Privacy ideas needed!

[Lizzi]

Please help me with some ideas, attached are some pictures of my crappy garden and the neighbours crappy fence. I do not know what would be the best way to make my garden more private.

I have so far thought of a bamboo screen,potted bamboo, turning the grass area into a bed and having a nice small tree or putting in bush plants. Ah man i have no idea what to do

 

[marlingardener]

Oh dear, that is awful! I also looked at your post on the Lawn forum. You have quite a nice area, it's just messy and ugly right now.
If this was my area, I'd remove all the grass, put in perennials and small flowering shrubs, and put trellises against that ghastly fence. You could have roses, perennial vines, even vine vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes on the trellises. Then I would invest in mulch--something natural like wood mulch--and mulch the entire area, keeping the mulch 2"-3" away from the main stems of your plants.
It seems you have a nice deck, and there seems to be a path of some sort from the deck out to the garden. You could use that to define where the plants would be put in.
It may seem overwhelming now, but decide on one thing you want to do (remove that grass!) and then move on to the next thing. Gardening isn't an overnight project. You will be working on this, refining ideas, adding new plants for quite a while. That is the joy of gardening!

 

[Pablo]

Flowering vine plants like Confederate Jasmine and Trumpet vines can give excellent privacy

 

[darkrebelchild]

I agree with @Pablo; you have a nice area and you definitely have to demarcate your garden from your neighbor's and probably become the envy of the neighborhood if you could incorporate both a fence and plant vine.

 

[Becky]

Something else you could do to increase privacy would be to remove the decking - if you are lower down you are more hidden

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

There is nothing impossible if you you really want to have even a simple but a nice garden in the privacy of your own space and area. Like what the other posters had said removing the grass is a nice idea and I think a lawn grass will add beauty to your place. Putting some plants that can act as divider or fence between your house and your neighbor is one thing that you should include in the list of privacy ideas that you need for your garden.

 

[Becky]

Some fence-top trellis would be nice - it would be a good way to block the view from the window, whilst not entirely blocking the light for your neighbour.

Also, just a thought - did they get planning permission for that shed? If not, might be worth dobbing them in to the local authorities if it doesn't meet with the rules:

http://www.sheds.co.uk/planning-permission/

 

[rz3300]

Well I do not mean to be offend anyone, but that really is a crappy fence. That said, there is good news and bad news here. The bad news is that I have no idea where to start, with anything, so I apologize for that. The good news, though, is that there is hope here, I just know it. I have seen too many restoration projects to lose faith in something like this, and I would say do a good amount of research and get as much green as you can in there and make it happen.

 

[Corzhens]

Pardon me if this is not applicable in your place. What we usually do for a boundary is cassava stalk. It is a good material for a perimeter fence which is not offending to your neighbor albeit the neighbor might admire it because it is useful especially if you happen to eat cassava (there are people who do not eat cassava). Another choice is to get some cuttings of flowering plants that you can stick to the ground, again for a perimeter fence, the would give it a semblance of divider.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Oh, my. I would start with a good cutting of the grass area. wonder if the neighbors rent or own. Do you rent this or own this?

 

[mgmine]

It depends on how fast you want privacy. A new fence would be quick and would improve things 100%. I would guess that the neighbor would be happy to see the eye sore gone. The slower option would be to plant something like arborvitae or rose of sharon. Both grow fairly quickly and give a good cover. As for the rest of the yard I'd rip everything out and start from scratch. It looks like you might have some brick walls behind the fencing. If so it would be a nice spot for vines or even a small pond and fountain.

 

[cas]

Like @mgmine said, arborvitae makes a good privacy screen. My neighbor built a 4 car, 2 story garage right next to my property. I planted arborvitae and it has helped soften it a little. If I had planted them closer together, it would have hid the garage better.

 

[DeborahJane]

Please help me with some ideas, attached are some pictures of my crappy garden and the neighbours crappy fence. I do not know what would be the best way to make my garden more private.

I have so far thought of a bamboo screen,potted bamboo, turning the grass area into a bed and having a nice small tree or putting in bush plants. Ah man i have no idea what to do

Hi Lizzi
What a great project. Would you consider just painting the wood and metal the same colour to unify it all first off. And as Becky suggested fence top trellis to make an even surround, I would suggest painted the same colour. Then adding the vines to grow up and I love the idea of mgmine of utilizing the brick wall sections as a backdrop for a feature, bit of wall art maybe. Doesn't have to cost and arm and a leg, just a bit of creativity. Good luck. I'd looking forward to watching it come together.
I am actually working on hiding my neighbours' property, too. We had a dead tree chopped down which has exposed their place a bit and they have done lots and lots and even more lots of chopping. We hardly knew we had neighbours beforehand and now I look straight into their front yard and entrance. I'll take a photo in daylight and post it. I do have a plan which will help I think.