Help me with my ugly garden?

[TealBeaker]

Okay, so I know this garden is not dreadful but I could really use some advice in terms of how to brighten and tidy it up a bit. First time buyer and rented a flat prior to completing on this house a month ago so I've never had a garden to look after before.

First pic is the day we moved in and second pic shows what I've done so far. I've gone over the paint on the fences to tidy them up and hopefully make them look a bit less weathered? The lawn had also grown over the crazy pathway up to the shed so I've dug that back out and actually quite like it now! I've started painting the shed the blue colour which I thought may be a little more cheery than all the grey but I'm not sure now if I hate it and if it just looks kind of mismatched and messy? :( Can't see it well from the angle but I've also cleaned the slabs off and put some sand between them after weeding them to hopefully prevent them from growing again.

I have no gardening experience and only really have a few hundred quid to spare on this project for now. What would you do with it?

Here are the pictures:

What do you want to do in it?

Is there seating anywhere?

What i would do is put in fruit trees and veg beds. But it's not my garden.

It would be helpful to know what you need the garden for OP - so will you need space for kids to play football etc, room for a dog? And how much time you want to spend on maintaining your garden each week. Also, some things are just matter of taste - I like more greenery than flowers for instance. So think about the kinds of garden you like. You don't need to spend loads to get colour - annuals in pots can achieve that fairly easily the first year in a garden.

I would plant small trees between the conifers on the left to hide the fence panels and some lavender, climbers or hebes on the right in the gravel bed.

Might sound counter-productive but the first thing I'd do is to dig out the evergreen trees down both sides. We had conifers like those and they grow fast, creating a lot of shade and dry areas around them so it was hard to grow other plants close to them.

Then I'd spend a few months just keeping it tidy: sit out there at different times of the day in different seasons and find out where it would be nice to have permanent seating (the nicest place to sit isn't always right by the house).

You could get a few potted plants to brighten things up, then longer-term look at what grows well in the soil in neighbouring gardens.

The first thing that struck me about the 'before' picture was the tree behind the shed. How lucky are you to have such a magnificent specimen, and one that doesn't seem to cast shade on your garden!
The 'after' picture has more emphasis on what goes on within your own garden. Apart from the path, it's all very structured and rigid. The evergreens are a real contrast to the naturalistic deciduous trees beyond.
If it was mine, I would try to soften things a bit with shrubs with interest (different heights and spreads, leaf shape, variegation, flowers) that 'spoke' to the trees. You could also soften the shed with a climber.
But don't be in too much of a hurry. Live with the garden first, to learn its ways. The height of summer <hollow laugh> is not the time to be planting shrubs anyway.

Fur me it is too tidy and orderly, which I find stiff. I would try to add plants to the borders to loosen it up, and maybe let a section go half wild, see what happens to it.

I too would get rid of the evergreens, they will grow too big for the space, require a lot of maintenance and they are not very beautiful.
I would start by planting some nice climbers, try and have some colour from April to October.
Once the climbers are in fill the borders with hardy perennial plants, again thinking of colour, eunonymous is a great little shrub, the variegated ones offer interest all year round.
it will take time but is worth it.

It's a nice tidy garden with year round foliage so a good start and will manage with minimal maintainance. I would choose the sunniest spot for a seat, maybe a little bistro table and chairs, shop around. Then the fun bit, plan just one flower bed, go to a garden centre every payday and buy something that's flowering that day. You want shrubby plants or hardy perennials. At the end of a year you will be pretty much guaranteed year round flowers. Also look for some interesting vessels that would make flower pots, doesn't need to be expensive so long as you can make a hole in the bottom. These can be moved around according to the time of year and brighten a dull corner

Which side gets the sun? Those conifers will cast a lot of shade and dry out the soil, I would remove them on the sunny side and dig a border instead. Then you can have flowers, assuming you want them.

I too would get rid of the conifers, as they'll get too big.
You need to decide how you want to use the garden? Play area for kids, pets, growing fruit & veg, cut flowers, nature garden, pond etc?

Hello TealBeaker,

I agree with some of the comments above.

Remove all conifers as the will suck every drop of water from the soil around them and will drop bits around them making quite inhospitable growing conditions and they will only go on getting bigger and bigger.

Spend the next year maintaining your garden and in the meantime watching where the sun falls on it through the different seasons which can influence what plants you put where i.e. shade and sun lovers. Watching where the sun falls May in the future influence where you have seating area/s. If you want to sit in the garden in the morning with your favourite cuppa then a seating area should be in an easterly aspect or if a glass of wine is your thing in the evening then you want a seating area in a westerly aspect.

In this year find out through the internet and gardening / garden design books what kind of garden you want i.e. style- cottage garden etc. A garden should be as interesting as possible for as many months as possible however this takes planning.

If your budget is limited there is nothing more inspiring than to raise plants from seed 🌱 vegetables, cut flowers, trees, shrubs and perennials. Spring and summer is the ideal time to raise a few foxgloves so it’s not too late now to grow a few plants for 2025.

Happy gardening and happy planning
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I Second ToriTheStoryteller first two suggestions 👍

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I second APurpleSquirrel’s first suggestion 👍

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Ooooh love that! Please will you come and do mine?¡

Happy reading

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Happy reading

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I like your stepping stones, cutting around them might give it a little tidy up. IMO it’s good to decide on a style you like and a palette. It depends on what you’re after though.