My garden and me

Ok so I've arrived at a point where a job needs to be done on my garden, and not just a bit of tweaking here and there, more of a major overhaul. I've come to the end of my tether with it and have slowly realised I'm not much of a gardener, and try as I might I just can't get the time or the motivation to grow proper plants and give the lawn the care it needs.

With this, I've decided I need to move to a zero (or as close as possible) maintenance garden. This would involve replacing the decking (as it requires yearly painting and several of the boards are now rotten) and the lawn with something more manageable. But for the lawn area I'd like to keep some kind of plants and I've read a bit about "ground cover" but not sure how to go about doing this or how much maintenance it would require. I've also read about artificial grass but this isn't environmentally friendly and not good for our bees and butterflies.

Some questions:

Lawn:

- to reduce the garden space, if I square off the sides and end of the garden as shown with the red lines what could I plant along the side and down the end (behind the red lines) that would require little to no maintenance? The end section doesn't get any sunlight and the grass in non-existent there, mostly ivy and some dock leaves etc., so it would need plants or shrubs that do well in the shade.
- I've seen that it's possible to buy rolls of turf (real grass as opposed to artificial) and replace existing lawns with this. Do these turf lawns require the same maintenance as normal lawns, and would they eventually start growing weeds and scutch grass like my existing lawn?
- regarding ground cover, how would a person go about doing that.. is it difficult to grow and does it require much maintenance. Would it be suitable for an area of my size?

Decking:

Regarding the decking, getting this whole are paved (roughly 5 metres wide by 2.5 m long plus the L shaped bits) would be expensive, so I would also consider alternatives

- is it possible to replace individual wooden boards with PVC ones? I don't really care how it looks.. I'm thinking I can replace wooden boards individually as they rot or break and eventually replace them all
- I just recently saw deck tiles online, are these suitable for replacing long wooden boards? My current boards are 140 mm wide

Here are some pics to give an idea of how it currently is (if there's a prompt to sign up to Dropbox just cancel and it'll show the pic):


Thanks in advance.

put it all to grass and get an automower.

@SomeRandomer

There are a few things to look at in relation to your garden. The plants / grass could be failing due to poor light and lack of nutrients within the soil.

Not sure if you are planning on doing this work yourself or getting someone in to do it ? It's not a job for one w'end - but it can be managed in small chunks yourself over a number of weeknds, assuming you are willing and able.

Initially I would start with the light in the garden - you have some very tall & wide trees/ shrubs - they should be trimmed back & down as much as possible. Ideally it's a job for later in the year for such work as they are actively growing now, and cutting them back too much may mean that they'll take two seasons to get back to proper growth, but if you are ok with such, then cut away.

You also have a lot of "additional" stuff in the garden like the blocks / pallets. I assume that they are surplus to requirements and should be removed. The decking is looking very poor and I would be concerned about the support wood underneath the boards. It's no use replacing the boards if the structure itself is rotting. That could turn into a BIG job in itself...

In relation to the grass - I would just keep it tidy (an automower would suffice and one under €200 in lidl at the moment) - if you want a rich lawn then you need to feed it & feed it & aerate it & detach it and feed it, which means loads of mowing (or automower to do that for ya).. if you want grass, then feed & trim (cut once a week during the growing season & dispose of the trimmings).

I understand that you want to limit the time in the garden BUT once you have a nice environment out there, it will turn from being a chore to something that you could enjoy.. You mentioned roll out turf - you could do that, but you will need to prepare the ground for the new turf, which means removing the current top layer, feeding the earth and perhaps introducing sand / top soil to help enrich it so the new turf has the best start. Laying it out and cutting it in, then regular watering until it's well established (yes it's more work - not just an unroll & walk away). Don't forget that it will need to be mowed also!

As for planting along the sides - you could look for a variety of plants... once there is a border in place, the soi is enriched, enough light & water - most plants will survive... These are all living things, so they will need some help to survive...

It's a big job, so maybe pick the big areas initially - the decking and cutting back the trees / shrubs... leave the grass / planting alone until the other two are completed would be my advice.

