Ideas for my new build garden (Scotland) please?

[NewBuildNewGarden]

We're buying a new build. We are a young, busy family and have aspirations of being good gardeners but have no experience and limited time, so we need some easy to maintain design and planting ideas, please!

We'll have a sqaure-ish, level, east-facing garden with a garage on the north edge and fencing round the east and south, house with French doors into the garden on the west.

What would you do with it, please? What would you plant that gives colour and interest all year round but is easy to maintain and will grow well, where would you place things like a patio, grass area, border, etc.?

TIA!

You will get early morning sun at the end of the garden and late evening sun just by your house If you have room then two seating areas would be useful. Close to the house I would use bench/comfy chairs and the end of the garden patio tables and chairs.

If you like prairie plants, check out Piet Oudolf designs. Easy maintenance and year round interest. Heathers and acers are easy to maintain. At the south facing side a few fruit trees and grow bags would do well.

Look at Landscape gardening on Pinterest. You will find that you are drawn to certain styles and colours. Much more importantly, you will find things you hate.

One big mistake with a new garden is over planting. Don’t be afraid to have gaps.

I recommend the book Garden Plants for Scotland.
I'm not sure where you are moving from, but some English plants just won't cut it in Scotland.
As a young busy family maybe some fruit trees that will give your children some interest Apple, Pear, Blackberry, Cherry and Raspberry.
we have lots of gooseberries, but these are a thorny plant, so not great with small pickers.
Roses - David Austin.
Geraniums do well, geum, hostas, lupins, kniphofia and sedum.
We tend to do a lot of container gardening so we can move things around.
If you have a local garden centre make some friends there and ask, ask, ask.
Also maybe look at gardening Facebook groups in your area.

Thank you both, some great ideas. Two seating areas sounds very fancy!

@AyrshireTryer, that's funny we're headed for Ayrshire which is where I assume you are, so if you have any local plant nursery or Facebook group recommendations, I'm all ears.

Patio next to the house for late evening sunshine.

New build gardens usually have very poor soil.
Do you want a lawn for ball games, or do you have plans for something like a swing/climbing frame/playhouse/trampoline?

Fruit bushes and trees are a good idea.

I think a lawn for ball games, picnics, that sort of thing. It's not a huge garden so I wouldn't want large play equipment in it. We will be in walking distance to a park. But I find lawn-only gardens boring. I'd love to have some flowers and plants, and I love the fruit trees and berries ideas so was to add them. Just don't know where to start!

Grow the fruit you love. I had a pear tree that had wonderful blossom in the spring and cropped well but I was giving the fruit away, so I replaced it with an apple tree.

Strawberries are easy. Blackcurrants are also easy. Other berries did well this year. Blueberries do OK here (Home Counties).

Veg-wise - the ones that grow through winter (e,g, kale, broccoli, swiss chard, perpetual spinach) are very welcome when nothing else edible is around. Grow things you eat a lot of and that you can sow in succession (salad, spinach, etc). Plants like pak choi are easy.

Plants that bloom in early spring are a joy. Snowdrops, daffodils, crocus, etc.
Roses give a lot and don't need much care. They don't need to be David Austin - my supermarket ones do much better. I prefer reds to pinks and purples. Yellow tends to be a very popular colour for many plants that I don't want to flower.

Herbs. Mint is best in a pot. I have a few mints, and also things like bay, sage, chives, thyme.

Your soil will need improving. Most plants do a lot better in the ground.

Be aware that many plants take up a lot of space when they grow. Climbers especially.

Check out the Beechgrove Garden on BBC Scotland. Tonight's episode is about planning a garden, plus they have done things in the past about starting a garden, one this year was on a new build. It's a great programme, full of useful advice, and suitable for our Scottish climate. The garden is in Aberdeen.

The main thing I would say at the beginning is to observe your site and check where the sun is at different times of day. Do a soil test (garden centre). Dig right down and see what builders have left you with. Then make a plan of sitting areas, beds, lawn, play areas, trees (they will cast shadows on your garden if planted to the south which is useful in a very hot summer but not if it makes whole garden shady. Depends on size of garden.

When you have a plan (can whole family make suggestions so included from start) and have put in any hard landscaping like patio, order a truck load of compost, manure, top soil and make sure all your beds have a great start with nutritious soil. This is what will give you success hopefully. When you plant put a depth of mulch around plants but not touching. Can be lawn clippings, leaf mould, compost, well rotted manure, Strulch etc. This massively cuts down on tedious time consuming weeding as blocks light from weed seeds and it’s easy to just pull out any little weeds that crop up as mulch is loose.

