Back garden advice

Hi all,
Hope no-one minds me posting this here, but I'm just after some advice with my back garden.

Bit of background: our house is an end-terrace, east-facing. We have a tall redbrick wall which whilst pretty, it faces north (and so blocks some of the sunlight during the day, sadly!). It was not in a good state when we moved in just over a year ago: the old lady who owned it hadn't done anything back there for over 15 years she said, and the picture below tells you all you need to know!



As you can see, it's a mess. Now in the past year or so we've made some progress, this next picture was mid-way through the process last winter (also shows the lean-to, picture being taken from the back door).



Here is the same aspect today:



Not amazing, but much better I'm sure you'll agree! This is the exposed redbrick wall I mentioned. To the left of the garden (because the garden is in a '9' shape) is below, taken from an upstairs window.


To right hand side


The left hand side...


And the back.

As you can see the left hand side and the back needs work and this is what I want advice with. Actually scrap that, some general help is what I need

The main problems are:
- no overall style to garden
- beds overrun with weeds despite my best efforts over past year (bindweed, grr!)
- the concrete slabs I think are ugly, are uneven, and they are also in an irregular shape, ie slabs missing, etc as you can see.

There does appear to be some plants still in there which might be worth saving - no idea what they are (I'll get some details pics) but they are definitely not weeds!

I created this thread to initially ask about weed membrane for the weed-infested beds (it's why the beds have plants in pots on them, not planted in them!) but now I'm wondering this question:

If you had this garden, what would you do first? Tackle the layout of the paving? Create raised beds? I realise this is subjective but I'm genuinely as an impasse and needs others opinions!

Disclaimer: preferably if answers came with dummies instructions, as DIY (so far) isn't my expertise!

Thanks for any help/advice/guidance.

 

You lucky thing - that's a prime spot for a lovely courtyard garden. Personally I would re-pave it with some borders around the edges (possibly raised) and turn it into a lovely courtyard garden with lots of pots. You can get ideas off Google - and another one - pick which ones you like and try to emulate bits of them. If you are unsure about what to plant where, just ask

There are some gorgeous gardens on those links. You might even want to think about putting a nice water feature against that wall.

There are tons of beautiful plants which will grow in a shady spot so I wouldn't worry too much about the wall and in fact because it's sheltered, you may be able to grow some more tender plants which wouldn't grow in a more exposed spot.

Re the bindweed, I don't know how you are tackling it but don't try and dig it up - you'll just break up the roots which will then sprout up all over the place. Keep applying Roundup or other glyphosate based weedkiller every couple of weeks and eventually it should die off.

You might be better off asking one of our lovely mods to move this to the Garden Projects thread as it's less likely to get lost down the page and you'll be able to update us with your garden progress regularly - don't forget we need lots and lots of photos.

There is a thread somewhere about someone else on here who developed a lovely courtyard garden but I can't remember who it was - maybe someone can help you out with the link.

 

Oh, as @merleworld as said, that could be a beautiful courtyard garden!

I would get a layout sketched out on some paper, marking sun patterns (eg do you get shade from surrounding buildings). What do you want to grow? Lots and lots of plants, or flowers, or veg, colour, or lush greenery? Do you want to be able to potter for hours, or an easy-maintenance gardenin, which you will mainly sit in? Lit at night?

Once you know what you want from your garden, and what you are prepared to give in return, then you can decide how much paving and gravel, v beds you want. I would be looking to lift the existing paving, and relay it where you want it to be. They do look nicely weathered, so it might be worth trying to salvage them? I would go for a mix of low-level beds, and raised beds, as this will immediately give some interest. You have a stunning established fern there - I would deffo keep that!

Have a look in your local library/second hand book shops, as there are a number of good design idea books out there. Some are strong on hard structures, others more relaxed.

Personally, I am not a fan of weed membrane. It always seems to show, however carefully it is covered, and the weeds still grow, but very close to your planting, so harder to pull out. I also love self-sown plants, and it slows them down.... I would go for a mix of slabs and quite deep gravel.

 

Thanks to you both - apologies for my lax reply, real life got in the way this week!

Happy to hear you think I should keep some of what I've got already - always a plus! We're actually getting French windows fitted to our dining room which overlooks the garden (currently a small window) and getting the ground re-levelled into the garden - hopefully in the next few months, so when that is done I can work out the layout a bit more for the back.

I really really like the idea of some low/middle raised beds, and re-patio-ing of the concrete area. I ran this past my better half and her exact words were "you can do what you want with it, as long as it looks nice at the end". Music to my ears! Imagination running riot especially having perused everyone elses gardens/flowers in the varying thread on here.

There are quite a few plants there I have no idea what they are... I'll take some photos this weekend and upload the photos - no idea whether to keep or ditch. The photos above aren't good enough to show what I mean.

Deffo will keep the fern though - re: the fern, and the grassy thing on the right in the last picture which I also don't know what it is (technical words coming out ) how easy would it be do you think to dig up these and transplant into raised beds when the time comes to it?

 

It was simon n's garden - threads are here and here showing end results.