What to do with my small garden

[Herewegoagain84]

Hi all

Having been holed up for weeks and the weather becoming sunnier, we’ve decided to sort out our garden. It is tiny - roughly 5mx5m and currently covered in concrete paving.

For background, we redid the back kitchen extension last year - there are crittal style doors across the back and a limestone floor.

I would most like to keep it fairly traditional - repave (probably similarly to the kitchen), plant some climbers and have a rattan style dining set in the middle to act as an extension of the kitchen, and a little calm haven for evening drinks when the DDs have gone to bed (similar to this www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/19/compact-garden-design-ideas) .

However we have two DDs (age 3 and newborn). Should I just be putting eazigrass down for a soft area for them to use (it’s northeast facing so lawn is tricky)? We live near lots of green space, and I don’t think we’ll stay in this house longer than another couple of years - so looking at it from a resale perspective also. Would families prefer a smart patio or family friendly space (that isn’t really big enough to kick a ball)? We could of course do a sand table and a little planting area for them in the patio option.

Don’t want to deprive them, but want to make the most of the space as well! Any opinions welcome

I think you'd get more use out of the patio idea, especially with a toddler friendly area.
And boy, do you heed a calm haven with little dc!

Your link doesn't work for me.

Could you post a picture of the space?

need, not heed.

thank you for your replies! I’ll post a picture of the space in the morning 😊

I've moved from a house with a 150 foot garden to a large courtyard, it's a culture shock for sure.
I'm have a small wildlife haven.
It's all gravel at the moment, very boring.
There will be no grass as it's a waste of space. I'm having aged brick rustic paving and a circular area same materials in the middle with the whole of the rest of the garden planted.
I'm having a very small pergola outside the back door and that will give me height, it will be covered with David Austin roses which smell fabulous and different varieties of clematis.
I've already planted three standard pear trees that will not grow big as they are grafted onto miniature rootstock and there is a tree near the end that will grow tall but slim, I think it's a variety of silver birch, it's very neat in growth habit, I haven't seen one before, it's grows like a pencil with branches pointing upwards.
It's very important to have lots of height in a small garden with arches, climbing plants, standard roses and so on.
I have a standard cotoneaster that just grows straight up not across.
There is lots of groundcover and I am busy digging beds now and getting rid of gravel which the cat hates walking on.
I chuck seed everywhere, wild flowers and so on which takes about 6 weeks to come up, I normally scatter it about randomly in autumn so it starts early.
It is already a busy wildlife haven, bees everywhere

There is a tiny pond too with a little solar fountain. There are birds bathing in it everyday, I love watching them.

I really like this garden OP - I even borrowed some of the planting ideas for my own patio.

Courtyard Garden

Following

Ooh @Blogdog was it fairly easy to recreate? I think it’s gorgeous and looks like such a haven.
@madcatladyforever that sounds really lovely
I think we’ll go for a patio area as in the link - just hoping some clematis/roses like the shade...?!

@Herewegoagain84 Yes it was pretty easy, although I didn’t incorporate everything.

I had a gardener source the plants and he claimed he couldn’t find the Rosa Banksiae Alba so he planted climbing iceberg roses instead, which are not nearly as nice - they are a bit leggy and only flower for a short time. I subsequently planted albas elsewhere in the garden and they are lovely and lush, flower for ages and require very little care. They can get a bit out of control if not cut back however.

The mini buxus border is also pretty easy (water well in the first year as I lost a number of plants through negligence). I don’t have the clematis though so can’t vouch for it, and one of my bay trees died so the patio is a bit less balanced than it was. I did plant some saliva and senetti at the base of the roses a few years after the initial planting as I got a bit bored of the white and green theme after a while.