Flower beds before or after new patio?

[willowboom]

Just that really. After years of living in London flats I now have a garden for the first time. At the moment it is just lawn and fence so I would like to dig out some flower beds while we're on lock down. I would also like to have a patio laid in the (hopefully) not to distant future. Can a patio be installed around an existing bed without destroying it? Thank you!

Yes. The patio can be laid later but you will need to dig up the grass and soil to lay the patio which is messy. Patio slabs can be cut into curves which is nicer thsn just straight lines. Are you planning to lay the patio instead of having a lawn or just a section.

Thank you for your reply. I'm just planning a section of patio and a path, the rest will be lawn. I hadn't thought about curves, that does sound nicer.

Do be aware that builders are completely blind to plants, so be prepared for everything to be trampled if you get someone in to do the patio.

You can get nice round slabs too for the path and pebbles or gravel can soften up the edges. You could curve the flowerbeds and maybe put some logroll at the edges.

Yes it was the builders trampling that I was worried about, I might be better of waiting.

And thanks for the lovely ideas about curved path and gravel.

If you get a landscaper rather than a builder, they should be better at not destroying flower beds. Hopefully!

Yes it was the builders trampling that I was worried about, I might be better of waiting. Depending on timing, you could put in something cheap for you to enjoy while you wait for builders/landscapers, then do permanent planting when they've gone.

You can do a lot yourself for now. If you buy some circular stepping syones you can lay a winding path. Create a border with some flowing grasses and plant some flowers or even seeds. Biy a cheap birdbath and some seed feeders to hang on the fence. We get everything for the garden from Wilko. They have cheap solar lights which are really effective at night and tables and chairs.

You could dig an area of bed now and sow some annual flower seeds. This will be cheap and not too upsetting if they get trampled. In the meantime you could buy some of the perennials and shrubs that you would like in the longer run and put them in containers so you can enjoy them now and you will be able to transplant them into your bed once the hard landscaping has been done.

Thank you all for your help. I'm going to do it and fill the borders with annuals for now.

I once saw an amazing and huge seeming small garden where the path wound around the edges of it, but there were enough plants in the middle not to be able to see across. It couldn't have been more than 15-20 ft wide by 60ft long. There was a patio at the top, edged by plants of varying heights.