What to do with this area of garden?

[Madwife123]

This is the side of my house.

It’s abandoned and unloved as you can see. I want to do something with it but don’t know what.

It’s a shady area, fence is at an angle so it narrows and it’s also not flat (inclines towards the fence) which doesn’t help.

The builders have chucked gravel down over it but no weed membrane underneath so the weeding is a constant nightmare, plus the local cats seem to think it’s a giant litter tray!

It would be good if the BBQ can continue being stored there but I would like it to look nicer. Any ideas?

Artificial grass with some pots?

I'm like the gravel, I'd keep that but liven it up with some shade loving, low maintenance plants in bright glazed pots. Begonias, fuchsia, ferns etc just google easy plants for pots in shade.

Might be unpopular - but I'd blitz the perennial weeds with roundup, once thoroughly. Let it work, then try to keep on top of them.

I’d roof it and use it for storing junk kids’ toys.

If you want to make it look nice though, how about a wildlife area? You could keep the gravel at the front (add underlay) and some pots and storage.

At the back put in some shrubs that the birds like. A berberis is pretty and would deter the cats. Search online for shrubs for wildlife that like shade.

Then add some easy self seeding or perennial plants. Foxgloves grow easily through gravel and like the shade. Primroses are the same. If you want it to look tidy then put them in a set area and use a hoe on the rest of the gravel. Or put some paving slabs down to reduce the weeding.

Personally I’d go easy on the weeding. Just take out anything that is smothering the plants and cut off heads before they seed. If you have a good carpet of foxglove and primrose then the weeds will struggle and it will look nice anyway.

A small water feature and some ferns would also attract wildlife and cope in the shade, but don’t go for a pond just a trickle.

Oh, also a climbing evergreen honeysuckle. Or ivy. Something to add green in the winter and make a nice backdrop. Either up the fence or the wall, whichever is sunniest.

Roof it with the heavy duty clear corrugated roof panels. I did it with a bit like this and it's amazing the heat it retains. Then you can grow things like tomatoes, chilli plants and aubergine plants under there. Buy some rustic table and chairs from a junk shop. Buy those macrame things and hang plants with tumbling foliage in them.
There's loads you can do to make it a little sanctuary away from everyone else where you can read books or drink.

When you say "inclines towards the fence" - do you mean higher at the fence side (which is how it looks in the picture) - I'd be a bit worried about that, because it means rainfall run-off is back towards the house.

I'd go with the containers idea, and also paving slabs - it all reduces the gravel area available to the cats.

You could of course take the gravel off, put a membrane underneath, and put the gravel back on top.

Yes it slopes towards the house is what I meant, apparently the gravel acts as a soak away so it means we’re limited as to what we can do with it as the rainfall could compromise the damp proofing course.