Fence border and pond advice

[n1smith]

Hi,

Last year I had some well established trees and bushes removed from the border on the left of the picture. The reason was it was just too much to keep on top of and needed cutting back at least twice a year. The size of the trees and bushes were too much for this size of garden.

The area to the left of the pond was overgrown with bamboo and i had to lift the patio around the pond to remove it:

The area to the right of the pond was a raised patio that again had been completely damaged by bamboo that had not been contained so I had to dig it all up to remove it.

So now the bamboo has gone and its just a barren mess and i need to start doing something with it!

I could fit the patio back down around the pond but need some ideas for the border up to the fence.

To be honest i'm quite good at destroying and removing stuff but now need some ideas on how to make the garden look nice again..

Thanks
Nick

 

[Tetters]

Welcome to the forum Nick. What a lot of work! I hope you got all of the bamboo - keep an eye open just in case

The first thing I thought of was what a nice view you could steal from beyond your garden if the shed was somewhere else.
Next, it would help the design if the playthings - TWO trampolines and swings etc were separated from the garden area altogether where plants would be.

Then I suggest you have a think about what kinds of plants you like and what theme you might want to go for. You might start browsing online, or books for ideas. You might fancy a jungle style space, or maybe a vegetable patch, or maybe work from the pond, making that a main feature.

Pathways are important as well. Until you have a plan, it will be best to do nothing else but clear and tidy. I`m sure that as you progress we`ll be able to come up with plant ideas and suggestions of all sorts.

The most important bit is enjoy doing it - make it fun. Good luck

 

[Tetters]

borrowed view.

grasses are great.

rooms.

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.

I'm going to be quite blunt about this, but I'm only going on the evidence provided. Your garden looks quite well used by kids and I've no problem with that, as was ours when our kids were young. It's difficult to combine a nice garden and a play area, you might find yourself always ragging them for the damage they will cause.
I'd also have a problem with that pond. To be honest it looks ugly and is the main feature in the garden. I'm not against ponds but they need to look attractive, I've had three over the years, but I'd choose a less prominent location for that type of pond.
If it were my garden, I'd formulate a long term plan if I intended to be living there for a reasonable time.

I'd concentrate on the bit nearest the house to start and get that as I wanted it and then work my way down over time. I'd also move the shed to the right-hand bottom corner as it looks like you've a nice aspect beyond it.

I always had a long term plan for our garden and water.

Our garden is only 85ft long. two thirds 18ft wide, the rest 30ft wide.

We started with this, in 1976, our first pond and not a lot beyond it more than lawn.

Then ten years later an 18" deep goldfish pond and a few pallets of York stone.

I then a year later changed it to a 3000 gall 5ft deep koi pool.

This was the last year we had it, early 2019.

My wife asked me when I was building it, what we were going to do if we ever gave up the koi pool. I said "I have a plan."

Some thirty-four years later in 2019 I implemented it as it was starting to leak and a new liner wasn't practical considering all the work it would need to change it. I had 20 tonnes of eco friendly hardcore dumped in it and paved over. It's the only thing I've not done in this garden on my own.

The point I'm trying to make is that with a long term plan you can do the work at your own pace as and when you can spare the time and the cash, as gardening landscaping isn't cheap, even when you do all the work yourself, but at least you can avoid doing things twice.

 

[n1smith]

Thanks guys for the replies.

Your right on the pond, once i removed all the bushes in the left hand side border it sticks out like a sore thumb. The main feature of that pond is the lily that gets going in the summer which is pretty spectacular. The rest of the year its like a 1960's office block.

Sean you have done quite a transformation on yours over the years, so I will think about a plan as the kids are getting older now and not destroying it so much!

 

[Sean Regan]

Thanks guys for the replies.

Your right on the pond, once i removed all the bushes in the left hand side border it sticks out like a sore thumb. The main feature of that pond is the lily that gets going in the summer which is pretty spectacular. The rest of the year its like a 1960's office block.

Sean you have done quite a transformation on yours over the years, so I will think about a plan as the kids are getting older now and not destroying it so much!

I thiik that's wise. I really didn't get into the big changes until the oldest of our three kids had left home and our youngest was this age, her last year at home before she left to train as a nurse at Great Ormond Street.

 

[delightfulbags]

I'd keep the border simple and low maintenance this time. A combination of evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses, and a few flowering perennials will provide year-round interest without becoming overgrown. Reinstating the patio around the pond will help tie the space together, and adding mulch to the border will reduce weeds and make upkeep much easier. Repeating the same few plant varieties along the fence will also give the garden a clean, cohesive look.

 

[Sluggy]

Lots of great suggestions here. I see you have a wire fence at the bottom of your garden think before you plant anything against it as you may have to prune it on the other side of the fence. I made that mistake as my wire fence separated my back garden from school grounds. It was a long walk round to prune the other side.
You can buy small solar fountains that float on top of your pond to give it some movement.
Do not pile the earth up onto the fence as it will rot the wood. The fence panels may not sit in a slot on the concrete base and pressure on the panels may push them outwards. Sadly once again speaking from experience as I thought the fence panels sat in base slots but my ones did not and my neighbour was not pleased. What I had to do was employ a company to place builders planks about 6 inches from the fence and dig out the soil between the planks and the fence. Sounds simple but it was to much for my health problems.
A skip might come in handy!

 

[Meadowlark]

I'm curious about the bamboo if it returned...but the Op hasn't been seen here in 5 years so can't ask.

That stuff is very difficult to eliminate...especially if the neighbor on the left has it which very likely has.