Design help - Sleepers or Not? Also any gardening design apps?

Hi

I'm trying to plan design my garden and wondering whether to use sleepers or not. In the picture below there is a bit of a drop from the paving slabs into were my flower bed will be.

The stakes in front of the house are 3ft away from the slabs and where my turf would start.

My question is, should i put a sleeer right up against the slabs to try and make it look a bit nicer, or just leave it as soil....and should i have a sleepers going around the rest of my turf (marked where the rest of the stakes are).

The paving isn't great, but unfortunately money is tight so unable to replace at the mo.....so trying to make the main garden bit look as nice as possible./

Also, can anyone recommend any decent garden design apps?
Many Thanks

 

I certainly wouldn't bother next to the slabs. However I would get the edges cemented more solidly, otherwise you risk the slabs getting kicked out of place.

As for the rest, it's up to you. Sleepers are relatively expensive though, so I wouldn't use them unless whatever you're doing needs to be structurally strong.

 

new to gardening so inital low maintenance i imagine and build from there.

 

thanks Graham it was more for design as opposed to anything structural for the sleepers

 

If you're wanting more definite edges on an area, what you probably want is gravel boards instead. Similar idea, but thinner wood and a *lot* cheaper. Personally I prefer the edge of the turf as-is, but I've seen enough people who use gravel boards. You can also get plastic edging, usually corrugated, but I think that looks a bit like a council flowerbed and I don't want that for my place.