A blank canvas - overwhelmed

Hi all,

I'm determined not to make a design mess of my blank canvas of a back garden and would welcome any ideas that can help me create something good that I can develop for the long term. I've uploaded a photo of the garden (I'm clearing the end of the garden - none of that will be there) and a sketch to indicate light etc (I also get no sun on the patio but I forgot to add that). My main questions are ideas of what to plant and more importantly, where, as well as how to shape the garden as a whole.

I think the look I'd like to eventually achieve is year round interest and colour, and a softness of shape to detract from the corridor feel of the garden and from the harsh fence angles. Last year the garden was mainly used for having friends round and eating in the garden etc so I guess I'd be hoping to create something fairly vibrant and interesting.

It's north facing, around 90ft long and the width of your average semi-detached plot. I'm not sure on the soil type, but I would say it's not too heavy, not sandy, and has quite a lot of stones. The soil was similar at the front and after improving it a year ago, it responded well and some overgreens and roses amogst other things have grown nicely - a fortnightly hoeing and weeding is the main maintenance out front. I've got some ideas for what to do in the back garden but I'm very unsure of it all, as well as not having money to waste on big mistakes. I've struggled to start planning from scratch, and a quote from a garden consultant to come over and advise shocked me - I couldn't afford it. I'm using a RHS book as well, which has helped with some basic guiding principles like colours and the function of a garden. I'm not skilled at this scale of ideas, so if anyone can give me a hand to kick start my thoughts I'd be very grateful. Being realistic, once I've done all the work, I could probably give around 2 hours each week to ongoing maintenance, and the garden needs to handle the odd holiday without being tended to. At the moment the garden looks very bleak and harsh. I have my brick garage in the garden so it's partly this that makes the garden look hard and unwelcoming. The fence to the right on the image is around 6.5ft or so. The fence on the left that is behind the garage is only about 3.5-4ft - the downside to this is that I am unlikely to create somewhere to sit at the end of the garden, due to lack of privacy (even though our neighbours are lovely!). I've tended to sit shielded by the garage - which whilst private, is not an attractive viewpoint. I'm not sure whether I would raise the fence, as I'd lose even more sun from the garden; it's a trade off.


From what I've seen in others' gardens, I love bright bold colours, large blooms, smaller flowers, contrasting or tonal matching of colour, layering of heights, evergreens, and year round interest. I am less keen on silver/grey/ very muted tones and I don't want to include any water design elements.

My ideas include:

• Getting a water butt installed to deal with the expected demand for water particularly with newly planted aspects.
• Maybe I could get something for the garage wall to soften its look? Something less rampant than ivy perhaps?
• Making a border to the right that doesn't follow the line of the fence all the way at the corners but is softer and rounder in some way.
• There is a forshythia in the garden that I'd like to keep, but I'm not attached to the holly bush that is in the garden.
• I use rosemary a lot for cooking and mine hasn't done well in pots out the back so maybe I could plant this out somewhere, even though it's a more muted colour tone.
• I've been given a corylus red majestic and could plant that out somewhere.
• I'm keen on planting some kind of fruit tree/s as I like the idea of the garden being productive and these would provide some height to the planted garden eventually.
• I've got a hammock that I'd like to incorporate for use in the garden (anchored on a frame that will be removed and stored when not in use).

Thanks for looking at this - any inspiration gratefully received!

 

I'm going through a similar process myself. I too have the joys of a north facing back garden which is totally a blank canvass.

Looking at your picture, here's my ideas:

1. I think I'd start by dividing it into sections. Nothing too strong. Maybe some low growing shrubs making a rough line across in front of the patio, kind of between the far end of the garage and the fence on the right. I wouldn't make it a straight line, it would be very informal. Maybe have an arch way in it, with some sort of climber covering the arch.

2. I'd so something with the patio. Try to hide the manhole cover with gravel, or simply stick a big planter over it filled with flowers and/or a shrub. A good trick the wife and I discovered for containers is to stick a trailing ivy plant at the edge so that it trails over the sides, softening the edges.

3. Stick a big trellis on the side of the garage, and grow something up it.

If you're worried about shade (I note you said certain bits get no direct sunlight). Next time you go to B&Q, look in the books bit for 'Gardening in Shade' by Alan Titchmarsh, part of the 'How to garden' series. Its full of ideas and plant lists that are well suited to shady gardens. I think it was less than a tenner, which I think is money well spent.

 

Thanks clueless (though you're clearly not!),

I like your idea of shrubs to divide patio and grass - I'll have a look at some of the options.

I am not sure about containers down by the patio - it doesn't get any sun, and I wonder how much attention it would need to thrive there, especially if I were to go on hols.

I like the idea of a trellis on the garage - I'll look at options for growing up it. I like the idea of some delicate looking flowers in pinks/ lilac colours in the summer, so I'll see what that sunless position can cope with.

Your ideas are much appreciated. What are you doing with your own blank canvas? It's such an intimidating thing to me; starting from scratch. Today I dug up about 200 or more spanish bluebells that were all over the place - but clearing is the easy bit; it's not creative!

I'd like to hear what people think might be a good idea to do with the right-hand length of the garden, and what I could feasibly do with the sunless space behind the garage. If this were your garden - what would YOU do?
[hr]
PS Clueless - I ordered the book you recommended - for £1! Thanks!

 

Hi Jaffa,

I too had to garden from scratch and initailly it is impossible to know where to start and very scary I read a book on landscaping by Paul Power and this seems to really help me settle on ideas on what i wanted the garden to be for.

The thing that i pick up on the most by reading books and looking at pictures, is giving your garden elements to expore- for instance a curved path will want you to walk down it more than a straight path as its more exciting. The same principle applies to pergulares or gateways- i would consider blocking the garden into 2 different sections rougly where the garage window lies.

As far as what you want to do it depends on what type of garden you want- formal/ leisure/ cottage. It really is a personal choice. Another good idea is to mark out areas first using either a hose pipe or aerosol spray paint. This will let you decide what looks best while allowing changes to be made.

As a separate note- bizzy lizzies like the shade and could be grown in containers. Also Clematis armarndii is an evergreen clematis which will tolerate shade. In fact any plant which is classed as a woodland plant will thrive in the shade (foxgloves, spring bulbs, hosta's, dicentra ect.)

Hope that helps.

 

Hi Jaffa. I would agree with Clueless about dividing the garden up a bit.



This is a divider that I put in my garden. Its simply an arch, in line with some vertical posts and a horizontal along the top. To the vertical posts I attached the small triangular trellises that you see in garden centres. Up each vertical post and trellis I grew a different climber. However the Clematis montana seems to be dominating. But I am very happy with that, its big and a fast grower, but lovely.

You don't need to spend a lot of money on a structure that looks good as it will soon be covered.

 

complete disclaimer - I know NOTHING about gardening and am a complete beginner but we too have our garage in our back garden similar to you and ours was white painted concrete which stood out too much so we have just painted it a sort of beigey stone colour and are putting 2 or 3 bits of trellis up it which we will probably paint to have a bit of year round colour. we have also painted the fence green again for year round colour. our garden actually is the opposite and gets LOADS of sun so can't help with the plants at all but I think it could look nice if you split it into sections. perhaps using circular shapes on the ground to change the quite angular appearance with the garage sticking out into it. Perhaps a circular lawn area to the right of the garage and another down the bottom of it and then round these you could have little footpaths, could just be stepping stones perhaps and then flowerbeds or pots to mark it out. you could try marking it out with pots initially and see if you like the shapes it creates?