Some Inspiration, some tips, advice needed and gratefully received ☺

I've just moved into a great house with a big potential garden. Out front, it's a boring gravel drive and paved area (good enough for some pots of stuff that loves alot of sun) and out back I have a very long garden. It's all mud and weeds at the moment, with a large pampas grass slap bang in the middle. There is a shed, a concreted area, a small paved bit by the house, and it slopes slightly. I'll try and upload photos.

I've borrowed a rotavator to dig over it all; there are a lot of large stones and the soil seems good; bit like clay I think. Quite wet and sticky. Has a strong smell. It's North facing. It gets some sun, but seemingly only really the back part.
Is it a good idea to weed kill before putting down grass seed, or will the rotavator do the trick?
And what does anyone think about keeping the pampas? [emoji3]

 

There is now a fence running alongside the wooden shed between mine and my neighbours garden where you can see some red building. The garden is about 23 fence panels long....I haven't measured it! And about half that wide.

 

You've got a good blank canvas there to work with, stink.foot (????? Dare we ask)
If you wanted to alter the perspective of the garden's length v width, the classic way is with a path that curves from side to side with beds or other features bulging out into the middle. Another way is a geometrically-shaped lawn, say an oval or a diamond shape, with the widest point across the width.
Are you planning to stay long-term? If you are, plan your trees and shrubs carefully and get them in first as a 'backbone' for the rest.
If you really are on clay, it pays to rotovate in as much compost, manure, soil-improver and horticultural grit as you can lay hands on!
Do you like the pampas grass? Only you can decide They can look quite good mixed with other ornamental grasses or plants with big, bold foliage, but they're a pain to live with and maintain (literally) as the leaves have saw-tooth edges.
Whatever you do, we're all looking forward to seeing the garden develop

 

Thanks I know...A lovely blank canvas which is why it's so daunting! The guy that lived here before was disabled so just never used it. I like the idea of a sweeping curving pathway. I'd never have thought of that. Geometrics are nice, but IMHO they don't have a place in the garden. I have always liked the look of pampas, but I do have 4 kids and I'm worried when they finally get to play out there, they're gonna cut themselves.

 

Hoooo.....as you've got children, I'd definitely think about outing the pampas. Miscanthus comes in several attractive forms without the risks.
Re. the existing weeds...whether you weedkill depends on what they are. If you've got nasties like bindweed, couch grass, dandelions and buttercups then a couple of treatments with home-mixed glyphosate (it's the correct strength if you mix it yourself) at six-week intervals should kill off the roots but you have to leave the top growth for it to work properly. Don't rotovate until you've done that because each tiny piece of root that the rotovator chops up will re-grow to make a new weed.
If it's just long lawn grasses and annual weeds then rotovating it a couple of times will be OK

 

Cor what a good space you've got there Stinkfoot...My mouth is watering at all those weeds.

I'd be inclined to have a go at getting some of the weeds out by hand first if you're able and have the time and I'd certainly make use of your four little helpers I'd divide it off and do a section at a time.It'll be hard going but very satisfying when you stand back and see what you've done.
Looking forward to seeing your progress

 

Thats a lovely big garden (in comparison to mine anyway). I made a lot of mistakes with my garden, I got so carried away with my plants, that I didn't really consider the overall look and my garden ended up looking pretty messy. As a result, I pretty much started from scratch last year and its now beginning to feel like a garden.

I would suggest going on-line at designs to give you ideas of what you want to incorporate into your garden.

Consider what you are going to use the garden for, growing veg, somewhere for the kids, entertaining, just relaxing, etc and consider what your priorities are.

When you have a design, start with the hard landscaping, then get your structural plants in, then its a case of filling the gaps.

If you can ( finances permitting), try and start with reasonably established plants, you will get a better feel for how the plants are going to knit together (I wish I took my own advise). Consider the flowering periods of the plants so you don't get a glut of flowers at one time.

You have a nice view of the field so try and borrow that by hiding the perimeter, I would probably go with some low growing evergreen shrubs.

 

Oh, and ditch the Pampas, I hate them. Although, thats me, they are good architectural plants with year round interest, so probably keep it.

 

A little note about that field...its about to be populated by some houses and business buildings. Lovely!! I honestly thought I could just kind of whack some grass seed down. It's gonna take a bit more work I do have a reasonable amount of time so I can definitely put alot into it. Finances are limited. As in I can't afford to turf it all and buy everything mature, but I can probably afford some younger plants I'm hoping for a veg patch, a play area, entertainment area will be the concreted part down the bottom....and I'm wondering how easy it would be to create another level alongside the low cement block wall? There, the soil slopes dramatically so it's already halfway.

 

That's the sloping part I'm talking about. To give a better perspective, this is the view from my upstairs window:

 

I am in Dorset...sorry I can't change it on my profile. I've put it in my signature now! I'm on the Somerset border. Not coastal.

down in sunny Dorset/Somerset border