Hrochnick's estate

Okay, perhaps 'estate' is a little grand, well a lot grand for what we have but there's nothing like a positive (some might say deluded) attitude, eh?

So we move in about a year ago and the 'garden' was anything but garden-like, the first two pics (before1 & 2) show the mess we had to work with. The builders removed/spread the pile with a bulldozer, which was nice of them - would have been a bit of job to do myself.

The rest I did do myself, put some trees in at the bottom plus a couple of fruit trees, little vegatable patch, which I'm about to start growing in (I'm almost happy with the soil now) on the left and an even smaller flower patch on the right. Which is starting to bloom nicely. Levelled the 'lawn' and seeded it myself. Pretty bad job tbh.

 

For the front garden I created some kind of grass/stone/plant design which I think is pretty nice except for the dodgy grass again.

Next for me is, I think, to put some stones around the flowers as per stone-border.jpg and maybe extend the flower garden a bit. The design I made is an absolute b*tch to mow around so i want to make that job a little easier. Plus the grass there gets pretty swampy (the entire garden slopes gently from left to right and front to back) so I might look to put some drainage under the stones leading down to a stone pit/sump type thing which I'll dig at the bottom right, the lowest part of the garden.

What do you think?

 

Considering you had to start from worse than scratch, it's looking good.

You'll develop a passion for plants so be prepared to widen those borders.


Well done.

 

Thanks lollipop. To be honest I think it looks a little 'open' especially with the houses at the bottom having such small gardens and therefore being so close. But with only having actually been a garden for less than a year nothing much has had time to get to any size to provide any kind of cover. And obviously to buy big plants straight away is quite expensive...

I'm also conscious of not having anything too big at the bottom or letting my trees get too tall because of the neighbours small gardens. They are just about north facing, so if my trees get too large, their sun is gone completely! As it is they only have it for a small time in the afternoon.

As for the rest of the design, primarily it's for the kids. I want them to have space to run around, which limits my options to do anything grand in the middle. Hence the flowers on one side and veg on the other. Probably will end up extending the flower bed though...

 

That's a good start H, you have plenty of scope to add shrubs and other plants as you work out what will go where and if you can, get the kids interested.:gnthb:

 

A grand design in the making.
If only we could jump forward ten years and see what it will look like..
:gnthb:

 

...probably overgrown and messy!

The kids are small but the eldest (coming up three) is already very interested. He walks alongside me with his little plastic mower when we cut the grass, helps me dig (kind of) and makes sure he always gets his own little version of whichever tool I'm using. He loves smelling the flowers and when we're out often runs over excitedly to smell new ones or pick a dandelion to take home! Sweet. He also loves looking at the insect life (from a distance) and finding new ones...

So, I think I've decided on my plan of action - I'm going to 'pebble-up' the three corners not touching the patio in a curvy kind of style and perhaps alongside the veg garden (the grass there is already looking like it'll soon be a mud path) in a similar way to how I plan to surround the flower bed (as illustrated above). Maybe some woodbark near the walls and have some as yet undecided plants on the very edges. The idea being to break up the garden a bit, give the lawn some shape and form and have areas to put plants around the edges. And to make mowing easier!

Now I just have to find the time, energy and cash to make a start...

 

You seem to have a good plan, hope to see some in progress and end result pics (although in gardening there is no end).

 

Hi again, been a bit of a while since I was last here, but we've been busy!

made the changes I discussd previously - put a brick border all the way around, filled in with stones, extended the flower bed a little, put in a tree and a new plant or two. Still needs a little more work: going to put in a few more plants amongst the stones and I'd like anothe tree or two, all when time and money allows...

What do you think? I think it looks a lot nicer, more rounded and 'deliberate', a better finish. Damn sight easier to mow too!

 

Looking good there-well done. It's better to build a garden up a bit at a time, -saves too many costly mistakes-not that it stops you from changing your mind-I am always doing it.

 

Thanks. I'm happy with it, don't think I'll be changing in a while. But I am always thinking "what can I add, and where..."