set in some ornamental grasses and a winding path marked by stones. A few lanterns and a little seat or two and you have a secluded retreat

Google Derek Jarman's garden for inspiration.

What do you keep in the shed? Do you often need to take big items in and out of it? If not, I’d be inclined to use a weed gun to kill the weeds in the gravel and then add a few big planters with plants that can take a bit of shade. Otherwise, unless there’s concrete under the gravel, you could make a planting hole and plant something to grow up the house wall.

Wildflower meadow with a mowed path to the shed?

Plant some climbers to ramble over the shed and maybe go round the windows to give a cottage look to the actual house?

Ooh, I like the Derek Jarman idea!

Love the idea of painting the shed.

What amount of sun does it get? We've got a similar space and it's very shady. Before we had kids I had large pots with ferns and things in them (the area itself is decked otherwise would just plant in the ground). All kinds of lovely things that grow in shade.

I'd pave it if you can afford it and then just put some nice pots on it and paint the shed.

If you can't, get some weedkiller down and get rid of the weeds, paint the shed, and add some nice plants in pots for interest.

If you can't, get some weedkiller down and get rid of the weeds

Why do people jump to weedkiller at the first opportunity?

OP just hoe the weeds off. If it gets no sun it is pointless putting pots there.

Take the shed down and use it to get to the garden? It looks like it was put there to block people going down there.

Thank you all for your suggestions! I knew this would be the place to ask. To answer your questions, nothing is really in the shed but it does act as a barrier to the front garden. I hadn’t even thought of painting the shed but this is a really good idea. What colour should we go for? I love grasses and prairie planting so thank you also for this suggestion and derek jarman is now on my Pinterest! The space actually gets a lot of light so shade isn’t too much of a problem.

If it gets alot of light, then the question is - what do you want to use that space for? Before you spend any money.

Don't use weedkiller, the weeds will die, decompose and create more growing medium for new weeds! You need to hand weed it, which will be incredibly satisfying!

I do like the idea of a secluded retreat as @yamadori suggested (I have small children ) However as you can see, our boundaries are very tight with our neighbours house incredibly close so I don’t know how I could create that kind of privacy.

I'd call it a side return if that helps with googling what others have done which is how I garden

I would go with a blue and white beach hut look for the shed.can you put a little raised deck there to sit on. Then lay some sand and fine gravel and check out planting by Piet Oudolf

Since you like Derek Jarman's style, then check out Beth Chatto's dry garden too.

As it gets plenty of light. I would clear the weeds. Put in a pergola and plant a grape vine to grow over it with a bistro table set under it.
Would be more a long term project as the grape vine would take a while to cover the pergola but eventually you would have a secluded space. I would also paint the shed in a pale green to blend in with the vine.

I think you need to be realistic. Genuinely are you ever going to sit there? I was having my patio done and there was an out of the way area and my builder actually said, really are you ever going to pull a chair up and sit there when you've the other options, the truth was no, we weren't.

I'd paint the shed a very pale sage green. Cuprinol have some fab colours. It's lovely and very fashionable at the moment.

It looks like a metal and/or plastic shed so painting will be an arse. I'd probably replace it with a fence and gate if you don't use it.

Could you turn the shed into a Wendy house for the children/outside play room / toy storage?

Unless I was hoping to use the area, all I would do is paint the shed, weed the gravel, and grow a climber along the fence. Could be a handy place to stash the bins.

I like Yamadori's suggestion to paint the shed like a beach hut and create some retreat for you to relax sans children.

There looks enough space to add some furniture too. I got a great deal on a rattan garden furniture set recently from Abreo garden furniture.

I love the ideas others are having. If the shed is plastic and can’t be painted you could screw 2x1 battons or wood panels on the front and paint those. It depends how much effort you want to go to.

Bamboo in a pot would give height and could be placed so it breaks up the space.

nothing is really in the shed

So, if you go with the beach hut theme, you can keep some deck chairs in there.

Why not make the shed into a playhouse for the children. They can sow annuals outside and maybe a shell and pebble garden