Update on front yard (before and after pictures)

[OnlyGarden]

I posted a while ago asking for some ideas about our front yard. Some people were unnecessarily rude. I think "polishing a turd" was one phrase, another was to cover the whole thing with gravel necause it's as good as it would ever get. Someone was even arguing that it was too small to be a yard and I should use the phrase "property boundary line". 🙄

It seems my yard offended people on a personal level!

I was under no illusions that it would ever be beautiful but I thought it could be nice and those comments showed a lack of imagination (and decency).

I thought I'd post what we did. I know the brick work isn't great so let's ignore that. The soil isnt as deep as we'd hoped so we cant do what we'd planned. I've just thrown a load of wildflower seeds down for this year and will figure it out when the budget allows.

Ignore the dirt on the tiles/door. It's about to rain so I didnt clean them before the photos. We had to glue the gravel down because despite it only being a few inches wide and about an inch deep, cats were still using it. You can see where I've had to clean up after a cat found a tiny gap between the anti cat mats I've put on the soil.

My cat is indoors/supervised garden only before anyone says anything!🤣

Anyway, it wont win any awards but I thought I'd post as a bit of encouragement for anyone else with a 2 up 2 down terrace front yard. There are bits that could be improved (like the brick work!) and it looks very grey and dull without any plants but that will be rectified.

Looks fab. Well done.

That’s really nice, what a huge improvement,

Very smart really like it.

It’s lovely OP! Great job!

I think you have worked a miracle! Might I a make a suggestion which would help with the lack of soil depth? You could buy a few big terracotta pots, carefully remove the bases from them (use an angle grinder), and place them on top of the soil you do have. Plant them up. You will have to water to establish the plants, but their roots will eventually make their way down into the ground. That way you can have a nice selection of plants fairly fast.

@OnlyGarden what a wonderful transformation! I have to say the before didn't look like it was big enough for what you now have.

One plant that will cope with the soil is Mexican Fleabane. It would be perfect with the tiles you have.

Or you could get a couple of troughs to plant in, or several nice large pots. If you keep up with feeding and watering you can grow some quite large plants in them. A row of hydrangeas would look particularly nice.

You could always have both and the fleabane will spread around the base of the pots and cover the gravel which will help stop the cats. It's what I am trying to do here as we have so many cats and they like using our front garden as their toilet

Absolutely gorgeous OP! Well done 💐

You could do a run of nice pots or planters along the path. Or a couple of large statement pots that could have small shrubs / trees

Looks lovely. I’ve got a really small front garden 5 meters by 1.5 with a window protruding into it. (Front door elsewhere). It’s so hard to know what to do with small spaces plus can’t dig in more than a few centimetres as rubble etc underneath. my DP didn’t see the point of doing anything especially as we don’t walk through a door next to it.

But in 6 years I’ve fitted in ground cover plants, alpines, bulbs and Heather and up the walls climbers (roses and clematis). I can only dig in a few centimetres so I buy the smallest version of a plant I can find so I don’t need to dig in. All of those idea would work for your garden as well so find a mini ground cover plant and get it in. It will spread all over.

my garden must be instagram worth (not by me) as when it all comes out in flower tons of people stop and take photos.

Wow, that is an incredible transformation. Well done for having the vision to do that. I agree with others that a raised border will give you the most options and will be less work than pots that will need watering every day in the summer. Enjoy your wild flowers this summer.

Wow that looks great op.

Looks really amazing OP.

I didn't see your first thread, people are often rude/unfiltered.

Google alpines and succulents, you will find something that will thrive in a couple of inches of soil with gravel, things like sedum, hens and chicks, thyme, saxifraga - all things I can think of might be worth a google.

That’s a great job! You can also add some planters with shrubs/ flowering plants on top of the soil.

Looks fabulous!

I think it looks very smart , and I love the tiles. However I'd be worried that they could be easily damaged by heavy boots or frost?

How
much was it?

looks
good

What a difference! It’s such a joy to see well-cared for front gardens however small. It must be so nice to see every time you go in and out.

What a great job. Simple and elegant - it's perfect for that type of house - well done you!

Looks great. 👍

I love it, especially how the tiles pick out the colour of the bricks. Don’t worry about the soil depth you could have a row of big terracotta pots filled with anything that you like (depending which direction you’re facing) and it would look stunning. You’re right to be pleased it looks great, l would love to see the front gardens of everyone that was rude!