Garden design?

bouicca21

This post is about spending money rather than saving it!

I have a small private bit of garden at the back of my flat. North facing, and shady. Nothing has been done to it for probably at least a decade but I have finally got the flower bed under control. It turned out that there were some nice plants underneath all the weeds, but it's all pretty random, no sense of a planting scheme at all. I also have a small and rather ugly set of concrete slabs that are pretending to be a patio.

I need help! I have no design sense; I know more about what I don't want than what I do want. So I need a garden design. Does anyone have any idea how much (ball park) this would cost? I don't want to commit to going beyond design stage in case I fail to communicate and get a design I don't like. And we are talking London prices.

I have found a landscape company that advertise a design and drawings for £300. All the others seem either very upmarket (I suspect someone who regularly exhibits at Chelsea is going to be ultra expensive) or basically builders who do patios.

arbrighton

I think you would be better spending £300 on plants that you do like.

bouicca21

It's not so much a planting plan that I'm after, more how to redo/reshape the hideous patio

REEN

There will be plenty of inspiration for small gardens on the tv coverage of Chelsea, something may appeal to you.

DaftyDuck

Wander around your neighbourhood. Spot some lovely gardens, small, large, tidy, effusive, whatever. Either spot the gardener, or even knock on the door, ask them what that lovely plant is (admit you know nothing...) and ask them how they designed theirs. By the time you are on the third cup of tea, they'll be offering you plants, lending you a spade, all sorts.

Gardeners tend to be surprisingly gregarious and friendly types. I have got some of my best plants by admiring the blossom on a neighbour's plant....

arbrighton

bouicca21 wrote: »

It's not so much a planting plan that I'm after, more how to redo/reshape the hideous patio

Could you post a picture of the offending patio? Might get a number of ideas here....

I_have_spoken

http://www.sgd.org.uk/garden-designer/find-a-garden-designer.aspx

Fay

Also check out Pinterest, there's an absolute wealth of inspiration on there. You can put your own search terms in, so look for small garden design, small patio, North facing garden etc. I also agree with arbrighton, post pics and you will get help on here.

I_have_spoken

Also on Houzz - http://www.houzz.co.uk/photos/patio

sheramber

Your library will have garden design books.

bouicca21

Ok. Took photos this afternoon and would appreciate ideas.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41526517@N06/

Firstly you will realise that any claim to have the weeds under control is highly exaggerated. In my defence, they were 5 foot high and aren't any more ...

My bit of garden is 30 foot wide and 15 foot deep. Beyond that is all communal. The eastern part of my patch is grass (and moss) and always in shade. The western side gets sun for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the early afternoon.

The patio is 14 foot wide but the actual useable width is 10 foot as there is a bit of flower bed in it at the western end. It is 8 foot deep.

I don't think I'll ever spend a lot of time sitting on the patio except in a very hot summer when it would be good to have somewhere cool. I do want it to look pretty and make the garden attractive to look at.