What to do with his garden?
Oliver Londero
8 years ago
Large garden 25m x 13m
Patio area planned after a new retaining wall is built
I will be cutting away all the trees and bushes and starting with a blank canvas. Any advice appreciated.
Patio area planned after a new retaining wall is built
I will be cutting away all the trees and bushes and starting with a blank canvas. Any advice appreciated.
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (8)
hortonhearsawho2013
8 years agoRelated Discussions
August gardening - what’s on your to-do list?
Comments (6)August and September are busy harvest months. The tomatoes, blackberries, zucchini, plums and apples will keep us the busiest, canning tomato sauce, blackberry syrup, apple butter, drying apples, freezing plums and pickling green cherry tomatoes. I am also heavily mulching in preparation of going away for a week on vacation. And doing some light pruning on the fruit trees....See MoreWhat are you doing in your garden this month?
Comments (27)Weeducks, yes, Malaysia actually. I've worked in much of this region over the 28 years I've been out here. Emmerline, I am sat here at 7pm as I write this - it is 35 centigrade and extremely humid (because it has cooled down a bit since mid afternoon). I wanted some exercise yesterday and had to wait till after 9pm before it dropped below 30 centigrade - and then only just. Midnight still saw 26 and early morning isn't much better. It has become much hotter over my years here. Life in the city now is air conditioning in the house, car, shops and offices. It is like being a termite not going outside other than in a climate controlled environment like a car, taxi, bus or train. Mornings used to be cool, but no longer. It is always T-shirt and shorts weather here, only because you can't go to less than that! Gardening here is a chore. (I cut the grass yesterday morning) Go into the garden between 10am and 5pm and get burned by the sun. Before or after that time and get eaten by mosquitoes. I tend to look at the garden from inside the house....See MoreGarden blank canvas what to do?
Comments (9)Hi Tiago Silva I would think of ways of breaking the space looking down the garden with planting - currently you look straight down it with nothing of interest and to break up what you are seeing. It would be great when you have the hot tub etc at the bottom for it to be partly hidden by planting and foliage. Create what I call 'transparent height' - planting that blocks your view quite a bit, but still has gaps through it where you can see exciting and tantalizing hints of things further down the garden. Stories, journeys and a bit of mystery all make for a great garden and it would also create the 'two' garden areas/rooms feel that Emily suggests. Don't be afraid of wide (0.5 - 1.0m+) curving beds - most people run small thin beds down the side which look boring and don't have enough space for the plants to grow properly. Having larger beds also means there are loads of low maintenance shrubs you can plant that you can leave just to grow, instead of having to cut them back all the time to keep them to their space. Take a look at this Houzz story - it really demonstrates what I mean as regards the design, although you would use more low maintenance shrubs. https://www.houzz.co.uk/magazine/garden-tour-clever-curves-bring-beauty-to-a-modest-outdoor-space-stsetivw-vs~84375480...See MoreWhat would you do? Garden needs love and help!
Comments (5)Hi honeyry. I don’t think it would look weird having the lawn on the left as it would be more central to the patio. Hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty of doing a quick sketch as well. It still uses the full length of the garden so should keep your footie fan happy 😊. What I do think is that you need more definition to your borders so using a lawn edger to keep grass encroaching on plants/shrubs/trees (see pics). This will keep plants healthy in the long run as they won’t be competing for nutrients. Also added a patio and shed in the top right NW corner. This might be a nice little sitting area in for a morning cuppa, the shed and the addition of some trellis would give you some privacy from the neighbours. Something like this wouldn’t need doing straight away as I’ve kept the basic layout with the path relatively unchanged. Did add a little extra in the way of a little semi circle of hard landscaping in front of the seps. This is just a transition between borders, lawn and patio and could be anything...paving, tiles, cobbles and so on. There are a plenty of plants that are suitable for your garden. The RHS website is a valuable resource when researching. Two that spring to mind which are virtually indestructible (great for stray footballs) are red valerian and buddleia. Both need hacking back to near ground level in late autumn and will grow like the clappers come spring. Be aware that red valerian (also grows well north facing) can be considered invasive in some parts as it self seeds prolifically and usually where you don’t want it like in the walls or in between paving slabs but it’s easy enough to pull out. For improving the lawn I’m sure there are plenty of tips and tutorials online. I myself have a dog that makes a right mess of the grass. I’ve recently purchased this stuff https://www.envii.co.uk/shop/neuturine/ but I’ve yet to test it so can’t vouch for it and its a little expensive for what it is. Supposed to to change the Ph of the soil so that urine doesn’t burn it (or something scientific like that 🙂). Just hope it works! Here‘s my sketch and pics. Red valerian Buddleia example of curvy border...See MoreM J
8 years agoLucky you! We bought a house with a big (120 ft by about 60 ft I think) garden that was covered in nothing but ivy and brambles. I spent every weekend and half term (I'm a teacher) doing nothing but weeding. At least I don't think you'll have that problem. But the joy was then that I had a blank canvas like you. I decided my favourite colours and made a mental note to only buy plants in those colours. Then I set about buying at least one plant/shrub/tree in flower every single month of the year. That way I now have a garden that has always got something in flower/blossom/fruit/berry or interesting colour. Other than that, I'd enjoy your project. Think long term rather than quick fix. It took us about 5 years to feel we'd 'finished'. However, if you are a gardener, you never really finish!
M J
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI'm sending you a Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter photo just to show you what you could achieve for all year colour. (Guess my colours?)
M J
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoPic one is the Spring Cherry. Pic 2 is the Summer Philadelphus and Clematis. Pic 3 is Autumn something which I've forgotten its name.
Ash McGregor
8 years ago
PRO
Sort Our Stuff