Rubbish garden

[madcatladyforever]

I'm having a bit of a breakdown here.

My old garden was around 200 feet long (including the big front garden) with a beautiful summerhouse at the bottom and lovely planted beds.

It really was a treat to behold but it used to take me the entire weekend to mow and weed and due to increasing disability I can't do it anymore.

I've moved to another county and I have a courtyard garden, about 30 feet that is just a couple of beds and gravel.

I know I can't cope with a big garden anymore and the house is nice but I just feel so depredded whenever I look at the garden. It just has no character and I don't like the plants currently in there apart from the tree which is an upright growing hornbean.

I can't afford to do anything with it until next year as the house needed work.

Has anyone else had to downsize drastically and hates their new garden, how did you get over it.

Sympathies OP.

What about starting a few things in containers, which you could plant into the ground when you get organised next year?
Wilkos are good for cheap plants, I've had some surprisingly lovely things from there. I've currently got a white geranium, some ferns, and some raspberry plants from Wilkos all waiting for me to get round to planting them out.

And start drawing up plans, make a Pinterest board, assemble a plant list, track down some small online plant nurseries, pick the best spot for an arch or pergola or another small tree and a bench. Oh, and a pond.

I think it’s like other losses- take time to mourn.
I’m sure you have many lovely memories.
I miss my big garden too.

Maybe you can put a few plants you especially like in pots near your door/window yet this season?

As pp has said, why not start making a plan, then when you see a bargain you can snap it up and Pinterest has lovely ideas for courtyard gardens. Do you have any fairy lights you could string up to brighten it up? Or any houseplants that would be ok outside for the summer?
Do you have a small table and chair that you could put outside with a candle on and make a restful area?
Perhaps you could get to know neighbours by asking them what grows well, you never know they might have plants to spare.
Moving is traumatic and I’m sure you’ll get to love your garden. Gardening is an exciting, challenging, ever changing journey, I hope you can come to enjoy yours.

I'm sure it feels like a really unpleasant change, but the bonus is that you are a competent gardener so you can turn this space into something really special and toy know it will bring you joy. It's so frustrating when you feel you can't make a start on things but as PPs have said, starting a garden from scratch requires planning, and it's a great time to do that. In a small garden, every plant counts, so really think about the things you love, no fillers. It's worth spending a bit more money maybe on more mature versions of things so that you don't have to wait quite so long for them to make an impact. And I'm sure you'll make it absolutely beautiful.

You could post another thread asking for people's pictures of their beautiful small gardens (maybe with a size range, as people's definition of a small garden might vary quite a lot!) to get some ideas.

My garden's the same size as your new one and I love it. There's no reason why a small garden can't be amazing.

I agree with everyone else, get some inspiration, make a plan and a tell yourself it's only temporary until you get it sorted out.

Op why don’t you spend your time imagining all the wonderful things you can do with it? And plan for next year?

I’ve seen some fantastic courtyard gardens, like little oasis, paved, with some gravel beds, masses of plants in pots of all different sizes and lovely furniture.

So don’t focus on what it’s like now, focus on what it could be. It doesn’t need to cost much but now the time to plan. Here is some ideas.

I absolutely love urban/courtyard/container/small space gardening! The maintenance is so much less, so instead of spending days weeding, mowing, pruning, you can spend time doing the fun stuff or just enjoying the space. If you get bored, it's cheap to totally redesign the space, particularly if you grow things from seed, you can move container plants around.

I appreciate that money is tight at the moment but could you run to buying some spring bulbs and seeds for next year to go in containers to get you feeling inspired? There are lots of seed sales on at the moment and Thompson and Morgan have a £3 mix and match spring bulb flash sale on until midnight. Even just a couple of lasagne planted bulb pots with some winter pansies on top would be a start to cheer you on to future plans.

Would you feel comfortable posting pictures so people can make suggestions, @madcatladyforever? Or a plan? A blank slate is exciting!

I have the opposite, I moved from a very small garden to a house with larger gardens.
Not enormous by any stretch but large enough to take an absolute age to get nice.
Sometimes I miss my tiny garden, the added space is nice but it’s a lot of work to get beautiful (still haven’t finished!) and maintain

Perhaps need to mourn the need for changes in your living situation that were beyond your control then start planning the changes you want to make, perhaps a pintrest board.
I've had to move from my forever home as it had two many stairs to more suitable accommodation that is taking a while to renovate the garden is terrible at the moment as the priority has to be the house however I know it'll be worth it in the long run for my tiny bit of independence it will give. I really resent still at times that my illness meant we had to move house but over time I've found that it's getting easier the more rooms that are completed and styled to my taste helps.

My sympathies. I've only ever had small gardens but in my dreams would have a huge one. But one enormous advantage of small gardens is what a difference you can make with far less time and money than would ever be possible in a large garden. Like lots of other posters have said, look out for examples you like and start planning. Could you sow a few seeds now, to help with colour now or next year? I've just sown some foxglove seeds that I've great plans for next year, and some sorrel for salads now.

I don't know if this helps, but I got a bit overwhelmed by my garden for a few years and just didn't know where so start (and so didn't start anywhere!). I found just getting out for a while every weekend and achieving a few things made a huge difference.

Good luck, and do carry on posting.