Back yard garden?

[Fieldofgreycorn]

I live in terraced house with the usual very small back yard. With a back gate that opens to an alley.

I really want to turn it into a small garden or a least have a couple of borders. One bit gets the sun, the other side will have to be shade loving plants. Clay soil. I want to plant things in the ground as well as have a few pots. Like a little walled garden perhaps.

Does anyone know if it is ok to do this? There is the waste drain that runs under the middle out to the alley so of course I will have to not dig into that or plant big roots over it. Also how safe is it to plant things near the back of the house in terms of water and soil being near the foundations?

I can’t find much info on this. Has any one else turned a small back yard into a garden with plants in the ground? Is it ok to do? Why don’t more people do it? Any thoughts please? Thanks.

Can you draw a picture? I can’t picture the alley. Is it the alley you want to make into a garden ...?

No it’s the back yard I want to make into a garden. The alley is the usual narrow passage that runs between rows of terraced houses and everyone dumps their rubbish in it for refuse collection.

Also how safe is it to plant things near the back of the house in terms of water and soil being near the foundations? If you're thinking of plants up to about 3ft high, no problem at all. It's trees you need to worry about.

The waste drain should be deep enough not to be a problem, as long as you keep any manholes clear for access. As a rule of thumb, think of the roots going about as deep as the height of the plant above ground.

Lots of people turn back yards into gardens - google "small town garden" for ideas.

You need to look at other houses in the area and get advice from an estate agent. In some areas (especially where buyers of small terraces are families of South Asian origin) , converting a cemented back yard into a garden could devalue your property.

Your ideas sound lovely and it’s a great idea to turn a barren yard into a haven for plants and wildlife. A couple of years ago the BBC Gardeners World ran a series of programmes where they showed different small back yards, all spectacular in their approach to gardening. See if you can get it on YouTube.
You are probably best to improve the clay soil with a few bags of compost and some grit to loosen up the clay for drainage.
Planters and pots would be good, because they allow you to move the plants around to put them in the best aspect.
Have fun experimenting. I’m attaching a picture of a small section of my courtyard where the planters are all facing North and up against the house.
Look on Pinterest for some inspiration. Remember no one gets it right all the time and above all enjoy yourself.

Thanks for replies.

Mere I was also thinking about wet soil being near house but I suppose the foundations are built on the same wet soil/ ground anyway.

Teddy really good idea, I will ask a local agent and see what they say out of interest.

Bee that looks really good. I would also like pots round the back door. Similar aspect to yours as well. Re clay soil. As an experiment I tried digging a hole one or two feet deep away from where any drain would be and about 5 hours later it had filled with a few inches of water. Very alarmed at first but I believe that can happen on clay. So that might be a reason not many people here try it.. might be that nothing will grow in this waterlogged heavy soil!

So I will try and change the condition of it as you suggest. Quite a big undertaking really isn’t it.

Mere I was also thinking about wet soil being near house but I suppose the foundations are built on the same wet soil/ ground anyway. Yes, precisely!

yes, normal to find the water table quite high on clay. Things will grow. Most smaller stuff only uses the top few inches of soil. Remember that clay + humus = loam, which is as fertile as you can get. And avoid any plants which ask for a "well drained soil".

Bags of compost give you basically a good soil with some added fertiliser (which will run out in due course. It might be better to use something purely for the humus content - I think some people use things like spent mushroom compost, and I can remember using spent hops from the local brewery. In a larger garden it's easy, because you simply compost everything you can, and spread 6 inches of mulch over all your beds each year, but you won't want to give up any of your precious space to a compost bin, and at the moment you haven't got anything to compost.

well drained soil"

Most plants I like say well drained soil, and it seems to be gardening experts favourite phrase! I will have to adjust expectations. I’m sure.

Been thinking about the humus you mention. Thought of an idea to ask one of our local parks for some leaf mould. They have tons of piles of leaves every year. Not sure what they’ll say but I won’t need huge amounts. Thanks again for your advice.

I did it with a similar property, 15’ back yard. I painted the walls, used large pots and put in several climbers, roses, magnolia stellata... I had troughs with gravel in the bottom and decent compost. I also put in hanging baskets and wall baskets/containers. Planted bulbs too.
It worked well for the decade I was there, but I selected tough plants that could cope with N Lancashire weather.

I think you’d be better off sticking to containers and raised beds rather than trying to turn the subsoil under your yard into fertile soil. You can still have a gorgeous garden though, you can even grow little trees in big enough containers.

Sister has a small back yard garden, there's one raised bed at the back but she's done so much with pots and it's stunning

I saw a lot of lovely yard garden on a tv programme once. They had focused on containers, planting on shelves and used pallets to create planting areas on the walls. It was very inventive and full of colour.

It might have been a Monty Don programme.

@Disfordarkchocolate was it Big Dreams Small Spaces (on Netflix atm, don't know if it was originally shown there). There was a lovely yard on one of the episodes. I want to say the couple were from Doncaster, maybe?

www.pinterest.co.uk/michellesmith/patio-gardens/
www.pinterest.co.uk/search/pins/?rs=ac&len=2&q=victorian%20terrace%20back%20yard%20ideas&eq=victorian%20terrace%20back%20yard&etslf=28224&term_meta[]=victorian%7Cautocomplete%7C1&term_meta[]=terrace%7Cautocomplete%7C1&term_meta[]=back%7Cautocomplete%7C1&term_meta[]=yard%7Cautocomplete%7C1&term_meta[]=ideas%7Cautocomplete%7C1

That sounds familiar @Squashpocket. It was amazing, it was so lovely and fun and cheap.

Or Monty Don' Real Gardens @Squashpocket, @Fieldofgreycorn

Sounds good Grimal

Yes the sensible (easier?) thing would be to just use containers. But I have this urge to plant things in the ground. To dig and work the earth a bit. Never have felt this before quite so strongly.

Thanks for the links.
Squash, Dis I’ve found that episode of big dreams and watched it. Their yard is a bit smaller than mine if anything. It was an enjoyable programme but I don’t like how Monty was saying treat it like curating a work of art rather than making a garden. I want a garden! Food for thought anyway, thank you.

Less of a watering problem if you plant in the soil. Containers take a lot of maintenance.

If most of the plants you like want a "well drained soil", you'll just have to experiment and be prepared for losses. A lot of gardening is experimenting and learning from what doesn't work out.

Just quick update on the house value aspect. Have spoken with a couple of different local estate agents and their view is that digging soil beds in the back yard won’t affect the value of the house.