I have a long garden that I would like to improve - I have completely returfed a year and a half ago, and laid some wooden edging (please don't laugh!). My problem is that I am a complete novice and need some help deciding what to do down the left hand side (and all over to improve the overall appearance).
Ideally I would have liked to have a flower border alongside the hedge but I am afraid that it won't get enough sunlight, and that I won't be able to cut the hedge either. We have a northerly facing garden so the left hand side only gets a few hours in the morning.
I can't afford to take down the hedge and put in a fence so that is out. Any ideas/tips would be great. Am trying to reseed some of the patchy areas on my lawn too.
I would not be inclined to plant a long thin garden in front of the hedge even if it would grow there, the place will look even more like a rifle range. Consider perenials and shrubs in largeish clumps at several places down the yard to break up the long thin straight look and make the outlook more interesting. This would give some little nooks to sit in if you have nice weather. Put the taller plants to the back near the hedge. You will be able to get some that suit your climate that will have interesting folliage or flower in part sun. It cannot be that dark if the grass is growing OK. Also some taller shrubs in front of that shed (which is no beauty) and/or maybe a climber/scrambler over it. And how about some veges or dwarf fruit trees on the sunny side? Some veges look really good as well as being tasty.
The photo appears to be from an upper floor and there is a deck near ground level. If that is so plan your layout so that it looks good from both points of view. As for the patchy lawn if you have little children that need to play I suppose you are stuck with it, otherwise consider growing something more interesting that will be less work in the long run. With a small yard like that you could eventually do away with the mower and all it entails altogether.
On the left (west) side I would eliminate the border and extend the lawn right to the hedge. That hedge defines a sharper, cleaner edge than the border does, so the border there actually detracts from the design value of the hedge. That's a fine hedge, by the way; do you know how to maintain it? It will need regular clipping, a nuisance job to do across a flower bed.
I would break up the lawn into "rooms", with a meandering passage from room to room. That would involve a bed or two extending from the hedge into the lawn, and from the fence into the lawn. Given the hedge and fence, you have "partial shade" conditions. Not too bad. Consider that when a vertical barrier behind a garden bed is in shade, flowers on tall slender stems really POP. Think tall varieties of poppy, daffodil, iris, tulip, daylily, etc. I have daffodils where for several hours each afternoon the flowers are in full sun but the wall behind them is shaded. The flowers look fabulous.
Beds running into the lawn will get more sun than up against the hedge/fence.
Against the fence I would grow climbing roses or other plants that can make use of the fence and cover it.
How do you use the space? How do you want to use it? Go sit at various spots around the garden, perhaps with a drink in hand, and simply contemplate the space around you. Ideas will come to you. Do you want it formal, informal? Elegant? Cosy? Spare? Full? Low maintenance? Water conserving? Perennial?
I see pale cool colors in the bed under the red fence. Change the color of the fence, or change the colors in the bed. Lots of garden design books illustrate color combinations that work well. I think those flowers would look better against the hedge.
Do I see a step in the grass back there? Someone is going to get hurt.
I would move the rotary clothesline behind the cedar(?) so I don't see it. Can you rotate the shed 90 degrees, so the door opens to cement pad back there? Does it have windows also on the side now against the hedge? I would rotate it and move it forward (south) a few feet so it is up against the edge of the pad. I would have a flower bed (more roses, very tall hollyhocks?) in front of it. The roof of the shed will give that bed a little extra water than other parts of the yard.
I'd remove the bush that is growing up in the cedar; the tree is a very elegant plant, by itself. If you have any desire for a little topiary in your garden, or some Zen rocks, that's where it should go.
That's exactly what I was th> I would break up the lawn into "rooms", with a meandering passage
Yes, I need to th> Against the fence I would grow climbing roses or other plants that
To answer your questi> I see pale cool colors in the bed under the red fence. Change
The fence and shed will be pa> Do I see a step in the grass back there? Someone is going to get > hurt. >
Unfortunately, the shed will have to stay put. Here is a picture to give you a better idea of what the back looks like (just filled a builder's skip full of rubbish from the back).
Egg80, if you plan to stay only 2 years you should decide right now if you want to do a fast makeover so the garden looks fabulous when it goes on the market, or do you want to keep it simple?
Given the house is cream with "redwood" trim, I would leave the shed and fence paint alone. Their current color is keyed to the house trim and it looks pretty good to me.
I would focus attention on the hedge, and on filling out the rather empty looking beds under the fence. As you are beginners and not planning to stay long, consider filling the fence beds with some pretty annuals from a garden shop. See what you like.
The hedge looks like it needs fertilizer, more water, a little pruning, and some organic mulch.
It looks like the neighbor has a low wall on the other side of the hedge, but there are some holes in the wall, with flagstones (or broken cement) covering the holes from your side. Did the neighbor put them there, or the previous occupant of your house? Discuss with the neighbor repairing the holes in the wall or covering them from the neighbor's side, maybe with rectangles of plywood slipped between the wall and the neighbor's side of the hedge, while you encourage the hedge to grow into the gaps.
It looks like someone on your side of the hedge cut it back to the stems last year. This year, many new twigs will grow from the stems. I would rake all the stones and trash from the soil between the hedge and grass, then work compost and/or chemical fertilizer into the soil, then apply grass seed. You may want to match the seed to your turf. Watering the grass seed will also water the hedge.
Egg80 wrote:
That's too bad. The approach to the shed door is both constrained by the step in the lawn, and blocked by the clothesline. I would find that highly annoying. Can you put a new door on the backside and "forget" the front door?
You aren't ready to start making major changes to the garden, until deciding on some key questions like your preferred style and detailed use. In a long narrow property one normal strategy so to split the space into two parts, a front garden and a back garden, with a visual barrier between the two. However, you have that huge tree at the midpoint. From the new photos I guess it is a yew ... that has been sheared? Anyway, it will cause the middle of the garden to be more shaded than the rest in summer.
One way to see how flowers and shade edges work together, you can get a few survey flags (bits of plastic on long stiff wires) at a hardware store and stick them here and there and move them around.
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