Help with making small garden work for family life

[Unicorngardenhelp]

I have a tiny garden, it's about 6.5m by 3.5m. I'd like it to be a nicer space to be in but think I'm wanting too much and that's the problem.

I need to keep a washing line, would like a water butt, somewhere to sit and eat, the children like the mud kitchen and have enjoyed growing some food, oh and plants for pollinators. The fake grass was here when we moved in and it has always been the plan to get rid of it.

I am not a fan of AI but did try to use it but everything was too neat and boring.

I'd love some help with figuring out what is realistic with the space. A photo from a couple of years to show the space.

I think I would take the list of all of my wants and divide them into a few main categories like "eating", "lounging and relaxing", "flowers and plants" and "kids" (just examples). These main categories, I'd use as a benchmark to create intentional and dedicated spaces in the garden. I'd essentially try to create the same amount of main spaces in the garden as I have made main categories, with each space containing ONLY the specific wants from the main category. So for example, any wants under the "kids" category cannot infringe on the space that is dedicated to the wants from the "lounging and relaxing" category, if that makes sense.

I think your garden is big enough to divide into 4 intentional spaces - the "grassy" bit could be divided into two spaces: one for plants and flowers, the other for the kids' toys. The tiled part of the garden could be divided into two spaces also: one for dining are, the other for a small lounge set.

Something like small to medium potted plants don't count as part of the "flowers and plants" category so you can dot those around wherever you want to.

This is how I'd approach things...

Any chance you can have a foldaway airer or two instead of a washing line? The advantage is I can bring the whole thing in when it rains instead of unpegging. You could have a small area of slabs by the door which would take either a fold up table and chairs or the airer.

I'd put the mud kitchen and planting area together so any run off mud or water goes on the plants. Put the pollinator plants on the mud kitchen side and the edibles the other. When the kids outgrow the mud kitchen, you can just expand the planting into the space.

Take up the slabs as you go to put planting in and then the design will build organically - you could have raised beds but its cheaper to plant in the ground and you can spend the extra on plants.

In a small garden, the hard landscaping does a lot of work in terms of design. Depending on your budget, changing the patio shape would make a noticeable difference to the feel of the garden.
For instance, a tapered, step-shaped patio from top left to bottom right, roughly triangular, would change the 'small rectangle' feel to something more interesting while still giving about the same size patio area - it wouldn't need to necessarily be symetrical stepping but tailoired to the space.
If the remainder of the garden became the planting /activity area, a simple focal feature off centre - such as a small dwarf tree or well shaped statement shrub would give a starting point to build the planting and activity areas around it. The stepped feature of the patio would leave room for plants to spill over naturally onto it.

Good thinking, brambleberries. The longest dimension in a rectangular garden is not the length but the diagonal. Designing the garden along the diagonal makes it feel bigger.
Don't forget, OP, to make the most of the vertical dimension, too. Be 3D (as the previous gardener did). You can have climbers up the walls. I would suggest a tree to hide the view of the car park. It doesn't have to be anything big and solid; just something to obscure the view.
The washing like could be a retractable one. They don't cost much.
You appear to have a downpipe in the top left so you can divert some of that rainwater into a water butt. It would make sense to have the mud kitchen and the edibles near the butt.

My plan is:
hard paving right outside the door (a must).
Hard paving, bottom-right-ish, with a pathway up the diagonal leading to the mud kitchen / edibles, ending in a focal point. The hard paving (sitting / eating) will have views of the tree, the focal point and climbers up the house. You can take out a few paving slabs to make planting pockets, if you want.
A mid-height hedge to section off the mud kitchen / edibles area. The DC will love having their own hideaway area.
Plants for pollinators / prettiness in front of the hedge (a nice backdrop)..

@senua looks a good plan. I’d add some height, climbers on the wall and a small well behaved airy tree or shrub trained as a tree would do that. in a pot or bottomless pot would restrict its growth further for the tree, but an upright acer or cherry would be fabulous (fasticular if you google).

you can get decorative water butts where you can plant in the top.

I love a water butt me, but in a garden that size I think you might be better off just buying a washing up bowl, prepping veg in that and using that to water plants if you want to save water.

I'd put a round table in the bottom right hand corner, and put up a retractable washing line or use as mentioned a drying rack that can come in or out.

I'd put a shelf up to extend the window ledge for herbs and to encourage using these in cooking.

I'd put the kids kitchen at the far end, and have the plants radiating out from that keeping to the walls. I'd move the pergola presuming it is fixed into those 2 wooden raised beds, to markate the adults to kids section at the end of the fake grass and I'd then put plants between those beds and the 2 walls to section it off.

I'd hide the small greenhouse in the kids section and keep the best looking plants in the adults section moving them about as and when. And I'd put any toys in there as well.

I'd bin/recycle/give away anything that wasn't worth the space.

I would try to find a way to hang the washing really really high. Are the two walls of the house overlooking the garden yours? You could fit a line much higher up and use pulleys to lift it. Then you just need to make sure there are no large structures in the area the line lowers into, but while the washing is high up you can use the area underneath freely.

For the washing - we have had this years. Two lines which are put away after each use. We stretch them along the longest length of a garden like yours.

Does restrict garden use on ‘washdays’ (we stoop under it!) but a great compromise over anything permanent.

Retractable double washing line

I have a lovely brabantia wall mounted laundry line just outside the kitchen door which folds away when not in use.

Make the most of the walls and fences for vertical planting, and create a courtyard effect one end with table/chairs and pots, leaving the other end for the children to have a play area