Opinions please

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by Fat Controller, May 15, 2014.

  1. Fat Controller

    Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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    Whilst I am still trying to persuade my grass into being something more like a lawn, I have gotten to wondering if I can sculpt things a bit. I'll split this into two posts of before and after so it makes a bit of sense (hopefully) -- as you will see from the pictures, the grass currently runs right up to the walls that butt onto the patio area, what the pictures doesn't show is that the level runs off on a slope down toward the base of the walls, which makes me suspect that these areas were not grass at one time.

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  2. Fat Controller

    Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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    Now, what I am thinking of doing is adding a couple of wee borders behind the walls, and then drawing the side borders out a wee bit further:

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    On this last picture, it shows where I was thinking of widening the border, mainly because the grass simply will not grow due to the evergreens toward the back.

    So what do you reckon guys and gals?
     
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    • Freddy

      Freddy Miserable git, well known for it

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      Personally, I prefer wide borders:blue thumb:Sure, you lose some open space, but to me it looks more effective. Maybe introduce curves?
       
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      • Fat Controller

        Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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        I did think about curves maybe mid-way up the long side of the grass, but that was not a popular suggestion as it would remove playing space on the grass, hence I limited myself to the curves in the corners where the big border turns round to go behind the walls.
         
      • Lolimac

        Lolimac Guest

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        Yep i'd go for it FC:thumbsup:,You could maybe go for a 'half moon' bed at each end as well as widening the side border,it should still leave you plenty of play space:dbgrtmb:
         
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        • Adendoll

          Adendoll Super Gardener

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          I your idea of the wee borders and curves, it will give you loads more planting space. Must admit to nearly flattening my nose to the computor screen noseying whats growing in the greenhouse!:heehee:
           
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          • Jungle Jane

            Jungle Jane Middle Class Twit Of The Year 2005

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            Ice personally would make the lawn much wider. So many people keep their lawns dead square and narrow which is dull.

            Here's some pics of the reshapening of Mr Jane's lawn that I done recently. The pictures aren't clear but I cut it into a sort of kidney shape and it gives the lawn a bit more interest.

            [​IMG]

            [​IMG]
             
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            • Kristen

              Kristen Under gardener

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              Can't see your pictures JJ - they look to be uploaded to GC locally, so not sure why. I've had trouble with that myself recently - of 3 pictures I linked to I couldn't get one to show at all, yet all were "similar" links ...
               
            • Kristen

              Kristen Under gardener

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              What do you need the lawn for?

              Party milling about?
              Football pitch?

              If those only need half the lawn, say, I'd get rid of the rest. Keep a lawn near the house for that activity and covert the rest into a "garden". For me the best bang-for-buck would be an Exotic garden. Very quick to achieve (first year even), and easy to have a "path of interest" through it. Not everyone's cup-of-tea though, and it needs a lot of careful plant selection unless you have some ability to overwinter some things. Things like Fatsia and most Bamboo are rock-hardy, but look "exotic", and others are "ok" such as Tetrapanex Rex, and then there are annuals like Ricinus which will do 8' in the year.
               
            • Jungle Jane

              Jungle Jane Middle Class Twit Of The Year 2005

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              Hopefully fixed now

              Agreed.
               
            • Freddy

              Freddy Miserable git, well known for it

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              Go on FC, you know you want to:biggrin:
               
            • Fat Controller

              Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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              Its mostly for the wee one running about as 10 year olds do - it would be a particularly unpopular move if I were to take too much, hence stopping short with the current idea.
               
            • Kristen

              Kristen Under gardener

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              Fair enough :)

              How long is your garden?
               
            • Fat Controller

              Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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              About 60ft but half of it is patio

              Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
               
            • mowgley

              mowgley Total Gardener

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              Same problem as you.
              Little Mowgley and friends still need play space but I've just made the borders bigger.
              I'd put some curves in.
               
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