Would love your ideas to tame our wilderness...
Hi there, we have a design dilemma in sorting out the bottom of our garden and would love to hear any inspired ideas to give us a low maintenance and good use of space.
We have a 200ft by 50ft west facing garden and the bottom 100ft is divided up into equal sections either side of a conifer arch. A raised grass path carries on from the lawn down to the bottom of the garden. On the left of the first section are very old and woody apple trees and on the right is a rockery (that is more like an overgrown landfill site), and two thing we put in - a kids playhouse on stilts and a raspberry patch.
The area behind the conifer arch is dominated by a great cedar but that and the 2 poplars on our boundary cast quite deep shade for that back 50ft x 50ft all year round.
We would like an area for composting and a large shed in the back section - and ideally would also not want to spend all our free time strimming the weeds that are established in that area. We are not sure about the old fruit trees or conifer arch - but we love the cedar. A seating area in the sun would also feature on our wish list.
I have attached some photos (its hard to believe but when we moved in a few years ago you couldn't walk past the arch) - but please ask if something is not clear in the above.
Many thanks
Tom
Back section of garden - and blurred parakeet...
Left of the path - old fruit trees and uneven grass
Right of path - rockery and uneven ground in front of playhouse
Comments (9)
howden9
8 years agoMany thanks for replying Freshcaped Ltd - you are spot on with your light direction and assessment, and sorry for the amateur attempts at information.
Here is an attempt at sketching out the current garden (almost looks nice on paper...) - hope you can zoom to see the detail.
Regarding time frame - we are saving up for a patio at the moment - so before that is done (middle of the year) we would like any hard landscaping, etc at the bottom of the garden to be done - or at least prepared for. It would be great to do it all at once - but like most things, finances will dictate.
The only other ideas for the back portion of the garden at the moment is for a seat to curve around the trunk of the cedar, and maybe a wood store in addition to the shed.
We agree about the conifer arch - it doesn't really work - so yes, I think a skip or two will be definitely needed. Once leveled up on both sides of the grass path, I think a sunny area on the right hand side will be ideal for a table and a few chairs.
I have thought of moving all the rocks from the rockery to the back boundary although your suggestion of a feature of the stone sounds like a great idea. We are in Surrey however, so sadly a little out of the way for West Yorkshire.
Here are another couple of photos to give you a better idea of the garden.
Many thanks
Tom
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8 years agoThanks again for your comments.
Yes, the patio will wrap around the house and incorporate some planters and low seating walls to give some definition, and a space for the BBQ.
Due to levels and for drainage, some of the top soil nearest to the house will have to be moved (ideal to level off the bottom of the garden), and we will have to incorporate a single step up to the lawn area - any ideas of a good looking solution to this would be gratefully accepted (we are currently thinking of a wide step in the middle of the garden with a square planter either side attached to low level seating walls).
We are time poor (2 kids, we both work and both have large families) so the extent of our gardening will be cutting the lawn (which luckily I enjoy) and a bit of time on the raspberries and a maybe some hedge cutting and tending to a few herbs and lavender bushes.
Style wise I like formal lines and big architectural planting - not sure if that is realistic given our time constraints? I thought maybe having a sweep of something like these plants to look out at down the garden would be nice.
One thing I was not sure of was whether with a long garden it is better to have a sight line all the way to the back boundary (the cedar and poplars) - if not, I was not sure on how we could break it up - so the eye wanders down the garden, stopping at different points / features.
Many thanks
Tom
howden9
8 years agohowden9
8 years ago
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