Do you have a front garden?

GwylimT

Yes

Yes but its mainly a third parking space as my wife cannot get from her disabled bay to our flat without going up steps...only walkways can be paved in our gardens so our drive is those honeycomb plastic so you can't really see it too much unless the grass is very short.

missprice

Yes

lostinrates wrote: »

There are many alternatives.

One might be a non grass lawn. What the non grass element was would depend on what aspect your garden had and how much use your garden gets.

Its north facing, its huge, around 45ft by 40ft ish, plus then the side bit which you could get two large cars on all leading to the back which is already paved.
The back garden has the bin and washing line, the front garden is never used as its road side with a lower wall than the back. And more overlooked.
The front garden is also lower than next doors by around 2 feet so all the snails congregate in mine.

Heather does not take at all.

So give me some great ideas, and I shall try it.
But it has to be low maintenance:T

lostinrates

missprice wrote: »

Its north facing, its huge, around 45ft by 40ft ish, plus then the side bit which you could get two large cars on all leading to the back which is already paved.
The back garden has the bin and washing line, the front garden is never used as its road side with a lower wall than the back. And more overlooked.
The front garden is also lower than next doors by around 2 feet so all the snails congregate in mine.

Heather does not take at all.

So give me some great ideas, and I shall try it.
But it has to be low maintenance:T

Well, north facing and low maintenance spells one of my very favourite options...a moss garden. Absolutely stunning. Try googling moss garden or moss lawn for some images.

Gloomendoom

No

I have moss and weed garden. It's no effort at all.

I hope to retire early so that I have a chance to convert it back into a grass and flowers garden.

lostinrates

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I saw one of these for the first time last weekend when we were house-hunting and it was serene, beautiful and so soft to walk upon.

I think it was west facing but it was underneath dozens of feathery pine trees on the edge of a lake so it was dappled sunlight and moist.

I completely understand the appeal of moss gardens now.

Stunning aren't they? We are trying to decide if our front garden gets too much sun for moss. I don't think it does, but we might have to combine moss with some herbs at the far end in a lighter area.

Far more lovely looking than lawn IMO. But less Resiliant to say, foot ball.

Primrose

Yes

Yes, with a small lawned area, car parking space and borders.
But because nobody ever uses it for snything apart from walking up to the front door I make it earn its keep by planting redcurrant, blackcurrant & gooseberry bushes and strawberries in the front borders. The fruit bushes don't look much different from many ordinary garden shrubs and the strawberries have decorative white flowers. The end result is a productive area from otherwise wasted space that provides enough soft fruit stored in the freezer to keep us supplied all year round.

scooby088

No

Used to until i had it block paved, if it were up to me i'd do the same to the back garden, i hate gardening with a passion

enthusiasticsaver

No

No we block paved ours about 10 years ago as we are on a corner and parking is a nightmare in our road. We did it when our eldest daughter was learning to drive and was extremely useful to have the extra parking when the youngest learnt as well and we had boyfriends, visitors etc who all had cars.


When we first bought the house the previous owners had planted about 3 or 4 trees in the original front garden which just got bigger and bigger so we had no option but to remove them and decided to block pave the area at the same time. Best thing we ever did.

chiefie

Yes

My front is bigger than my back. And I have a bit on the side too.

Mids_Costcutter

Yes

So should planning laws prevent house owners from paving over front gardens (even if a permeable / porous surface which is permitted) on the basis of increased risk of flooding, pollution from run-off and loss of habitat?