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 can buy it too, but those are quick fix freebie budget versions. You could start off a leaf compost.

Just lawn it for now. It’s the easiest and laziest way to stabilise the seed bank and saves you the drama of repeated weeding. Also makes the garden look tidy and finished. Then when you’re ready you can cut out a bed or a tier at a time.

Absolutely. I attend to all details of the house and garden, and give precise instructions to all my minions (aka dc and dh).

I may never have picked up a shovel, but I would have been a great horticulturalist if I had been so inclined.

Same as with the piano, which is where my name comes from, btw!

I love the climbing hydrangea - not rampant but in time can go up and out at least 4m. Drops leaves in winter but the stems are self supporting on a wall and might be ideal for the concrete wall at the top. One climber I'm surprised at how quick growing it is is the evergreen clematis - has lovely flowers in very early spring and has lovely glossy big evergreen leaves - would need supporting. Vines are also an option - again, would need supporting - but these can also grow quickly - although the one on my parents house we had to bag each bunch of grapes we wanted to protect or the wasps spoiled them and my parents would get woken up by the blackbirds getting tipsy in the early morning on grapes that had been missed and had started to ferment on the vine!

I would think of possibly planting a group of 3 birches together (spaced about 1.5 - 2 m apart in a sort of triangle ish arrangement) and then plant two singles - this will look much better than planting any in pairs.

Something like camassia would look lovely under fruit trees - but you might need to work out whether it will be damp enough for them. Agapanthus might be a good option for bulbs that cope with dry conditions more happily.

I would be very careful about bamboo - certainly only consider getting something that is clump forming if you're going to plant it in the ground - but I would consider planting in very large containers that are sunk into the ground rather than risk that!

You have the potential for a really great children's play area incorporating some of the level changes - just think of a slide that starts on one level and goes to the next one!

I have a climbing hydrangea, @mistlethrush -- but it's had two seasons and is remarkably slow. It's on a north-facing wall, looks happy enough, but it is not a fast worker.

My five birches arrived today. I am going to play around with them for a while before planting. Definitely not symmetrical.

I think I will put down grass seed everywhere for now, as a number of people have suggested, while I think things through. If it ever stops raining. At the moment, seed would probably float away...

While I think, don't put grass directly under your new trees - it would be better to put a circle of landscape fabric with some mulch over the top to help to maintain moisture and stop competition (so less watering!)

I am a professional.

Planting the birch trees either side of the garden path to create the effect of a woodland walkway rising up through the garden - would this work in the space you have?

You would need to leave some growing room for roots , but you could grass either side of the trees and plant bulbs in the understory once the trees are sufficiently established, until you decided how next to proceed.

I've been staring longingly at Fargesia nitida Volcano....

All of the above…
Plus there are some awesome AI tools online that will come up with garden designs for you!
You just put in rough dimensions etc…. It’s definitely with a look

Could you recommend exactly where? I haven't dabbled at all in AI.

The easiest and free way is to put ‘ chat gbt ‘ into google, open, then ask it to draw a basic garden. You can build/ modify your template up from there.

...watch the Vengeance Most Fowl, the Wallace & Gromit film, before taking AI opinion too seriously 😅

I take all my advice in life from Wallace and Gromit.

I can assure you I will never trust a penguin with a Marigold on its head or turn my back on a garden gnome.

What penguin? I only saw a chicken.