Help design my garden

Paul Tergat

Hi all,

I had a read of the forum charter and think I am ok to do this... mods if not just let me know and I will take down.

I bought a new build and have a somewhat oddly shaped garden that at the moment just has a newly seeded lawn, c. 1 month since seeded but plenty of grass growing bar a few patches which i will reseed this weekend.

I am looking for some ideas on what to do with it - very very very rough picture done in paint attached to give some idea.

This is a bit of a blank canvas and I am willing to listen to any ideas. I suppose the things that I am looking for some specific help on are:

- plants / flowers to use. I am a total gardening novice so want something that is relatively low maintenance but will give some colour. I was thinking of having some shrubs / small hedges type of plants along the fence at the south fence of the garden, putting in some flowers into the raised bed.

- was thinking of putting on some trellis on the west wall (the walls are pretty high!) with some plants that would cascade down. Any ideas on what sort of plants / flowers?

- thinking of having a garden shed (which is required) on the north wall of the house which will sit toward the north east corner of the garden (is it an issue this being quite close to the gate that leads to entry to teh garden? safety?)

- i do want to leave quite a bit of space in the lawn for running around (have a 7 month old so want some space for her to play). Likely be a swing / slide set going in down the line when she is a bit older.

- not interested in having a vegetable patch - too much work at this stage of my life!

- would like a garden bench, likely against one of the walls. Would it be weird to have this on the path at the bottom left of the image against the wall of the house? thinking of somewhere that doesnt take up a lot of room and might be in the sun noting aspect of the garden.

- any ideas on a basic water feature like a fountain? are these hard to put in / expensive for a relatively basic setup?

I don't really have a budget as such but just looking for some ideas. You might tell I'm a bit all over the place having never done this before but would love to hear some thoughts.

looksee

The fence at the south end of the garden will be north facing - it will not get any southerly sun and only a bit of sun from the west - so it is the least likely place for flower beds. You can make a very nice bed provided you make sure you get plants that will cope with a north facing situation. Ferns, hellebores, some roses, there are possibilities, easiest thing is to google for ideas.

Your garden bench would be ideally placed on the house wall as it will be facing west and, once you are a few meters away from the fence, will get south sun also. Some flowerbeds around the patio area would be nice and would be well situated for sun. Depending on how wide the garden is the wall to the west - the one that is parallel to the house will get some sun from the south but the shadow of the house will stop morning sun, and the wall itself will stop sun from the west. Still a good few opportunities for planting, pretty much anything that would grow in woodland will be good, plus a good range of other plants that do not specifically require full sun. Annuals and summer plants that need sun will be fine in your planter, it will need plenty of water as it might be inclined to dry out, but it could be very colourful.

Leave the water feature for the moment, not a great combination with a toddler and you will probably find it is switched on less than you might expect.

The shed would seem to be well placed in the north east corner, how it would affect access is hard to say from the diagram.