How to design a narrow triangle garden

[Lee Holland]

Hello, I'm reasonably new to gardening and have just pulled down an enormous 18 ft shed at the end of my small back garden. The only difference from the picture is I have now removed the square yellow wall in the middle of the picture. I enjoy growing vegtables and would like a little more growing space in any design. The left hand side of the garden with the conifer hedge doesn't get much sun and the roots of the conifer hedge make for very poor growing conditions-everything I've tried apart from budlia has struggled so I wondered about a winding path? The right hand side of the garden gets a lot of sun from 11-6 in the summer. The pH of the soil is 7.5 and I love the idea of a cottage garden style where not all the garden is easily visible from the patio doors/living room doors out of the picture (bottom right). I'm overwhelmed about how to even start making this space look nice but am always keen to start a DIY project if I can (though happy to hire I help if needed.) Ive read circles/semi circles are often a good idea in narrow spaces. I also wondered whether a trianglar raised bed at the back of the garden might work. The top bit of the garden loses the light around late afternoon so a seating area I thought would be better placed a little where you can't see bottem right of the photo on a patio or decking. Any helpful suggestions would be great. Thank you in advance. Lee

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Your picture doesn't seem to have posted, sounds like you have plenty of ideas. I would avoid the hired help if you can, a bit every day and take your time over it and it is amazing what can be done. It's the regularity that counts. Hired help tends to either want to do things their way, not yours, or not get on with it.
My thoughts on hired help,

Buddleia is great, vigorous, looks good, and brings in butterflies and bees, but it is socially responsible to dead head it regularly. It spreads seed like mad and grows out of cracks in walls, breaking them up. British rail spends something like £3 million a year fighting it back.

 

[Lee Holland]

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It looks like more potential than pleasure at the moment. The leylandi looks to be next to a piece of public land the other side of it, so you could probably cut that back and lower without too much trouble, but careful, some of those things never come back green if you cut them back to bare wood. The privet the other side you can cut back as hard as you like and it will always grow back, but I notice your neighbour has a board fence the other side. If they didn't mind one your side it has the advantages of a bit of extra space, no roots, and you can grow things up it.
Personally I would start by taking up all those paving stones and stacking them. They may well come in handy, but at the moment they look very untidy. Then I would dig over to see what is under them and dig some of the soil out of the raised bed so you can add something to improve it, I'll take bets it isn't wonderful, people tend to just go on using beds like that without doing anything.
That gives you something more of a blank canvas to work on, and while you are out there doing it you will be thinking about what you want to have instead.

 

[Lee Holland]

Your picture doesn't seem to have posted, sounds like you have plenty of ideas. I would avoid the hired help if you can, a bit every day and take your time over it and it is amazing what can be done. It's the regularity that counts. Hired help tends to either want to do things their way, not yours, or not get on with it.
My thoughts on hired help,

 

[Sheal]

Welcome Lee.

Is the fence on the right side the boundary line of your garden? A picture of that side would be helpful please.

 

[Lee Holland]

Hi Sheal, thank you for your reply. No the hedges on both sides are the boundary. Its an awkward narrow triangle. I've attached the left and right hand side

 

[Lee Holland]

And central from my kitchen door with the steps leading down to the garden.

 

[Sheal]

My thoughts....

Nothing is going to grow at the far end. The conifers will have sapped any nutrients from the soil and it gets very little light, so that would be a good area for composters and storage. I would put a path along the left hand side for access and erect a trellis for a climber in front of the storage area to partially hide that part of the garden.

With the hedges trimmed and maybe brought down 1-2ft I would construct a raised bed in the middle to the right boundary, where it catches the sun/brightness. Then bring that out to meet the path and probably level with the post that's on the left side. Having a raised bed will get around the problems with tree roots and lack of nutrients. It will also, being raised, give your intended vegetables more light.

I hope you don't mind I've edited your picture to show roughly what I mean. Sorry, I'm not that good at drawing. Footpath between the two red lines on the left leading to the storage area at the back. Second line from the back possibly where a trellis or similar could be erected. What is roughly a triangle in front of that could be your raised bed, moving the right boundary nearer the hedge if that would work better for you.

I hope what I've said makes sense to you and obviously it's just an idea that you can play with.

 

[Lee Holland]

Thank you for the time you've taken to give me your ideas. I too thought the best plan was to put a path down the left hand side underneath the conifers. I like the idea of the trellis towards the back as a kind of focal point for the garden. Would you keep the grass as is or give it a shape perhaps? Thanks

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The view from upstairs makes it look as though a path partially exists next to the raised bed, clear it to the edge and you may well find you have a path there, I have discovered a path eighteen inches down in an old urban garden.
The bed on the right looks to have been cared for at some time, weeding it out might well reveal plants worth keeping.

It is while I do mundane jobs like that I 'tune in' to the garden and get ideas about the larger scale of things like whether to shape the lawn in a curve or keep a straight edge.
You grow things up a trellis like clematis and honeysuckle that like shade at the root and grow up to the light. I have also hung pots from one, lifting things to the light, good while slower plants are developing..
Bulbs are good in a lawn, but daffs stay a long time, okay when you have room. Small leaved, early and late, when you are less likely to use it, are good in a small area, like Spring or Autumn crocus or colchicum.

 

[Sheal]

You're welcome Lee.

I have the feeling you haven't lived at this property long. Many gardeners would say live with it for a year before changing things. This would give you the chance to see what plants/bulbs there are and to get a feel for the garden - roughly what Oliver has said above. I would leave the lawn for the time being and work on that far end. The lawn is likely to suffer anyway with feet tramping backwards and forwards during the renovation.