Advice PLEASE on my garden

[Laurasanford111]

Ok so 9 months into the year and I want to change the garden layout! The garden is very long we couldn't do it all at once so the first section of the garden is complete all grass with stepping stones, the second section has a grass patch to the right and on the left its woodchip with two raised beds oak sleepers, cut flowers and veg. We wanted to start our veg journey and thought at the time it was the best place for them, however we have since sectioned off the 3rd part of the garden where the greenhouse is and now I'm thinking of having the raised beds there instead?! It doesn't seem right having a play area opposite the raised beds... Our little ones love the outdoors always helping planting etc but I think instead if we took the beds out we would have grass there instead with a few shrubs to soften hard edges .. so the first and second section of garden all grass then 3rd bit beyond picket gate will have the beds and then whatever else we decide to do next year with it. I have been procrastinating for ages on this and as soon as I said to my DH about moving the sleepers he walked out the room... I kind of think we rushed into our decision making we haven't had any help doing the garden which looking back I wish I had looked in to 😫 anyway I'd love your thoughts whether to move them or leave it all as it is and tell me to stop overthinking haha. I've attached a few images

Pics

Leave the middle section as it is.
Have more veg beds at the far end. Train the little sanfords so that they are gardeners & let them run around on the grass bits

Why the need for raised beds. Can't you just grow things in the ground like they are supposed to be?

@Fizzadora raised beds have less weeds coming through, we can be more specific with the type of compost we use and better drainage..

Bumping encase anyone has any ideas x

Thank you for your comment☺️ I'm going to see how I get on for rest of this year before seeing about adding anymore, some things haven't worked out but it's all a learning curve

If you remove the raised beds and bark, it will need returfing. It looks nice as it is. Your DC might not even play on it

I like raised beds because the soil under the grassy bits is probably not deep.
My veg beds are nowhere near as productive as the raised beds, but they are in the driest part of the garden.
Also I have a habit of walking across them.

I'd love your thoughts whether to move them or leave it all as it is and tell me to stop overthinking
You said that you rushed into the first decision. So don't rush into the second decision.
I agree with the idea of leaving as-is for the moment (maybe handing over the beds to the DC when this harvest is done?) and doing additional veg beds in the furthest section.

All gardens evolve and change.

Completely agree. I just don't get the raised bed thing unless there are mobility issues. And why is everyone suddenly growing roses in pots🙄
What's wrong with the ground?

Because hundreds of thousands of gardeners grow vegetables in raised beds. It is very common, not a strange whim.

There are a lot of benefits to growing in raised beds rather than the ground. I don't know how it related to my post either

There is nothing wrong with having the play area across from the raised beds and your little ones won’t use it for that long anyway. Certainly not worth moving the beds. I think you’re overthinking it.

The David Austin catalogue offers options for roses that are perfect for small gardens where large pots/planters might be a practical solution.

The previous occupant of our house was in a wheelchair and loved his raised beds for growing veg and some fruit bushes (raspberry, gooseberry), as it made it more accessible for him.

It’s a fashion. Hundreds of thousands grow them in the ground, have done so for centuries, people with allotments grow them in the ground, market gardeners grow them in the ground.

You need a lot more watering in a bed

I agree, leave the middle as it is, make more beds at the end. If you think you have too many, grow flowers In some of them

Your children are very young but won’t stay young for long. They’ll start to want something more interesting than a rectangle of grass. Yes, it’s good fun having a trampoline and a slide, but you can offer more scope to the imagination if there’s more variety to the landscapes, paths to wander down, places to hide .

Well, indeed@daisychain01 . As I said, unless you have mobility issues, in which case they're excellent.
As for the roses. Yes I know DA have advice on roses suitable for pots. But on the DA fan sites there are many pictures of people with perfectly good gardens with actual soil and yet they are growing a dozen or more roses in pots. All the talk on that site is how to keep them happy. People are forever feeding and spraying and tweaking and moaning about things that go wrong with their roses. Actually the solution would just be 'Plant them and let them enjoy their natural existence.' Would I grow them in pots? Absolutely, if all I had was a concrete square metre or a balcony. But it's a strange and often lazy form of gardening in my view.

You're preaching to the choir @Bideshi re soil v pots. My mission in life is to keep feeding goodness back into the soil with as much organic matter as I can lay my hands on, year in year out, so it's in the best condition possible. ... as I keep convincing myself during the 10s of hours I spend collecting leaves and composting them which mitigated against the 3 months of drought we've just come out of and my borders survived well. I do profess to also enjoying a nice variety of pots spread around to ring the changes. I'm blessed with the option of both!

I agree about raised beds needing more watering. I don't understand why pots are so popular.
I have a relative who grows everything in pots and complains that certain plants don't flower. No amount of telling them seems to stop this.

I think it’s simply that people put in hard surfaces and then realise they want to soften them

Nobody loves a pot garden more than me @daisychain01. but my pots are full of gingers and brugsmansias and specie pelargoniums. They look too exotic and wrong for the garden and are tender anyway. So yes, best of both worlds. I’m on a hill and garden on bedrock so all soil has to be made. Giant compost heaps and much leafmold. The welfare of the soil is the most basic principle of gardening. It’s not been easy- the original soil is slimy grey shale- but I’ve never resorted to growing roses in pots.

Oh on my phone. Different user name. Still Bideshi though..

Thank you, yes that's one issue having to return, we wouldn't be able to do grass seed because we get horsetail growing here 😑

What do you use the first stepping stones bit for? Do you do anything there - kids play, eat, dry washing, flower beds?

Hello, before the stepping stones and grass there is a little patio area which has bistro table and chairs, the washing hangs up right at back of garden on a fence to fence washing line, either side there are beds with perenials and a big hydrangea shrub!

Hello @LadyGardenersQuestionTime before the stepping stones and grass there is a little patio area which has bistro table and chairs, the washing hangs up right at back of garden on a fence to fence washing line, either side there are beds with perenials and a big hydrangea shrub!

If you have good soil, planting in the ground makes sense.

If you have thin soil on chalk, or heavy clay that is prone to getting waterlogged, raised beds may be your only possibility for planting. Many also find they just look nice.

OP, if I were you I would just make a few extra new beds near the greenhouse for veg (raised or not, as you wish :) ). Keep the ones you have for another year or two. If at the end of that time you find you are growing all your veg near the greenhouse and the other raised beds are a pain, you can take them down, or plant them as a mixed border/flowers for cutting.

Taking your time in the garden and seeing how you actually use what is there for a year or two always leads to a better outcome than planning everything out on paper (doesn't stop me planning everything down on paper, but I accept that I will change things as I go along).