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Help me with this unloved garden...

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  • Obelixx said:
    Not if they end up being just a couple of square metres big.  Then they are more bother than they're worth.   
    Bother to who?

    Surely if you love your garden and find it practical, it's never a bother to maintain what you have


  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Cutting a tiny lawn is a fiddle.  Edging a tiny lawn is a fiddle and it will, inevitably, get smaller and smaller.  Keeping it in fine fettle - scarifying, weeding, feeding - will be a fiddle and do you really want to use precious space storing a lawn mower?
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    As it is a smallish space and the OP wants something low maintenance, I think a courtyard style garden would suit. A barbecue area and a small green house will all take up space so in my mind, the grass has gotta go! 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    At the risk of being shot down in flames, you could always go with artificial grass. I know, l know, but if you want a lawn (or something that looks like a lawn), that could be the way to go. They do look more realistic these days, and would save you the hassle of storing a lawnmower etc. when you could use that space for something else.
  • What fun
     Get some A3 paper and draw up different ideas,paying care to consider aspect of each part of the garden. Cut up some old gardening  mags and do some pictures montages to try and give you some idea of how it will look. 
    Definitely  think about views to a focal point. Add large square trellis so you can clothes the fences with climbers.
    I moved  into mine 4 years ago basic rectangular  lawn ,small border,paving slab patio covered by 6 x 7 she'd. Done it in stages after going to local evening class on basic garden design to get ideas.
    Enjoy x
  • @Del_Griffith it can, and then what you end up with  is nothing  like you planned as I just love plants and can't  resist a bargain . Never mind it's my little  patch of paradise  snd I'm quite happy x
  • granmagranma Posts: 1,933
    If you want to give a impression of a bigger garden  go across the corner .we did this in our previous  front garden it's surprising  how much more spacious the effect gave.
  • If tending the garden is a little problematical or not always practical then I would avoid lawn (the most labour intensive part of any garden). I would also consider your verticals as even a small plot can benefit form judicious use of the boundaries and a living wall / climbers can be really quite easily looked after with the right choice of plants (not Russian vine). Good luck.
    https://catsandapenninegarden.blogspot.com/
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd agree with hogweed. By the time you fit in  a greenhouse, an arbour, and a BBQ, you won't have a lot of room left - for a lawn or anything else much. 
    It's important to make everything work hard to earn it's keep in a small space, so draw a scale plan, as suggested, and then a rough layout with those features you want. You'll then be left with the actual space you have for 'gardening'. It really won't be very big, so think carefully about what's feasible.  
    If you can put the BBQ in the corner where the shed is, along with the other storage you plan, that takes it out the equation, but pansyface is right - it's a very contentious item, so have consideration for the other residents. You would need hard standing for that anyway - they're very bad news on a lawn.
    In small spaces, use all the verticals. That can offer growing space and make a plot look bigger too. Granma is also correct - have the plans on the diagonal, which helps stretch the space visually.
    I'm also in the no lawn camp here - you could have a beautiful little space by using planting to give the greenery, rather than grass. By the time you incorporate the things you want, a lawn would very hard to shoehorn in - and it would look exactly like that - shoehorned. 
    And I'm a lawn lover  ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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