Please help me!

[iamloading]

So through financial circumstance we will be spending the next ten years in a house that is very very overlooked. I'm a massive novice gardener so could really do with some advice about what I should do to try to improve how overlooked it is.
Everything there currently can come out. I hate the row of standing soldiers (what I call those green bushy things.)
We have a budget of £1500 for plants. Ideally fast growing things but pretty and varied.
Can anyone help me as I feel so claustrophobic. Thank you so much

There is also this bit

Mmmm thats very overlooked isnt it? I think my first instinct is that to put screening round the edges would take ages to grow or be too expensive to build.
If it was me, I dont mind pottering in the garden where people could see me, but I want to sit and relax in a private space. I wonder if it would work to construct a couple of pergolas which are quite cheap to build and grow quick growing climbers up and over them, maybe something like clematis montana comes to mind.
You could hang bunting and fairy lights to block a little maybe. They would block some of the windows.

If this is a short term house, Id actually leave the shrubs around the edge as they will grow a bit and will blend into the fence and create some privacy. If you create some tall structures, then your eye will be drawn away from those boundaries anyway.

Id also leave the summerhouse and maybe create 'grass' paths between it and a couple of pergolas. I dont know if you have children but if not, maybe mow pathways through the lawn and leave some longer grass areas which might grow some wild flowers and break up the bare expanse of grass?

Im sure others will be along with more ideas. Good luck.

Elaeagnus are fast growing (30-50cm per year), and can be pleached so that you have essentially a high level hedge without losing space at ground level. You can get them very reasonably priced (around £10 per plant) at about 1m tall. You can get variegated ones, or plain which have pretty silver underneath the leaf. When they flower the smell is amazing, and some flower in spring, some in autumn. Not all are evergreen, but some are. If it were me I would plant a mix of these around the short fence edges, and then use climbers over the tall fence above the retaining wall. If your neighbours (assuming they own that fence) allow it you can attached training wires to the fence to help the climbers scramble up.
Within a couple of years you would have a nice courtyard garden feel with a good amount of privacy.

What is is already growing along the wall below the high fence? Is it something that would go up if it had support?

The idea of creating little bits of privacy is really good. Plan some beds, put a pergola up, train something to grow over it, jasmine grows quickly, an evergreen clematis.

Move some of the 'standing soldiers' into the new beds. They'll grow.

Plant a couple of smallish trees - a mountain ash, a small birch or a cherry or fruit tree. Google gardeners world suggestions for trees for smaller gardens.

Put a shed in - a nice one you can sit out in front of in the sun once you've worked out where the sun goes.

None of these are instant fixes... but it will mature surprisingly quickly.

www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wPtXFb4HXTA

Another quick thought! The summerhouse would look much prettier if it was painted in a pastel colour. That shade of brown in a garden is so gloomy, we had a dark brown shed and replaced it with a summerhouse and painted it cream in Valspar outdoor paint from B & Q and they mixed up 'Innocent Ivory' which looks cheerful in winter too.

If you leave yours where it is, then cream would probably blend too much with the house behind, but there are some lovely shades of pale green or pale purple that look pretty.

Good ideas above. Would like to add plant some tall bamboos in very large pots, plastic is fine to keep cost down. You can then move them around the garden for screening. For example to edge the patio if eating outside.

Would trellis help? In my last garden we had these and it was divided into different 'rooms' with climbing plants such as roses and honeysuckle and we didn't feel overlooked at all.

The neighbours might be feeling exactly the same and planting fast-growing screening stuff of their own, with any luck.

Sorry everyone, manic day hence the late reply. Off to google lots of your fab suggestions. We have two young children so don't want to decide up the lawn too much. The thing below the big high fence is jasmine.
Unfortunately none of the neighbours seemed to have planted anything so it will be up to us to create screening!

Pleached trees!

I'd break up that lawn, create islands and plant some medium height trees closer to the house. This will provide more privacy on the patio. Agree with adding trellising along the top of the fence, pergola etc as already suggested

Honestly? I’d plant a Laurel hedge all the way round and let it grow to about ten foot. That must be one of the most over looked gardens I’ve ever seen,

Trellis is a good idea, but do you own all the fence?

