Can I do this in my new build garden?

[pumpkinNspice]

Hello clever gardeners.

I have recently moved into a new build with an atrocious garden (I posted about it here before) which is pure clay, on a slope, and completely waterlogged after 5 mins of rain. We do intend to have the garden done but it won't be for a year or two. As such, I'm only planting in containers (as large as we can carry into the garden!). And lots and lots of hanging baskets along the back fence.

In the meantime, I have two enormous planters that were made for me as I have a bad back and find bending difficult. I want to move them along to the left fence, but I'm thinking they need to be sat on something. Or it's going to look scruffy with the grass growing wild below.

I'm thinking to get the OH to dig away the top layer of grass, cover it in some kind of fabric to stop weeds, and then maybe cover the whole thing with stones. We'd probably need a delivery of a ton of them. I also want to put a tree in the corner in a giant pot.

Is this a good idea? What else could I do? Pics of the planters, the boring garden, and a brilliant drawing of my thoughts.

Thanks!

Hello! I don't know if it is possible, I'm sure somebody will be along to advise. However, I recently fell down a rabbit hole of 'Gardentok' which Is the gardening side of tiktok. I came across this account of a lovely lady who transformed her new build garden step by step. She also removed alot of the turf. I will see if I can find it for you.

I don't know how to share it 😭. I am a digital dinosaur. Once I figure it out, I will put a link on here.

What's her account name @Rosemaryandlavender1? I'll go and have a look then! thank you.

Does this work? It is Charlotte's garden
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeEG6rN9/

Can you post a picture of your planters? Do they sit on legs or flat bases?

I'd advise against sitting them on stones. You will still get weeds, they'll just root into whatever they can find, sadly they don't need soil. Either sit the planters directly on the ground, or get some paving slabs and sit them on those. You can either just lay the slabs on the grass, or lift the turf where you want the slabs to go and lay them flush with the lawn. This is more hassle and you'll still get grass growing horizontally over the edges of the slabs.

Depending what you can easily get locally, I'd suggest first of all a solid vertical edging for the whole area you want to cover. Make sure this sticks up a little so you can strim right up to it. Put some weed membrane on the inside (you don't need to get rid of the grass) and cover it with a thick layer of something like small bark chips or even sawdust or wood chip that you can get for free from a local woodworking place. You want a good depth of something that stays loose enough to allow you to hoe it easily. It will look a bit like the kind of thing you see in children's playgrounds. You will still get weeds but it's much, much easier to get a hoe through that sort of thing than through stones.

Personally, if it is your intention to do the garden in a couple of years, I would be working on improving the soil. There's a lot you can do in two years to improve it.

I would definitely get rid of the grass, but I would use almost the whole space for plants, with a small gravelled area for a bench and planters (so as not to waste the ones I had). I removed a “lawn” (moss and weeds mostly) about that size using a device I hired from Toolstation for the day. Wasn’t too difficult. Some composted bark and decent topsoil improved the quality of the soil before planting.

Why do you want to put the tree in a planter? A small tree (like an acer, perhaps) would be happier in the ground and would help with the waterlogging problem too.

I think you would be better with raised beds, rather than planters.

We have a similar garden, in that it is poor soil with builders' rubble underneath. We have one bed of shrubs which we have improved over the years by adding organic matter, but otherwise grow in raised beds around the perimeter. They are like large planters (built for us from sleepers) but open at the base so larger shrubs / trees can stretch their roots deep into the soil.

Remember that any organic matter you can add will help the soil structure.

Edit - also agree that most trees (even Acers) will be happier in the ground if you can do that

Thanks everyone for the thoughts so far.

These are the planters. I'm not getting rid of them, a friend made them for me and I love them! They're massive. In the old house I used them to plant tons of different veg, worked so well. They'll take up 80% of that left bit of the garden I posted, leaving 20% for a tree.

I'm putting the tree in a (ginormous) pot because I intend to get the whole garden dug out completely, so it'll be pulled up then. I hate it, it needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

I'm certain nothing would grow in this garden. It's a pile of shit. SO severely waterlogged I can't imagine anything surviving really. I have quite a few low planters (with bases, more like raised beds) and a table sized one too so will have nice things growing in them for now. I also want to get raised beds built all along the back fence too which is quite long so this will be costly, but necessary, because I love my new house but the garden is thoroughly depressing.

Don't know what to do with the random paved square bit on the otherwise of the garden either, seen underneath my planters in the picture.

