Big, terraced garden from scratch -- help a panicking novice! Drawing included

[WhiteBlankets]

Hi all,
Very much a novice gardener -- only started to do any gardening to a single long border and planters in a patio last spring, but enormously enjoying it.

We've just had the very large, very steep back garden terraced, and I'm suddenly intimdated by all the space and bare earth. (It was previously uncultivated for years as we were doing building work.)

I now have three large, south-facing terraces, backed by a high wall, which are entirely bare space, apart from one apple tree on the middle one. South-facing, no shade, area that receives a lot of rainfall annually, but had a very dry summer this year. I can't get out to measure, as it's knee deep in construction mud between here and there, but each terrace is the same width as many gardens are in length. It's big.

What would you do now? I've got the builders to entirely gravel the top terrace and will aim to make a gravel garden/sitting out space there in time. But I still have three big flattish, south-facing terraces to deal with, and the winter is so mild that everything is growing, and I don't want them to become overgrown with weeds again. Would you put down black plastic or something to try to keep the worst weeds at bay for a bit? Or would you put down grass seed everywhere for now?

Do I need a garden designer? My budget is pretty much non-existent, as we've literally just given all our money to the builders! I would love some trees, both for privacy, shade and biodiversity, and I have the space for fairly big or fast-growing things, and a lot of fence to cover.

Any thoughts welcome. Apologies for crap diagram.

You don't say where you are. Whether it's Kent or Stromness does make a difference.

Firstly don't panic! You don't need to do everything at once. Black plastic is an option - as is simply sowing some lawn for a while.

You say you want trees for privacy and shade etc - are there particular places you need the privacy in particular? In my last home I planted a silver birch seedling and by the time we sold the house 10 years later it was about 20+' tall. I like silver birches because they are relatively light in their foliage and let some light through - but they do grow quite quickly. Don't think you need to get a big tree immediately - you could find that a tree you buy as a sapling will outgrow it in 2 or 3 years time.

Work out where in the garden you want a screen and where you want shade coming from and think about planting trees there - don't put them right on the boundary, bring them out at least a foot as this will allow you to manage the boundaries etc.

You say you have an apple on the middle terrace - do you fancy more fruit trees or perhaps some vegetable garden areas there? Also you might want to espalier a morello cherry on the back wall if it faces north - sounds silly but these fruit trees do well on a north wall! Other things that can be used to grow up a north wall and look attractive include a climbing hydranga or perhaps virginnia creeper. Both of these grow fairly quickly.

If this was mine I think I would aim to have some sort of plan for each of the terraces which went from the patio by the house up to a lawned area with flower beds and perhaps some shrubs at the side, up to a vegetable garden with fruit trees and bushes and then have a more wild area at the top with some sort of seating area that was shady for the summer.

We’ve also got a terraced garden (three though not four). Lowest one immediately outside the house is paved - plus various pots. Middle terrace is lawn with borders. Top has big tree which shades the entire area and prevents grass growing plus a big shed. Still has weed membrane down as we don’t know what to do with it…

As the pp said, you don’t need to decide the lot now, it looks like your top and bottom will be plant free, so maybe just lawn the middle two for now.

I'm in Ireland. South west.

Thank you, @mistlethrush -- that was a very generous response! (Yes, the panic is bleeding off my prose, clearly! )

Yes, I think I will have more fruit trees on the same terrace where the apple tree is and treat it as a small orchard -- I actually have vouchers which mean I can buy some, and I also have some tiny crab apples in pots. Does it make sense to put down grass seed there and plant into it? Then that level can do its own thing for a while.

I absolutely adore birches. I would love a garden full of birches and ferns, with only occasional patches of flowers doing their own thing, but having had to move a tree in the middle of the drought this past summer, I'm very aware of their water needs when getting established. And I would need to create shade for ferns to flourish.

I must think about eyelines and privacy. There are hostile neighbours I'd love to be shielded from on the right hand side as you look at the diagram. The garden is quite overlooked because of its gradient, from both sides, so ideally trees or high shrubs to screen on both sides.

