Fancy helping me design my front garden?
Discussion
Right then folks, house work is done, now it's onto the gardens. Rear is being done next year, due to time & funds, so this year it's the front garden and driveway. Now the front is not horrendous by any means, but we don't like it, I'll let the photos do the talking:
Excuse the lad, he can't not be in a photo (and yes, the driveway needs cleaning). The area is around 6m x 6m.
Things we don't like:
Grass is dead, and the soil underneath is lumpy as hell
Pampas grass, hate it
Plant by the driveway, overgrown and difficult to trim
The matting under the gravel has failed in several places
Being a 70's build there's also a nice slab of concrete under the front window
I really struggle to envisage things, so struggling to come up with ideas for it. Anyone with a bit more experience got any ideas?
Excuse the lad, he can't not be in a photo (and yes, the driveway needs cleaning). The area is around 6m x 6m.
Things we don't like:
Grass is dead, and the soil underneath is lumpy as hell
Pampas grass, hate it
Plant by the driveway, overgrown and difficult to trim
The matting under the gravel has failed in several places
Being a 70's build there's also a nice slab of concrete under the front window
I really struggle to envisage things, so struggling to come up with ideas for it. Anyone with a bit more experience got any ideas?
Drive is getting cleaned after the front garden is done, ideally I'd have a whole new driveway, but it goes down the side of the house too and is around 60m2, so $$$$. We need to keep a gravel strip down the side of the lawned area next to the driveway, as its a bit of a squeeze getting the kids into the car without walking all over the grass. Other than that I'm considering getting a mate down with his mini digger and ripping the lot out. The missus floated the idea of a rockery with plants dotted about, do people still have rockeries?
If it was me, I would get a driveway company to come in and extend it by safe 1.5m (they should be able to match the bricks) thus getting rid of the gravel area (or cat litter tray as it would be around our way). If possible i'd get rid of the concrete under the window and have it all matching.
Jet wash the block paving.
Then I would either relay it all to lawn with a nice acer tree in the middle for a bit of colour or put some box hedging up if you wanted a bit of privacy
You could also look at some raised plant beds to give it a of a bit structure?
Jet wash the block paving.
Then I would either relay it all to lawn with a nice acer tree in the middle for a bit of colour or put some box hedging up if you wanted a bit of privacy
You could also look at some raised plant beds to give it a of a bit structure?
I'm not sure I would take out all the bushes, but the pampas would have to go if you're not into that lifestyle...
Trim the bush(es)
as they're too large, and perhaps remove the turf, putting membrane & stones/slate chippings down with some flowering plants in there too?
A rockery sounds very 70s, and I think they'd need a lot of work to keep them looking tidy - tons of plants, too?
I thoguth that too! Odd shapes, huh?!
Trim the bush(es)
as they're too large, and perhaps remove the turf, putting membrane & stones/slate chippings down with some flowering plants in there too? A rockery sounds very 70s, and I think they'd need a lot of work to keep them looking tidy - tons of plants, too?
Alucidnation said:
More to the point, who the f
k signed off on the design of those two houses down the road?
k signed off on the design of those two houses down the road?I thoguth that too! Odd shapes, huh?!
If it was mine I would dig it all up, put 30mm artificial grass down (get real if you have a nice big area in back garden), rip the cladding off front of house and replace with cedral weatherboard (I'll let you choose the colour), jet wash block pave, maybe change border upto gate to brighten it up, reuse blocks to extend. Brings the whole front up to date.
We're in Derby.
Back garden is a mix of 70's concrete paths & sloping lawn. We're going to have a large patio area by the house, and use that ground to level out the lawned area, using large sleepers as a retaining wall. The rest if just dressing, raised flower beds made from sleepers, new fencing etc.
Anyway, front lawn. I think extending the driveway rather than gravel is a good shout, the drive has sunk in places so needs some repair work anyway, could all be done at the same time. That way I'll get my slightly larger driveway, and will have less garden to sort out. Once that's done, to save on complexity, turfing the rest is probably the best idea. The driveway only needs to be slightly bigger, it's just about ok for now, but if either of us got a larger car we'd struggle.
Also, the houses over the road, yes I know! Every single person that comes to visit comments on them, they're all down the street too so we have to look at them out the front window. 70's builds though, brick shortage, hence the rather fetching tiling on the front of mine.
Back garden is a mix of 70's concrete paths & sloping lawn. We're going to have a large patio area by the house, and use that ground to level out the lawned area, using large sleepers as a retaining wall. The rest if just dressing, raised flower beds made from sleepers, new fencing etc.
Anyway, front lawn. I think extending the driveway rather than gravel is a good shout, the drive has sunk in places so needs some repair work anyway, could all be done at the same time. That way I'll get my slightly larger driveway, and will have less garden to sort out. Once that's done, to save on complexity, turfing the rest is probably the best idea. The driveway only needs to be slightly bigger, it's just about ok for now, but if either of us got a larger car we'd struggle.
Also, the houses over the road, yes I know! Every single person that comes to visit comments on them, they're all down the street too so we have to look at them out the front window. 70's builds though, brick shortage, hence the rather fetching tiling on the front of mine.
Agreed about extending the driveway - especially if it already needs a bit of work.
As for the rest of it, I'd keep it low maintenance, and add things like Cordylines which offer all year round colour at a relatively low cost. Add in membrane and a bit of gravel or slate into a sculpted border, and you're onto a simple winner.
A couple of the plants might be of interest to local gardeners, and you never know, they might even dig them up for you if they can have them... Mind you, if your mate has a mini digger, I know what I'd be doing!!
As for the rest of it, I'd keep it low maintenance, and add things like Cordylines which offer all year round colour at a relatively low cost. Add in membrane and a bit of gravel or slate into a sculpted border, and you're onto a simple winner.
A couple of the plants might be of interest to local gardeners, and you never know, they might even dig them up for you if they can have them... Mind you, if your mate has a mini digger, I know what I'd be doing!!
Well we've done stage 1, problem is we haven't fully decided on what stage 2 is!
Mr Driveway man is coming round next week to quote to re-do existing drive, and to extend into the garden area, probably by 1m. If the quote is reasonable we'll do that, if not we'll keep the garden the size it is. But we think the plan is:
Raised bedding area next to the house. The garden slopes left to right infront of the house, 4 bricks from one side to the other, so going with a raised area using sleepers to level this off and create a 'feature'. Along the front of the garden by the pavement, gravelled area, with some small plants and bushes, then turf between the 2. At least we think that's what we've decided on.
Mr Driveway man is coming round next week to quote to re-do existing drive, and to extend into the garden area, probably by 1m. If the quote is reasonable we'll do that, if not we'll keep the garden the size it is. But we think the plan is:
Raised bedding area next to the house. The garden slopes left to right infront of the house, 4 bricks from one side to the other, so going with a raised area using sleepers to level this off and create a 'feature'. Along the front of the garden by the pavement, gravelled area, with some small plants and bushes, then turf between the 2. At least we think that's what we've decided on.
Personally if you are going to extend the driveway then i'd make it big enough to get 3 cars on, even if you currently don't need that amount of parking. Avoid any lawn as it would be so small it would be a pain to mow. Take the 3rd parking space into an angle under the front window, pretty much where the current lan is, then surround with easy maintenance plants such as grasses and mulch with gravel to prevent weeds.
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