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Small garden design ideas
ray.campbell602
Posts: 5
Looking for inspiration for what to do with my small back garden here in Musselburgh.The garden is west facing, and the border gets sun from about 10/11am until the sun goes down in the summer. It's very small, about 25ft long and 20ft wide, and unfortunately must accommodate all these bins, as well as the shed, which is needed for all my garden tools, plus our manual mower for the front lawn.
I am very much a cottage gardener, and my partner and I like to sit back and relax with a drink on a summer's night.
I love my border, which is filled with plants from my late granny's 1/3 acre country garden, such as the lilac, peony 'Sarah Bernhardt', shasta daisies, sedum 'Autumn Joy', and what will forever be known to me as 'that pink stuff 😄' geranium psilostemon (so prolifically did it grow) as well as a broad assortment of spring bulbs and other perennials.
If anyone has any ideas how I could better recapture some of the green countryside views I have always known in this little area, I'd be very grateful.
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Posts
Do you need somewhere to sit in the shade in the afternoon?
Do you want to create any shade?
If you want wildlife, evergreen climbers close to fences on trellis would really help.
It looks like a nice afternoon sun-trap! Are you in a warm area?
Personally I would think about removing the two corner beds in the slate square and move the washing line back towards the shed as far as practicable. That would give you room to make a wider rectangular bed behind the seating area which would enable you to plant some taller flowers and/or vertical grasses thus giving you some privacy and hiding the shed/bins when you are sitting outside. The only thing you would have to watch is how hot the chimney/fire pit gets when lit!
I have a gorgeous 'zepherine drouhin' climbing rose which has been very well established in a large pot for 3 years at my mother's that has been offered to to me, so I am considering planting that along the fence behind the border. For the other fences, I would love to have some sweet peas and clematis, thankfully there is only a thinish layer of stones here and a weed membrane, directly underneath which is good undisturbed soil.
I would love to attract more birds and wildlife to the garden. There is a house directly across from us with a huge Kilmarnock willow surrounded by shrubs, which is the local nesting area for a flock of sparrows and tits. I often see the robin fluttering around as well, but would love to have them all come over here for a visit!
We do get some shade from the fence on the south side of the garden and from the shed when the sun comes around, but anything that will increase the greenery around here would be great!
I like @Lizzie27' ideas about giving you a bit of screening when you are sitting in the sunny patio area.
Maybe a bench along the north-facing wall. Just by the shed door, for sitting in shade. If the beach was decorative, it could be a nice feature.
Obelisks for growing climbers would give you interesting height and maybe a bit of privacy/intrigue.
It sounds as though you can smell the sea then?! Might you get wild winds from the west or not?!
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