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Slopping garden, no privacy, over looked
MSK
Posts: 11
Hi! All advice welcome!Have a new build, corner plot house with a slope coming away from the house at the bottom and right hand side of our garden. We are completely overlooked by neighbouring houses in the street. The slope at the bottom and right hand side both dip down approx 60-70cm.
We are looking to level the garden and want the cheapest way possible to do this. My idea is to have a retaining wall made out of sleepers put in to cover the full back and right hand side of the garden and use the soil already in the garden to level out and fill in. We will then plant large conifers to screen for privacy. And then patio/slab at the bottom as that’s where we get most sun.
Would this be the cheapest way of levelling and creating privacy?
Thanks in advance!
0
Posts
Levelling seems like a lot of effort and a measure of expensive for little tangible reward.
My solution is much simpler and much cheaper. Put trellising around the top of your fence and grow some climbers such as roses and clematises along it. This won’t afford much privacy from upstairs windows but, realistically, how often would people be upstairs looking at you in the garden? Unless they’re slightly warped, almost never I would think.
Could you show a photo or two from the ground level showing the level of "overlookedness" and the slope ? That might help me visualise it
I’ve taken more photos to try to capture the gradient and to show how overlooked we are.
I can see the temptation to go for conifers in that situation, but bear in mind that they can appear to suck the light out of a garden. It may be better to think of planting deciduous trees that would give you privacy during the Summer when you're out in the garden, and then allow more light in the gloomy days of Winter. They would also be better in terms of attracting wildlife.
If you did decide to go for conifers can l please beg you not to go for Leylandii. Instead choose something such as thuja. I know you want a quick solution and l can understand why, but although thuja are slower growing, they are much less thuggish. It doesn't take long for leylandii to get out of control even with the best will in the world.
As regards the slope, that's more tricky for me to advise as it's not something l have had to deal with, but there are members on here who have.
I wish you luck with it, and tempting though it is to get on with it, please take your time
Each tree should be exactly where you want it to feel private in your sitting area, then there is no need to over-do it. (Preventing anyone seeing you in every single part of the garden is not going to work IMO).
There's no need for evergreens, you will be spending most time outdoors in the summer months.
Here's an idea, presuming your main sitting area is where you took the photo from.
If I were you, I would leave the slope, and focus on the right structures and planting to create privacy. I can't tell which way your garden faces, but I would be tempted to put a pergola in the far corner, with some climbers growing over the top of it. Surely planning would allow that? If they are right up against a boundary fence, then they can be 2.5 metres in height. That way when you are sitting under it, you will be hidden, and facing back towards the house, and not the street.
I would put any entertaining areas (patio, BBQ, other seating) up close to the fence by the pavement, so that again you are hidden and looking back at the house. The fence looks quite transparent, so I'd either plant some climbers beside it, or add some panels to make it completely private.
I would focus most of the planting closer to the house, and in a border along the fence between you and your neighbour, so that you are not just looking back a brick house. This wouldn't solve the problem of you seeing your neighbours when you are looking from the house outwards, but there may be another solution for that, with some tall planting in pots/troughs close to the house.
Trying to level off that slope would be a major undertaking involving professionals and skips, also you may well find there are drains in the way. Do not under estimate the amount of soil that would need to be moved. In a word, don't do it! Some small deciduous trees in strategic places as already suggested would be your best bet and far, far cheaper.