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How to help shelter a windy garden plot?

springchickenspringchicken Posts: 7
in Garden design
We are lucky that our new build garden is not very overlooked by other houses but unfortunately this means that it is quite exposed to wind as there aren't many buildings sheltering us from the elements.  I am contemplating some trellis along the wall/fence and also some trees but I don't want to make the garden feel super enclosed and boxed in. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help shelter the garden a little?
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Can we have some photos of the site please, so we know what’s possible size wise etc .., and also some info about soil type, which way the wall/fence faces etc, and whereabouts (roughly) you are, so we know a bit about climate 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    How big is your garden? You could plant a tough hedge along the windiest side.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • springchickenspringchicken Posts: 7
    We're in Northamptonshire, here's a picture of the garden a couple of months back. It is a modest size. It is about to be landscaped but we are doing the planting ourselves once the hard landscaping is in. Soil type is clay but as a new build site, there is a lot of sand/grit mixed in. I'm really hoping to create a little more shelter as I'm hoping to grow suitable plants and flowers and I want to give them the best chance of survival!


  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    I would plant trees along the back wall. Fastigiate - tall and thin.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    A couple of buddelias along the wall might do it. Cheaper than trees and quicker to grow?
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    edited July 2023
    agreed. Or elders
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    I think you're exaggerating and overreacting somewhat. I was expecting something on the moors or outer Hebrides, not a very normal looking built up housing estate garden surrounded by houses and walls. 
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    A wind tunnel, I suspect
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Which direction does the wind funnel in from @springchicken?
    Is it from the line the wall sits in? 
    The buddleias @Lizzie27 mentions will do a good job, although you have to bear in mind that they get pruned in late winter/early spring, as they flower on the new wood,  but you can also do it in a staggered way which can give you the best of both worlds. You'll probably want to add other planting in front of them too, so it will depend on the space you'll have left. Although all the info will tell you that they like sun, they really don't mind a fair bit of shade. If the ground's nice and moist consistently, you could use Sorbus - Mountain Ash not Whitebeams. Nice airy canopies and flowers/berries and autumn colour. Amelanchiers are another small tree we often recommend - similar to rowans in the flowers/berries/colour aspect. 2 or 3 would be ideal for the space, and you can bring that round into the top right corner, depending on your proposed landscaping work. Philadelphus are also useful, especially in the shadier spots. 
    If you also get it from the side with the fence, you'd have to be sure that the fence is yours before adding trellis or similar because of height restrictions and ownership etc. 
    I can see you have some markings in place already for your landscaping though, so what you can do will depend on that, and it'll be far better to do your planting after that's done because of compacting etc from builders /landscapers.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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