Concrete garden. Badly need ideas and quickly! Please help!

Hi all,

I'm new here, so firstly I hope that I'm in the right kind of forum for the question I am asking if not I apologise and someone can show me the door :D.

My back "garden" is approx 14ft x 14ft, east/south-east facing. The floor is concrete and we have 6ft fences all around.

The fences are great (my brother in law and I spent all day today raising them with gravel boards and tapering/rebuilding them all) and though quite tall I do not want to reduce them as they offer just the right amount of privacy with a lot of light through the day. I plan on staining them a medium oak colour as the colour is not too dark. I also plan on making a corner flower bed, raised to approx 1 ft in height and would not come out more than 2 ft from the corner.

That will be about it for my plans. We have what looks like some kind of yukka plant (?) with redish leaves which will also need a place in the garden.

We have a glass top table with four chairs and parasol and a medium sized barbecue that will always be in the garden.

Now onto my dilemna. The floor is unsightly concrete. I want to change this. I'm toying with the idea of artificial grass but not sure if that's really wise. Also, my good folks have offered me enough paving slabs (light grey with very slight ripppled effect) to cover maybe half the garden.

Please can someone with some knowledge give me some ideas as to what I could do next. (A real lawn is out of the question). Whatever I do must be suitable for a bbq and table/chairs with parasol. The bbq can be moved (it's on wheels). I do not have to use the paving slabs I have on offer but whatever I do, I don't have a massive budget but can spend maybe up to £100. Also, my brother in law is pretty good at any DIY and so as long as we're talking about something that can be done over a day or two it doesn't have to be too limited and certainly wont be limited by labour cost as will be doing it ourselves.

Bottom line is I want to get whatever it is, done over the next 2/3 weekends. Don't want much do I?

If anyone can help I'd be delighted. As would the wife I'm sure. (Just realised that sounds like an untoward propostion... ooo er).

Then, once the floor is done, I can look to pestering you all for potted plant ideas etc :gnthb:

Look forward to your replies and ideas.

Thanks in advance,

Amph.

 

Gardening books often recommend covering ugly, depressing concrete with a thin layer of pea gravel. I did this in my herb garden which was an ugly cement courtyard. Instant transformation and even the estate agent said that it had added value immediately after she saw it. The pea gravel even reflects more light so on a drab day, it really glows and light bounces into the house. My Mediterranean herbs look fab against it too. Your yukka plant would look right at home with this look.

With your £100 you'll have plenty to spare after buying 5 or 6, 30 litre bags of honey-coloured gravel. Job would take about 1/2 hr.

 

I know this is probably a crazy idea, but what about first cleaning it with a pressure washer, then painting it? I imagine masonry or floor paint would do. We have our campsite shower block and showers themselves painted out with terracotta and cream floor paint instead of tiles, we just slap another coat on in spring.
You could even paint a green lawn with sand coloured paths, or a maze, or go really mad and paint a mural in lots of colours.
I told you - crazy idea - but you would have a lot of fun doing it!

 

What about laying the paving slabs by the door to the house like a patio, then the table and chairs and BBQ can go on there and then using the pea gravel on the other half.

The raised bed u said about will that be sitting on top of the concrete? I don't think that's deep enough for planting.

Have u got any pictures? What about painting the fences a lavender or maybe a sage colour just to bring some more colour into the area? Cuprinol do some lovely colours

 

Thanks to you all so far. Some great ideas already and I appreciate all input. I kind of like the idea of paving and pea gravel though not sure where to pave because couldn't really sit a table an chairs right by the door.

Also, the whole floor was origianlly covered with some sort of yellow/gold couloured stones. Really didn't like this as they proved noisy (our neighbours have dogs that bark at some noise) and messy. Therefore if I were to use any form of gravel i would want to keep it minimal.

As for the painting idea, the concrete in some places is uneven. Not so much that couldn't pave it but enough to make a paint job look bad. Please keep the crazy ideas coming though as I do appreciate them. And having said that I might be able to combine paving with painting or something.

It's all very confusing when you're a novice!

Is it true that 1 flower bed 1ft deep on soil wouldn't be enought to plant anything? Surely some flowers/plants would grow? Or am I being a total numpty? (I don't mind if you tell me that I am, I need to learn fast!).

 

You'll get annuals growing in that depth of soil, maybe some herbs. Think of it as a planter or pot and go from there.

With a space like you describe I'd fill it with plants in pots of all shapes and sizes. People do the same with roof gardens and balconies - your space just happens to be on ground level where most of us have the luxury of soil!