I think one of the challenges is that, being so steeply sloped, I have to try to think about what it looks like from the house as well as when actually up in the garden, which are two entirely different things.

Could anyone recommend some fast-growing climbers/creepers? I have two very ugly bare cement south-facing, but quite exposed, walls -- one is the high one right at the top of the garden, the other is the one at the bottom left of the diagram, which is just outside a big kitchen window and glass doors, so will be the ground-level bit most visible from the house.

Thank you for talking me down. Do you mind me asking what you use as weed membrane, and how effective it is?

Did you plant your big tree yourself, or was it already there?

Could anyone recommend some fast-growing climbers/creepers? I have two very ugly bare cement south-facing, but quite exposed, walls -- one is the high one right at the top of the garden, the other is the one at the bottom left of the diagram, which is just outside a big kitchen window and glass doors, so will be the ground-level bit most visible from the house.

I would put Jasmine near the house - evergreen, scented and easy to manage. Also reasonably drought proof but loves a bit of water for flowering well and that's easier near the house.

Virginia creeper is beautiful colours but drops all its leaves in winter so the wall at the end will be exposed and the leaves need raking up in a gravel garden. It also grows voraciously in the Irish climate but if you don't think you'll be too fussed in the winter, it will give you green for most of the year and beautiful autumn colour.
No reason not to do jasmine in both if you plan to sit at the top. With gravel and a concrete wall it could get quite hot up there so would funds allow for a pergola?

For drought generally [though possibly a freak year in the SW?] this might be a useful resource for inspiration in how to do a low maintenance garden.
https://www.bethchatto.co.uk

You don't mention kids and whether you need/want to accommodate play equipment? it's tempting to put as far away as possible but then difficult to supervise and at one level up you can have it nearby and clear away in favour of lawned area when they are older.
Or any intention to grow veg. [make sure you don't have to lug watering cans up steps]

How exciting!

Leave the top 2 terraces for now. Plenty of time to plan.

I'd personally do at least 1 trip to garden centre as spring bulbs will all be on sale right now. Plant up the bottom terrace so you can see from the house. That'll get you excited to get more going in spring.

The tree was already there - a massive chestnut which drops tons of conkers and leaves which need clearing weekly….. weed membrane - dunno exactly what, just what we got from the garden centre. TBH paving this top terrace is probably the only option given the tree and associated maintenance.

Thank you, @TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams -- I will definitely be reading that for gravel garden/low maintenance stuff. And I will definitely need a pergola at some point, but now my bank account is lying and quietly whimpering.

And I am blaming @mistlethrush for the fact that I bought five birches today. Because the one thing I have absolutely loads of is space. If anyone is willing to suggest their ideas on positions for them, I am all ears. I won't put them on the level where the apple tree is, but am all open to other ideas. They arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I do have a child, but, believe it or not, there is still more than enough garden down the side of the house and around the front for him to have ample space for play equipment, a football goal etc. Not decided on vegetables. I think watering in new fruit trees will be complex enough if there's a dry spell... (Yes, this summer was freakish.)

Is it doable to grow a couple of different creepers on a wall for something to look at all year round, like jasmine and virginia creeper? Especially on that wall the kitchen looks out onto which is criminally ugly.

@dairydebris, I definitely will. I already have some grape hyacinth bulbs and dwarf narcissi.

Another question, which I suspect will make everyone scream. I adore bamboo. Given that I have a lot of space, is there anywhere I could plant it with reasonable safety? On the top terrace, for example, which is nowhere near any structures, our own or neighbours, only a fifteen-foot high concrete wall (and the ground level of the land on the other side is about twelve feet higher than ours) -- we're on the side of a steep hill.

Thank you to everyone who has commented. Gardeners are very generous. I hope I will one day have advice to pass on, too.

Grass over the whole lot, that would be my suggestion for the time being. Maybe add a load of native wild flower seeds in the section that gets the most sun.

