small garden?

Question

we have moved house where we had an unusally large back garden we now have what i class as a small shaddy garden
Any ideas we have 2 small children

want well planted but easily managed

Answer 1

This sounds like it could be really nice. Congrats on your new house. I imagine there is most likely already a lawn, i would keep it and dont worry if you end up getting moss growing in it. Try and make it look natural, like you are in the corner of a deep forest. Add some rocks and a small, simple water feature in them. The sounds will be heavenly the kids will enjoy getting their hands wet and watching the water disappear in the rocks. It is also cheaper than a pond and maintenace is less. You can then plant hostas and ferns in and around the rocks. If you put this in a corner place a higher tree or bush in the very back to add depth. To make it look natural everything should always be in odd numbers not even. Trees 3, bushes 3 etc. I hope this helps, i can picture you sitting by it, reading a book while the kids run around. Good luck to you and yours.

Answer 2

I know what you are going through. I always had a big garden when I lived at home with my parents, then I built a house but it has a really small back yard.

Strawberries can work really well. They have these cedar towers built in the shape of a pyramid that work well. The pyramid has stair stepped troughs and you plant strawberries in like every third trough. The runners will fill the rest up. It allows you to have a lot of strawberries in a little space.

Since I have a small garden I stick to things that I know I'll eat. So I'll plant tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans, onions, and lettuce.

One good thing to remember with small gardens is that you can often double crop certain items. If you plant say your green beans early enough you can follow them up with lettuce or raddishes. Or if you plant sweet corn, you can plant radishes between the rows of sweet corn. The corn will take long enough to get to size that you will be ready to pick the radishes by the time the corn starts getting tall and covering them. Carrots can be planted pretty densely, but they don't work good in rocky soil and they can be hard to weed.

Answer 3

Iam exactly in the same situtation as you are.love gardening but have a very small patch of land on both sides of my house in which I have to show all my gardening skills.
flowering plants : Impatinents, bleeding heart, lilly of the valley.I was brave and plantted daffodils however they havent bloomed yet.leafy but colorful plants: Hosta, ferns , moneyplant. try these. Also if you can hang some pots in the patio, begonias, kalanchoe and azaleas are also good. I have the same scenario as you have however Iam in LA so can grow anything eventhough have I have a lot of shade.

Answer 4

Do not lay down a lawn, if it is too shady it will promote moss growth and it also needs cutting. Go for decking it is softer if the children fall on it than concrete. You can get aluminium mirrors in frames which look like doors to another bit of the garden. These will help make it larger. Not a good idea to use glass mirrors if the children run into them nasty results.
S.

Answer 5

Use several varieties of ferns in back. Several varieties of hosta among and in front of the ferns and around a fountain that has several catch basins as the water descends for the birds to bathe in and use impatiens and begonias for color. a bird feeder near some shrubbery . mulch should eliminate almost all weeding and only the impatiens and begonias will need annual planting.

Answer 6

If your kids can be trusted around a pond then I built a Koi pond, with a rock waterfall, a herb garden on the opposite side and a flower bed in the far corner I would consider my garden to be pretty small...would you like me to send you some pics? Email me.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

I am in the Northeast and would plant impatients for color all season. Depending how small and how much you want to spend time in the garden, depends on the type of plants. You could plant various specie of hosta and "painted" fern for no maintence plants and then you could plant the impatients for a blast of color. I like bleeding hearts for spring color. You can plant fuchia and begonias for annuals also. Utilize pots on your porches for additional plants and color.

Answer 9

Easily managed are usually shrubs. Hebes are good, they are evergreen (mostly) and come in all sorts of colours from greyish leaves to dark red/purple leaves. They also flower. I wouldn't be without them. Ceonothus is good too - but some grow really tall so check the growing labels. Hydrangeas are good - and also like shade.

Answer 10

I HAVE A MASSIVE GARGEN SIZE OF A PARK