New build garden - how to do this?

[User19844666884]

I’ve moved into a brand new new-build house with a decent sized garden (about 200 square meters).

I’d love to have “the bones” of a garden before summer, but don’t know how to go about it. I can afford to spend about £5k, but not tens of thousands. DH and I both currently have health issues so can’t do a massive amount ourselves.

The garden is relatively flat apart from one corner where it slopes away that I think we need to terrace/level. The topsoil looks OK and was rotivated before we moved in. I’d like to plant a few trees (which I’ll make sure I choose appropriately to the setting). I’m not too bothered about borders yet. Ideally I’d like a patio at the end of the garden (there is already one at the house).

Any idea how best to go about this for budget? I was thinking maybe hire a mini digger so we could level it ourselves, and also use it to dig the holes for trees? Bribe or teenagers to rake it over and lay turf? We could plant the trees ourself if we take our time (so long as the holes are already there).

Any other thoughts? Pitfalls? Better ways to do it?

Draw a plan of the garden and work out locations for trees, paths, shed. Extras could be veg patch and patio and compost heap.

Do you really need to level the ground? That is v expensive and might need retaining walls and loads of earth moving. If you can design the slope into your plan that is often better.

For 5K I think you could get shed & trees and maybe patio or path but not much more.

If you dig down a small way I bet you will find an absolute ton of builders rubble, rubbish and waste. They then put a layer of topsoil over it to make it look nice. This can cause issues as it surfaces over time or as you want to dig and have beds and planting. Check below the surface before you plan anything. I know people who have had to have the top 12 inches taken out and then tons and tons of topsoil added.

As above, I bet the topsoil is about 10cm deep and then it's rubble. We're 8 years into our new build garden, had landscapers level and put drainage and new topsoil on our garden in the first year and still struggle with soil.

My best tips are - drainage. Sort it asap, and spend money on that.

Spend a few weeks working out where the sun is at the times you want to sit out. We spend a fortune putting a patio into a spot we subsequently discover rarely gets sun. We have now relocated it but it was a pain and expensive.

If you have the money buy one reasonably sized tree; ideally a quick growing one like a willow. Buddleas and clematis will grow up fences and give you blooms quite quickly.

Consider raised beds. We gave up on one spot as the soil was never good enough, put in a raised bed and happy days!

In the early days - pots and containers!

How long have you been there?
Our newbuild garden settled A LOT with the heat last summer then the heavy winter rain (we are on clay) so we are glad we held back from anything other than planting a hedge and a couple of trees.
We are now levelling the lawn and have established that a dark corner needs a raised bed and filling with shade loving plants.

Is it turfed? If not - turf it so it’s neat.

I would just sit tight for now. Wait for the soil to settle, see how you use the space and how the sun/wind/noise/shade etc impact the garden. This will drastically affect your planting and plans. Where will you keep bins, put a shed, maybe a home office or a summer house, pond? Spend this year planning and gathering inspiration. Plan it all out and then take your time working towards that plan. Also make use of autumn/end of season sales, I have picked up great bargains that way. Keep an eye on facebook selling sites for patio furniture, benches etc.

Thanks all 😊

To answer some questions

• we’ve been in a couple of months
• topsoil is thick and decent quality with no rubble
• yes we have planned what we want it to be like eventually, and this is just the first step on that
• yes we are taking into account sun/shadow etc
• we need to level the one corner because it is a sudden drop of nearly 1m and would feel very weird if we just turfed it, and would mean we would still need to address it later which would (I presume) be harder if turfed

That’s a good point about the garden settling. Probably we will hold off on the second patio.

I guess my question is more around the logistics of doing it within budget. The quote for turf alone was £5k if we wanted the supplier to lay it.

Grass seed is cheap if you are patient. We planted our lawn from seed and it's done very well. Would free up your limited budget to use elsewhere.

Does it need some shaping or any kind of path? Anything to soften square lines etc? We just shaped ours with stakes and wooden boards. I have Cotswold gravel the other side so it's still bright and cheerful.

Gardening on the cheap requires visiting church plant sales etc and starting off some of your own seedlings. You could get going with pansies for autumn on a sunny window ledge.

Could you focus on the bit around the patio with an area for pots and containers so you have something nice to look at this summer but accept that to get the best value from the rest you'll be looking a while down the line?

Buying large trees and other 'ready' options is more costly.

I can't quite picture your sloping area but has the fencing etc already gone in in line with the slope? How will you retain what you build up. Can you work with it with planting like this?

I'd agree with just about all of that, but please, not a tree. Unless it is on a dwarfing rootstock, or has a natural finished height and size that is very small, like a small acer or something similar.
And not a willow if it would be anywhere near the house, or any drains.
Avoid planting shrubs on the line of any drains too.
The suggestion of buddleas and clematis, very much yes. The buddleas will generally grow anywhere. I like Philadelphus, this one is a cracker: Philadelphus 'Manteau d'Hermine'. Gets a good size in a few years, white so can go anywhere, and the scent is wonderful

Shrubs are lower maintenance than annuals, and you can get lots of nice small ones these days, some with winter colour too, so you can have a decent number and always have something to look at. They usually take about 2 years before they really get going and fill out, so plant to the spacing that they will need long term, and just stick some annuals in between for the first year or two.
We try to make sure everything we plant does two things- e.g., scent +winter colour, evergreen and pretty shaped leaves, or flowers that also leave interesting dried remains that stand over winter, like honesty, and the fluffy-pom-pom type of clematis (c. alpina Frances Rivis is a lovely one, grows up an arch beautifully).

You can do it! On a smaller scale, but when we bought our first house it was paved all over, not one single living thing in it.

People said I was mad to take it on as a project so soon. Got someone in to remove the slabs and concrete. We hoiked a tonne of topsoil through the house to the garden and have been developing it even since.

Fifteen years later, we are moving and it’s the thing I will miss most. It’s worth the effort.

I wouldn't trust teenagers to prepare the ground and lay turf. It needs meticulous attention to achieve a good result, otherwise you'll have dips and bumps forever. It's worth spending time prepping it properly.