Landscaping

[meandmycoffeecup]

I am considering to landscape a small piece of garden in front of my house. The small garden goes around the front of the house. I basically just want to line it with small plants or shrubs and perhaps have some flowers near the front door. I am unfortunately useless at gardening and considering getting someone to do it ... from design to actually planting the shrubs. I am looking for something simple and the shrubs are just for dog walkers to not let their dogs do their business in my garden as it happened a couple of times already! I live in south east.

Can anyone give me an idea how much it could cost? Ball park estimates would be much appreciated. I can ask quotes from local landscapers but i would really like to know if it is something i can afford before i ask.

Thank you!

It will entirely depend on how big the area is.

You need to be aware that established shrubs are expensive

No idea on cost sorry, I'd do it myself. Buy a simple gardening book and spend an hour browsing, half an hour sketching out a plan for where it will all go, buy a few plants online, an hour planting them. No one is useless at gardening, honest!

How big? When you say landscaping, do you mean it's on a slop or you want a slope of some kind created, or are we talking flat normal front garden? And how the fuck are the dogs getting in - no gate or what?
So many questions OP!

@onalongsabbatical it’s a flat normal garden. It is a small piece of green/grass space between the front door and the walk way no fence or gate (the main garden has a fence and gate).

Dont know about exact measurement though! I should start measuring!

Ok I think I can visualise it - patch of green, public path, nothing to stop the dogs (and their cheeky owners). So you've got two things really, you want a barrier/boundary to stop the dogs, and while you're at it you want to make it a bit nice with something attractive, right?
Are you allowed to put up a fence? Come to that, are you actually allowed to do anything, are you sure it's 'your' garden? Because I think in your position if I was allowed to do what I liked I'd fence and gate it first so that deals with the dogs (or should do) and then build up the garden and plants slowly, couple of plants at a time, maybe some in pots, see what thrives. Rather than pay for the whole garden to be designed and done, which does tend to cost a lot and then you've still got to maintain it and know a bit about plants.

@onalongsabbatical

Yes exactly that i want a boundary that still looks nice.

I am sure it is part of my property boundary but unfortunately we are not allowed to put up a fence there (restrictions developer imposed when it was built). Fence was also my first choice but I checked and we are not allowed unfortunately. I agree It could have been a more straightforward solution with less maintenance.

In that case think you need to check whether you can plant, because I can't see why they'd disallow fencing but still allow you to use the land the way you want. If you can plant, start with good hedging - then surely you can have a gate in the gap? Box is popular, but google hedging plants you'll get lots of info.
As you can tell I've got no idea how much it would cost to pay someone to do this, I'd just do it myself. But even a small garden if you want all the work done it's going to be at least couple of hundred I would have thought, maybe plus the plants and for hedging you'll need a few.

@onalongsabbatical

We can plant but there are height restrictions. Thanks will google hedging

@TiddleTaddleTat thank you for your encouragement. I hope those plants will survive in my care!

Box is popular but not a good idea because it's acquired a fungus which leaves unsightly dead patches. If you're starting anew, best to use an alternative.