My tiny little garden

First off, completely new to gardening up until a year ago. Moved in to a flat that came with a small 5m x 5m private garden 18 months ago that was uneven and a complete mess. My mate (landscape gardener) levelled it all off, laid a small patio and put turf down. I then fell out with him, well, was in the process when he was doing it to be fair, so not much has happened over the last year other than me cutting it. Now I need both ideas and help for work to do this winter!

Not the best picture (and taken from kitchen window) from when I moved in


As I said, it was turfed, put a patio in and a small flower bed but that's it really. As you can see, it's surrounded by Laurel, with a few other bushes at the back, including a huge Mahonia (which I hate and want rid of).

These are more recent pictures






Now, I have a dip and soggy but that gets waterlogged as you walk in, I'm assuming the grass struggles because of the drainage and was probably caused by the soil not being trodden down properly before it was turfed

Would just lifting the small section, levelling with sharp sand and relaying work in this area or is it gonna take more?

I also need to do something about where my daughter's bits live, they're there at the moment because that area gets very little sun and the grass was always a nightmare.

I also want some flower boxes the length of the wall really as well, with the top of them level with the copings maybe?

Not the clearest topic but never mind haha

 

Looks nice but I would cut that hedge right back to get a bit more space and light in there. We had privet the same and it's recovered well from a hard prune.

 

Does the garden get much sunlight Englishman?

 

The patio and the back wall get sunlight from late morning until just before it goes down, the other bits get decent sun, it's just the corner that I have a few of my little one's but that struggles for sun. Ideally I want to get rid of the grass there and put something else down for her.

 

The laurel is something I'm funny about, purely because the rest of it is communal and it's nice to have the privacy in there, that bloody Mahonia can go though, does anybody like these things?

 

I hate Mahonia, they have their moments, but on the whole, they look horrid (IMO). Get rid and give yourself more space.

 

This is what I'm thinking. It's about 8ft tall and 6ft wide, as well as being 8ft or so from the boundary fence and I don't even like it, would rather put a fence panel in its place (the boundary fence is chainlink) and maybe plant an escallonia (I like them) and then maybe pave a small area for the barbecue and other garden bits so I can clear the patio.

Any ideas about whether some form of window boxes along the side wall will work? Just want to inject a bit of colour among the green.

 

The shrub to the left of the Mahonia looks like a Euonymous. If you remove the Mahonia (I don't like them either) you could replace it with more Euonymous. Being variegated it will bring some light into the area. Another hedging shrub which will lighten the area is Griselinia, but it grows fairly fast so will have to be trimmed two or three times a year. Hebe will give you small flowers on and off all year round but doesn't grow as fast as the others. They are all evergreens.

I suspect you have clay soil and it would be better to lift the turf and dig some small gravel into the soil below to help drainage. Go over the lawn a couple of times a year with a garden fork, digging it in a few inches and giving it a wiggle to open the soil up. Sharp sand could be brushed into the holes to keep the soil open, this will help the grass breathe and grow better. It wouldn't have made any difference treading down the soil as it creates compaction and stops the lawn roots from breathing. When soil is dug over for grass it should be walked over gently to firm it, then raked to level and loosen the surface before laying turf or seed.

How about the sort of cushioned matting that is found in children's playgrounds?

Have a look here for planter ideas......

https://www.google.com/search?q=pla...bm=isch&q=boxes+and+pots+for+outside+walls+uk

 

I have a tiny garden too, I am planning to put hay rack style planters on the fence next year using hooks over the top of our fence panels.