Best of luck if doing it ... gardens can be an oasis, especially when you get it to a standard you are happy with...

DannyBoyD said:

put it all to grass and get an automower.

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agreed, i would be very reluctant to remove a lawn to put in something involving removing or moving soil. Look at all the people that removed lawns and gardens to put in hard paving or concrete for cars etc, this cannot be reversed except at huge cost because you have to go and source topsoil and then get it reinstated another big job, topsoil is also very expensive. At least if you dig up a lawn for vegetables or plants it is reversible again because the soil is all still there. Decking was all the rage 20 years ago, now alot of it is rotting and looks awful and probably very difficult to put back in lawn if want to remove the decking again

Jazz01 has made a lot of good points which I agree with.
Removing some of the lawn to put in plants will take more work, not less (ground cover is just a term for plants which sprrad out to cover a larger area) . The bed will need weeding and feeding. It would be nice though, once established.

1. Get rid of all that goddawful decking - Do it fast. The way it appears to me makes me think it will attract rats or at best looks like a place where Mr Bumble would patrol waving his cane at innocent orphans in Oliver Twist.
2. As already pointed out your garden is "tired" to say the least. It needs a makeover and this need not be expensive.
3. Get rid of your hedges or at least cut them back bigtime. A bit of graft here, but worth it.
4. Tidy up your garden; it looks as attractive as an outdoor toilet at a 2nd rate rock festival. Get rid of what you don't need.
5. Do the work yourself and there isn't much involved other than you making the effort so get on with the job and don't postpone.
6. Place some good looking flowers in good looking pots tastefully around your garden. Make it a place which you want to spend some time.
7. Give your garden some TLC as many who cannot get housing would love your improved garden.
8. Tend to the grass too, even an electric lawnmower would put this shipshape pretty fast.

You have a lovely garden and it would not be a huge job to get what your looking for. The Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin do tours and I find it a great resource to see plants in situ. They charge €5. The shrubs and New Zealand Flax in your garden are mature and are giving you privacy so maybe go easy on the pruning. I Agee with the other posters to get rid of the decking. The shed could be covered with Russian Vine or as it is also known Mile a Minute. Maybe some clematis as well. Montana is quite vigorous. Catmint (requires sun) and borage are loved by the bees. A self propelled mower with mulcher would be ideal for your lawn. A great App for gardeners is called ‘Picture This’. It will identify a plant and give care instructions.

Not a dissimilar situation in that I could never seem to make a go of gardening and got fed up with the effort and time required to maintain a lawn. We got a large area covered in granite however just my take on it is that it still required yearly or twice yearly power washing. It has saved a lot of time but I think we should have spent a little more time considering other options.

We are now looking as some specialist bamboos or other low maintenance options to try to soften the garden. It’s not a big garden but has walls with boundaries of houses on all sides including the back wall. Just feels harsh I personally am not a fan of the visual of Astro turf are there other options like stones or something you could consider?

The only advise I would offer having gotten rid of all of our grass is just to research it well. Pinterest has lots of good ideas if you put in your criteria. Our needs have changed from really busy young parents to parents of adult children with perphaps a little more time on our hands, not an abundance but certainly more.

There are really interesting threads here about people downsizing and I saw my Mum plan for when she was not able to maintain her beloved garden any more. She tweaked things to allow her still potter with less physical work. I second the botanic gardens I am such a fan it is a secret haven that my kids also grew up loving. Decent coffee too have a mosey and see if you get any inspiration.

Just take your time and consider everything, we also did not have our doggo when we got rid of the grass we work around it but its another thing to consider in terms of how your life will change and you want to garden to be able to evolve with it.

Silversurfer said:

I Agee with the other posters to get rid of the decking.

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1st job, it's a trip and a potential health hazard

Silversurfer said:

A self propelled mower with mulcher would be ideal for your lawn.