That must be one of the most over looked gardens I’ve ever seen, I don't think you've seen many houses on new estates

Aren't the "soldiers" a leylandii hedge in the making?

@MereDintofPandiculation

That must be one of the most over looked gardens I’ve ever seen, I don't think you've seen many houses on new estates

Aren't the "soldiers" a leylandii hedge in the making?

Actually I’ve seen a few, but that’s over looked at all angles by so many different houses.

I can see why the op wants privacy. I’d be so self conscious out there. Putting your sun lounger in the middle of the road would give more privacy

As said op, I’d grow a big hedge all the way round l..

If you'll only be there 10 years I'd be looking for a faster fix. Trellis above the fence and have it as tall as the neighbours will tolerate. Then plant fast growing evergreen climbers up it. Clematis armandii, ivys, trachelospermum jasminoides etc. I caught the tail end of something about climbers on Gardener's Question Time today so maybe have a listen.
For this year, ver tall wigwams of sweet peas, runner beans and canary creeper might help and you can start the seeds off now/soon so they'll be cheap.

Also a large gazebo placed strategically can help block the view in the summer and you can make it look really pretty too.

@Oversize

Also a large gazebo placed strategically can help block the view in the summer and you can make it look really pretty too.

Yes I agree, instant fix and if done correctly will create a very private space

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/karlsoe-gazebo-white-30411458/
Like this with walls (better are available). Put it together then walk it round the garden till it gives you maximum coverage.

A willow whip "fedge" will give you an (almost) instant screen. You can buy the whips up to 3m. You need to plant them before April though.

They are basically willow sticks that you stick in the ground (no pun intended). They will quickly grow and put out shoots. If you are creative, you can weave them to make arbours, arches, trellises, tunnels, play houses, sculptures too. They are cheap, quick and, if you trim them, thin so you won't lose any garden to them and can plant things in front that are slower growing or use them as a trellis to grow climbers. They are deciduous so you won't have foliage in the winter but you will have catkins. If you want winter cover, you could grow them in a trellis and have winter/spring clematis.

www.thewillowbank.com/willow-hedges-and-windbreaks/#:~:text=They%20will%20typically%20grow%206ft,trimmed%20to%20the%20height%20required.

Thank you so much everyone! Some brilliant ideas here. I'm very new to gardening so I'm googling and making lists! Love the idea of a gazebo.
Yes it's awfully overlooked but thanks to Covid no chance of moving for a looooong time

I'd plant something fast growing all around like cypress but you will need to keep it in check! We have a platform that stores easily and we use it to trim our hedging (beech, which is lovely but slow growing).

Jasmine grows fast, and if you give it a support would climb high and wide. Ditto honeysuckle - and some are evergreen.

False potato vine is another good, dense climber. Mine is semi-evergreen, I think it's a solanum crispum glasnevin. Beautiful bluey-purple flowers.

Bamboo is horribly invasive, hence the advice to plant it in pots. But pots require watering and potentially repotting . Black bamboo (philostachys nigra) is not invasive and grows very tall very quickly. It needs very little care, just watering if the summer is unusually dry or hot, and knocking snow off if it's heavy enough to push the stems down. Another thing I like about black bamboo is that it makes a more subtle screen than a mass of tall shrubs. And it doesn't take up much space in doing so.

All of these are really easy to care for and can be kept to a small footprint for their hight.

Actually I’ve seen a few, but that’s over looked at all angles by so many different houses. Yes, after I wrote that I thought that mine has houses at the bottom, a row of houses down the side, and a public space down the other side, from which you can see every bit of the garden.

I think the problem with the OPs is that it is so empty. But she has the advantage of having a large space- my DS is shortly to move into a new build, equally surrounded, but with only help the space.

One thing I've learnt is that perception of privacy is easier to achieve than actual privacy. Trellis and climbers isn't actually private because someone outside can easily see through the gaps - but it makes you feel private which may be all you need.

Thank you! I love the idea of black bamboo. I'm not a huge lover of big dense conifer / leylandi style bushes even though they are fast growing but lots of great suggestions on here thank you