garden design ideas

6 years ago

Now that our extension is finished we are looking to get out garden done for the little ones to play. It’s currently muddy and messy, I love shrubs and roses but am not very green figured and with two young children’s want something easy to maintain but also something pretty to look at. It’s not a very big garden and is in a L Shape. It is north east facing so looking out to the garden from our bifold the sun comes up to the north east and moves around clockwise. We have the last of the sun at the far right of the garden (which peaks through from the left(front of our house). We don’t have a large budget, probably 1000-1500 max. I wasn’t sure whether to start with artificial grass leaving a space around the extension(using gravel?) until we have more money for a new patio or nice stones? Unfortunately our neighbour had put a large raised shed on pallets to the right which does shade the garden further.

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6 years ago

For that budget I'd look at getting a patio with area seating in front of the doors (for the evening sun?), plant some shade tolerant (clump forming) bamboo to the right to screen your neighbour's shed, and get a few pots. I'd leave the grass/patio to the side for now.

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Leah Rodrigues
Original Author
6 years ago
My main reason for wanting artificial grass is so that the children can play outside. It’s currently a muddy pit when you step out from the bifold. If I were to put another patio /leaving the existing one it won’t leave much of an area for play? I wasn’t sure whether to lay grass and a patio.. how large to have it? Whether to have it extend from Bifold out to fence and then put grass where the existing is or whether to put grass and some bamboo pod seating on top of the grass in areas where the sun is at varying times of day looking to add a patio later??? It’s quite boxy and not the largest so I would like to try to give some some illusion of size....
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Ok, it’s been a little while since we left off on the garden project, however as we’re approaching spring we’re keen to get the space cleaned up for spring. To open up the space we’ve removed the middle two bar fence and relocated the beech hedging to the screen the remaining fencing. The aim being to create more privacy and blend into the landscape behind. To add security we was thinking of adding gravel and rockery / water feature (not pond) to the righthand side near the gate. Opposite create a gravel area for the stone bench and dot a few ball shrubs and a Victorian lamp for interest. Uplighter’s will be used to illuminate the hedge. In the main section of the garden add one or two trees on the section on the righthand side to create some privacy from the neighbours line of sight into the bench area. Thereafter add more ball shrubs, lupine and foxgloves to create height. Apply a horizontal slat fence (painted a muted sage green) to tidy up the bad side of the existing fence. All borders will be edged with a slim red brick to match the house and make it easier for moving. Finally to mask the shed, introduce some rose bushes and lavender.
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Good to hear you’re aspiring gardeners - even if you do want to keep it simple for the time being. I’ve attached a link to a garden advice post I put up a couple of years ago. We had a rectangular garden with a couple of borders along the edge & with advice, input, some designs & inspiration from people on here, we transformed it into something much more useable & interesting to look out at. I thought it might give some ideas. Ours has a circular lawn (hence the suggestion) & is quite cottage gardeny, which might not be your thing at all but keeping it simple with straight lines on a diagonal would also add more interest. Your deck across the back of the house could be on a diagonal, or with a trianglular infill to the ‘L’ shape, which would give more space for seating (or sand /water trays or outdoor toys in future). Keeping a diagonal line across the garden, you could have a larger triangular border by the shed. Tbh, larger borders are prob less time consuming because you can fill them with bigger plants & shrubs that mostly look after themselves rather than narrow borders that only fit annual bedding plants & require more effort. I certainly don’t spend hours tending our garden every week. At this time of year & in autumn, it needs a bit more input for a few days but other than that it’s pretty straightforward. Btw, we also had a strict budget & did all the work ourselves with my husband digging out our lowered patio by hand in the really hot summer a couple of years ago! There are lots of people on here who know a lot more about gardens than I do who I’m sure could offer more practical advice but it’s exciting changing your garden so Good luck & hope you enjoy it. https://www.houzz.co.uk/discussions/5182682/sloping-garden-advice-needed
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Hi there, Eventhough you have lost a chunk of the garden to the extension, you still have a very good space in there. It is just not laid out in the best way possible. I think that using the concrete base of the area where you are going to remove part of your shed will result in a patio area that is too small and not fit for purpose. If you can reduce the shed size that is great, but I would creat a patio/seating area where the swing currently is. I will ensure it is nice and surrounded by planting and would pottentially add in a pergola to add some height. In this area, you will get a bit of the afternoon sun. I would do a small patio right outside of your patio doors with a small table or maybe just a bench in case you want to enjoy the late morning sun. I would also aim to bring the planting a bit more to the centre of the garden to create interest. Also, when choosing the planting,be mindful to match it to your garden environmental co ditio s so they thrive. If you are interested, I offer a range of garden design services that can be done onlineand would love to help you with this project! Now is the perfect time to plan it so you can enjoy it in the summer time. Please have a look a t my website and get in touch if interested! www.therootedconceptgardendesign.co.uk All the best, Deborah deborahbiasoli@gmail.com 07548105456
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Hi, planning my garden design, and did some of it on sims 4 until my game stopped working... i don't have any proffesional knowledge to garden design...so just a long shot to see if anyone has any tips or some ideas that could change/ add to the planning images attached? 😅 images also show my current garden (please excuse my dog's fur...) and a firepit I have. I saw some designs i like but only allowed to attach up to 6 images on here.... Thanks in advanced! xx
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Ellie
6 years ago
First thing I would do would plant climbers up the fences to disguise the fences. Then when you have some coverage from indoors you will just see lush green, instead of the fences!
A B
6 years ago
I understand. Does the lawn improve in summer? If not then I agree artificial turf is the way to go. Maybe keep the patio where it is, replace the lawn and add a couple of sun loungers? Something like this?

