What can I do with my tiny garden

[SmellyBeard]

Please can you help me revamp my tiny garden on the cheap.

It's currently all paved, but badly so weeds pop up between the slabs. Some of the gaps are quite big.

It faces north so in winter the part nearest the house doesn't get any sun at all. In summer it gets it in the morning. It does get nice sun towards the back and is pretty sheltered.

The flower beds are crap and a weird shape. Pretty sure there is lots of cat poo in them too. I would like to get rid of them and get some large raised beds or large planters.

The walls are painted concrete blocks which look flakey.

I have a baby and I'd love her to be able to play out there safely in the summer when she can crawl and walk. Currently I don't feel keen. I was wondering about putting some fake grass down, but is it very expensive?

Any advice or tips would be really appreciated.

Can you post a photo?

Photo or sketch please.

What is your budget? (If any?!)

When I have some money this is what I plan to do with mine. With fake grass. Having said that haven't got a quote yet (photo stolen from Pinterest)...

I'll post a pic tomorrow!

Here we go. Hope you can see it through the weeds..

I usually de-weed it over the summer as soon as it becomes nice enough to sit out, and plant flowers in the wall boxes etc. The weeds grow back immediately though and some are so established I can't get them out. I have a cat so I have been nervous about spraying weed killer around.

I think you need a plan. But first you need to ask yourself the right questions. Budget is important, but these are more important I think; how much time do you want to spend on maintenance? Do you want to 'get into' gardening and have plants that you will learn to love and care for or do you just want a pretty place to sit? Re the paving stones, as a gardener I'd get rid of the lot, or certainly most of them. It's not as big a project as it might sound. You could have a small lawn and flower beds and even a couple of small trees! Are you there long term, do you own or rent? Etc. Gardening can turn into a passion!

I’m not a fan of paved gardens, in theory. However grass is horribly impractical with children and a small garden - they want to play on it so it turns to mud and ruin. Well, it does unless you stop them playing on it when it’s wet or very dry...

I’d take get one of those flame thrower weed killing things and keep going at it weekly until the existing weeds properly cark it, then plant up the gaps with creeping thyme and the like.

I’d want some of the paving gone to allow for more planting, and ideally I’d want to re-lay what would be staying - depends if you’ve got the necessary time / energy / skill though.

Thank you both.

My priority now is having a space which is baby friendly and also pretty to sit out in. I think it needs to be relatively low maintenance as we both work and the garden usually gets sidelined as a result. I would like to not have to do extensive weeding between the cracks each time I go outside.

I would like to put in grass but we live in Ireland where it rains a lot and I'm concerned that the part closest to the door will turn into a mud bath as it gets no light during winter and is constantly damp. That's why I was considering artificial grass as an alternative.

I would like put in a number of shrubs/climbers/plants to hide the walls which just need to be trimmed in order to maintain. I don't know if you can see but the current flower bed along the righthand side is only about 12 inches wide and very stony. Is this wide enough? I also hate that big square flower bed.

That's why I was considering artificial grass as an alternative. Artificial grass can turn into a mud bath if it's walked on in the winter. It's not maintenance free.

Something you should bear in mind with a baby - in summer, a real grass lawn dissipates heat and is OK to walk on bare-foot, or to crawl on. Fake grass doesn't, and reaches the same temperatures as tarmac.

I would get a patio immediately outside the house and near the shed. You could use the same slabs to save money and just have them relaid. I would have a curved patio to add interest. You could have a bed set into the patio for a climber up the shed and to add interest at that end. I would just put pots on the patio nearest the house if it doesn’t get much sun.

I would then probably have two small semi circle beds along each wall (but not opposite). I would probably get fake grass in the middle as normal grass won’t grow for most of the year.

Some possible steps.

jetwash the current slabs including the gaps to get rid of weeds etc. Scrape soil out with a pato knife.

Then buy some ready mixed mortar and repoint. This is laborious but not difficult and will cut down on maintenance.

If you want an area ofartificial grass lift some slabs put down a weed proof membrane a 30mm layer of sharp sand or grano dust then lay it over. If you have dogs use 6mm chippings. You could use treated wood as a border then screw the grass to it to keep in place. The only maintenance it will likely need is a brush and hoover every now and then.

If you gave problems with cats pooing in your borders mulch it with angular 20mm chippings.

