Ideas for this garden?

[Nogreenfingers83]

Looking for inspiration for how to liven up this back yard in our Victorian rented cottage. Would love a nice area for wine in the evening or coffee in the morning.

As it's a rental I'm not looking for anything too expensive or permanent, or too hard work! Also we have a toddler so that needs to be factored in. Finally I have an insane ability to kill all plants that come into my home or garden, so they need to be incredibly easy and low maintenance.

Photos attached- as you can see it's L-shaped.

My ideas are an outside rug, table and chairs near the bench seating, and outside cushions on the bench.

Possible sand / water play area against the brick wall down near the window (from where I could see child through kitchen window).

Possible solar fairy lights strung up above the whole area.

I guess using those existing trellis to display plants - any tips on easy ones?

Any other ideas?

Thank you in advance!

It's a lovely space, I'd put a jasmine on the trellis. What direction does the yard face ?

@userxx thank you. I forgot to say that bit. It's north facing unfortunately, and is overlooked by very tall houses to the back, so doesn't get any sun at all.

Is jasmine easy?

Big pots and sculptures make a big impact.

Big pots is a good shout. Not sure about sculptures particularly as it's a rental. What kind of thing were you thinking?

I've added solar up lighters so no need for outdoor electrics. It won't let me add a photo for some reason



Maybe stick with a clematis, armandii is suitable for north facing. Are you on instagram, if so check out leedstropicalshadegarden. You don't need to go that extreme but it will give you an idea of plants for shade. I personally love lots of green foliage in interesting shapes, fatsia's, hosta's, ferns, I'm sure some ibs will be along to give you ideas for shade loving flowers.

A couple of really big pots make more impact than loads of tiddlers. Green stuff is good in shade - a couple of big ferns, Angelica, that kind of thing. Or how about pots of runner beans up those trellis - look really pretty then you get beans later on. If you dont like runners then climbing French beans.

If you're near a b&M they have some lovely pots in at the moment, I saw a pastel pink, sage green and light grey, cheap as chips but look decent.

I love that little space! Agree with what others say about a few large pots with large plants for maximum impact and less risk of things going wrong... Fatsia japonica is winter hardy and has big tropical looking leaves and really cool flowers!

Ooh thank you, great plant tips! Will check these out!

Arthur Parkinson is a good source of info for growing in pots. He does a podcast with Sarah Raven and there's one aimed at renters. The best thing I took from it was to buy cheap large plastic pots and only spend on the few small ones you'll see at the front.

In my own experience the best piece of advice is to use water crystals in pots. You can be a lot more lax with watering when you use water crystals. Soak them in water before adding to pots so you don't overfill. I bought a cheap tub from Wilkos and I still have half left from a purchase a few years ago.

It is easier to keep plants alive in the ground than pots, although this doesn't appear to be an option for you, so try to get the biggest planters and containers you can so they dry out slower.

Easy plants include a fatsia japonica in a big pot. Mine is nor 6ft in its tub. Not too fussy about aspect. Bamboo for privacy, also in a big pot.

It's much more effective to have a few large plants than lots of tiny ones. Easier to water also.

I think a table and chairs and string of light bulbs will immediately make the area look inviting.

You could add a couple of pots of clematis for colour. Get an early flowering and a summer flowering for colour April - sept.
Maybe a small tree in a pot
Sail shade if needed

Lots of ideas on Pinterest if you search small courtyard garden .

Are you handy? You could build one of those water walls for the toddler, which would take up less room than a Little Tikes-style table and could be painted to blend in/coordinate. Like this: playgroundimagineering.co.uk/products/sand-water-and-messy-play/water-wall