Garden landscaping ideas
Discussion
We moved in to a new house just over a year ago. It needed a lot of interior updating which took a lot of our money. With the interior about 90% done and spring in the air (last week), our attention is turning towards the garden.
Neither my wife nor I are gardeners. So I'm looking for ideas what to do with the space. As we aren't gardeners we have no interest in plants that require maintenance or anything that will require weeding. We want to have somewhere to sit and relax on the rare sunny days, the odd barbecue and my wife and kids love having a fire on the odd clear cold midge filled evening.
I'm pretty handy so can turn my hand to most things. Never laid paving or done proper groundwork though. We only have a budget of £5000 so realise I'm going to need to do a lot of work myself.
Would appreciate ideas or photos of what you've done with your garden. Photos below. The garden is roughly 22m x 17m mostly flat, north facing but as we're in a bungalow the garden gets the sun all day in summer.



Neither my wife nor I are gardeners. So I'm looking for ideas what to do with the space. As we aren't gardeners we have no interest in plants that require maintenance or anything that will require weeding. We want to have somewhere to sit and relax on the rare sunny days, the odd barbecue and my wife and kids love having a fire on the odd clear cold midge filled evening.
I'm pretty handy so can turn my hand to most things. Never laid paving or done proper groundwork though. We only have a budget of £5000 so realise I'm going to need to do a lot of work myself.
Would appreciate ideas or photos of what you've done with your garden. Photos below. The garden is roughly 22m x 17m mostly flat, north facing but as we're in a bungalow the garden gets the sun all day in summer.



As nice as that is it's not for us. It's a garden that indicates someone with green fingers. That's definitely not us. In fact, the garden in our last house looked something like that when we moved in and within a few years it looked more like Jurassic park. We ended up having to pay someone to sort it out for us as we discovered we both hate gardening.
My wife, a retired garden designer, agrees with much of B-U's post. Additionally, she says two things.
1. Do a soil test to make sure you fill beds with plants that will feel at home and grow well
2. Against walls and fences, plant evergreens that grow to a medium manageable height eg trachelospernum jasminoides for walls , and several grisalinia make a good hedging and wind breaking plantation (much better than privet and laurel).
R.
1. Do a soil test to make sure you fill beds with plants that will feel at home and grow well
2. Against walls and fences, plant evergreens that grow to a medium manageable height eg trachelospernum jasminoides for walls , and several grisalinia make a good hedging and wind breaking plantation (much better than privet and laurel).
R.
At the other end of the spectrum, ours is as close to zero maintenance as we could get. The planters have hardy grasses, a few agapanthus, bamboo, all supplied by an irrigation system so it doesn't even need watering. And plastic grass which is a godsend when you have 2 dogs, that s
t a lot!
Appreciate it's on a very different scale, perhaps some ideas.


Appreciate it's on a very different scale, perhaps some ideas.

Boo-urns said:
First off, that’s an amazing space – you can do loads with that!
Now, here’s the kicker. Anything, and I mean anything, you do with that space will require some form of maintenance, so to say you want something maintenance-free is unrealistic. Even if you were to concrete the whole area, you’d still need to sweep it from time to time!
A better question would be how much maintenance are you prepared to do? Mow a lawn once a week? Do some occasional weeding? Again, I know you said you don’t want to do any weeding, but you can’t really avoid this if you want anything resembling a garden.
Anyway, here’s my two cents:
1. Decide where you want your patio and how big you want it. Which direction does your garden point? Which bits get the sun and when? Then draw it out on a piece of paper.
2. Lay your patio. There’s loads of guidance online as to how to do this and what materials are best. Any fit able-bodied person with a modicum of DIY ability can do this, so you can keep your costs down here. Think about adding a path to the garage as well.
3. Keep the remainder as lawn. Pound-for-pound, this is the cheapest, lowest maintenance option. You can always change this later.
4. Cut a large border around the edge of the garden (at least six feet deep) and fill it with large shrubs. This will soften the edges of the garden and add some visual interest.
Do not entertain astroturf. It looks awful, degrades quickly and requires a lot of maintenance to stay looking neat.
The same applies to decking. Just don’t.
If you really don't want to do any maintenance, get someone to come round every week/couple of weeks, at least in the summer, and tidy it up/mow the lawn/weed the borders etc.. It won’t be too expensive and it will keep your garden looking presentable.
I'm alright with mowing the lawn every couple of weeks. Bought myself a self propelled petrol mower last year which made it a bit more fun.Now, here’s the kicker. Anything, and I mean anything, you do with that space will require some form of maintenance, so to say you want something maintenance-free is unrealistic. Even if you were to concrete the whole area, you’d still need to sweep it from time to time!
A better question would be how much maintenance are you prepared to do? Mow a lawn once a week? Do some occasional weeding? Again, I know you said you don’t want to do any weeding, but you can’t really avoid this if you want anything resembling a garden.
Anyway, here’s my two cents:
1. Decide where you want your patio and how big you want it. Which direction does your garden point? Which bits get the sun and when? Then draw it out on a piece of paper.
2. Lay your patio. There’s loads of guidance online as to how to do this and what materials are best. Any fit able-bodied person with a modicum of DIY ability can do this, so you can keep your costs down here. Think about adding a path to the garage as well.
3. Keep the remainder as lawn. Pound-for-pound, this is the cheapest, lowest maintenance option. You can always change this later.
4. Cut a large border around the edge of the garden (at least six feet deep) and fill it with large shrubs. This will soften the edges of the garden and add some visual interest.
Do not entertain astroturf. It looks awful, degrades quickly and requires a lot of maintenance to stay looking neat.
The same applies to decking. Just don’t.
If you really don't want to do any maintenance, get someone to come round every week/couple of weeks, at least in the summer, and tidy it up/mow the lawn/weed the borders etc.. It won’t be too expensive and it will keep your garden looking presentable.
Weeding anything is a killer. We had a relatively small patio at our last place and I'd spend a weekend jet washing it and re-sending it every spring. Seemed like I'd then have to weed it again every couple of weeks. Our driveway (block paving) is the same. For this reason I have been wondering about composite decking.
I like the style of the above garden, like those sorts of grass/bamboo/palm plants as seem low maintenance.
Think we'll be keeping real grass. Was laughing at a neighbour last year out hoovering their astro turf with Henry and thought "nah! I'll stick with my mower"
Consider using raised beds with hardy, low-maintenance plants or even artificial grass to keep things easy. A fire pit area with some comfy seating is perfect for those evening hangouts. Since you’re handy, DIYing the groundwork and paving should help stretch that budget. For ideas or supplies, sites like https://topgradeenterprises.com/ might have some useful resources to explore.
Edited by Wintores on Monday 26th August 11:40
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