Ideas for a large garden

Hello all

I currently have a large piece of land at the rear of my house and not quite sure what do to there. Just to outline the current situation, there is nothing on the land and it has two levels i.e. need to go up some land to get to the next part. I am also stuck with what to do for steps at this part. The aim is to have an area which has fruit trees and is relaxing to sit in.

I have not done any sort of gardening before, so I guess a low maintence garden would be ideal to start with.

I am no garden expert and would appriecate any useful advice.

Thank you for reading and hope to get some useful info soon.

Take care
TK

 

How large is "large"? 1 acre?

One suggestion. Make the upper part completely an orchard and don't cut the grass.

Put a patio on the lower part where you can relax and look up at the trees. Steps between the levels look more impressive but a slope between them is easier to walk up.

Can you draw a little plan of the area with the sizes and post it here?

 

is it currently garden or field?

 

That's exactly what I was going to say.
I disagree with the slope being easier than steps to walk up.
I currently have a slope and would rather have steps. I suppose it may depend on how steep it is.

With large gardens I find everything needs to on a larger scale to keep some proportion.

 

You may need a slope if you need to take a wheelbarrow to the top level, depending how you do it. Also, how large is large?

 

Hi there, You are absolutely right in that. If I were you, I'd create a small part that is full of flowers and evergreen flowering shrubs, that looks pretty all the time although it will give you some work. I'd divide it from the orchard with a low-growing hedge. If you oversize this 'real' garden area, gardening will consume all your free time and will be no fun but a severe chore that keeps you working even when you don't want to do it...

So be careful with a large plot, however large it is, you'll have to divide it up very carefully. You might even think of llamas as the ideal organic lawn-mowers for a field...

As for the orchard, why don't you install a trellis with climbing pairs of kiwifruits? Hayward plus Tomuri are the best pair and they are hardy down to -15C°, and all you need is to learn how to prune them. And then you could relax under their shade because they grow at an unbelievable speed, as every Actinidia does... And even the foliage is attractive.