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Help! I can't create a design for my new garden!
kathryn_youngman
Posts: 2
Hi all,
ive recently moved into a house with a front garden that we've just unearthed under overgrown box plants and pebbles everywhere. Trouble is now we know what we're working with, our plans have done out of the window as the drain covers are more pronounced than we originally thought and the garden is also on quite an incline.
If if anybody has any ideas, it would be really appreciated!!!!
0
Posts
Where are you, which way does it face, what kind of soil is it - acid or alkaline or neutral, how much time do you have to keep it looking good and will people be walking across it or round it to get to your door and how big is it?
Your location will affect mean temps and rainfall plus exposure to wind and frost. The aspect will govern how much direct sunshine plants will receive. The soil type dictates which plants will or won't thrive. The time dictates whether you go for low maintenance shrubs and perennials or high maintenance lawn and annuals. Lastly, doe sit need a path to stop wera and tear on plants from passing feet.
Lastly, its size will dictate the number of plants you need and how big shrubs can be allowed to grow.
Sorry I realised I should have put all these details in the first post.
We're in the Sheffield area, the garden is south facing with alkaline clay soil(I believe) and it can be quite exposed to wind due to being in a valley. I am a keen but novice gardener with a young family so while I don't want it to be boringly low maintenance, something very time consuming might not work.
The garden is approx 12' across x 17' at its longest point. it wont be walked over but I would like to have access to it to maintain. I did want to put a bed in the front section to try and disguise the drain covers but I'm not sure how it would work being on an incline
i hope that this is enough information
You do need to be able to maintain access to the man holes and mowing that small bit of lawn will be a bit of a faff.
I would be inclined to lose the grass and gravel the lot, but because of the slope it might be an idea to increase the height of the edging by another row of blocks. Then you could make the gravel deep enough to hide the MHC in the middle and stand a container of some kind on the one on the edge.
You could then either add more containers or plant directly into the soil. If you choose the second option, you will need to improve the soil with some organic matter and some fertiliser or manure and decide whether or not to use weed membrane and plant through it. Just don't put it over the MHC!-and mark its position in some way. You won't be able to plant on top of it, but you could plant next to it , with say something low growing, provided the foliage could be moved out of the way if need be.
What you plant will depend on some of the things Obelixx has mentioned, that govern what will grow, and the sort of effect you want. When you have decided on the last point, come back here and get more help on the plants that will help you achieve it
Last edited: 04 March 2017 09:54:19
I'd agree with B'cupdays. Get rid of the grass - more trouble than it's worth, and you won't need to worry about access as you can use gravel or bark with easy to maintain planting in it, which you can walk across.
I'd go for shrubs, mainly evergreen, and use some perennials in between or around them as space allows. I'd also keep those to the 'house side' of the shrubs, to avoid people trampling on them when they're dormant. You can add spring bulbs to extend the seasonal interest too, which are also easy. Some of those in planters and pots for the manhole covers would be good, and you can swap those for some annuals in summer and an easy evergreen (or nothing at all) over winter, to give some variation. Keep it simple as you'll be busy enough with your children.
Keep the back garden for plants which need more attention, as you'll be in that more with the youngsters
Last edited: 04 March 2017 10:06:28
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I had two manhole covers in my last front garden and just stood pots on them, filled with hardy bulbs and pansies for winter and easy maintenance pelargoniums for summer as they don't need much watering.
I would agree with Buttercup about losing the grass altogether and improving the soil by forking in some compost. There are often special offers on large bags of cheap multi purpose compost which would improve the texture of your clay. Then cover with a weed suppressing membrane with cross slits for planting shrubs and then spread gravel to tone with your house bricks or slate chippings if you want a contrast. As long as you go for a large grade they should stay put.
As your soil is alkaline, you could use Verdun's suggestion of a lavender edge but you would need to break up the clay with some fine grit and compost as they need good drainage. Don't like wet feet. You won't be able to grow acid lovers such as rhododendron, azalea and camellia but there are plenty of other shrubs that will love it and give you colour and perfume.
Have a look at mahonia Charity and Winter Beauty - evergreen foliage and scented yellow flowers in winter followed by blue-ish berries in summer; hydrangea paniculata forms - flowers on new season's growth so can be pruned back every spring to encourage new flowering stems; viburnum Bodnantense Dawn - scented pink flowers thru winter. For ground cover, have a look at forms of hardy geranium - lots of flower colours plus different forms and colours of foliage. You just need to cut them back after flowering to encourage fresh new foliage and maybe more flowers. Bees love them.
The RHS website has a plant search facility that lets you enter soil type, aspect etc and then suggests suitable plants but the most important thing to do is to improve the soil first so whatever you do choose will thrive with little after care once planted.
PS - If you don't want to do the membrane thing, just cover all the bare soil after planting with a good layer of bark chippings. It'll be cheaper and they will eventually break down into the soil but it'll be easier to add plats later on or change teh scheme as taste, time and budget allow and you can refresh the chippings. Buy the large size to stop them blowing away.
You can also buy small pots of bulbs in flower quite cheaply at the mo. Enjoy them in the house then grow them on with liquid feed and water till the leaves finish feeding the bulbs for next year and then plant them out - or wait till next autumn and buy different varieties.