where can i get some inspiration?

Hi,

I have recently bought my first house but the garden is a blank canvass. The stuff in the garden (washing line etc) are no longer in the garden but as you can imagine, the weeds have come through! Im in the process of digging it all over and removing the path so that there is a completely plain space with which to start from scratch. There are currently no plants/trees in the garden, just the patio area at the back of the house and in the back right corner is an area of hard-standing where we want to put a shed.

The requirements for the garden is a lawned area for our rabbits to nibble and poss a raised bed area for herbs.

Any ideas?
Anywhere i can look for inspiration? I have no idea where to start to be honest!

 

Search on google for landscape gardening companies. They love to show you their before and after pics.

Why don't you have a small tree just off the patio at the start of the lawn area. It will break the space up and make it look bigger I reckon. You could get a tree that fits in a large container, something that responds well to be hacked to bits so you can easily keep it under control.

Maybe a couple of evergreen shrubs down the bottom corners to soften the edges up a bit.

 

A raised bed by the patio, high enough to keep the rabbit away from the herbs. Perhaps on the left of the path, optional if you want to have it the full length of the garden. Mix a few annuals or your favourite flowers in with the herbs, as a herb garden can get a bit woody.

Keep grass on the right of the path until you decide what else you want. Don't go planning all at once - you'll change your mind over the months and years.

 

I think you should have a look at some of the projects people have posted on here firstly, there are lots and lots of garden projects-some of which have blown my socks off.


The only thing I could advise is a strong lawn shape-no shapeless blobs-it really does make all the difference, and flexibility, and visiting as many open gardens as you can, they aren't what I would call a family day out, but they are great fun for the amateur gardener-and the owner is usually eagerly awaiting someone to ask them questions.

 

Oh I'd like to divide that garden in half with fencing covered in climbers and an archway off centre. Look at the lovely stuff from your patio and hide the utility stuff behind the screen. A silver birch would be nice to give height as the foliage is so feathery and light and you have the lovely white bark in winter. Plant a red stemmed dogwood Cornus Alba beside it for gorgeous autumn colour and bright stems in winter to complement the white bark. Under plant with miniature daffodils and grape hyacinths for spring. You could also train a clematis up the silver birch for summer interest. There that's one corner sorted:rotfl: Sorry i am blathering on aren't I:flag:

 

Thanks everyone!!! They are really great ideas!! I will def go to have a look around some open gardens for ideas - thanks claire! I like the idea of dividing the garden up and having the silver birch with a clematis trained up it - thanks granny! I will also look at the projects on here

PS the garden is south south west facing so the right hand side gets a little shady late afeternoon/early evening, just along the fence line (which is very low by the way), so thinking of putting up screening of some sort as i dont want to block out too much sun in the evenings, esp with the garden being so small.

 

You could make the patio area completely separate from the rest of the garden by screening round it with raised beds and or shrubs.

All that fencing could be made into a living wall with climbers - roses, clematis, honeysuckle, sweet peas. You could even do some beans there, they make pretty flowers and you can eat the beans and they come up very fast. Instant results.

 

Thats a good idea Alice - i like the idea of growing loads of stuff up the fences. I was gonne paint the fences green so they kinda blend in a bit more so hopefully the boundarys won't be so obvious. With climbers they'll look even better!! Thanks!!