sloped garden help?

4 years ago

Hi everybody, thank you for looking! We are in the process of redoing part of our garden. We have taken two useless old terraces and turned them in to 1. My problem is that I want a lot from the space and am struggling to envisage the layout! I want to build an L shaped sofa and have a fire pit but would also like trees, a modern pergola to hang a swing chair from, tropical style planting and a mixed media Gabion retaining wall / bench seat. Where I am going to locate the Gabion (under the greenhouse) is the perfect spot for a bench in terms of looking up at the trees around us, but it will sit directly next to my neighbours pongy chicken shed am I trying to squeeze too much in to a small space? Some photos for reference. Any ideas and suggestions welcome!

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Comments (5)

R Hughes
4 years ago
Hi Catherine, it's so exciting to start with a new garden! Here is my advice based on many years of gardening on various sites and making lots of mistakes along the way! Start with your budget, what is it? Measure your garden, note the direction of the sun, know your soil type i.e. is it sandy, heavy clay? Is it acidic, alkaline or neutral? Right plant right place is a mantra for a reason! Make a plan, draw out what you would like in the garden and measure everything, you will then see how much you can fit in and how to prioritise. Think about adding height with some trellis and climbing plants. A year of all around plant interest is possible in time. If your local college has a garden planting/design course running they might be willing to help you as the students would learn a lot here, maybe ask? Best of luck.
Carolina
4 years ago
Agree with R Hughes.

It doesn't look like a small space at all. Do you know the dimensions and the direction of the sun?

Just saw a story on Houzz about a sloped garden design. https://www.houzz.co.uk/magazine/garden-tour-a-cleverly-designed-sloped-garden-in-cheddar-gorge-stsetivw-vs~120722934

And here's one about trees for smaller gardens. Just to give you some ideas perhaps: https://www.houzz.co.uk/magazine/10-trees-that-work-in-a-small-garden-stsetivw-vs~84430014
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Catherine Ellis
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you people! For your replies.
I never thought about speaking to the colleges. Good idea!
I already plan to add height with a square chunky black pergola, I’ve walked down there today and thought why on earth am I hanging on to my greenhouse - I grow seedlings cucumbers and tomatoes, but it’s otherwise just a dumping ground. It would be the perfect spot for a sofa or swingseat with fire pit which would leave the lower patio area free for a table and pizza oven (one day in my dreams!)
It isn’t a small space, but I would like quite a lot from it. Budget is non existent - we have done everything ourselves by hand so far...Which we have enjoyed luckily!
Hubby needs a spot outside his shed to tinker with our bikes. I have my veggie patch already but obviously would like more.. love the greenhouse but a smaller one would suffice. Loved my swingseat and want another..kids have a huge paddling pool that kills the lawn every year!

Sun rises in the front of the house and sets at the back, so the garden is southwest facing. The new patio area gets the sun from morning through till about 6pm. And then lightly again at 7.30pm (big trees in the way!) The patio by the house gets the sun from mid morning till 7pm in the summer (it goes down behind those huge trees). Photo is 7.30pm taken from by the house. You can see the wonderful trees by the river. It is wonderful down there (albeit pongy!) as we don’t hear the main road as much - just the birds and the ducks on the river at the bottom of our garden
Catherine Ellis
Original Author
4 years ago
Soil is neutral and lush. Very good easy to work with :) dimensions are approx 6m x 5m. More width than depth.
rachelmidlands
4 years ago
Hi Catherine. You’ve done so much hard work already and I think it looks great! Your ideas sound great as well and I think you could possibly fit everything in. To be sure I’d look at measuring the larger items first like the pergola, hanging chair and fire pit then mark them out in the garden with pegs and string, spray paint or garden hose and see if you like their position (a bit like using cardboard cut outs when planning furniture inside). If you’re planning on paving this area think about leaving some open pockets or borders if you want to grow any trees, climbers or large plants as they’ll benefit much better being in the ground soil. For masking the pongy shed how about some trellis or wire and eye hooks on the fence and growing a fragranced climber. Really like the gabion bench idea:) You can fill gabion baskets with all sorts of things, used concrete patio slabs would be good and you can usually get them for free on sites like gumtree, freecycle etc. You could even make it into a living wall! Here’s some ideas:

sloped garden help?

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R Hughes

Carolina

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sloped garden help?

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R Hughes

Carolina

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Catherine EllisOriginal Author

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