I think a small tree could work to add height too. Plus I wonder if painting your fences grey then breaking them up with a few tall shrubs would help the view?
vicki lee
6 years ago
Hi we have a similar outlook and bifolds. We have artificial grass and have to say it’s fab! Colour all year round, clean and very easy to maintain. We planted various shrubs around perennial, evergreens ... lots of grasses, bamboos,fatsia’s. And the great thing is you can move your seating wherever suits, on the grass, a patio area etc. Build the foliage as you go, layers depth colour etc. Good luck with it would love to hear what you decide.
PRO
Peter Reader Landscapes
6 years ago
Hi Leah

Sounds to me like the kids play is your priority to me and artificial grass will certainly hit the spot there for you. As others have said, that will also allow you to move any chairs/small table to where-ever the sun is. Laying patios is not necessarily that cheap, so I would perhaps leave the current one as it is. It would enable you to perhaps have a small BBQ outside as well, as clearly it is not a good idea to place one on the artificial turf.In time as the kids grow up and you have more cash to spend you can make the garden more sophisticated.

As for greening the boundaries I would be cautious of bamboo. Even the 'clump forming' varieties can end up as a very big clump and the roots are very aggressive and very difficult to control or dig out if the plant gets out of hand. They might also lift/damage your nice turf. I would suggest using climbers and larger shrubs instead. There are plenty of shrubs that will get to 2.0m+ in height and many have blossom as well. Remember though that any plant that grows to that height will also want to spread sideways, so allow plenty of space for that to happen. If you don't you will be wanting to cut the plant back and then they just look like the chewed up ones you see in super-market car parks. Climbers can be good, but make sure you put wire or trellis up for them to grow on, and don't be shy of pruning them to keep them controlled. Trachelospermum jasminoides is a good evergreen plant with scented Jasmine flowers in the summer. It prefers the sun, but will cope as long as it is not in shade all day. Don't be afraid to use it in several places, as repetition ties the space together.

Finally a small tree is a great idea and might be an option to screen the neighbors shed. There are a lot of flowering small cherry trees that are great for a small garden and give spring blossom and good autumn colours as well.

Good luck and have fun!

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Leah Rodrigues
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garden design ideas

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Comments (6)

Leah RodriguesOriginal Author

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Leah Rodrigues
Original Author