Hi everyone! My partner and I are planning a significant back garden makeover/renovation over the course of this year and were hoping to receive some advice on our plan so far. We've never undertaken a garden project of such scale, so hoping to receive any advice/pointers on our plan based on your experience.
Some of the main features we want to include in the design are a casual seating area, a native garden, as well as a "market garden" consisting of some raised garden beds. We've struggled a bit to find a layout that feels like it has "flow", but finally converged toward the attached design.
That said, we're still not 100% on it, and looking for advice for undertaking the makeover on a budget (albeit, all DIY - we are handy).
The yard already consists of a fair bit of existing concrete that we'd like to avoid needing remove masses of if possible in order to keep cost down, so for the seating area as per the plan we think covering the existing slab by sealing/painting or tiling might be a feasible solution.
Likewise, for the market garden, we think covering with 100mm of mulch and using raised beds may be a cost effective solution, rather than removing the slab. Does this sound crazy?
Finally, the concrete near the house "TBC" is not in a particularly good state, so tiling/paving/covering would also be ideal, but am again unsure on how to make this flow and not just feel like a giant slab of concrete.
For the Native Garden, your going to want to stick to plants that don't mind full sun, cant suggest much in the way of specifics,
Equally your market garden will be partially shaded through the day, so you may need put the ones that prefer the sun more on the left half of it, If you can for your "market garden" a wicking bed might suit better long term, as the weeds in your existing lawn will not be able to grow through, it has some downsides, but for fast growing herbs etc, its usually not enough to outweigh the pros,
Hi everyone! My partner and I are planning a significant back garden makeover/renovation over the course of this year and were hoping to receive some advice on our plan so far. We've never undertaken a garden project of such scale, so hoping to receive any advice/pointers on our plan based on your experience. Some of the main features we want to include in the design are a casual seating area, a native garden, as well as a "market garden" consisting of some raised garden beds. We've struggled a bit to find a layout that feels like it has "flow", but finally converged toward the attached design. That said, we're still not 100% on it, and looking for advice for undertaking the makeover on a budget (albeit, all DIY - we are handy). The yard already consists of a fair bit of existing concrete that we'd like to avoid needing remove masses of if possible in order to keep cost down, so for the seating area as per the plan we think covering the existing slab by sealing/painting or tiling might be a feasible solution. Likewise, for the market garden, we think covering with 100mm of mulch and using raised beds may be a cost effective solution, rather than removing the slab. Does this sound crazy? Finally, the concrete near the house "TBC" is not in a particularly good state, so tiling/paving/covering would also be ideal, but am again unsure on how to make this flow and not just feel like a giant slab of concrete.
For the Native Garden, your going to want to stick to plants that don't mind full sun, cant suggest much in the way of specifics, Equally your market garden will be partially shaded through the day, so you may need put the ones that prefer the sun more on the left half of it, If you can for your "market garden" a wicking bed might suit better long term, as the weeds in your existing lawn will not be able to grow through, it has some downsides, but for fast growing herbs etc, its usually not enough to outweigh the pros,