Garden layout help + Shed

Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2004
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Fareham
I'm thinking about installing a shed and some small trees along my fence border with my neighbor.

Currently the garden looks like this:

Fm1SXsph.jpg

Whilst I am not against them having entertainment devices for their kids like the jungle gym etc, I would quite like to get back some of the privacy in my garden. To the left is my other neighbors garage and then a fence, so my patio area is reasonably private if I screen the right side a bit.

This is my current professional design/initial thoughts:

e897b6b.png

I'd really like to take out all of the grass from the corner of the garage right along to the back fence. Then put in a shed, put down a couple of trees that don't grow too crazy but can hit 8 feet or so quite comfortably and provide some good cover.

I'd probably replace most of that grass I take out with that bark covering, it's not as nice as a good flower bed but I am definitely not green fingered so lower maintenance = better for me.

The distance from the fence to that garage corner is 3.2M, from that same corner to the rear fence is around 7.5M (the fence panels are 3M wide, and there are 2.5 of them).

Would this be a good plan, or should I adjust this somehow?

I have considered putting the shed right alongside the garage but there would need to be a gap of a ft or 2 as the drainage pipe comes down along that wall.

I understand that any shed I Install can be reasonably up to around 2.5M (8.2 ft) high under permitted development rules, that fence is 6ft so just over 8ft would definitely cover most of my screening requirements, pitch of the roof pending.

Not sure what the best types of small trees to install are, I don't want anything that grows crazy fast or big but I'd like it to have a nice foliage cover in the 6-8ft height region.

Probably need to add some kind of edging where the lawn meets the edge of where I removed the grass from before. Later on I want to put in a decent patio so would probably look to extend that out into the garden a bit and possibly have it leading down to the shed.
 
Soldato
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Here and There...
By the time most nice trees have grown enough to offer youvdecent cover the neighbours kids will have out grown the jungle gym! if it was me I'd put a trellis along the top and grow a clematis or some ivy on it should give you almost instant privacy!
 
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Soldato
OP
Joined
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Fareham
My lounge is currently my "home cinema" man cave thing tbh, but I am considering a summer house instead of a shed as it could prove to be more useful.

Seen a couple of decent options on sheds.co.uk:

https://www.sheds.co.uk/summer-houses/adley-8-x-8-truro-summer-house.html
https://www.sheds.co.uk/summer-houses/adley-10-x-8-truro-summer-house.html

It looks like it's positioned sideways on so the very top height of the roof being in the centre should be good for privacy. May also place it 2-3 ft away from the existing garage wall to give year round cover without having to wait for something to grow.

Later I would look to improve the patio situation and include having the patio run up to the summer house entrance area :)

I know someone who can sort out a base for it to go on, so just need to buy the summer house and probably pay for installation/construction.
 
Soldato
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25 May 2008
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North Wales
Check out Tigersheds, i got mine from there and was very impressed with the quality compared to anything else i'd looked at locally.

Make sure you don't butt it right up to anything as well as ideally you'll want to paint it every couple of years on all sides :)

I think maybe a climbing plant and trellis on the fence would be easier than trees as like others have said they'll take years before they provide any real cover for you.
 
Soldato
OP
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Fareham
I took a look at Tigersheds but the summer houses did not fit the sort of look I was going for, having the "side on" profile and the highest point being in the middle of the roof like that is useful as it provides a good level of cover.

The depth of the area where I want to install it is 3.2M or 10.5FT so if I get it in 10 x 8 I should be able to leave a clear 2.5 feet around it in all directions hopefully. Not sure if that's enough to get behind it and paint the thing properly?

This would probably be done instead of trellis. I did consider trellis but then I'd probably have to do the same on the left fence as well and I have no issue with the neighbor on that side.

The Adley ones linked above are 260CM high though, which is slightly above the 250CM permitted development on an outbuilding that is placed within 2M of a boundary fence, and it needs to sit on a base as well. Even if I sink the base a bit I doubt I want to sink the whole thing 10CM deep.

Is is worth risking or shall I consider getting something that won't fall foul of the maximum height restrictions? Given my neighbor has put that giant jungle gym thing up I am inclined to think they won't really bat an eyelid at it.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
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38,372
Trees are just a huge pain. I've been getting rid of mine.

First of all every autumn they shed leaves everywhere.

Second of all they require constant cutting back.

Ive gotten rid of 6 trees so far another 2 will be gone soon. I'm already reaping the benefits. My garden isn't covered in leaves from the storm we had recently it's only got a few.

I think I must have around 20 trees in total I'm getting rid of half of them. I'll be keeping the 2 apple trees just because they are apple trees. I'll also be keeping 4 which provide some privacy to the neighbour I don't like.

Trees roots also destroy all the soil underneath. And remember the roots can be twice as long as the tree itself. It means if you do ever get rid of a tree all the soil needs to go with it otherwise you will have thousands of roots there and nothing else will grow there.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Apr 2012
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1,179
Tree wise you can get some nice specimen varieties that wont grow to big, Weaping Pear, Paperbark maple or a crab apple (something like john downie)

You could try bamboo either side or one side of the shed its fast growing so will get the height you require quickly just be careful and ensure you get a clumping variety rather than running so that it doesnt take over.
 
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