Advice on redesigning garden
Judy Thomas
3 years ago
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The Rooted Concept Garden Designs
3 years agoJudy Thomas thanked The Rooted Concept Garden DesignsRelated Discussions
Garden redesign, need some help guys
Comments (4)Back from hols, bit of sunburn but I didn’t forget about your dilemma:-). Had spare time today so did some sketches although looking back at your photos I realized the shed has door on the right rather than in the middle but you can alter things as you wish. Please bear in mind that I’m not a professional, just someone who loves garden planning and sketches are rough guesses from the given photos and not to scale. So far as I can see the majority of the garden is well laid out. The patio by the French/bifold doors, the raised planters and the shed are in a good position and I don’t see any necessity in altering them. There are a couple of issues which i think I’ve tried to address in sketches. The pod seat looks a bit shoved up the corner so I would try and relocate this so it’s more involved in the garden and inviting to sit in. Perhaps replace that corner with a specimen tree or shrub suitable for small gardens. https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/20-trees-for-small-gardens/. As mentioned before the picket fence I would remove as I think it blocks flow, I think I’d rather fence off the dogs rather than kids so perhaps by re using some of the fence to create gates between the main patio and the rest of the garden would enable you to give a bit more free space for either the dogs or kids, whichever prefers which. I notice the lawn is seeing a lot of foot traffic so by adding another pathway the other side of the raised planters should enable you to access other areas of the garden without stepping over the lawn. In sketch 3 I’ve tried to give you an extra patio for evening sun by extending the triangle but not sure if that’s poss but should be enough for a bistro set. Where I put low or ground level planting I was thinking something like ornamental grasses and such which I’ll post a few inspo pics. I do realize that I’ve decreased the amount of lawn in most but I do feel that the extra planting and pathways will help to bring the garden together and make it feel more intimate. Anyway, I’m waffling on, feel free to carry on or change my ideas. Try different layouts by using a garden hose or string and pegs, but most importantly work out where you’d like to sit out most and what you would like to view when looking from windows and of course pick plants for the right place. (Click on pics to enlarge)....See MoreGarden Redesign, Advice Needed!
Comments (9)Hi I think you should consider completely 'flipping' the space, using the grass area as your driveway/parking area, and joining the rest of your current parking/bin area to the paved area you already use for sitting eating. To show you what I mean, in the image below the new driveway area is in blue, and the new garden area is in red. I appreciate this probably means more work/cost in digging up and turfing some paved bits and paving some grassed areas, but to me the advantages are: a parking area wide enough to get two cars in and out past the other; it consolidates both the spaces you use for leisure into a single, larger area; your kids will be able to get to the play area by the back door, rather than by the front. This might be safer/more convenient; and if you built a fence between the red and blue sections you could improve security by removing easy access to the back of the house. Hope this is a helpful suggestion. Mark...See MoreGarden redesign for newly purchased home, help please :(
Comments (18)As others have said, if you cut the grass at the back and remove any obvious weeds, then you’ll have your “canvas”. I wouldn’t use a designer as a) I’m Yorkshire and far too tight and b) if you don’t know what you want yet, you’ll be in danger of really going OTT, to find out later, it’s not really you. D never really had a decent garden and moved into a new build over 10 years ago with a landscaped garden, I then filled a lot of gaps as I didn’t take into account, that plants grow. (Who knew?). 5 years later, I realised that I wasn’t that much of a gardener and that spending hours and hours every week tending it wasn’t my plan, so we stripped out loads of smaller plants and simplified it. If you want to sit out and enjoy it with fiends and family but don’t want to spend ages looking after it, then go for shrubs around the edges. If you want a new hobby or to test your gardening skills and like-ability I’d create a tiny herb patch near your door. This will give you an idea of whether you like gardening or not. I wouldn’t try and create your masterpiece in one go. Measure it all and play around with different designs.(PowerPoint worked fine for me) and then do a side at a time. As for your front garden, to be honest I’d tackle that first as it’s what you see every day when you come home and it’ll look lovely at Christmas. Just turf where it is, as I see it already has edging, again just cutting that and treating it with lawn care should be fine for now. A pot either side of the front door and then decide on the driveway. The resin ones do look nice, we have block paving that also looks nice but still has to be weeded and fresh sand brushed in between the bricks every year. Whatever you decide, have fun doing it....See MoreGarden redesign help!
Comments (10)Hi James. Don’t worry. Myself, and I’m sure there’s plenty of other people, have planted things which failed to survive. Always a good idea to check labels or info online about a plants requirements such as sun, shade, water, soil and it’s eventual height and spread. Some plants will like a slightly acidic soil ph such as rhododendrons etc. so you could get a soil testing kit to see what ph your soil is or have a look round your neighbourhood to see what plants grow well. A lot of gardeners use the mantra of “right plant, right place,” for a good reason. Improving the the soil with lots of muck (manure) and organic matter will help no end and you can use ericaceous compost for acidic loving plants. I usually use a mixture of manure/ topsoil/ compost/ grit because of my heavy clay. However today I dug up some coal 😄. I like the eriobotrya Japonica, very nice. Other plants that I can think of which are evergreen, easy to look after and grow bushy (just common names) are: Fatsia japonica Pieris japonica Daphne Choisya Laurels Escallonia Viburnum Pittosporum There plenty of varieties with the above and there’s plenty of other choices as well. Against the wall I think it will probably receive less rainfall so drought tolerant plants might be good here such as rosemary or lavender. I find this site invaluable and the plant finder tool is very useful https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-form Also try asking for advice at your local garden centre or nursery as they should know what plants may be suitable for your area and may even help with a planting plan. My boy is enjoying smashing up the cement rubble I dug up. He calls it Kabashing! 🤣 Kids heh! All the best....See MoreJudy Thomas
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