Plants: check that the plants you buy suit your soil. So if acid can grow certain plants like heathers, roses like clay, alkaline suits others. Then you won’t waste money like I did when young! I believe raspberries grow really well in Scotland. Some bushes and trees would be great for children’s made up games. Just check growing height and width to make sure you won’t have to uproot them later. Second planting bulbs. One effort then bloom every year.

What an exciting project. Spring is coming.

My new build has bloody awful clay soil. I’ve put shrubs directly into the soil but for flowers I’ve built my own raised beds which is surprisingly easy to do. Then you can fill it with whatever flowers you like best without worrying about the soil you have.

my favourite plants are fuschia, salvia (my salvia “hot lips” are still flowering like crazy down here in the south east), gaura, buddleia, erysimum, lavender - I have lots of the same ones in all different colours.

Fab advice, thanks everyone! Keep the plant recommendations coming, I'm not sure if we'll want a few different plants repeated or lots of different plants.

It’s really nice to have some water. If you’re children aren’t too little then a small pond would be great. If they’re tiny then maybe just a pond in an above ground container somewhere safe. You usually gets lots of wildlife with a pond.
Perhaps also a bug hotel and somewhere for some sticks on the ground - again to make homes for creatures.
Buddleia is great for butterflies and plants mentioned above with flowers - like lavender, salvia, gaura and geum make bees happy.
Think about whether you’d have room for a small greenhouse (even a plastic one) which can be great for growing tomatoes/peppers and starting off small plants.

No to the buddleia. They grow like weeds where I live. I still get butterflies in the garden.

Ayrshire Gardening & Home Decor on facebook

Sorry just catching up.
I'm in Dreghorn.
The Facebook group has lots of local people in.
Also the Scottish National Trust have something called Roots, which is for those people interested in gardens. We have done lots of open garden visits.

Also Beechgrove is a really good BBC Scotland gardening programme which is Scotland based and I think only available in Scotland, sorry if that is obvious.

Try www.mclarensnurseriesltd.co.uk/

I find McLarens too big and too confusing, but you might love it.
Eden near Dundonald is nice, but full of Christmas at the moment.
Hayes in Symington is nice
Gemmells in Stair has got a softly area for the kids.

Reported the plastic death carpet company who are spamming the boards. Hopefully it'll be banned before long and before too many eco systems are ruined.

I thought an east facing garden meant the house was on the west side with house and patio doors facing east?

Surely it’s the other way round.

if the garden faces east the sun will hit the back of the house and garden in the morning with the most being close to the house. In the evening the sun is in the west so as it drops the house will shade the garden and the sun will only hit the end of the garden.

It’s early so perhaps my brain isn’t working but I’m sure that’s right and certainly how it is in the east facing part of my garden.

It does

Yes you are right . I realised after I posted and then forgot to update

The patio will mostly get used in the summer -putting it outside the patio doors means part of it will be in the shade of the house.
What I would do with a blank garden is mark off a triangle across the opposite left corner (from the patio) and plant a small tree,maybe half a dozen shrubs of differing sizes and cover the ground between with bark -then in a few years you’d have a green shrubbery. Mowing between them would be hard,hence the bark.
I find the wood fencing unattractive and this would cover quite a bit .
patio on the right. A sandpit is good for small DCs.ours is 1metre squared with slightly raised edges for sitting on. plant climbers on the fence but if they don’t get much sun eg on right side, you can find the flowers are all at the top of the fence where the sun is.

If you've got time to wait, just have a few garden chairs the first summer and you'll find you'll naturally move them to where you get best light at the times you like to sit in the garden - and that's where your patio/garden bench should go! Nice to hang options, a patio for eating but also a bench (in a bower, or under trees) just to sit with a cup of tea.

If it doesn't have trees get some in. Fruit is always lovely, blueberries do really well where I am (Trossachs, so acidic soil). But also nice to have some colour - I love the ornamental birches and cherries.

A good idea is to look at gardens in the area, you'll see what grows well and you'll see what style you like. Just other peoples in your neighborhood, but also any NT or similar properties. Though get some spring bulbs in asap as you'll always like them! Even if it's just a few outside your kitchen window.

There is loads of advice online and on Instagram. As said earlier, focus on Scottish specific once you're looking at details because the latitude really makes a difference.

This is really helpful, so thank you all for your time and tips. We don't move in for a while so we've time to plan. I love the fruit tree and bushes ideas and think the kids will too :)