Bearing in mind that you have young children, the focus of the garden in my opinion should be on them. A small patio/dining/relaxing area for adults near the house, and perhaps also at the end of the garden would be lovely. I would also have most of the garden redone in grass (real grass!) with room to play. And I would keep the fence... its the most practical having children near a river, even if they're not babies anymore. I would probably break up the unusual shape of the garden with a few pots, planters and borders 'sticking' out into the garden so the eye is drawn away from the sharp, narrow end. I agree with what was said above though about just living with the space for a bit and seeing how you use it.

We moved hundreds of pots of plants when we moved. I'd already been potting cuttings up for two or three years and also buying shrubs to grow on. All the work to our house and the landscaping to the garden took much much longer than expected and many plants have had to be potted on several times, which adds to the work. We are at the planting stage this year, three and a half years after buying the property and six months after actually moving. It's hard work growing your own mini nursery! You needs loads of space for a start, racking and shelving for smaller pots so you can keep an eye on them without bending down, and space for all your bigger pots and plants to line up. The major problem is watering. You need to know the water requirements for each plant so you don't over or under water, and remember that when they outgrow their pot water requirements increase. Automatic watering systems don't help as they can't think for you. You'll find yourself jigging things around to find space for the new additions. All these plants are a temptation to rabbits and deer too so you might need to consider an enclosure. And this doesn't just happen while you're creating your nursery but also at the other end before you can plant. Believe me, builders and landscapers take up a lot of space, spread themselves around and you have to keep your plants safe from them... shade is a requirement for many plants, or even to help save some watering when the weather's hot but the converse is that they can then dry out too quickly as they don't catch all the rain. So you find yourself lugging and shifting your pots as the seasons change. Then there's protection in winter for all those exposed pots. A poly tunnel or early erection of a greenhouse is useful. What happens when you are away or have a holiday? Days of wondering if your plants are OK, is it raining, what will happening during the forecast gales, is it too hot, can you trust your designated watered to take the care you do, they don't know such and such a plant needs only a drop of water as it's freshly repotted and another a gallon a day as it's a guzzler... You'll lose plants from excessive wet in winter and drought in summer as some just give up from the extremes they necessarily have to suffer. On the other hand some plants will do brilliantly and it does make a difference when you start planting to have bigger things, plus the pleasure of knowing you did it yourself. Lugging them all and placing them in their ne homes takes more time than you envisage. Then when you start planting you must have a planting plan as will need to place all your feature and focal plants first. These will of course be the biggest ones and so your small ground covers, perennials, rock plants etc have to hang around in their pots even longer. It works but to be honest when factoring the costs of potting on, extra pots as you will never have enough of the right size no matter how many thousands you might think you have, losses and sheer hassle it might actually be cheaper to wait until you are ready to plant and buy in. If you love your plants and feel you have the time do it, believe me it will take up far more time than you envisage, if you can't cope with the hassle don't. One final and very important point. Label, label, label. Good strong labels, good permanent marker, check they haven't fallen out, been tugged by birds. You need to know your plants so you can recognise them if the labels do go missing and they are slow to green up after the winter. Good luck!

Sorry it’s a bit late, I’ve just seen this post. Adding to the above suggestions (I’m a lazy gardener) whatever you plant, to make an impact, create a pattern, just 2 types alternating, one taller than the other or mirror the design start at each end with a tall plant and work inwards to shorter ones or vice versa but paint the fence first. I’d keep it minimal too, plenty of space between the plants and add bark or gravel over weed suppression fabric. Trust me it saves loads of time over the year, we had a large shaded patch at the front of our house which we eventually (after 10 years of weeding ) replaced with 3 plants in the middle (holly and a hebe either side) and some bark surrounded by turf. 2 years on and I’ve only needed to pull out a small occasional weed.

Sharon, you’ve done a spectacular job! It looks wonderful. You’ve really excelled at turning the garden from an uninteresting rectangle, to something that will be a constant source of pleasure and satisfaction. Perhaps you’ve missed your calling? My own garden is a really decent size, not too huge, and yet not small, and is L-shaped. It’s also surrounded by fields, and has huge trees around the edges. But despite the attention it needs to keep down weeds, moss, and control the plants that like to spread, there’re few things more satisfying than walking around and simply enjoying its abundance.