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A huge saving with no grass to be disposed of

Just one question, why the suggestions of non-native plants? Do we not have enough disasters on our hands with Japanese knotweed, rhododendrons, giant hogweed, non-native evergreen trees,etc? Plant plants, shrubs that are native, none of this dangerous Johnny foreigner rubbish, please!

@SomeRandomer Ex landscaper here with a 2 acre garden of my own. What aspect is the garden? Where does sun rise, where is it at mid day where does it set - what areas are in shade etc. This ias important because then you maximise the use of the space. Its an easy garden to do.
What is your budget?

There are very few non native ornamental plants. Its become fashionable to outlaw 'invasive plants' most of them very useful with wildlife benefits.

Some great post and suggestions here so thanks. To answer some of the questions:

- I'm planning to do the work myself over the summer, hopefully with a bit of help from here and youtube I'll get it to a stage I'm happy with.
- The house is east facing so the garden would be west facing. The sun rises at the front, at midday it's just starting to come around to the back garden (to the left as you stand at the back door) and in the evening it sets at the end of the garden (about 2 o'clock on a clock face) as you look out the back. I start to lose sun around 5 pm due to the tall trees down the end, and this area is always in shade so nothing much grows there.
- Re budget I don't want to spend too much, maybe around the 1,000 mark max.
- Re auto-mowers can anyone recommend a decently priced one? @Jazz01 I'm not seeing that one for 200 euro on the Lidl website.

Agreed that the decking is the first thing that needs to be sorted but not sure what to replace it with. Patio slabs would be nice but I'm guessing would cost thousands which I can't afford. As far as I can tell the foundation / frame underneath is still sound. A cheap option would be to replace the rotten boards with pvc ones (as I say I don't really care how it looks), but does anyone know if they'd slot into place and could be screwed in if I got ones with the same dimensions (2430mm length x 140mm width x 30mm depth)? Can pvc boards be cut to size easily?

-

ThomasAquinas said:

Just take your time and consider everything, we also did not have our doggo when we got rid of the grass we work around it but its another thing to consider in terms of how your life will change and you want to garden to be able to evolve with it.

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Another big disadvantage of removing lawn and replacing with hardcover I had forgotten about. Yes if you have a dog there will be dog droppings all over your concrete, with grass it's just disappears quickly back into the soil environmentally, you barely notice it

Ok, so first of all you will not get much for 1K.
You should do a step in stone or patio slab at back door. Your patio should be against the wall, down the garden, area that gets most West sun as we use patios more in the evening than morning. In a garden of that size I would remove all grass and replace with gravel. All gravel, patio, slab etc needs to be properly installed, sub base, base, 804, whacker plated in and then laid in mortar, botament joints. Tricky enough. The best patio material is Kilkenny limestone - about €45 sq m plus fitting. For comparison I used Kilkenmny limestone in a patio at my house - 30sqm fully fitted and finished for about 4.5K. Dont use travertine, sandstone or granite as will discolour as not enough sun in your garden. Gravel should be limestone pebble not chip and no pale gravel as it colours and stains.
Bench in the garden should be in shade end. I think you are looking at a budget of 10K to do that garden properly. Probably not what you wanted to hear but thats realistic.

On a lawn that size it would be destroyed with dog dirt - takes months to sink into grass and the smell is horrific. Dog should be exercised and use poo bags to clean up after him.

Re the Lidl mower, highly unlikely I'd say to find one instore at this stage, apparently there were queues outside shops for them and each shop only got 4 or 5 of them.

I am thinking of replacing a large cobble locked area, which is a curse to maintain, with imprinted concrete paving.

I came across this price guide, which might give you a ballpark of the options available for your patio.

No connection with company concerned - shop around.

Measure your patio & decide your budget per sq. meter.

Factor in labour costs if you are not going to do it yourself.

@SomeRandomer

SomeRandomer said:

Agreed that the decking is the first thing that needs to be sorted but not sure what to replace it with. Patio slabs would be nice but I'm guessing would cost thousands which I can't afford. As far as I can tell the foundation / frame underneath is still sound. A cheap option would be to replace the rotten boards with pvc ones (as I say I don't really care how it looks), but does anyone know if they'd slot into place and could be screwed in if I got ones with the same dimensions (2430mm length x 140mm width x 30mm depth)? Can pvc boards be cut to size easily?

