Hi there, lovely large garden you've got there and I'm envious of your green house, wish I had room in my garden for one. Ok, first let's start under the tree (area 1). I don't think grass will grow there, it invariably dies off and goes back to dirt but there are plenty of plants that will thrive here. Spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils, blue bells, snow drops, grape hyacinth, muscari, will all give a fabulous spring show. Plant these in the autumn, October/November. Ferns will happily grow here or for ground cover you could try bergenia (elephants ears), pulmonaria (lungwort), vinca minor (periwinkle), also primroses are a good all rounder. Forgot to mention polyganatum (solomans seal) which will grow in deep shade. Area 2. Since this area gets a lot of sun I think you can plant what ever you like. The olive tree should certainly be happy. Lavender, grasses and herbs sound good. Try rosemary, sage and thyme for lovely scents which can also be used for cooking. Don't plant mint unless it's in a container tho, it spreads like mad. As with all new planting I would improve the soil first by loosening with a fork and adding good quality compost, be careful not to disturb the roots too much round the tree. Just noticed you've got some ivy growing by the fence. If you don't want it to cover all your fence then I would try to remove it with as much roots as possible but if it's anything like mine it will grow back again. A clip once a year should keep it check. However, an ivy wall can also be a good thing, a nice green backdrop and a haven for birds and wildlife. Anyway, good luck with your garden and most of all enjoy.

Hi we have a courtyard bit to our garden that we have no idea what do with it. The patio doors are to our bedroom. my husband is thinking of decking?? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Emily the way you speak of your garden and plants fills me with joy! I planted a Birch in a very large pot last year and did lots of research. Would a forest tree work in a pot? I did lots of research from The Royal Horticultural Society and they said yes! There is a Birch called Betula Jackmanii and it has an amazing white trunk, so one to think about. Jasmine likes sun and shelter so the one near the house is in a perfect place. Other plants I can suggest are Cistus (pink or white flowers). It only grows to about 4ft and is evergreen. I visited an open garden yesterday which had a gorgeous courtyard garden where they served tea and cake. It had a large pergola too with a silver birch growing through the deck and up through the pergola! Here a picture of it. The third pic is my Weigela which is a stunner, and the last pic is a Cistus.

I don't know -- it looks like quite a big drop front-to-back to me. Our garden dropped a lot less than that and I still found that terracing has opened up the whole thing to a much wider range of uses because now there are three properly flat areas instead of one continuously falling one. Regardless of that, I would also at least consider: 1) moving the drying pole -- it sits front-and-centre when you presumably want people to be looking at the garden... a retractable line would free up space and get out of the way when not in use; 2) doing away with the linear gravel borders... keep gravel borders if you like them by all means but they emphasise the wrong thing at the moment (we did away with narrow, linear flower beds down the sides in our garden and that has also helped a lot by making things a bit more intriguing for the eye). Although you and I could never afford it in full, there were a couple of good episodes of "Your Garden Made Perfect" for gardens on a slope (one on a proper slope) that you could maybe crib ideas from. Or there's always Monty Don's stuff on the iPlayer too (I think it was Big Dreams, Small Spaces) which is much more budget-friendly but also has a fair few interesting ideas for me at least.