Advice Needed For Budget Garden Improvements

Hello everyone, I'm a new member. I have very little gardening experience, and not a great deal of spare cash either, but my garden has potential.

Brief history - I paid the vendor of the house £2000 to fully clear and landscape the garden of the house I was buying from him. He subsequently ran off with my money, and I was stuck with a bit of a building site. I've done a great deal of manual labour in the space, and now have a nice template to work from.

I cleared some old dilapidated brick beds, used a pneumatic drill to pull up a very old, sunken concrete path, spent weeks weeding, clearing debris and turning soil. Then, a good friend of mine was kind enough to lay some turf down with me. So the bulk of the hard work is done. Where I am now, is lacking ideas and knowledge of how to take it a step further. What I need, is inexpensive inspiration. Here are some pics:









So all I really have now is a rectangular bit of grass, some decking, and a back wall.

Main considerations:

Security - There is an alleyway running along my back wall. There is a broken old metal gate and a relatively low wall. Would prob need a tall wooden gate putting in. Thought maybe some trees along the back to hide the garden too. What would be good, all year round, inexpensive options?

Brick wall - There is an ugly and poor condition red brick wall running all around the garden. I looked at some willow screening, but that looks as though it would be very expensive to cover the whole perimeter. But the wall is ugly and I'm not sure what to do.

Storage - I have a lawnmower and a few tools. Not sure if a whole shed would be cost or space effective.

Lighting - It's nice to sit outdoors in sumer, but any outdoor lighting quotes I've had seem to be very expensive. Just need to some thoughts on illuminating the decking cheaply with the minimum of fuss.

Planting veg / plants / flowers - Would be nice to actually have some vegetation. I imagine this will just mean cutting into the turf down the side edges. How far out? Best way to do this? Ideas for what to grow appreciated.

KEEPING NEXT DOORS DAMN CATS FROM ALWAYS DOING THEIR BUSINESS!!
It's not ideal that I have to clean up loads of poo all the time. I bought one of those so-called sensors, but seems pretty ineffective.

Finally, I have an 18 month old toddler. Any ideas on cheap ways for him to enjoy the garden safely.


I know this is a lot, but any money I had for the garden has already been used. For an experienced gardener, I'm sure this is all pretty basic stuff, so my family would really appreciate any advice.

Many thanks.

 

Also, you can see from this picture that my neighbour has trees really overhanging into the garden. Wouldn't mind too much, but it blocks out the sun in the afternoon, which is annoying. What are my basic rights here? Probably solved with a friendly conversation, but just so I know...

 

Hi - welcome to the forum

I cannot seem to see your pictures though.

Not that I can advise very much on most of your issues, but I too had an ugly brick wall which a fair few years ago I decided to paint with cream maisonary paint. Impoved it so much and looks really good with plants against it now. I have painted it twice in the 7/8 years I have lived here and only brought one large container of paint which was about £30 from B & Q.

As for a lot of other stuff, you could join your local freecycle site and see if anyone has any gardening stuff they no longer require. I always see things offered on our site (albeit things I dont need or want). Occasionally people even offer sheds on there !

And there are always garden centre vouchers for Christmas lol

Hopefully someone else will come along with a wealth of info for you later

 

Hello, welcome to the forum,

firstly, you have made an enormous difference and achieved a great deal, you should congratulate yourself.


Security - There is an alleyway running along my back wall. There is a broken old metal gate and a relatively low wall. Would prob need a tall wooden gate putting in. Thought maybe some trees along the back to hide the garden too. What would be good, all year round, inexpensive options?


Judging from the pictures I would guess you have around 12 ft of width at the bottom of your garden. As you mention security and not just privacy I would suggest you look at some of the "biters" of the gardening world. My personal favourite are mahonias. Much more prickly and dangerous than hollies with the added bonus of winter flowers, these are easily my favourite "biter". Even when they are not fully grown and brand new, they pack a punch-with a little nipper in the house a deep bed so you can plant something a little more suited to little `uns in front of the mahonias would be lovely.


