New garden

Pam285

We recently moved house and I'm looking for some advice on how to incorporate access to the borders without putting an actual garden path through the lawn.  I would like to make curved garden borders between 5ft - 10ft each side.  The grassed area of the garden is about 34ft wide and 66ft long.  I thought putting stepping stones actually in the border nearest the grass might work.

The decking at the back is being removed and I intend to extend the lawn towards the large maple tree at the end.  

Pam285

Pam285

Sorry not sure how to fix the angle of the photos 

TheGreenMan

Pam285 said:

Sorry not sure how to fix the angle of the photos 

A silly bug in the system that they won’t fix. 

Here you go. If you edit them first then they post the right way. Madness. 

TheGreenMan

Bumping this up 👍🏼

AnniD

Hello Pam 
I read this last night and was a little confused by your request to be honest. I'm not quite sure what you mean by gaining access without a path. Not wishing to appear facetious, surely then you would just walk across the grass ?
If you want to avoid damage to the grass, particularly the edges, maybe put paving along the lawn edges to protect them.
Apologies if l'm being dense, it wouldn't be the first time  

didyw

I wonder if you mean access within the borders, once you have created your new 5' - 10' borders on each side.  The one on the left, with the beech hedge, will need to be wider as the hedge will be dry underneath and you will need access to it, to trim the hedge.  I have my neighbour's beech hedge along one side in the front of my garden and I put coarse bark chippings all along it, put a bench in the centre and cut two new beds either side of the bench.  I can access those easily from the lawn side and to get at the hedge I bring the bench out to get at as much of the hedge as I can then squeeze myself along the back of the beds.
It looks as if that side of the garden gets the sun so sun-lovers there.   I think if it was my garden I'd have some shrubs at the back of the border on the right, growing a bit taller to hide next door's shed, with plants that like semi-shade in front of them.

Pam285

Hello AnniD I’m sure it’s me. I want to avoid splitting the lawn in two by having a path through it. I think as you suggest having flag stones on the side of the lawn will give me access. I know that you’ve said previously about using stepping stones in your border to allow further access. I just need to decide of lawn shape. 

Thank you didyw for your comments. I’m having post and rail put in around the boundary replacing the fence panels and will be planting native hedging. This should allow me to borrow the landscape beyond. The back border will have a variety of shrubs as well. 

Decking gets removed next month. There are plenty of flag and other path materials underneath the decking so I’m hoping to reuse these.  Many thanks 

AnniD

I bet it was me as well though Pam 
I expect you already know this, but the best thing to use with setting out curved borders is a hosepipe. Also if you live in a house as opposed to a bungalow, check what it looks like from upstairs as well.
I hope you find flags etc that you can reuse. Apart from helping the planet, it means more money to spend on plants !
Looking forward to seeing it progress.

Pam285

Thought I’d update on new garden progress so far. The decking has gone and been reused for the picket fencing. Reduced the beech hedging to 4ft. West facing bed shaped to mirror the three fruit trees. Under planted with dahlias and waiting on hydrangeas. Removal of the chippings continues. Neighbour is reusing them but at least another 2 weeks to go. I fill a wheel barrow daily.  

Pam285

Will post full garden view tomorrow. e your comment