I'd plant a vigorous climber up that she'd,a rambling rose and a clemetis Montana,that will cover those conifers at the back.
If you want the weeds gone then realistically the slabs need relaying mortared in-between the joints.
Raised beds would be good as you can put in fresh soil/soil impover from your local council.plants will thrive in it and it will start weed free so easier to keep on top of,also easier to weed asthe soil isn't walked on.You will also still have plants and the children won't be running over them.
I wouldn't bother with grass fake or other wise.Your baby will only be crawling for a bit,a cheap rubber backed rug that you can roll up and keep in the shed would be simpler.
Spring bulbs will grow ok near the house and annuals in pots will be ok with just morning sun.
I would grow some shrubs by the walls,and espalier apple tree against any sunny wall .
Add table chairs and wine.
Start by drawing it out first,as someone above said some curves would be good.Instead of thinking baby crawling think pushchair,tricycle,ball and make the paving stones you keep work.

I have moved into a house and my garden is similar to yours with awful old crazy paving. I cant really afford to get rid of it. Someone recommended a product called Wet and Forget. Not cheap but great for clearing the moss etc and as a bonus killed the weeds. Depending in how bad the area is may take a few weeks to work but done once and thats it. You apply with a watering can or hose and when it rain s it actvates the product. Every time it rains it activates it again. I am all for an easy life and after one shower it's looking better. May be worth considering.

I think a 12 inch flowerbed is way too narrow.

If I were you I’d ignore what’s there at the moment and put in a few larger flowerbeds at a 90 degree angle to the wall. You could have one on the left and one on the right. If you stagger them, you should end up with a much more interesting shape to work with.

I’d put some bigger plants in that provide year long interest, may be with some spring bulbs too.

I’d also put a climber at the back. If you get at least 4 hours of sun, a climbing rose should work. If not, there’s other climbers that do fine in shade, like Virginia Creeper, or Clematis Montana

I’m not sure that I would put climbers all over the walls. It could look nice, but you might actually end up emphasising the square shape of the garden if you see what I mean. I think breaking up the space with some larger flower beds is the way to go here 🤔

My garden is/was very similar to yours, same size by the look of it and was also paved when I moved in. We got a professional in to take up the slabs, lay a lawn and a small block paved patio area. It was about 14 years ago now so I can't remember how much it cost but it was well worth the investment for the years of use we've had out of it since.

If that's a step too far you can get long lasting weedkiller for patios. Check the label but you usually only to keep pets off while it's wet. Once it's dried you should be OK.

I disagree about putting beds in at 90 degrees to the walls. I appreciate that aesthetically that would look good, but on a practical level with kids and a small garden you needs as much floor space as possible for toys, seating, BBQ etc. I grow climbers up our fences/wall to soften the look without being too bulky (we have ivy on the north facing wall, jasmine and virgina creeper on the other fences)

In our garden now we have seating at one end (small rattan sofa set) and in the summer we have enough space for an 8 foot pool as well. Our teens love it and have friends over for pool parties and BBQs in the summer (maybe not this summer though!)

Are you on facebook? If you are then this FB group is really inspiring, in my opinion:

www.facebook.com/groups/2187289444725473/?fref=nf

Hi, just seen the latest posts - thank you. So in the end we kept it simple as having a space for our baby to potter round was the priority and it needed to be low maintenance as the only time I have for gardening is when she naps at lunchtime. We also didn't want to invest a lot of money as this is a very small house and I can't imagine it will be big enough

We basically just got the patio relaid with membrane underneath and then cleaned. The slabs look much nicer now. We got rid of the tiny flowerbed on the left and they laid the slabs so the flowerbed in the right is slightly wider.

Posted too soon!

So this work was done just before lockdown and I'm so glad we did do it as it's made all the difference being able to take DD outside and not worry about thistles etc.

I also contacted a local garden centre before they all shut and they were so helpful. They recommended and supplied a whole border worth of plants for that flowerbed and we stuck some trellis up on that wall to cover some of the breeze blocks, and it generally looks a lot more like a garden rather than a weedy yard.

Can we have photos please?

Yes, I'll post a couple in the morning. I don't think you are going to go WOW though 😂 It will never be the garden of my dreams!

You could perhaps help me with my pot rearrangement though. They seem to look wrong wherever I put them...

Hi, I'm not sure if you solved the problem with weeds or don't need to anymore because of the membrane but I have this problem and my paving stones turn green in the shade, especially at winter. I have a cat too and don't want to use chemicals so I just pour boiling water on them and after a day it's sorted. Looking fwd to seeing pics!

@oliveroses Did that help you cleans the stones or get rid of the weeds (or both)? I did try boiling water but the weeds were still there just wilted and mushy 😂 Some of the dandelions were impossible to get out or kill off - massive roots.

Okay, so here are a couple of pictures.

The plants in the bottom left of the first pic are to be planted in the front garden so they won't be there soon.