GARDEN DESIGN HELP 🙌🏼

James Gibson

I’ve recently purchased a property and am stuck with what to do; firstly in the main back garden and secondly with the side parts of grass. The house is on a corner so benefits from 3 green spaces...

Can any ameture garden designers or professionals advise  on what they might do with the space please?
Sketches / drawings / computer generated conceptualisations are welcome! 

Any inspiration, advice and knowledge would be so appreciated. I can send measurements if it’s helps? 

Ive completely designed and completed my last garden from scratch however the plot was just a square of new build grass. Hence why I feel somewhat daunted by this project. 

Please help 🙏🏼

Regards,
             James.

DampGardenMan

What do you want from your garden? Does it have to double as a football pitch? Lots of space for entertaining? Which direction does it face? High maintenance? Low maintenance? Formal? Informal? Designed for wildlife? Many things people need to know before they can offer advice!

James Gibson

I understand. Well I 💕 gardening so high maintinence wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t have children or pets so really just myself to focus on 😂
entertaining space is always useful. I like to make the outside come in and view versa. I also adore wildlife. I go to gardeners world live everyear plus other shows; I end up loving every show garden there and wish I could pluck it up and plonk it in my own...

I suffer with sever anxiety and depression and being in any garden really calms me down. It’s my safe place to relax and potter; amongst beautiful flowers, scents and wildlife.

I’ve added some pictures of my 1st house / garden. It was a new build and blank canvas. I designed it myself on paper and did the majority of the work alone (apart from builders for the patio, decking and lawn). 

Im super proud of what I achieved. I just don’t know where to start with this next project. It’s much bigger than the last one. I’m open to suggestions. I love modern but also cottage garden plants. Exotic jungle styles. All sorts. I just know that anything children / animal friendly isn’t needed. I also would love a water feature this time round. 

Take a look at my last garden and see what you think. The pictures have scrambled up but you’ll see some at the start, middle and end of the project. My intention was ultra modern however it kind of turned slightly cottage garden in the end; mainly because I have a plant buying addiction 💉
There are worse addictions to have though I suppose 😂

DampGardenMan

You made an excellent garden there! I rather think you should be giving advice rather than asking for it Obviously your new garden is somewhat larger, but tackle it the same way you would eat an elephant - a bit at a time.

FWIW, my main strategy for a garden with sufficient space is to make sure you can walk down the garden one way and come back up another. And to make the paths (and beds) curvy - that concrete path has to go! Will you be keeping the concrete garage?

What's your soil, and which way does the garden face? Does the neighbour garden? Are footballs likely to come sailing in from next door?

Gardens are wonderful things, but they don't have to be made in a rush, so don't stress over it! There are plenty of garden design geniuses on this forum so I'm sure you'll receive many useful ideas, but ultimately it's down to what you like and can afford.

James Gibson

Oh Thankyou, that’s so kind. I adored doing it. Just found designing it hard. Hence why any ideas would be great.

Hopefully those geniuses / gurus will whip me up the perfect design in no time 🌪
I wish! lol. 

I need to find out the gardens position and soil type. However I’ve found I’ve managed to grow so many things in my current clay soil 1sr garden that books said were a ‘NO GO’.
 Neighbour is an elderly gentleman with a low maintainence garden. The concrete garage will stay yes. But I’d either cover with climbers or clad in timber etc depending on the garden theme. 

I agree; I’ll take my time doing it. Just know how much I overthink and struggle with a million and one ideas. Hence why someone with the skills who could just whip up a few sketch ideas would be amazing... 🌻

punkdoc

love your first garden.

The main problem i see with your new project, is firstly the garden is long and thin, so I would look to divide it up, and secondly the way the path runs straight down the garden.
I would remove that and look for a path that zig zags.
Playing with those ideas should give an idea of where to have borders and lawn.

Busy-Lizzie

I would break up the back long bit with curving paths and beds that cut across the lawn, rather than round the edge, to make it look wider. Don't forget shrubs to give some height and structure and maybe a small tree or two such as crab apple or amalanchier. The fence on the left looks as though it needs repairing and the right side needs a clear up.

The concrete shed isn't the prettiest, you could put a trellis in front of it and grow a pretty climber like the lovely clematis in your previous garden. You had some lovely flowers and planting there.

Your previous garden is lovely, if you were happy with it you could do something similar using an oval or two circles or based on an S shape.

I can't do designs on the computer but there are books on garden design with drawings.

I have slow internet and it has taken ages for your photos to come up. I find it is quicker to post fewer photos on several posts rather than so many at once.

The front could do with a small tree too and some flowers around the house, but I would leave most of that to start with and deal with the back, then inspiration for the front might come.

AnniD

You obviously have a talent for both design and gardening but l appreciate that you feel a bit overwhelmed by having something very different in shape and size from your last garden 
I think if you lifted the slabs from the back garden, that would give you slightly more of a blank canvas feel. 
Using curves would make the garden seem wider, and if you Google ""plans for long thin gardens" (or similar), loads of ideas will come up. Pinterest is also good for things like that. 

Nollie

Whilst its tempting to want others to produce a plan for you, I think it would be much more therapeutic for you to dig out your old skills - which you clearly have in spades - because the end result will be more personal and satisfying. As others have said, start slowly with the back garden and concentrate on creating your oasis. Draw up a rough scale plan of the space (as you did with the last one), add in the existing features you want to keep, then take it from there. You might need to section off some storage space for tools etc., but part of that garage could be transformed into an all-weather space for contemplation, tucked away from the world with a cup of tea and a gardening book to hand 

For some inspiration to get you going, a quick search of long, narrow garden produced the following images:

Rubytoo

Hi and welcome from me too. Your last garden was lovely but appreciate a new plot can be daunting.
I like AnniD s idea of temporarily removing or pretending the path is not there is a great idea.

The concrete garage is easily disguised or hidden and they are a nice low maintenance building, You don't have to worry about plants covering and rotting them like wood.
I kind of like them.

I guess it might be obvious but not sure from your photos if you have to keep a low hedge as it is a corner plot with adjacent highway?

If you like it? It looks a well established good useful hedge.
 
You can still get a sense of privacy but it would have to be a little further into the garden, Even just a couple of well placed shrubs or obelisk, arch or support would do that.

Take a pot or three with something tall in to move around,  a cheap way would be to buy some long canes make a tripod, or push a few in pots or in the ground to make a roughly sized shape that pleases you, see what it looks like from indoors,  and different positions outside.

Edited to add.
Don't know if you have a wilkin sons store near you but they are getting garden stuff in. They have cheap (okay not always the best quality) garden canes, but various sized from small up to 6 or 7ft tall canes. A bundle of ten is not going to break the bank for £3 . And they do last a couple of years,  can be reused.

AnniD

Thanks for doing that @Nollie , if only for me to pass a good few minutes looking at all those photos. Wish l had a long narrow garden 
Hopefully they will give @James Gibson some inspiration!