No Lawn Garden
This little patch started life as an typical urban garden with a lawn and narrow strips of planting either side, and a trampoline dominating the small space.
As this was my garden, I decided to take a risk and remove all the lawn and fill the space with planting. I also removed the trampoline - which was another risk but luckily my son is still talking to me. I waited a long time to do my own garden and it was actually very hard to make decisions for myself but I decided to keep it simple. I wanted a garden which would be wildlife rich, with spaces to sit and read and hang out.
My initial design was quite formal, with a large pool, with stone plinths and wooden arches separating the back area but as I spent more time in the garden, it felt more inviting to have no divisions and a less formal path and seating area. Added to which the garden is so wonky there are not straight lines from the house, so any formality got completely lost due to the odd angles.
We also benefit from not having any houses overlooking us, with a large expanse of sky as a backdrop to the garden, which is unusual in a city garden. With this in mind, I decided to forgo any large trees in the garden, and instead ‘borrow’ the neighbouring trees for shade and interest; we have a large olive to the right and an elderflower to the left so these really work well for us, whilst keeping our own space open and light.
To the rear of the garden is a seating area constructed from Dutch clay pavers with a corner sofa and table. The new limestone terrace directly outside the back doors is a real sun trap but come the evening it’s a lovely cool space for outdoor dining, with an inbuilt bench.
We kept the pond in but it’s now a simple wildlife pond, with two resident frogs and a water snail, edged with the same dutch clay pavers we used for the path.
The beds are still not huge so I’m having to carefully curate the plants. Choosing the plants has been the hardest part as I love so many but only have so much space - it makes for some tough decision-making so if I don’t love them, they have to go. The palm’s days might be numbered…