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If the decking frame is sound, stable and not rotten, then yes, you can use the PVC type boards - it's probably clips to attach to the frame & each other rather than decking screws through the boards into the frame, so just be aware of that... I know you say you don't care how it looks, but still maybe do sections together - if the most rotten boards are in one area, then do that part in the pvc, relocate any good boards so you don't have a lengths of pvc boards everywhere, group like with like if that makes sense (it does in my head, but I've been told in the past that what's in my head doesn't always make it out in a clear way ). These pvc boards can be cut to size, but maybe replace full length boards rather than sections of boards.

Those robot mowers are last week / week before I think, so probably not advertised now, but as @Monbretia mentioned, they are prrobably all gone. Lidl helpline is usually good in identifying any stock in shops close to you, but they can't reserve it - first come first serve kinda thing - might be worth a call.

If you concentrate on the decking and then cutting back the overgrown trees / shrubs along the side / back and removing the pallets / blocks, you will see a huge difference and it will give you encourgement to continue on... as I mentioned, just trim the grass and keep it tidy for the moment (especially around the edges) and sooner rather than later, you'll love the garden again Do you have a dog - not sure why the discussion of dog crap came in to the discussion ?

The very best of luck with it and remember that you don't have to get through everything this season... just what you are happy with so you can take sometime out to enjoy it too. You can be tipping along with the planting area / grass area over the autum with some feed / soil enhancers etc... get it ready for spring next year...

ThisisMax said:

On a lawn that size it would be destroyed with dog dirt - takes months to sink into grass and the smell is horrific. Dog should be exercised and use poo bags to clean up after him.

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Anybody would be crazy to leave poo to sink into grass and even with walks the dog may still poo in the garden my point was that I found it much easier to clean up poo from the grass and hose down if necessary than from granite or the beach stones we have in our garden. But again irrelevant if the op does not have nor plans to have a dog.

I've looked at the pics again and hey! the situation is not irretrievable or costly. Here's my plan for immeiate action:-
1. Cut hedges/shrubs back or get rid of them. (Hedging situation not fully clear from pics).
2. To me, clutter seems to be be main problem. Get rid of all clutter. (Cost:- Depends on many things).
3. Even the shed is an eyesore, but I reckon you'll need some place for storage and likely the OP will keep it. Dump everything within the shed that is not needed. Perhaps some sentimental items will get the chop? (Cost:- Probably nil). That push lawnmower is probably useless to you.
4. The decking looks dangerous and exhausted. All of it will have to go and pronto. (Cost:- Depends of dumping; a hammer will remove most of the decking).
5. Treat the lawn with some lawn-feed and lawn weedkiller (Cost:- €25 max and likely you'll have enough spare to do next year also)

Now you've reached base-camp.

Then the fun (as in good fun) starts and there is no hurry. Keep the garden and shed in shipshape. Later you may feel like adding some potted plants that will enhance the area and perhaps make your garden a place where you can spend some quality time. I note you have a side entrance and if you need to have some concrete delivered to replace the decking, it can be done without much disruption and cheaply. You'll have to prepare the ground beforehand.

Hints (not immediate):-
Do not get bark mulch (it eventually rots and will require maintenance). It can look good when initially provided, but its appearance dissipates over time.
Potted plants require little maintenance and what maintenance is involved is minimal and fun and you can move potted plants easily.
Good quality garden furniture can be picked up cheaply on DoneDeal. Buy stuff that lasts and that does not rot.
Get into a regular habit of dumping what is not needed.
Don't use timber decorative objects.
You may have some small trees/shrubs that need digging out at the roots. If the job is too big just cut the tree back to its main body and paint it with emulsion as a decorative object.
Solar lighting is getting better and not expensive. Perhaps there is some scope here for tasty solar lighting - I'm not talking those cheap Christmas lights strung across gardens and patios.