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Design DilemmaGardenslandscape design
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Garden Design ideas - please help!

3 years ago

I would greatly appreciate any ideas for how to design my garden.

As you can see it is pretty much a blank canvas. I have spent many hours trawling the internet for ideas and know that I need to divide the garden into 'rooms' and create a journey down the garden. However I am unsure how to do this.

I do have an issue to consider and that is that the previous owner installed the sewage treatment system in the middle of the garden (the green rectangular and 2 circular covers) so that limits what I can plant in that area and therefore how I can screen off/divide the garden. I am unsure if I can plant a hedge as the roots may damage the pipes/tank. I can't plant trees nearby as they may also cause damage. I could put up a trellis screen but not sure I like that idea - I think it may look odd having trellis right in the middle of the garden.
If I plant up a bed in front of the tank, it will still be visible from the other side.

The far end of the garden has young fruit trees and we have seeded it to be a wildflower meadow so that section is sorted.
The greenhouse is going to go as it is terrible condition and an eyesore!

I like a natural planting style - lots of grasses, lavender, verbena and would really love to plant more trees but keep coming back to the worry about planting near the tank.

Any ideas or advice would be so appreciated - I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by it currently!

Thanks in advance.

Featured Answer
  • PRO
    3 years ago

    Hiya

    Yes long narrow gardens can be quite a challenge and overwhelming at first sight.

    A couple of comments and suggestions that might help.

    Firstly, to divide a garden up into rooms you don't necessarily want to have complete screenings across the garden as this really hides the rest of the garden from view. It is much better to have areas of planting coming out into the space and use items of hard landscaping like paths to add the suggestion of rooms. I attach a photo where this has been done very well. Each circular area feels like a room, but is partly visible from elsewhere in the garden. This creates journeys and half-seem focal points that add interest and mystery to the garden as a whole and draw you out to explore it. Within each room there are also hidden quiet spots.

    Secondly, the best place to hide the circular covers is in one of the beds that come out into the lawn, or even just in the lawn itself, particularly if it is just beside a bed. With all the other distractions going on, you will not notice them nearly as much, if at all. Planting wise, I would not plant a big tree near the sewerage system, but most shrubs would be fine, as would a small tree like an Acer or an Amelanchier. Both are lovely trees.


    The final option would be to hire a local garden designer to do this planning for you, or even just pay them for a 'design consultation'. A number of designers will charge you an hourly rate to walk around your plot and make high-level suggestions and ideas for you to implement yourself.


    Good luck with your design.



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