Advice and Inspiration please!

Hello all,

Last March me and my partner moved in to a lovely house in Solihull and with it inherited a huge, long garden. After finally finishing the inside, our attention has been turned to the garden which has never really been cared for until we moved in.

Over the past year and a half I've managed to keep on top of the lawn and even added some log roll down the right hand side to smarten it up a little. Decking has been stained a couple of times too.

The main problem was down the bottom, and this is where I'm after a little inspiration!! It's pretty much a blank canvas. Currently there are stones down but over the winter a lot of grass/weeds have grown through making it 1) not look so good and 2) fairly unmanageable.

I'm looking for ways to make it more manageable (and pleasing to the eye) without forking out too much (we've recently got engaged so trying to save for a wedding)...

I would like to build a little bar/bbq station down there - keep the top as more or a 'garden' garden and the bottom as a place to entertain!

I've added a few before pictures and a few from this weekends clear out/tidy!

Hoping to get some good ideas and inspiration from people here - so any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

Hi Arn,

Welcome to the forum. If you are looking at the bottom for BBQ area, maybe pave it and then break it up with some pots to add colour, or leave a border and put perrenials in so the maintenance is not to much. Have a look on free cycle for slabs to keep the cost down. What size is the area in queasy ion?

Rusty

 

Welcome to GC Arn and congratulations on your recent engagement

Your rear end has a lot of potential!!! If you are starting gardening, you will need to think of a place to put a) tools (you have a nice shed there) b) a compost bin (make free compost) and c) if entertaining, you don't want to be too, too far away from the kitchen/toilet.

I would be inclined to use your rear end for a compost area (so, behind the trellis to the left of the shed.
In front of that I would section out an entertainment area (at least then if the men get 'caught short' after a bevvy or three and the women are hogging the loo, they can "water" your compost bin ).
That would leave you a lawn area in front of that and then your decking area next to the house: effectively you would have divided your garden into four areas.

Which aspect is your garden? That will make a difference on what you can plant and will give a good indication of how to maximise your space most effectively.

 

Thank you both for your comments.

rustyroots - I haven't measured it yet and wouldn't like to guess, but my first thought was to do something similar to what you have suggested

Mum - of potential and probably endless options as to what I could do with it. We are lucky with the sun as it rises from the left, sits at the end of the garden for the day then drops down to the right, so we get maximum sunlight. There are a few bigger trees around which it gets caught behind but not for long.

Yes we like the top decking area for having breakfast or lunch on, the grass we want to keep for when kids arrive (not just yet!), very bottom can be shed & compost area.

That third area is where I want to be a bit more creative. I love the idea of building a little 'bar' on the left hand side with maybe a paved area in front for some seating.

I would need it enclosed though so it could be 'shut' through the winter and opened up for the summer months (IF we get 'months'!). Would think about incorporating the BBQ down there too.

Need to get the bottom bit cleared this week so I have a blank canvas and also measure up. Then the real planning will start!

 

Hallo Arn,
well, you are full of enthusiasm and that's most important! Hopefully, this Autumn will give you time to clear and tidy everything up a bit. Then, grab a chair,a nice glass of liquid refreshment and gaze at that stretch of garden before you. Ponder and consider all the options - of which there will be many, and start a mental plan. It will grow,alter and develop. Take your time and enjoy it. We are all here to help, if you need us,
welcome to Gardeners Corner,
Jenny namaste

 

Some photos I found on my travels today:



Obviously a "bit grand" as it is in the picture, but they have a little gate to get into that sitting area, and maybe the seating could be constructed relatively cheaply - if you can get some bricks/blocks cheaply (Free-cycle??) and construct them ... so would fit the end of your garden - then you just need cushions, some glasses and a few bottles/tinnies!

 

Looks great Kristen! I saw a similar thing (see attached image) which I really liked the look of. Would be a great space for entertaining! I also love the other picture below with the fire place and mini kitchen - would be great somewhere sunny but probably only get a couple of weeks use from it here!!

 

I absolutely love the outdoor seating, Kristen- is it made with a concreted base? I have a wooden sofa that is put out in the summer months, though it has not made it out there this summer. Not a patch on that gorgeous creation, though.

If the garden is primarily for R&R I would consider only having a small compost heap, probably a plastic dalek, and sited unobtrusively behind a large plant, at the side of the plot. I would not site it at the end of the plot as that will be the prime focus of the eye as you gaze down the garden, winter and summer, so it should be made to look gorgeous and integrated into the plan. Also, as you wander down the garden, G&T in hand, you want the last bit to be a beautiful destination, not a utility area.

Same goes for the shed. Painted in stripes it tends to stand out a bit - is that the effect you want? Overall it does present a significant visual object which has to be considered. You can blend it in by discreet colour choices or you can make a feature of it by choosing a paint scheme in tune with the overall theme.

I would retain all the shrubs for now, with a bit of a trim if necessary - you might need them to give a lush feel to the garden next year. If you have weedy areas I think I'd use weedkiller to get them under control otherwise you may get disheartened - you can always go green after that.

I'd roughly sketch the shape of the garden, put on any features you may wish to keep like the deck and the walls and shrubs, photocopy it a number of times, then use them to rough out any ideas for the plot layout. Try to get a plan you feel happy with, consider seating, cooking space, pathways, lawns, beds and utility areas and keep scribbling on them until you feel you've got ideas you're happy with. Then start working on the nuts and bolts of hard landscaping. It's not a quick fix but it will be more successful in the long run. The planting will come last when you've sorted out the bare bones.

 

Great idea! Definitely need to do this. Would love to fast forward a year and see where I've got to with all this. If I can have something sorted and ready for next Summer (if we get one) then I'd be very pleased.

 

Good cover to shelter from the occasional shower (otherwise everyone comes and huddles indoors, but if it is not-cold better they stay outside ...) but I think a complete outdoor kitchen uses up a lot of space - personally I would have the terrace near the house and double-up the use of the house's kitchen and just have the cooking BBQ part , and seating, outside.

I'm sceptical about outdoor fireplaces (including fire-pits), I don't think they radiate enough of their heat and we just kid ourselves that because we can see fire we must be warm! The gas "parasol" heaters that project downwards keep you warm outside, but are a pretty hideous waste of fuel and very non-Green. A solution I encountered in Japan) is to put something insulating over the table (in Japan it was a purpose-made quilt, not unlike a square douvet), such that you can sit at the table with your legs under it, and a decent infra red lamp bolted to the underside of the table. In Japan they used to sit cross-legged at the table (what they called a "kotatsu"), so there was little opportunity for any cold air to enter - if you were sitting at chairs, at the table, then the quilt would leave a gap under your chair ... This was an indoor solution, but used where there was no/little internal heating, but might be adaptable.





If you are building an outdoor fireplace it might be worth considering a Pizza oven; friends of ours have one and I was incredibly sceptical but having eaten there I now want-one-of-those!!

Sorry, only seen the photo, so "don't know", but I suspect it could be amde from any-available-material provided that the cushions covered it up. Benefit is being able to leave it out all year ... and just having to "lug" the cushions (I think worth building-in a "home" for the cushions, at least during the Summer, so they are easy to get out for impromptu guests!)

If you are handy with a computer I would suggest doing the planning using CAD - much easy to keep multiple versions and try things than rubbing-out etc. Google Sketch is a popular choice (and free I think).

 

Here's a 360 view of the bottom which I'm looking to transform (used an iPhone app called 360 Panorama if anyone is interested, it was free!)

http://www.360.io/XPtjuU