Ok clever people! Any budding landscapers around for ideas?

[mrsmalaprop]

What would you do with this garden?

I moved here at the end of last year and haven't yet had time to look at the garden.

My last garden had a lot of love and care invested. It was small. No lawn and lots of pots and climbing shrubs.

I left all the pots behind because there was a horribly invasive weed (mare's tail) and I didn't want to risk bringing it here.

Anyway. This is the new garden. It is bigger than it looks here (I think it's the angle of the photo).

My children are older and don't need a big expanse of lawn to play on, although I want to keep most of it.

What would you do with this pretty much blank slate?

I am going to talk to the neighbours about putting up a fence or growing a hedge between our gardens, as we can see straight into each other's at the moment due to a 3 ft fence along the right hand side.

I would like some trees or shrubs in pots on the patio area.

I have planted up a lot of spring bulbs in pots which are nearly ready to be positioned (they are down the side return in the shelter at the moment.)

It is North facing, so planting needs to take that into account.

Go for it. Thank you!

Your seating area needs to be at the bottom of the garden where the sun hits. You could plant lovely shade loving plants near the house then a winding path to break up the narrowness down to the bottom.

This also occurred to me. Thank you. It is a bit tricky with the gate and shed where they are, but that broken bin store is off to the tip soon (although there is a bin strike here at the moment, so my overflow is currently living in there until I can find a free slot to drop it all off at the tip)

I feel the little raised bed was probably a lockdown project, but that's based on no real evidence. Just a hunch!

Something like this?

Ooh. I like that! Thank you.

Before you commit, think first about how you will use the space, needs and wants. Then how much time you are able to put into maintaining the space, then your budget. Once you have these it should be easier to have a necessity list and a desirable list. Think about areas that can have multiple uses, storage requirements, laundry airer, seati and so on. Lots of very chic inspiration on line, think how it can work for you.
Best of luck 😊

Think multisensory.
Notice the path of the sun and shade through the day and take account of seasonal changes, then site the seating area there as near the house as possible. Make it softer with climbing plants on house wall (Claire Austin white climber is great on north facing walls and beautiful).

Agree you want privacy near house so neighbours will hopefully be glad to have higher screen. Clad with clematis, honeysuckle (likes shade) or climbing hydrangea. Put herbs you use for cooking in pots near house for scent and snipping. Parsley mint and lemon balm grow in shade but Mediterranean herbs like rosemary and thyme obviously need sun so might have to experiment,

Install a raised pond with fountain and shallow beach edge for wildlife.

Make a curved path to confuse eye and invite exploration to end of garden through lawn with generous borders for shrubs and flowers (test soil to see how alkaline/acid) so buy things that will thrive, In my experience it always looks better to have repeat planting or groups not one of each fancied from garden centre, but planned.

Put some small to medium height trees at the end of the garden so you cant see the boundary and have privacy and blend with your beautiful wildlife friendly hedge. Make a mini woodland area with bark chippings to keep down weeds while trees grow and provide a space for camp building, hiding out if children still at age to enjoy this.

What a lovely project OP enjoy every minute of creating it. Here’s to a sunny spring.

Paint the shed sage green.

Thank you! All great suggestions. I am going to enjoy this, but it will take years to get it anywhere near what I want it to be - which is good because that's several summers of pottering about and tweaking things, which is what I like to do.

Thank you. That's a nice, simple suggestion and I think it would look much better

And the fence, too? It will give cohesion, continuity if you repeat the colour.

Think carefully about the right hand side because raising the fence height will block the sun. It might also emphasise the long/thinness of the whole garden. Maybe put a feathery tree there instead to provide screening without totally blocking.

Something like this, with a teardrop-shaped lawn and a patio at the end of the garden.... (two similar designs with the path and shed on opposite sides to accommodate the view from rear windows and doors).

There's no harm in having two seating areas - the one near the house can be used on hot sunny days when you could do with some shade, and you could put a bench at the other end to catch the sunshine.

Is that a privet hedge all down one side and does it have a fence behind it? I'm assuming it is your hedge. It is quite wide and is taking up more room than it needs to, so you could prune it back quite hard so it is narrower and closer to the fence. Privet does take hard pruning well. It would make the garden look wider.