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New to gardening new to my garden
martinsalmon
Posts: 3
Recently moved in with my partner. She has a north facing garden but gets a good few hours of sun from around 2pm onwards but that is mainly where the seating area is. (Check photos). I want to spruce up the garden, make it look welcoming. The false grass (sorry) is covering boggy soil. The soil that’s showing doesn’t get much sun, it’s very hard and has dead tree roots (how deep I’m unsure), all in all it’s very uneven. The decking I’m okay with. 
The concrete is broken and unsightly so would be open for ideas. Money isn’t too much of an issue so Can you throw some ideas my way please to get the ball rolling and turn this ugly garden into our little paradise. Thank you
martin
martin
0
Posts
The usual line of questioning goes something like this -
What do you want to use your garden for, growing flowers and/or vegetables?
Do you want a lawn (as in a real one) , or do you want to keep the fake grass (l see there's a dog to take into account).
The current situation makes things a bit more difficult as obviously you can't go off to B&Q/Wickes or Freecycle etc. for materials so you will have to go with what you've got for now, and it might look worse before it gets better !
The best thing to do is start with a plan, either on paper or on computer if you prefer. Think about what you want, where any seating area is going to be, the washing line, bin storage etc.
Practicalities such as a path outside the back door, all that sort of thing. If you post it on here, you will get feedback and possibly people will mention things that you haven't thought of.
Hope this helps a bit !
From the position of your air bricks and the step down from the back door, it looks as if you have the chance to raise the level a little there, so I would be tempted to consolidate the seating/dining area into one larger decked/paved space in the sunny bit, with a step down to the rest of the garden. There is also a mish-mash of styles of garden furniture, so perhaps choose one style and go with that.
A general tidy up and painting the fence grey or black would also unify the space, a darker fence would help it disappear and any planting always looks good against a receding colour.
It is tricky to advise further without knowing the dimensions and shape of the garden, so yes, a scale plan would help - so start by measuring up the space and plotting it out.
Sit down with your partner thinking about what you both want out of the garden and looking at different styles of garden online. Are you thinking clean, contemporary lines, courtyard, cottage garden, tropical? You will probably forced to take your time at the moment and that is no bad thing. It’s better to evolve your ideas and your garden over time than to rush into a complete garden makeover then decide you don’t actually like the result!
thank you