Last year we bought our first house which was a complete fixer upper inside and out. A lot of manual labour later on the inside, we have spent this spring and summer becoming very much beginner gardeners and attempting to fix up the very large garden we have front and back. We’re so lucky to have gotten such a big outside space but very much new to gardening. Plenty of mistakes and lessons learned along the way, but today we ripped down the old rotted shed and installed a new one. Would love some ideas as to what to do in the areas to the back and side of it? Limited light due to trees/shed. Will be removing the tarpaulin and rubbish today as we have a skip but it mostly just clay earth underneath. Bonus pic of the planter my husband built and the plants I’ve been growing since spring this year 😊
by yootsicle
7 Comments
some ferns and let it go
Compost heap
On both sides, Ferns and Anemones, underplanted with English bluebells and Snake’s Head Fritillaria, lots and lots of bluebells and fritillaria.
Then on the left, a bug hotel. On the right, a wildlife pond.
Or if you need further storage, great space for that too.
Honestly, you won’t look behind the shed. You could put some shade loving plants behind there but you’re not likely to walk round and admire them. I use behind my shed to store stuff that doesn’t go in it, the incinerator bin, canes, spare big pots etc. You’ll soon accumulate stuff that will come in handy but needs to be out of the way. Love the plants you’ve been growing this year! Glad you’ve got the gardening bug!
You could add a sloping plastic roof which runs off over the back fence and the use it for wood storage
If you can source some fresh cut hardwood logs, innoculate with mushroom plugs. Raise on half pallets and leave them.
Reckon u/PorridgeO has it about right with regards to plants round the shed. The only thing to bear in mind is not to plant anything too big on the narrow side – you need to be able to get down there periodically to re-weatherproof it. With regards to the climber just have a look what’s out there (I find crocus.co.uk a good place to browse as it has good filters for sun/type/soil etc and has a good range of unusual things, although I don’t always buy from there as it’s pricey). The one thing you want to keep in mind is not to get anything too vigorous, or too big as it can quickly get out of hand – I have a chocolate vine that is lovely, but needs loads of hacking at to keep it in check and quickly gets out of hand if I slacken off. Nice work btw!