Where do I start (a cry for gardening help)

comete

Wife and I bought a seaside house in Enniscrone coming on 3 years ago now, an ex-holiday home, so the garden was low maintenance in that there is nothing other than grass (not lawn, grass, that seems to grow at a rapid rate). We’ve done absolutely nothing more than try to keep on top of cutting the grass in that time, and any time we consider going at it, we get overwhelmed (neither of us are green fingered or massively creative).

It’s a decent sized plot but it’s an unusual shape and on a gradient, and it’s exposed to the Atlantic winds in pretty much all directions. It’s currently not a massively pleasant place to spend time in that it just looks like a field that the cows haven’t been let into yet.

I want to add a garden office, but I don’t know where best to place it, and we want to plant trees/hedges that are resilient enough to survive in these conditions, but will also offer good protection from the wind in a relatively short space of time. I’d be happy to lose 50% of the lawn to gravel/pavement.

Where do I start? Are there landscape architecture services that can advise on layout and suitable trees/plants? I’m happy enough to get my hands dirty if I had a bit of guidance on where to start.

wildwillow

There are lots of landscape people but I’ve found they design their own type of garden unless you are very sure of what you want.

Walk around your neighbourhood and note successful planting, and plants and trees which are thriving in those conditions. This is the best guide to your planting scheme. I garden inland and would not have a clue how to manage salt and wind damage. Visit any local open gardens. Strike up a conversation with any gardener you spy and they will most likely give you advice. See if there is a local gardening group and make full use of local garden centres for advice.

Don’t accept any plant donations of “it grows anywhere” - you’ll be forever trying to control it.

Decide if you want an outdoor dining and relaxing area and again consider shelter and sun. Site the office convenient to the house but not too intrusive.

If you want to cut down on the grass you could consider a gravel garden with low plants and even driftwood and stones.

Browse lots of seaside gardens. Then when you’ve got a better idea of what you want you can consider a landscape architect.

Oscar_Madison

There’s certainly landscape services available where I live on the east of the island - there’s a few companies specialising in garden clearance and replanting so if you were close by I’d recommend the guys I use as they’re good and also reasonably priced. So first port of call is ask the locals what they have done, especially if you come across a very well put together garden and outdoor area.

However, it will cost you no matter who you go with so choose wisely and plan plan plan

Here’s a link that might be useful for you to free landscape software but there’s loads out there and I remember using a free one years ago and it at least gave me a reference point to start with- as you gain clarity around what you want and don’t want, that might be the time to engage with a professional.,There are lots of people newly qualified in this area as it’s a growing industry (excuse the pun) so you might get some eager beavers- also check local colleges if they are doing garden design as you’ll get enthusiastic students looking to do their project.

https://www.thespruce.com/free-garden-planners-1357749

For me I’d actually start with planning your office site first and get that where you want it.

If it’s a cabin, you’ll want some level of shade from the summer sun as it will get hot there but obviously you’ll need to plan things like electrics and potentially , mains (toilet and water?) etc so those things might dictate your location to a degree - talk to a local firm or national firm that services your are that specialises in home offices- they’ll set you straight on what you need and the cost.

Then decide maybe a barbecue or recreation area, south or west facing if possible so you get whatever sun there is for the longest possible time on a summers day. So again, that’s dictating certain aspects to you which is good as you can then work between certain confines and criteria - it helps make it less overwhelming.

Youll start to find that you’re “eating up” the space in the garden - only when your needs are met - ie a shed? Parking area? Pathway? Herb garden? that you should then turn your attention to what’s left of the space.

Only then, start considering how you might provide shelter from wind etc for your chosen areas. Ie tress shrubs etc

Take it one step at a time- you could make expensive mistakes so no need to do everything- start with the priories and get those right but keep in mind your desired outcome for the whole landscape at the same time .

-but short term I’d say map things out using the simplist to use software you can find or just draw it out on a page - it will really help you start to generate ideas- if you adhere to “it’s a marathon not a race” you won’t go far wrong

MacDanger

A photo or sketch might help you to get some more input here I'd say.

I'd say decide what size the home office might be and where you would want to locate it - could it be used as a wind break also? What sort of structure will it be? A prefabbed unit or building from scratch?

Along with that, consider what else you'd want to use the garden for:

• BBQ
• Seating area
• Footballs / kids' games
• Vegetables / herb garden
• etc.

Once you have an idea of the different "areas" you want to have in the garden, you can see where they'd go best in terms of light/wind/views, etc. and that should give you a decent plan of the garden. Then you get on to what sort of planting you want to do in it and as others have said, looking in local gardens is probably your best bet as not everything will thrive in a seaside location.

Good luck with it