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Design Dilemma Gardens

Inexpensive garden refresh

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Hi, looking for some creative advice for my garden please (pictures in the comments) .I am looking to do a relatively inexpensive refresh of my garden, in particular by finding a way to make the fencing around the garden more attractive. I would ideally like to replace the fence with cedar slats, but this is very expensive so looking for more cost effective ways, either by painting or fitting trellis and finding a way to disguise the concrete posts. I would ideally also like to raise the fence at the end of the garden to cover the shed roof and fencing from the neighbouring garden. Any tips or advice very welcome, thank you.

Featured Answer

Kate Yilmaz

4 years ago

Your garden has great bare bones and you will be able to make a big impact relatively inexpensively and without much landscaping. The biggest immediate impact would be to paint all the fencing and posts the same colour. I like the grey you have used on the left, or sage is also on trend and a very calming colour in the garden and provides an excellent backdrop to emphasise your plants. The tables and chairs would look better in a more muted colour, as the white is too stark. I think the thing your garden is missing most some form of architectural height, be it screens as suggested above or a pergola on top of the steps. You don’t have to spend a fortune, also look at secondhand in your area on eBay, or Marketplace. But it would really look lovely with some height that frames the turf area from the patio area and funnels the eye down to some sort of point of interest at the end of the garden, be it a statue / ornament/ planter / architectural plant like a Sikas palm, or bamboo (in a planter though!). Finally some horizontal trellis on top of the fence panels to the left and plant some climbers both on the fence and pergola, clematis is a good choice, easy to care for, so many different varieties that you’ll easily find one you like and it flowers in abundance. Happy gardening and don’t forget to add some photos once you’ve finished.

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Comments (9)

Paul W
Original Author
4 years ago
kazzh
4 years ago
You might be able to use panels such as these to give the view to the end of the garden consistency. Am feeling that part of your difficulty is that you have multiple colours on your boundary. So if you can create a color palette across the garden it will begin to feel like it is 'together'. I can't tell if your silver, or lighter section, is metal or another material but to head towards that consistency of color you might be able to paint the silver darker to connect with your wood section, or do the reverse and paint the wood section lighter to connect to the lighter section.
(The wood looks like a smaller job!)
If uses paneling across the end is not appealing, there are some vertical garden systems which you could use to form a green wall right across the aqua fence and shed. It might even be as simple as setting a grid fence panel in front of your shed to hang colorful planted pots and / or plant a climber and with patience train it across for full coverage.
Elysium E003 Decorative Privacy Screen Steel Grey · More Info

Motif · More Info
Paul W thanked kazzh
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thistlejak
4 years ago
I would paint all the fencing, posts and the shed black - it would unify the garden . You can then use lights/flowers etc to highlight spaces.
Paul W thanked thistlejak
Chris Morgan-Jones
4 years ago
I agree with thistlejak. The most affordable solution is to paint it all black or the darkest shade of brown you can find. That’s the approach that we used when renovating our garden to disguise the fact that we had three different ages and colours of fence. It worked well in terms of creating a consistent backdrop for the garden.
Paul W thanked Chris Morgan-Jones
Chris Morgan-Jones
4 years ago
Like so-
Paul W thanked Chris Morgan-Jones
Daisy England
4 years ago
The fences need to be all the same colour. I would also paint the concrete posts in the same colour so they do not stand out (I have done this to hide the white).

I’m sure there is a height restriction on fencing and from recollection it should be no more than 6’.
Paul W thanked Daisy England
donut99
4 years ago
The best way to improve a fence is planting! Either a hedge providing shelter for birds, insects and small mammals, eg hedgehogs (don't forget to put in a hedgehog highway between neighbouring gardens) or planting climbers, shrubs and small trees. Plants are expensive but you can plant a native hedge (the best for wildlife and beautiful) that will grow qickly very cheaply. Good
Paul W thanked donut99
Paul W
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks everyone, some really useful tips here. Very much appreciated, and I'll upload some photos once completed.

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