Gates are perhaps a double edged sword-people use them as a way out AND a way in. A good quality padlock wouldn't go amiss.


Brick wall - There is an ugly and poor condition red brick wall running all around the garden. I looked at some willow screening, but that looks as though it would be very expensive to cover the whole perimeter. But the wall is ugly and I'm not sure what to do.


You could always paint it if necessary, but climbers will do a lot of that work for you in camouflaging the ugliness. People have ranging views about willow screening-I personally can't stand the sight of the stuff, and it is far too expensive for how long it actually lasts and looks good.

Storage - I have a lawnmower and a few tools. Not sure if a whole shed would be cost or space effective.


A shed is probably essential if you want to keep the lawn neat-somewhere to store your lawnmowers etc. At present Joe Swift on Gardeners world is showing how he has built some low lying storage space in the garden, you could hide that somewhere under the staircase.

Lighting - It's nice to sit outdoors in sumer, but any outdoor lighting quotes I've had seem to be very expensive. Just need to some thoughts on illuminating the decking cheaply with the minimum of fuss.


It is expensive if you get someone in to do it for you. Judging by how well you have done yourself with the garden, I can't beleieve you couldn't do a good job of fixing lighting up yourself, lanterns for the interim perhaps.

Planting veg / plants / flowers - Would be nice to actually have some vegetation. I imagine this will just mean cutting into the turf down the side edges. How far out? Best way to do this? Ideas for what to grow appreciated.


What sort of planting do you like? And yes you will need to cut into your lawn, you should have a look through some of the garden design websites on the net to give you an idea of what you want to have in your garden before you touch your lawn edges.

KEEPING NEXT DOORS DAMN CATS FROM ALWAYS DOING THEIR BUSINESS!!
It's not ideal that I have to clean up loads of poo all the time. I bought one of those so-called sensors, but seems pretty ineffective.


This should be fun, there are always loads of wide ranging opinions about cats and their droppings.



You are very lucky, you have a completely blank canvas there, so you need to decide what kind of garden do you want, which types of plants etc.

 

Ahhh i can see the photos now

Hey the walls aint that ugly, mine was far worse !!! Would put some trellis up to make it higher and then get some climbers ... plus put borders either side and grow plenty of shrubs etc. After a while (waiting for everything to grow) you wont even notice the walls !

 

Looks fabby so far, especially the turf, well done!

Security - I would suggest a solid replacement gate/door. Prevents people being able to see what is there.

Claire: "My personal favourite are mahonias"

I would suggest Berberis. More scraggy habit than Mahonia, and I think therefore more likely to form a sufficiently dense thicket as to be impenetrable, rather than just annoying. Bog standard Berberis darwinii would do, and is probably available as a hedging plant - thus cheap-ish for 10-off or similar.

Brick Wall I think you need to consider the narrow-ness of your garden. A climber will not steal much from the width. However, the walls are annoyingly low, and you really need to get more height to get more out of a climber. So you may have to put some wooden posts on top of the wall (rather than relying on the existing wooden top-up fencing, which presumably belongs to your neighbours? and if so ideally you don't want to be causing a problem with the weight of your climbers on it, even if they are happy for you to do that at this stage. If the fence is yours then fine, use if for support above the height of the wall.

Storage Unless you have room in the house to store the gardening tools you are going to need a shed. Maybe don't rush into that just yet, so you have time to decide how big it needs to be, just allocate the space where it is going to be built so that you don't plant anything there!

