Advice or ideas on narrow garden landscaping, partitioning and dealing with a raised patio

I think changing the angle of the steps is a great idea (albeit a lot of work) My first thought on seeing your garden was to have the steps going down from right to left somehow (not necessarily at right angles to the patio) rather than the way your drawing shows. I think that would draw your eye more to the left side of the garden, slightly away from the tall buildings.

 

My thought was building the steps going down on the outside wall of the left hand side of the patio, although you'd have to resite the existing path underneath and lose a bit of lawn, you'd then maximise your overall patio space.

Like Golarne says, it would skew your viewpoint towards the left of the garden, providing of course there's something nice to look at that side.

Building steps on the outside patio wall might be easier than changing the existing ones?

 

It might be physically easier but will need several tonnes of infill material and many more bricks to build the new facing walls.

 

You could just fill in the existing steps to bring them up to your existing terrace level and then put a set of stairs down from the left hand corner to the existing path. If you use sleepers cut to size or some other strong wood, it wouldn't look as heavy as the existing steps and, for safety, you can add rails and stretch and pin chicken wire over the steps for grip in wet weather.

Adding trellis along the width would make the terrace edge safe and soften it, especially if you go for curves Hamburg Diamond Wood Trellis Panel This way you get privacy without feeling fenced in and claustrophobic.

However, if you do keep the central steps and want an arch try a curved or peaked top as they will feel lighter than a straight, heavy bar. Top 5 Wooden Garden Arches | Buy Fencing Direct UK You can match the trellis part with similar panels either side.

For privacy in the rest of the garden you can plant a strategic small tree using line of sight and angles of view to determine where to plant it for the best effect. Consider increasing that odd, badly proportioned little curved bed at the base of your right hand wall to a larger, wider, straight angled bed - ie a triangle - and planting taller plants in there as well as textured foliage at tall, medium and lower heights.

As time, funds and experience allow, gradually lose the very straight, parallel lines in the lower garden to make it seem wider but also cosier, more private and more relaxing.

 

We’ve never planned our gardens, we just let them evolve over time by deciding what we fancy doing. A suggestion for you would be….could you fill in the step area to make it level with your patio and then build some graduated steps down on the other side onto the garden? Sometimes over thinking can stop productive thought so perhaps take a break, come back fresh to “ the problem” later on and maybe inspiration will hit you.

 

Snap @Obelix-Vendée ! Your post has just shown up as I’ve posted mine!

 

Thanks for latest replies.

I'm leaning towards the first design - the inset steps moved to the left.

It will be a lot easier to build I think. I will be able to keep most of the existing retaining wall and just remove some bricks from it, and chop into the existing patio a bit, to make the new steps.

Compare that to having to lay a whole new foundation, and build a whole new wall, and several cubic meters of infill, to mount the steps in front of the existing patio.

Question is whether it's worth it really. Is it worth that effort just to move the steps along from the middle to the side.

 

If you read again, the suggestion to lean a sturdy wooden stair to one side is non invasive and requires no destruction and would require just a small foundation support below the bottom step and support.

 

Thanks. Yeah it feels like a backwards step (pun not intended) to go from a solid brick built set of patio steps to leaning a wooden set up against the side of the retaining wall.

There would also be quite a lot of timber needed to build it, would need to be at least 1m wide, extending 2m out from the existing patio (otherwise it would be quite steep).

I'd still have to fill in the current steps as well, quite a lot of infill material still required.

 

Still a lot easier than widening the existing steps or relocating and building stone/brick/concrete steps at a safe, accessible angle and wood blends in far better and could be matched to trellis in tone so added harmony.

Infill is easy - ask a builder to drop off some of his rubble so you just have to supply the finish. Stop thinking obstacles and think solutions.

Try measuring it out and drawing possible solutions on paper, to scale and then drop it for a couple of weeks and leave your subconscious to work it all out.

 

I feel this is harsh - the entire thread has been me thinking of ideas and trying to consider all the things everyone has suggested. I'm also looking at loads of online photos and watching landscaping videos to try and formulate workable ideas.

This is not a straightforward project, there's a real issue with a non-optimal site and limited DIY budget, and I have to try and find a solution that is do-able, looks good, and solves the privacy issue.

Just 'asking a builder to drop off some rubble' is not as straightforward as you make it sound. I live in urban Birmingham, don't know any builders, and am likely to have to spend more time trying to persuade someone I don't know to drop off rubble than I would building the actual project.

I don't expect others to do the research/design for me, but I don't know what looks good/best so my only choice is to post mock ups and ask for feedback. I am trying to take it all on board.

 

It seems to me every time a solution or idea is offered you come up with reasons why not which, frankly, puts posters off wanting to add any more.

I'm not the only one to suggest you take a step back to let your mind work out what it really wants and, more importantly, what you can achieve given your available time, budget and skills.

If you treat that raised terrace area as one garden and the lower grassed one as two distinct entities it doesn't matter what you do in either but if you want a cohesive whole you need to think about marrying up materials, form and plants to harmonise it all and make it a haven.

 

I apologise if that's the way I am coming across, it is certainly not intentional.

I was starting with pretty much no clue on how I can achieve something good here. I don't know what good looks like, given my specific site layout. I have a strong dissatisfaction with what I currently have, a vague idea of what I'd like the outcome to be, but no real clue on how to make it happen. I look at pictures of other gardens, and they are all lovely, but its hard to see how that translates to my specific site. Its hard to translate a picture of a 10m wide garden, for example, when I only have 5.5m to work with.

The ideas I have received so far have been great - all of them. But I can't do all of them, I have to have a process of elimination to reach a final design. That inevitably means some suggestions won't be able to be taken forward, but I needed to have those suggestions in order to consider and eliminate them.

I don't see how taking a step back is going to help at all, it won't get me any closer to a final design and plan of implementation. I will just be in the same position in 3 months as I am now.

I'm ready and willing to make progress, ready to put in the work, but I can't just start digging without a pretty firm plan.

It is too big to tackle all at once, and Im happy to treat the two areas as distinct areas really.

My initial vision for the patio was private (but not dark and claustrophobic), mediterranean courtyard style (hence why I initially went down the route of buying loads of pots), and nice paving surfaces. Idea is to really suck up the heat in the summer and radiate it back to me. But so far I have failed miserably in creating that sort of feeling.

The garden area, I just want to hide the boundary fences, lines of sight through to neighbouring gardens etc, and have a real 3D volume to the trees and shrubs throughout the garden. If Im sitting in that area of the garden, I want to feel secluded but not overshadowed. With loads of greenery and flowers. And looking at it from the patio I want it to look full.

I know I can't make all that happen in one season, but I need to start down the right path otherwise I'll make no progress and be in the same position in 2 years.

 

Draw each idea you like on paper and to scale. Add in any features you already have - table, chairs, pots - cut out to scale on separate paper so you can move them around on each plan.

Given the amount of room you have and the space required for a table and chairs with space around them to move I do think your best way forward is to fill in the existing steps and make new steps to one side. Eg, if your table is is 2m x 1m you need at least 4m x 3m of space to get around it when people are seated.

The process will help clarify your ideas and leaving it all on the back burner while you get on with other projects or just go for walks will let your subconscious work on a solution you can manage and will like.

 

After what has been said in the last few posts Dan, another thought for you. If neighbours in your road have a similar set up to you, is it worth asking to take a look at how they've dealt with the situation to give you ideas?