This pic shows the paved bit better. Previous occupants had a big trampoline on it but my kids are grown.

This is my attempt at showing you the whole garden, it's awful. You can't really see how much it slopes though. Currently waterlogged because it rained for about 15 mins yesterday. Oh and I'm in Scotland too by the way!

The plantars your friend has made are lovely.

I get your point about wanting to have the garden dug out / replanted in a few years. I suppose meanwhile I'm wondering if there are things you can do to work or improve what's there.

For example - you may want the legs of your planters to be sitting on supports, but couldn't you otherwise have plants that will grow in damp conditions below them? Bulbs like camassia / snowdrops would look good in the grass. There will be other things people can recommend.

Can you not leave the trug planters were they are on the mini patio bit until the garden is redone?

We bought our new build 12 years ago, brand new. We turfed the garden ourselves. It slopes away from the house. It's clay on top of rubble on top of a tarmac road (the site used to be an agricultural nursery). The best thing we did was plant a tree (cherry) & then more & more plants. The garden used to get flooded & was a quagmire in winter - now it's much better as the trees (we have several now) & shrubs & plants as they suck up so much.
I'd say our garden is narrower but longer than yours & also north facing, but we've done loads & it is achievable.

@APurpleSquirrel what trees do you have? I've googled thirsty trees but keep getting American sites or ones I can't find in the garden centre. Also don't want them to get too big for the neighbours sakes, don't want to start any pruning drama.

We have a cherry tree (about 10ft) which does require annual pruning to maintain the size & shape.
Other established shrubs/trees are a Bay, 2 buddleias, a plum, a massive blackberry.
But the garden is packed with lots of other plants - mainly perennials which require & use water year-round. Lots of roses, salvias, nepeta, verbena, geraniums, hellebores, pulmonaria, ferns, hazel, box, valerian, jasmine etc etc.

Alder (Alnus) are the quintessential wetland tree. And willow, of course. I have a swamp cypress which will eventually get too big but which is fine for now

Thank you! I'm not sure wether to stick some thirsty trees in now, knowing they'll have to be dug up and potentially not survive in a year or two when we get the garden done, or not.

@pumpkinNspice Do not plant a willow! These are very thirsty and might well cause structural damage to your house and those neighbouring you.

Your garden clearly has a drainage issue. If it slopes away from the house, and you want it flat, your only option is to terrace with a step, Say two levels. Make an outside space for eating and relaxing near the house and make the second level into a garden. The garden area needs digging out and replacing with topsoil. This would help drain the lawn and any beds. Plan out something that hides the fence with plants. Don’t plan straight lines. Plan curves. However your so is the issue and plants won’t solve that.

Also containers on grass are awful. I’d leave them where they are for the moment. Also you must separate gravel from grass. Your mower will be forever having issues. We have a paved edge between gravel and grass so the mower sweeps over the paved bit but doesn’t contact the gravel. Use decent sub base for gravel or it will just sink and become uneven. I’d just buy a book on basic garden planning.

If this is a new build property, should you not raise the drainage issues with the developers? I wouldn't accept moving into to a new build property that experiences immediate, severe issues such as pools of water after 15 mins of rain..

I think op said it had a previous owner?

It's 7 years old, all the houses on the estate fought it with the developers and got nowhere. Most have had their gardens ripped up and landscaped.

It is on a slope but towards the house, not away. Willow off the list!

Do not plant a willow! These are very thirsty and might well cause structural damage to your house and those neighbouring you. There are 350 species of willow. I wouldn’t recommend a huge weeping willow, but it would be foolish to reject the whole genus on the basis of a few species.

Still trying to decide what to do. Especially about planting thirsty trees that will be dug up in 2 years, or just putting them in giant pots.

You can plant the trees now and leave them in situ when the garden is landscaped, just make sure you prepare the location(s) properly (i.e. dig out well) and think about the level you ultimately want.
Also think carefully about the location. Many people plant trees right up against the fence and then have the pruning dramas you refer to, bringing them into the garden even a few feet helps immensely.

We are in a NB and only landscaped our garden this year but did a lot of planting soon after we moved in three years ago. Lots of hedging, a few trees and some shrubs, all survived the landscaping perfectly as the ground was prepared thoroughly before they went in and when the garden was leveled, there was no need to touch them.

Me again- have decided to plant some trees along the back fence. Thirsty ones. Should I do it now? Or wait til spring?