I recently bought my first house in south England and have neglected the garden since moving in. I’m now trying to get it looking great, starting with cutting everything back and clearing up weeds (there’s still a lot of work to do, especially on the patio). I’m now at a point where I can properly see what I’m working with and I’m a little stuck and was hoping for some advice.
There are a few things giving me trouble:
· The garden is sloped and soil runs off slightly at the end where there’s gravel. In the past there was a wood padel for an edge but it has rotted and needs replacing. I don’t like how it looks but am struggling for ideas on how to improve it.
· The gravel area and the steps leading down to an alley behind our house look messy. The steps are in the centre which makes it really hard to do anything with either side. Any ideas would be appreciated.
· Flowerbeds – There’s an established flowerbed on the right side of the garden that I’m planning to expand slighty by making it do a gentle curve outward into the lawn from the patio. I think it will make it about 50% bigger and give us room to work with. On the left side it looks like there used to be a flowerbed but it was overgrown by grass. I’ve pulled out dead grass and deweeded it and now plan to turn this into a flowerbed too. There are thick grape vines and a rose vine in the right flowerbed that I will likely dig up as they grow so fast and messily (you can see the results of my last cutback in some of the pictures).
· Flowerbed problems – currently the flowerbed is level with the lawn. I was initially planning to lower the flowerbed and create a neat edge along the lawn, however I realised the patio is held in place by a concrete thingy that sticks out and lowering the flowerbed may reveal this even more. Now I’m thinking about raising the flowerbed instead but I could use the advice of someone with experience.
· Patio – the patio is crumbling in places and very uneven. I’m thinking of getting it replaced but that will likely be a couple of years away. What can I do to improve it now, particularly around where it connects to the lawn and the concrete support is exposed.
Any advice would be very appreciated. I’m desperate for ideas and any precautions I should take to avoid a disaster.
Breaking-Dad-
Which way does the garden face? In your pictures the patio is in shade and the bottom of the garden is in the sun but I don’t know if it is morning or evening! I’d be tempted to use one of the gravel bits for some seating for whenever the sun is there. If the evening sun is at the bottom of the garden I’d consider moving the seating down there anyway. At that point you could consider getting rid of some of the patio by the house. You might need some sort of balustrade to stop you falling down the steps though. Of course you might be able to get a small greenhouse on there instead if you like the idea of some home grown tomatoes.
I’d be tempted to see if you raise the lawn rather than lower the flowerbed. If possible you want to be able to run the mower over the edge of the patio when you cut. You would need to put something at the bottom end – would sleepers work? Then get a whole load of topsoil and try and level the grass and turf the top maybe?
The patio you can clean up with some Algon to remove the green and then a power washer. Then put some sand in the cracks. It will keep you going for a little while until you re-do it.
I’ll leave planting to other people, that’s my wife’s side of things.
2 Comments
I recently bought my first house in south England and have neglected the garden since moving in. I’m now trying to get it looking great, starting with cutting everything back and clearing up weeds (there’s still a lot of work to do, especially on the patio). I’m now at a point where I can properly see what I’m working with and I’m a little stuck and was hoping for some advice.
There are a few things giving me trouble:
· The garden is sloped and soil runs off slightly at the end where there’s gravel. In the past there was a wood padel for an edge but it has rotted and needs replacing. I don’t like how it looks but am struggling for ideas on how to improve it.
· The gravel area and the steps leading down to an alley behind our house look messy. The steps are in the centre which makes it really hard to do anything with either side. Any ideas would be appreciated.
· Flowerbeds – There’s an established flowerbed on the right side of the garden that I’m planning to expand slighty by making it do a gentle curve outward into the lawn from the patio. I think it will make it about 50% bigger and give us room to work with. On the left side it looks like there used to be a flowerbed but it was overgrown by grass. I’ve pulled out dead grass and deweeded it and now plan to turn this into a flowerbed too. There are thick grape vines and a rose vine in the right flowerbed that I will likely dig up as they grow so fast and messily (you can see the results of my last cutback in some of the pictures).
· Flowerbed problems – currently the flowerbed is level with the lawn. I was initially planning to lower the flowerbed and create a neat edge along the lawn, however I realised the patio is held in place by a concrete thingy that sticks out and lowering the flowerbed may reveal this even more. Now I’m thinking about raising the flowerbed instead but I could use the advice of someone with experience.
· Patio – the patio is crumbling in places and very uneven. I’m thinking of getting it replaced but that will likely be a couple of years away. What can I do to improve it now, particularly around where it connects to the lawn and the concrete support is exposed.
Any advice would be very appreciated. I’m desperate for ideas and any precautions I should take to avoid a disaster.
Which way does the garden face? In your pictures the patio is in shade and the bottom of the garden is in the sun but I don’t know if it is morning or evening! I’d be tempted to use one of the gravel bits for some seating for whenever the sun is there. If the evening sun is at the bottom of the garden I’d consider moving the seating down there anyway. At that point you could consider getting rid of some of the patio by the house. You might need some sort of balustrade to stop you falling down the steps though. Of course you might be able to get a small greenhouse on there instead if you like the idea of some home grown tomatoes.
I’d be tempted to see if you raise the lawn rather than lower the flowerbed. If possible you want to be able to run the mower over the edge of the patio when you cut. You would need to put something at the bottom end – would sleepers work? Then get a whole load of topsoil and try and level the grass and turf the top maybe?
The patio you can clean up with some Algon to remove the green and then a power washer. Then put some sand in the cracks. It will keep you going for a little while until you re-do it.
I’ll leave planting to other people, that’s my wife’s side of things.