South west Ireland - you lucky thing!
Go and look at all the gardens round you that open to the public. Don't get daunted or overwhelmed, just snap photos of anything that catches your eye or plants that you like. Even huge gardens have pockets of incident that can be inspiring.
You've probably got the best gardening climate anywhere in the British Isles so look upon it as a fabulous opportunity.
Don't be frightened of bamboo. The clump forming varieties don't run and are safe to plant. Check out the Phyllostachys (especially the black-stemmed one)and the Fargesia types. I love bamboo- it's one of the 'three friends of winter' in China because it looks good all year round. It might give you your first starting point to envisage an area of garden with a Chinese feel.

Noooooo . Do not plant bamboo especially the “nigra” blackstemmed stuff without serious guidance from a professional and professional underground containment. It spreads terrifyingly fast. As in metres in a few weeks.

Have a look for Anya the garden fairy ( I know) on facebook and social media. She’s written a book too. Huge boring garden which she has transformed through self taught propogation. Not sure where she is based in the uk but looks mild and wet and I don’t think it’s sandy soil judging by the plants so a lot might be transferable. If you can do the plants at a super low cost you can save the €€€ for big stuff.

As you're on a budget, I'd start with asking your (nice) neighbours, friends and family to a) have a look at their plants b) say you realllly admire That Plant... Most gardeners are very generous and will give you cuttings, whole plants, leftover seeds etc. You'll need to look up how to propagate those cuttings.

What's the soil like, does it have a decent amount of worms? Have the landscapers added manure or soil improver? I'd be a bit concerned about the soil condition if it's been a muddy building site for years.

Virginia creeper can be invasive, Boston ivy gives a very similar effect but is well behaved. It grows fast, too. It covered a whole wall of my large house in less than 3 years. Glorious in the autumn. Jasmine is lovely but not self clinging, you would have to provide some support.

I would plant a wildflower meadow in the orchard bit.

For the birches, I would put them somewhere you can admire their lovely bark. They provided lovely, dappled shade so somewhere you can enjoy that would be good too.

ChatGPT is actually pretty good at planting plans. It would definitely be worth putting your diagram in with details of soil, light, position, what sort of things you like etc and seeing what it comes up with.

I just started following her last week (the Instagram algorithm is throwing everything vaguely garden-related at me) and find her slightly scary. Learning self-taught propagation is complicated by living on a building site with no shed, greenhouse or (currently) any usable space indoors where I can rear plants. But it's clearly the route to cheaper plants...

ChatGPT is hood for this sort of thing too. Can literally come up with planting plans.

To fill spaces cheaply, loom for plants that grow well in your area and are easy to propagate. Repeat planting is super effective. Eg hydrangeas are easiest thing in works to propagate - ditto penstemon. (You might be too sunny for hydrangea).

if you can, consider how you will water things in when establishing. Can’t ever have too many water butts esp if all your plants are new …

(Hydrangea and penstemon - cut off soft wood in growing season, stick in vase with water, roots appear ! TBH I stick cuttings straight into a holding bed and water well.

No, the soil isn't great. (I must test PH, but immediate neighbours have beautiful, long-established magnolias, so I assume acidic/neutral?) I haven't had landscapers at all, I couldn't afford them. I just had builders on site with a digger to do other things, bought some sleepers and directed them, while getting them to save back the topsoil to replace as far as they could. The terraced part hasn't been a building site, though (that's the side and front), it's just been uncultivated for years.

My parents certainly have hydrangeas I could try with...

I have been trying to find a way to incorporate waterbutts into the new part of the house, but for various reasons there seems to be nowhere I can put one to collect water off the roof.

I am a total ChatGPT virgin...

Gardening advice from Lady Catherine suddenly strikes me as hilarious. Given that Mr Collins seems to have been the gardener of the family (at least, as encouraged by his dear Charlotte), I wonder if Lady C bossed him around about lifting his dahlias, even though she will never have gone anywhere near a spade in her life...?

In that case I'd prioritise mulching over winter to get the soil ready for Spring planting. Know anyone with a horse for well-rotted (composted) manure? Bark chippings from a tree surgeon?

Clearly my roster of acquaintances are all just the wrong types! I know both horse owners and tree surgeons in other countries, but not here!