I wouldn't have put a lawn in. You can see how it goes, but they require a lot of mowing and it sounds like you don't get a lot of sun so it may well end up very mossy and wet most of the time. See how it goes but maybe you need the deck to be sited on the left, so it is in the sun in the middle of the day/evening if possible, so not near the house if it faces east. Evergreen climbers are essential for small gardens with fences. Trachelospermum jasminoides, has lovely scented flowers in the summer and Hydrangea seemannii and Pileostegia Viburnoides are good in shade. I would put in a lot of planting on the shady side of the garden, a good evergreen grass for clay is Carex pendula. I would also plant an Amelanchier or Acer at the far end to screen the neighbours windows and autumn colour. You could look up evergreen ground covers for shade. Good luck!

I'm with eimearcahill, there is absolutely NOTHING tasteful about my Christmas decorations, it's excess everywhere. I did suggest when my daughters both got to their twenties that I might scale things back a bit but, after a reaction that could have earned them a walk on part in The Grinch who Stole Christmas, I realised that it was obviously very important that I spent the best part of a day turning the house into Santa's grotto :D I now have a granddaughter so I am resigned to many more years to come....

Hi. I think pruning the roots on a birch tree would be prohibitively expensive( and probably pointless). Ideally trees need to drop their own leaves onto their own roots and for nature to take its course in terms of temperature control and moisture retention etc. As soon as there is human intervention the roots will suffer, from compaction, dehydration or just severance. Certain trees will 'put up' with interference better than others. Birch is a colonising species and therefore fairly tough. I think your options are as follows; cut straight through the roots and take a chance that the tree will be unaffected. Stop the edging where you have and start again a similar distance the other side. Or you mention slabs to the lawn edge? if you are laying them horizontally as in a patio, lay the ones over the roots on sharp sand or a very lean mix of sharp sand /cement. If you are using 100mm x 1000mm slabs as edging, get a local builder to cut one piece lengthwise and don't dig it in so far. The last option is the preferred one and will appear visually the same as the others. Brian

Don’t want to be a party pooper but no lollipop tree will stay that shape without regular pruning. So if you don’t want to have to climb up a ladder and prune a tree regularly, you may be better to get a dwarf tree or large shrub. I bought a tiny Photinia red Robin from Wilkos two years ago and it is huge now, about 8 ft, so will need some drastic pruning very soon. Depends how much work you want to put in. Smallish trees you could try are Crabapple, Hawthorn, Cornus, Magnolia and dwarf Apple Trees. Amelanchier is a beautiful smallish tree but even that will grow to 20 feet or so. Here’s my tiny Photinia, I’m sure it’s a Triffid!