Garden Design Help

7 years ago

Hi,

As you can see my garden is a state! I recently had the back fence removed (concrete posts show where the original garden finished) as there was loads of overgrown and shrub and thought it would add length to my garden. However when I removed it I found that there was a fairly dramatic slope as you can see in the pictures. I have removed the stumps which remained but there is no chance any grass is going to grow there.
I am not sure what to do now? I know nothing about gardening and landscaping so while I have seen picture I like, I am not sure what is actually possible in this space. Additionally I am on a super tight budget as I never imagined this to be the case when I removed the back fence. I had budgeted for laying down new turf and levelling out the main bit of the garden, but beyond that I am lost!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks a million
:)

Featured Answer

PRO

Mark Lane Designs

7 years ago

Firstly, don't panic. I would question why there was a fence put in a couple of metres from your back boundary line, unless the previous owners also didn't know what to do with the slope and decided to conceal it. Unless you are looking at digging large holes in your garden and using the spoils of soil to fill in the slope, it will be costly to buy soil to fill the void and bring it up to the same height as your lawn. I would agree with the others and plant a hedge along the back. If you plant a mixed native hedge and kept on top of the pruning you could have colour from leaves and flowers for 9 months of the year, ie Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Crab Apple, Dog Rose, Dogwood, Guelder Rose, Hazel and Spindle. I would plant it close to the back boundary, i.e. 90cm-1m away. Such a hedge is excellent for wildlife. Then, in front to the left I would plant Prunus subhirtella Autumnalis. This is an ornamental cherry tree and will flower for the remaining 3 months of the year. You can then create a 'woodland' hedgerow garden towards the end. This doesn't mean leaving it and letting in brambles, thistles and stinging nettles, but planting primulas, polyanthus, forget-me-nots, fritillaries, ammi majus, ammi visnaga, lamiums, dicentras, ferns and Solomon's seal. These would fill the space, create a great wildlife garden and produce cut flowers for the house. Then focus on the lawn. If the lawn is really bad then lift and either lay turf or for a cheaper option seed it. But first, if there is grass and it covers most of the lawn, feed it, kill the weeds (or All-in-One feed and weed) and aerate it and see what happens - it may just need love. So many people pull up lawns when most lawns will bounce back if cared for. I hope this helps. Enjoy your garden. Mark

Comments (12)

temple274
7 years ago
You could plant a hedge along the line of the old fence, or perhaps a metre further in. Leave a gap so you can make a neat pathway through. Then plant two or three fruit trees on the slope, which will look beautiful in spring and grow up to hide some of the house behind. Then your garden will finish roughly where it does at the moment but the sloping patch behind will become productive and useful.
PRO
User
7 years ago
Why not build up at the back and the left hand side using railway sleepers, even out as you come forwards. You'll have a nice deep bed at the back to plant trees to prevent being overlooked by the neighbours. Erect a straight fence across the back and put some lower level planting in the new bed at the front.
chabbaa thanked User
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Bel McKenna
7 years ago
I would. Build up the back and plant a colourful hedge, I'd also put a alpine rockery in the front of that as alpines are usually drought and frost hardy and so much fun choosing and planting them
chabbaa thanked Bel McKenna
Bel McKenna
7 years ago
A few small garden ideas
Bel McKenna
7 years ago
Add height with pergola or trellis. Choose ornamental trees wisely allow for height and spread. Shade trees for bio shade.
Maybe a specimen tree as a show stopper.
Choose your planting carefully and make sure you space plants.
Bel McKenna
7 years ago
Remember to think about the hard landscaping first example...do you want a path, a patio, deck, trellis, pergola and so on. Hard landscaping is the bones of the garden and once you know what you want ie the lay out you then can decide on planting.
Pinterest is very good for ideas and have some great free designs for small gardens.
Like the last poster says, don't panic. Have a think about what you want, pop some ideas down on paper. Enjoy designing it .
Good luck :)
chabbaa
Original Author
7 years ago
Hi

Thank you all so much for the suggestions.

My apologies for the delay in getting back. Due to personal circumstances all decorating was put on hold back I am back on it and raring to go! So great seeing all of your ideas... Makes it seem like all hope is not lost.

My one concern is many of the suggestions were around plants and flowers. Now, I don't have what some may call 'green fingers' and am not sure how much time I could really dedicate to maintenance and I imagine having any kind of flower bed will require good attention? Also I have three cats so not sure if they would respect the space as required... If you know what I mean?

I'm hoping to find something that will mean when I got into the garden I can relax in it rather than work in it as I don't get much down time at all. So the building it up in some way sounds likes it may roe sent options that are more in line with my lifestyle. But someone did mention that would be expensive - any idea of costs at all? Or would building it up/down with decking (like the pics I have attached) work for this space? Or are there any other alternative ways of levelling it out... When we have BBQs there are often lots of kids - and footballs around... So something kid friendly would also be good?

Not sure exactly how I would go about getting started on any of the pic ideas and to what cost.

P.s. In terms of the fence having been there... It's ex-local authority so I guess they put up the fence and planted the shrub in order to avoid having to level it out/finish off the ground works?

I also attached pics of the garden since the last time. I raked it a little so some green has started to grow... Not much though
Angie
7 years ago
Assuming the area beyond the old fence is actually your land, I think planting some fruit trees is a good idea to give some privacy from the houses behind and some dappled shade too. Not to mention some fruit!
The first task however is to remove the old concrete posts. That will improve the overall look from the house.
Your later pictures show some nice touches on the patio area. Aim to keep whatever you do simple and you can have something that is neat and tidy with scope to develop as ideas, time and money occur.
We've recently had our garden completely redesigned, and one thing that we'd not been aware of before was the importance of levels. We thought our garden was just a level patch of grass, but it turns out it had quite a slope to it and the finished garden has areas that are probably a foot different in height. It looks fabulous and works really well, but it was a huge undertaking and there's no way we could have done it ourselves. It involved a digger on site for about a month and lots of hard work. So to do something yourself I'd keep it as simple as possible and use a few key shrubs to give colour and texture. Ideally things that can look after themselves once established without becoming too large!
Have fun
Angie
chabbaa thanked Angie
Kevin Jovinsie
7 years ago
The result of my sketch. Hope you like it. Thanks
chabbaa
Original Author
7 years ago
KEVIN! WOW! Incredible!
Kevin Jovinsie
7 years ago
thank you.. @Chabbaa

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