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Hiding a hideous garage in a small Garden

Davey.SmythDavey.Smyth Posts: 1
in Garden design

Hi All, 

Having rented my whole life, I've finally got on the property ladder and with the inside starting to take shape it's time to start thinking of the garden. 

In terms of plants, flowers etc I have a helping hand in my mum (who i help with her garden throughout the summer) but there is one HUGE eyesore in the rear garden that will need addressing. 

Taking up a large portion of the rear garden is a bricked garage and i'd need some help/ideas in turning it into a feature or trying by best to hide it. 

The two options that have come into my head:

1. Paint it and the fences the same colour so it "blends in" 

2. Use some up-lights on the floor and some plants to turn it into a feature.

Other than that I'm stumped, so would be great to hear some ideas from others. 

Thanks

Davey

image

Posts

  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,819

    I personally wouldn’t paint the brick, too difficult to undo. Natural brick is a nice foil for planting.  I’d be tempted to cover in painted trellis with climbers. Much easier to change and remove as required. 

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,164

    I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I really like that garage ...  image

    Which way do the walls face?   It looks as if the wall by the gate may get the most shade so I'd plant a climbing hydrangea there ... it'll take a little while to get going but it'll cover that wall and in the summer you'll have greenery and creamy white flowers (and a nesting spot for  robins and wrens) and in the winter you'll have a mahogany-coloured tracery of stems which the bluetits and longtailed tits will hop about in looking for tiny insects.

    I'd put a rose against the end wall ... it'll need vine eyes and strong wires, but will look fantastic.  

    Rosa Phyllis Bide looks fantastic against a brick wall of that colour   https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/phyllis-bide 

    image

    Last edited: 26 February 2018 11:44:00


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Fire LilyFire Lily Posts: 296

    Don't paint it, then you are just giving yourself more work in the future.

    I would plant a hedge, the triangle that forms behind it along the path is a perfect spot for hiding the trashcan. image

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923

    use wires rather than trellis and grow different climbers over it, evergreen ones if you can

  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,523

    I don't see a hideous garage but a huge opportunity! Trellis with climbers etc image

    Don't paint it,just more work in the future.

    If finances allow I would put a door/doors in the garage.I did in mine and the garage now serves as my garden shed (no room for one otherwise).Patio doors could make it into a sun room.This all depends on whether you actually need the garage for a car of course!!

    You have the makings of a lovely garden,I almost envy you!!!

    Last edited: 26 February 2018 12:00:26

    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,164

    If you want to screen off an area for your bins etc we find that a trellis 'fence' covered with evergreen clematis (we have Clematis 'Freckles' ) is far less imposing than a tall hedge which can make the garden seem small and a bit box-like 

    image

    The wrens and robins love it too image

    Last edited: 26 February 2018 12:24:16


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053

    I go for the wires and climbing plants as well. In a few years you will hardly notice it. Evergreen ones on the side and climbing roses facing the house, intertwined with a matching or contrasting clematis or two will be great. 

    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,653

    No paint.  Tensioned wires for me too.  Hedges are space and time consuming and can be a bit dull.

    You can buy vine eyes in good DIY stores - just a loop on a screw that lets you hold wires a couple of inches off the support to allow air to circulate and twining to go on.   Place them at 12 to 18" intervals in horizontal rows going up the sides.   If you plant clematis I find it helps to wind extra wire in a zig-zag pattern between two rows up which you can guide them more easily.

    Make a decent bed at the base of your garage walls, digging out weeds and stones and adding in lots of composted manure or garden waste or bought in compost according to what's available.  Work out which way your walls face and then use this site to find good clematis for each aspect - http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/ then look at sites like this - https://www.hawthornes-nursery.co.uk/ to find the ones you fancy.  The owner sometimes posts on this forum and always offers good advice about varieties and planting.  You can also try Thorenycroft nurseries or local garden centres.

    If you fancy roses, have a look at David Austin's website or Peter Beale's for modern, disease resistant, repeat flowering, perfumed climbers to contrast with your clems.

    Honeysuckle, jasmine, wisteria are other possibilities.

    Have fun and take your time getting it right.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • autumngloryautumnglory Posts: 255

    I'm with Dove and Obelixx, I'd cover it with plants. I'd love a wall, they're much more practical than fences for growing things on as they don't ever need to be replaced!

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