 

You could probably get away with small shrubs like lavender or hebe, prostrate ceanothus or rosemary, and spring and summer bulbs such as daffs and alliums. The main thing is like any container, keep it well watered. Also, I am not sure what you are intending to use to make the container, but if it is to be a solid construction, make sure that there are gaps at the bottom to allow water to drain out. I would also put a layer of gravel in the bottom to help drainage.

 

My plan for the container was to make a wooden frame , triangular in shape. Say it's equilateral, I guess we're talking 2 and 1/2 ft for each side of triangle. I have said 1 ft deep but potentially I could make it 2 ft deep but certainly no more. Then Line it with a suitable liner for growing in. I have one small rubble sack left of small stones which I have kept in case they can be used for drainage and given the size of flower bed I'm considering making, I think the bag would allow for an inch of coverage, 2 inchs maximum. Then I would fill the rest with compost. I have a compost bin in the front garden with maybe 1 cubic ft of usable compost, could I use this an mix it with compost from a garden centre?.

Obviously, there'd be no point in putting small stones/gravel at bottom of liner if there's no holes so I guess I'dd have to pierce the liner in several places and ensure any water could escape from the bottom of the flower bed.

Please tell me if/where I am going wrong. I have enthusiasm but despite spending a lot of my young childhood in my dad's greenhouse repotting young plants and growing tomatoes, I don't actually remember much theory, terminology or in fact practical skill. I do know how to fill a paraffin heater though! (Which is of no use now incidentally!).

And thanks again all. The floor of garden and flower bed go hand in hand, I can't do one without knowing how to do the other. Does anyone think I should just scrap the idea of a flower bed altogether? I like the idea of growing a few plants in something other than pots.

 

Organoponico, doesn't the peat gravel slip under the foot and gather in dunes? How thick layer would you recommend and should it be fixed somehow? Is it noisy?

I have similar problems as Amph, so far I've just directed the eye with impressive containers. I also have a large decking area that actually looks quite nice as I like wood.

Amph, the artificial grass sounds terrible but might actually look quite good, if your style allows a slightly kitch feeling. Why not take some photos and photoshop them just to try out darknesses and shades of the different options? And please, report to us any decisions, I'd really like some opinions as well. And photos.

 

Selleri, I've knocked the artificial grass idea on the head.

My mother in law has some and it fits in with their garden and it's not kitsch at all. However for a small garden it may look wrong.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go for paving and maybe border it with gravel.

Think I'm going to post some pics in a bit to give some idea of what I'm working with.

 

Pots work - they can be moved around providing they aren't too heavy. Have enough of them and you won't see the concrete.

I remember visiting someone in London with a roof garden to die for. It was COVERED in plants - all in pots - even several small trees. It can be done - just a bit of thought over planters and placement.

And lots of watering!

 

Hi Amph, can't access the pic unfortunately. You can pave with a gravel border and also leave a few squares free which you can fill with gravel to break up your paving and make it go further - you could put pots on these gravel squares if you wanted to. Or you can pave one end/ corner where you want your table and chairs to go, gravel the rest and use remaining paving stones dotted in the gravel to make a path from the house, tying the two areas together and reducing noise as you would be walking on slabs rather than gravel. Personally I think paving and gravel is the only choice if you want it to look good.

I would go with the flower bed idea, perhaps make it a bit deeper if you can. You could plant a climber in it to go up your fence. - Pots are the way forward - Something like a nice bay tree in a pot would look good against your fence and is evergreen. Depending upon what you want - you can have structural plants like palms, box cordyline (I supect this is what your red yukka thing is) or lots of lovely annual flowers - or a mixture of both which is what I have in my garden. You could make the space truly magical - Good luck with it

 

Hey guys, thanks to you all.

I think in the short term I'm going to try for lots of potted plants until I can afford the money and time to get some paving done. One thing is for sure, I'm going to enjoy my garden this year come rain or shine!

Think I'll probably post in some other threads with regards to what plants to get but any ideas welcome still and forever!

 

I like Ellie's idea of putting the paving area where u wanna sit and then having paving stepping stones up to it, also having the raised bed 2ft then u can plant a bit more and as Ellie said plant a climber to go round your fence. Also have loads of pots. Maybe a little water feature too

 

I love pots! Until I had mine paved last year I had an ugly concrete courtyard, but I dressed it up with lots of pots and hanging baskets and it made a world of difference. The fact you have a southerly aspect means you can have tons of colour. Supermakets and garden centres will soon be full of bedding plants you can plant in pots which will look fab and add instant colour (don't be tempted to plant them for another month though or frost may kill them off). Cheapest places to get them are usually places like Morrisons and B & Q though garden centres will have more choice. These will only last one season however. Hardy fuschias will give you tons of flowers this year and will also come back year after year and be very happy in a pot. Morrisons are selling these for less than £2. Good luck with it x