THREAD BUMP: New build garden - seriously where do I start!?

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OP
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My thinking with the pond and bog garden is because the garden backs onto some very large established trees that are home to many birds and other animals. When you walk out into the garden, or indeed when it's quiet in the house, all I hear all day long is bird song. That combined with a grandparent who used to live in Shetland and who is a bird lover recommended a pond and bog garden as being a wildlife sanctuary. A neighbour just cut down a whole bunch of trees behind their back fence in making their garden, so I feel like going all out to create a nice place for the wildlife.

I agree that aesthetically climbers are attractive but I also worry about potential damage to the building. Might have to think about that though because the house is a little ugly to look at from the back! Maybe once I have a patio garden in place with some lighting it will be nicer.

This is the damage my neighbour did behind their fence 6SmrFa6.jpg

These are the grand old trees behind my fence
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Soldato
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I don't think your garden is quite that big! The thing to do with climbers is put them on a trellis or wires so they don't directly impact the wall or fence. Some friends of mine trained fruit trees along their fence which worked very well indeed. Any climbers on the house should, of course, be thorny or spiky to deter burglars.
 
Caporegime
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Disagree with Quartz there* and congratulations on not just going for a patio and grass, with a random tree and a couple of shrubs like most people! The only thing I'd say is know how much upkeep that will take. It will largely look after itself if done right, but you'll have to spend some time keeping it neat, especially in spring and autumn. Even if you don't do it all in one go having a good idea of what you want the finished product to look like is sensible IMO.

That said, a few comments:

Everything looks much bigger on paper, if you haven't already, lay out some of the major design features like the patios and pond, then stick chairs and tables in the areas to see if there's room to fit round them. If the big squares are 1m then is a 1x2m shed big enough? Is the patio and pergola big enough? I'd suggest not.

The side entrance - Those trees are going to be a lot bigger than you drew and they will also block a lot of the sun in your garden if you're not careful. I have a similar spot to that (wider at one end, and slightly shorter) and I'm on the fence about putting a single Crabapple/apple in the spot because of space constraints (and the building is only 8' high, not two stories). I'm also debating whether to do some sort of stepping stone feature rather than a full path, but just remember if that's the main entrance to your garden then it may be getting a lot of foot and wheeled (mowers, wheelbarrow etc) traffic. Will it cope in the autumn and winter when it's wet, or will it just turn into a mud patch? Especially so if its heavily shaded by a tree.

With the deck next to the pond, I hope you're going to make the deck cantilever over it, so it can look like you're actually on the water? With a good stand of plants and a shady part the wildlife should love it, and it should look after itself if you don't overstock it with fish (i.e. no need for an expensive filtration system).

Also if you want fruit trees have a look into espaliered trees, you can use them to help cover your walls and fences as well. You should be able to buy them pre trained or get a dwarf rooted variety and do it yourself.

*I meant his initial post, not the one just above this. Trellis is the way to go with climbers, or use garden wire and anchor it to the wall.
 
Soldato
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I will be watching this thread with interest. I've just moved into a new build also and trying to decide what to do with the garden.

I'm surprised you don't even get any turf with the house though. Both our front and back garden were turfed prior to completion and some basic landscaping was done out the front.

front%20garden.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rxxpllc8nspkg4m/front garden.jpg?dl=0

back%20garden.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dqwzh1fhrsswvzg/back garden.jpg?dl=0

Where is that? That’s one heck of a front garden let alone a back garden lol
 
Caporegime
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if you are going to get decking do yourself a favour and get composite wood. it looks like wood but it's made using wood and plastic fibres. it never needs to be treated and will last 25 years easy. decking requires maintenance at least 2 times a year and has running costs, etc. it's then also prone to rot, etc if you don't look after it properly.

i find most people even with cleaning and oiling their decking it still looks terrible and rot does kick in too
 
Associate
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I would never have decking. The house I bought a few years ago already had some out the back but it clearly wasn't maintained properly, and I'm struggling to keep it in reasonable shape. It's also a nice place for little critters to hide under.
I'm planning on taking it up and replacing with paving which is much lower maintenance and clean.
 
Soldato
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Where is that? That’s one heck of a front garden let alone a back garden lol
It's in south Nottingham. We got in early looking at the planning drawings to pick the plot.

It looks like the front garden is shared between two houses.

It's a plot at the end of a road with 3 houses on it so bigger than most of the plots on the development as there's not a lot else they could do with the space. The front garden is all ours.

The decking is almost finished. I will upload some photos when I get chance.
 
Associate
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What do you think about Solar lighting for Patio and garden??? I bought some on link removed(I write like this to not do spam) and I very happy with the result. I've trying to upload photos....

I've removed your link, advertising is not permitted
 
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Associate
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What do you think about Solar lighting for Patio and garden??? I bought some on link removed(I write like this to not do spam) and I very happy with the result. I've trying to upload photos....

I've removed your link, advertising is not permitted

Ok, sorry, I supposed.
 
Soldato
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Last edited:
Soldato
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I did some playing around over the weekend and this is what I have come up with currently. Hope this helps with a few ideas!

I overlaid two models so the walls/roof don't tie up in all areas but gives the idea.

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Sorry for thread revival but I am interested in finding out what software this is and how the garden eventually ended up?
 
Soldato
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It was all done in Google Sketchup.

I'll get some photos tomorrow when it's light, still a bit of a work in progress but all the decking is in and partway through doing the path. The summer house area is however becoming a kids play area instead with artificial turf and and playhouse.
 
Soldato
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Current progress:




Managed to get the railway sleepers on both sides installed over the bank holiday. The next bank holiday weekend plan is to get the path finished and artificial turf in.
 
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Thought I would update this with what I've done so far, it's been just over a year since I moved in
I've been thinking about the garden for the past 6 weeks and this is version 3 of a design I've been tweaking. Thought I'd share to get some feedback

oUV7VJY.jpg

Just thought I would come back now that it's been slightly over a year to look at this thread. See what I had planned ^ :D and see what I've done.

In some ways it's not a million miles from the plan I posted!

Last summer I discovered hedgehogs in the garden! And I'm please to say all 3 survived the winter!
eaPBGXG.jpg

I had the patio's done and a new side gate added for bin storage. I made a composter. I put the hedgehog houses by the side fence as it's shady most of the day.
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I decided in the side garden I would plant climbing roses to make the wall pretty
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The roses have started to bloom now
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The patio at the back of the house has a bed built in, I planted bulbs, herbs and some heather so far. Now a lot of weeds are growing!
fEHeTLT.jpg

I put the greenhouse in the corner and the pond in the middle
6Xki2eT.jpg

Today I just completed the bog garden, just need to plant it now
UTDuYTI.jpg

I haven't gone for any turf, I'm enjoying the weeds currently!
STk1z3F.jpg
 
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Associate
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Should be working now, although there are lots of extra tags which I can't see when I edit. Sorry don't know how to create preview images that are smaller!
 
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