New to gardening

My mistake - was trying to turn the house round in my head to the same orientation as ours and totally confused myself !

More coffee needed

Ignore my comment - patio is in the best place

 

Dont worry I was doubting myself then lol

 

Just a quick question... we got the keys 3/4 weeks ago and the garden was just plain dirt... it's very quickly became a huge weed patch. What do you all recommend? Manual removal (there is a lot.....), weed killer (will this affect future plants?) Or another method?

Cheers

 

It's the far corner of the garden where the veg patch is located that looks like it will be shady, especially after the shed is constructed. The shed door location suggests it's probably a pent (mono-pitch) shed, but if a duo-pitch with the door in that location it will have very high eaves & ridge heights, making it even shadier.There also appears to be no pathway to that veg area.

The shed appears to be sited only about 12"/300mm from the rear boundary leaving an inadequate gap for maintenance (preservative treatment of boarding, weed removal, re-felting, etc.). The eaves/gutter projection into this small gap would make access for re-felting almost impossible. The ground between the shed and adjacent fencing is best covered with paving to help prevent self/bird sown saplings such as ash, sycamore, elder, etc. growing there. Cover the gaps between floor bearers with mesh/expanded metal lath to prevent ingress of vermin under the shed.

What's the shed door width? The path leading to it appears to be 24"/600mm wide, but the door on my tiny 6 x 4 foot shed is 670mm wide and the bracing on the rear requires it to be opened 180 degrees to take full advantage of the door frame width. On my 10 x 8 foot shed, the door width is 890mm. If using a shed for bicycles, motorbikes, or anything else that needs turning around to push it back up the path, it's more cost efficient to have that turning area outside the shed, rather than taking up space inside it.

Where's the back gate into the garden?

Depending on the previous use of the site, it may have been covered in weeds for years whilst planning consent was being obtained, and even after construction commenced and the topsoil was stripped and left in heaps until the garden areas were ready to be re-topsoiled, those heaps would have been covered in weeds dropping their seeds.

Or if there was insufficient original topsoil available on site, the developers would have used imported topsoil (excess from another development) which again is stored in weed covered heaps elswhere.

Weedkiller does not kill weed seeds which appear to be the problem...

Posting images of the weeds might help.

 

Yeah the point about the shed is valid and as said was a 3 minute sketch while at work. The veg patch will likely go.

Turning for bikes isnt required. I use it too store tools including a Bridgeport style Miller and small capstone lathe being the two biggest. I'm a draughtsman/ engineer by trade and do small milling and turning jobs on the side. Although looking at a 24 inch slab you may be right on the path being a little narrow. Access from the side path is along the house and would be located bottom left straight onto the patio area.

The site was previously untouched meadow/ field land... I've attached pictures of the worst corner. But most of the rest of the garden is starting to grow grass (not seeded by myself) and some small weeds

 

Unless there's some extra paving width in front of the door, every large item you take to the shed will have to be climbed around/over to get to the door, and possibly back around/over again. Plus the door will be able to open.

 

Yeah I've changed the pdf now. Your points are very valid. Will upload in a second

 

New file attached

 

Do you have photos of the style you want, along with pics of plants that you like ? That will help

I'd look to hide/break up the shed with taller plants or climbers - garden style will determine what to plant. You should also be going to your moms garden and scrounging as many plants as you can from there. There are sure to be plants to split. Save them in planters / buckets until youre ready for planting - make a note of they height and spread so that you can plan its position

 

I'll be going to my moms later so will take some pictures. Her garden is 3 or 4 times the size of mine though... so not sure what would be suitable and not overpowering in mine.

Yeah climbers are definitely wanted on the shed. As I'm aware it's big for the garden but I need it too store my tools and machinery. So it will need too stay

 

And not exactly like the photo below but similar... where I have high plants/ shrubs up the back covering the fence. With shorter plants at the front to fill in the lower space. Something to break up having to look at two timber fences and a shed basically. I do not know anything about gardening other than I love visiting my mom and sitting in hers... there's a lot too learn.

Is there any books suited for a total beginner?

 

I have a 10 x 8 shed in my smallish garden (plus a greenhouse) and it wasn't big enough, so I added a 4 x 6 shed just for my apple pressing equipment + 100's of bottles of juice, then added 2 bicycle stores, but my 10 x 8 is still crammed with stuff. 14 x 8 is a great shed.

I ran my own underground armoured cable down to my and installed all the power/lighting myself in the days before it was illegal to do so without Building Regs approval (despite having a copy of the IEE Regs on my desk and writing electrical installation specifications.

 

Luckily both my uncle and best friend are sparks... so between them I will be sorted. And yeah I'm hoping 14x8 will be a good size but the Miller alone needs a 4x4 space... the lathe 5x3.... so will soon fill up lol. Specially as I have my eye on a few other bits and bods... mainly a shaper and donkey saw. But I'm not prepared to sacrifice more garden so I'll see how I get on

 

Pictures of my moms garden I keep banging on about.... obviously it looks even nicer in summer

 

As a bit of an update after my initial sketch I've been looking online for inspiration and have evolved it significantly... any feedback welcome. FYI the beige part is not decking.... I'm planning on York stone patio with York stone stepping stones surrounded by gravel