This less than appealing garden, is there hope?

[dottytablecloth]

Before you read anymore I have posted this before but it was a while back and I can't find the thread!

We really like the house but the garden is dreadful (see pictures)

Is there anything we could do with it? The wall is a retaining wall so it has to stay.

Would a landscape gardener have ideas? Is that what they do? sorry! I don't really know!

Also, if we wanted to plant a tree- how would we do it when there is no grass?

What's underneath the gravel? If concrete, that's a mighty job, and you would have to factor in diggers and hefty removals to a skip - I would wonder how? Is there a outside route to the front?

I'm not sure what's underneath the gravel. The current owner said it used to be grass but he got rid of it and made sure there was proper drainage. I've no idea why he did it, to be honest.

There is just a side gate to access garden.

If it's not concrete I don't see a problem tbh. Just scoop up the gravel, put it in a corner if you might use some of it, or sell it on. Dig some lovely nutrients into whatever mud is there and your off! It's fab to make a garden from scratch!

Yes get a landscape gardner in, absolutely. Or you can look at templates and base a design around that, lots of books at the library for that kind of thing, t'interweb is a great source, of course.

If the gravel had earth or even hardcore underneath then it will be fine - and lots of lovely walls to grow stuff up, and one of those walls will face south so you can have somewhere to bask in private in the sunshine.

There are lots of lovely things you could do with that. I doubt there's concrete under it if the owner was talking about putting in drainage. A landscape gardner could have a look and give a rough idea of costs. look at gardens on houzz.com/UK for ideas.

Paint the wall. Grow climbers over it. make sure you bag up all that gravel to sell on eBay.

We recently did a small landscape job in our garden ourselves (nothing quite like this though). We removed a slab of concrete where a shed used to be (builder did it), and we bought a load of topsoil off the internet, dug the ground over, levelled it and then turfed it and created a vegetable garden and a flower bed where previously there was concrete and rubble and an ex-chicken coop. If there isn't concrete underneath you can definitely do a turfing job and make some flower beds, it isn't difficult to do yourself, add in some trees by the wall. Or depending which way is south, perhaps put trellises up against the wall with things growing on them to perhaps conceal the wall a bit? I definitely think you could make something of it :)

What's the big black thing on the left hand wall?

I think the garden has plenty of potential, especially if it's not concreted and you can fairly easy add a lawn and flowerbeds. The walls will instantly look better if painted and, being enclosed, the garden should have a slightly warmer microclimate. The side access may be a small problem if you do need a digger, but not insurmountable.

Black thing looks like an oil tank to me...

I thought oil tank until someone on the parallel thread suggested waterbutt. A waterbutt could be easily moved, but I'm assuming an oil rank would be much harder to shift, in which case I'd disguise it with some trellis or moveable screening. As it is, it's an eyesore.

I remember this. I think with some paint and trellis you could have a really attractive space.

In terms of heavy machinery, if required, it looks like you could take out the panels either side of the gate to get bigger machines in? Although it is possible to get JCBs etc which fit through a standard gate.

how much sun does it get?

Establish what's under the gravel
Establish what direction the garden faces - if north facing and 3 metres in from the wall is always in shade, you won't want real grass.
What do you want from the garden? Trampoline, seating area, veg patch, low maintenance, natural grass, artificial grass. Do you have kids/pets etc.

A landscape gardener / designer will ask you all these questions and then design a garden for you [for a fee] based on your requirements. They will fine tune the design for you and give yo uthe design to do yourself or supervise a team to do the work on your behalf.

Depending on where you are, the design could cost about 1500 and the actual garden up to 10k depending on what you want to put into it.

Google small family gardens and you will get tons of pictures.

Re the tree - the main thing to know is how big they will get. So don't plant a eucalyptus !!

Bamboo spreads v fast - don't go near it.

Jasmine is mostly evergreen, grows quickly and smells delicious so could be a good cover for the back wall.

You could do a narrow raised bed to waist height and plant greenery into it. It doesn't have to grow from ground level. eg:
www.gardenbuilders.co.uk/section/485/1/islington-small-city-garden

You could put a raised terrace at the back if that's where it gets the evening sun and put a little sofa back there? Just leave table and chairs on the area outside the house.
www.gardenviews.ie/Raheny-City-Garden-Design.html

The tank can easily be screened by a fence with climbers.