Lighting Pah! Expensive luxury. We have no external lights and happily sit outside with a glass of this-or-that whiling away the evening hours chewing the cud. Candle or somesuch does just fine. No need to keep-up-with-the-Jones :thumb:

Planting veg / plants / flowers Do you want to grow veg? Its a satisfying feeling, but it takes a bit of space. You could have a mini veg patch that provided just some choice items, or you could do a bit more than that, but it would take a fair bit of your garden (but a screen half-way down could create two "rooms", but you'd have to sell half your turf on eBay as "second hand" :D

I've been out to the veg patch tonight and picked some fresh veg. I'm cooking the Beetroot and have diced some Kohl rabi to mix with it together with horseradish and some Greek yoghurt. The tops of the beetroot will be used like spinach. Some Tomatoes and cucumber from the greenhouse will go into tomorrow's sandwiches, and I picked a small cantaloup Melon for breakfast which will have a heady aroma. I put some courgettes, Tomato, Peppers and Spuds, together with some meat [that I didn't grow!!] into a pot in the slow cooker at lunch time. And so on ...

I don't have much advice on designs for narrow gardens; its a challenge, but they are common, so there are plenty of designs available. It looks quite long, so I think a second room, half way down (vegetable garden or not) is the way to go.

Cats. My sympathies. I have read many threads with suggestions and discussions. It is clearly a problem without a simple sure-fire solution.

18 month old toddler Lots of plants are toxic - most not even to the level you and I would know about, or worry about, but could be to a toddler. But having said that, humanity has survived, and poisonous plants are often very bitter etc. so that so little is ingested before spitting-out starts! that no long term harm is done.

Toddlers can't be left, whether the garden is "safe" or not, so a nice soft lawn to collapse on when the legs give way, or the ambition is too great!, is ideal.

It won't be long before you need Swings, Trampoline and a Climbing frame. Best to consider those in the plan now. Football goal too, perhaps?

Scented flowers, edible things (strawberries?) are fun for kids. So is growing Sunflowers (Suttons have a pack with 2 sets of seed (Child and Grandmother perhaps?) and a tape measure ...), and crawling things - I've now managed to persuade my youngest (now 10) that we don't need to grow Gourds any more and can grow Winter Squash instead - same sprawling habit, the fruit is not as interesting (Bell shaped, and thus quite interesting, but nothing like as interesting as the warty misshapen two-tone Gourds of yesteryear!) but hopefully when we get a meal out of them in the Winter I'll get some traction for my new plan.

keep us posted with pictures and news of how it is going please.

 

Hey Subflow,
Really like what you have so far and think it will look great - I am a newbie here too but think having a brick wall rather than a fence is a great start - certainly wont get blow down (even the single skin on left hand side) like a wooden fence does - our previous property had a long narrow garden (victorian terrace) with concrete fence posts and wooden panels - when the wind blew across it used to blow the panelsout of the fences - some tie wraps helped but a walled garden is a massive head start IMO ..decking and turf also look great - good luck and keep us updated.

 

You have a lovely sized garden and it will look lovely in time, which is the main ingredient in any garden,
I see no one has answered the next door tree problem i think anything that hangs over into your property you can remove,
but i am sure somebody will put us right now,

 

The lighting I would definately get done by an electrician if you are going all out and spending money. Decking led lights are still horrendously expensive though, and other sorts of decorative lights can set you back loads.
I agree with the candle idea. You could get some small hanging tealight lantersn to hang off hanging basket brackets, or on shelves out of the way of the little one.

If you want lots of light in the garden, this might be of some use to you.

http://www.buyshedsdirect.co.uk/search-sunrise-solar-security-light-glg-896

 

Subflow, I think your garden looks nice. But as for lights in the decking, they are mostly decorative only and do not really light the area for you to see by. Also they seem to collect a lot of dirt and grime.

Any mains operated lights should ideally be installed by a â??Part Pâ? qualified electrician.

I would also not recommend solar lights. Most solar lights will need a lot of sun to charge the batteries; we donâ??t get a lot of bright sun this time of year.

I would suggest you opt for one of those "choose this light, that cable and that transformer kits" since you can run the 12v cable under the decking and plug it in, indoors.