Help - what would you do with this garden

[TheRebelle]

So a little background, we bought a townhouse that we thought just needed redecorating and the garden sorting but when we’ve moved in we’ve found so much bad DIY it’s going to cost us a fortune to put right, which means the money we’d put aside for the garden is needed more urgently elsewhere.

The garden is really small, about 5m x 6m and at the minute it’s a random mismatch of loose slabs that I assume the previous owners scavenged from somewhere and a small patch of very badly laid artificial grass with lumps under so it’s not really safe for our small children.

I think we’ll probably move in four or five years when we’re no longer paying nursery fees so what would make such a small garden attractive to future buyers without spending too much?

I think thr chrapest option is to clear it yourselves flatten it and then sprinkle grass seed so it lawns over.

Probably that it was neat and it looked like it had potential. I'd buy and cultivate at least one of those column fruit trees. I'd do so in a pot so I could take it with me. I'd very much try to make it into an outside living room.

I would also just put a lawn in and maybe some nice seating which you can take with you when you move. Make it suit your family now without worrying too much about 5 years time when you will move anyway.

Don't make the mistake of planting cheap grass. I have that in the back and it looks awful and grows very quickly. Considering it is so small I'd be tempted to tidy up what I have and save up for some decent slabs. Maybe softer, if such a thing, to appeal to families.

For £30 you can get a 10 pack of square interlocking decking on amazon. I think the pp is right to make it suit your family for now but the trick is to make anything you do invest in something you can take with you.

Thanks for all the suggestions, we probably won’t use it at all, we very rarely went in the garden at our last house so I might just clear it so there’s no trip hazards and when we come to move stick some pots out there to brighten it up and let the next people deal with it.

Five years is a long time to live with a shit hole garden your kids can’t use...

We've bought a home with a pretty run down garden, and some additional expenses that are cropping up as we getting sorted and limited time, energy, and funds.

Our plan to is clear some of the stuff out (so many little statues), put in our climbing frame, get some of the stuff we're not sure on ID'd and then leave it a year to see how we start wanting use the garden as it's a very different space to what we've had.

Currently the plan is next spring to try to sweep up the kinda playground soft brightly coloured gravel the previous owners put down (it's very popular in the area, our neighbours have it as well, I think it's a 'good for the grandkids and little maintenance' sort of thing - might be useful for you too OP) and try to replace it with a lawn-alternative plant like this, turn the now pretty much emptied raised pond that previously had garden goldfish in it into a wildlife pond, and maybe try a few other things, but it'll depend on how things go over the next year.

@Bluntness100

Five years is a long time to live with a shit hole garden your kids can’t use...

Don’t hold back, will you 🤣

As I said there’s a playground across the road and we don’t use the garden much anyway.

We were planning to patio it so we could sit outside for our two BBQs a year but the quotes have come in at £3k, which would’ve been fine if we didn’t hadn’t had to replace the boiler that they’d told us was serviced and had years of life left in it (the person who “serviced” it must’ve been a friend of theirs because it failed about a month after we moved in) and leaking tank and the floor underneath the tank and replace all the carpets, which were technically new but the previous owners had just put over the top of the old carpet and cut around their furniture!

3000 is a lot for a patio you won't use. Maybe just do the grass?

I’d just do the grass too. I think it depends on life style but I loved letting my daughter play in the garden, as long as I could see her it was fine.

It is a lot, I didn’t mind paying it if it was the only thing that we had to do but I don’t want to go into debt for it, the only problem with grass is I’d have to buy a lawnmower, I left mine for the new owner at our old house and if you’ve got a lawnmower you need somewhere to keep it and there really isn’t room for a shed and I don’t want a shed taking up 1/4 of the garden either. If I just tidy it up I could just stick some turf down before we put it back up for sale.

Are the slabs level? If so then I would be tempted to put some Ikea garden tiles over the top. I love the porcelain tiles

www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/products/?q=decking

If not then pull up the existing slabs (or pay someone) then gets some gravel, hire a compactor to make it flat and then pop down the decking. Or get some self-binding gravel, which is often used on BBC Garden Rescue to keep costs down. Advantage of self binding gravel is you don’t have to have straight lines.

Pull up the artificial grass, order some top soil and turf.

If you have a few bodies you could get it down in a day or two.

It is really nice to just open the door and throw the kids outside and you might find you use the garden a bit more if it is a nice space.

There are low growing plants that don't require mowing if you wanted something like grass, there are a wide range of 'lawn alternatives' out there these days, but tidying and putting down playground gravel or later putting down turf is an easy plan too.

Years is a long time and it's so small
It wont be hard. I certainly wouldn't pay 3k...

I paid 1.5k for a 3x5m patio and 5m raised bed with sleepers (and labour) last summer in London.

I wpuld clear and level it yourself. ikea runnen or maellsten down maybe some grass and do a small boarder and stick a few perenials in. I'd get the wildflower/bee friendly seed bombs. it's £2-3 per box you lay it down mar-may and it's a surprise as to what grows. As a low energy gardener i have had very good success with this method as you end up with nice colourful flowers suited to the soil that just get on with it)

Another vote for levelling and grassing over here, it is the right sort of time of year to do it. A shed that is big enough for a lawnmower will not take up 1/4 of the garden even with a BBQ and couple of folding chairs in too. You can get sheds with living roofs and plant it up if not losing green space matters.

It’s not level and the slabs that are down are all different but not in a shabby chic way, in a “look what I found in a skip” way and I think they’ve just chucked them down rather than laying them properly. The IKEA tiles are nice but I’d need a decent base to lay them on. I’ll get a few more quotes on a patio, perhaps we could just patio a smaller area and gravel the rest, at least it would look smarter then.

What about some cheap decking?

If you post a photo on the Garden forum, you may get helpful suggestions from gardeners who’ve been in the same situation.

Artificial grass, seating and pots to soften it all.

I can't imagine not being able to open the door and let the kids out to play. Honestly it's such a saving grace.

We had a medium sized garden in the last house with a patio and a lawn and I could count on one hand the times we used it in ten years, FIL used to come and cut the grass when we were out 😂 we’re just always out somewhere or at work/school. When we were looking at houses the garden was bottom of our list. My main concern is that it doesn’t stop us being able to sell the house on when the time comes.

I’ve been out and poked at the artificial grass and it’s just been placed on top of mud and the slabs are wobbly so I’m guessing the last owners weren’t garden people either.

Worth being able to dry clothes outside at least?

I never hang washing outside, I always forget to bring it in again and I end up having to rewash it days later, if it doesn’t go in the tumble dryer it goes on a drying rack in the spare room.

Where do the kids play? Or are they older now? I couldn't have done without being able to just chuck them outside and not worry about them!

Anyway, given your kids dont use it, my suggestion is to level it out a bit and then gravel most/all of it. Then you can chuck your garden furniture and tubs on top.