Comment on our landscape design

[Mr Blobby]

We've spoken to two landscapers and both are mad about lots of plants and trees and seem deaf to low maintenance.

 

We have a digger on site next week so under pressure to finalise this. 

Neighbours' houses are to the rear and to the right, so some privacy on the patio would be nice but we are not big gardeners so not too keen on the plants on the patio next to the retaining wall.

Retaining wall around patio will be over 600 so we will need to put a rail or build the wall up to 1.1 metre for building regs I think.

 

Digger access is LHS of house, but think it may be useful to leave access for digger instead of all wall.

 

Comments please....

 

 

Edited Friday at 10:21 by Mr Blobby

[Mr Punter]

If you are not keen gardeners the greenhouse will be unused.  A shed for the mower, strimmer, hosepipe and other garden tools and furniture may be more useful.  The Griselinia hedge may be a bit of a solid green mass.  Maybe rural hedge mix of, say dog rose, hazel, dogwood, hawthorn would be more wildlife friendly and give more seasonal variation.

[Spinny]

Is that a wall around the edge of the patio ? If so it would seem to cut off the lawn from the patio. Wouldn't you want to look out and see the lawned area when sat on the patio or in the house ?

A lot probably depends on use cases etc i.e. exactly how you plan to use the garden and who will use it etc e.g. adults, kids, elderly, wheelchairs etc.

Maybe consider a second outside tap on the other side or near the house for watering and cleaning.  (or is that one marked there already ?)

Which way is south and have you considered where you want shading ?

Sight lines from windows and seating positions would normally be something to consider and relate to seasonality of planting - magnolia flowers early, spring blossom tree, autumn colour etc.

 

It is difficult to comment too much without knowing what is there already, and how much things are constrained by that and by budget.

[ToughButterCup]

On 18/09/2026 at 11:20, Mr Blobby said:

We've spoken to two landscapers and both are mad about lots of plants and trees and seem deaf to low maintenance.

....

Comments please....

 

There's nothing incompatible with low maintenance and lots of plants and trees.

 

The terms Low maintenance and plants and trees mean different things to different people. SWMBO designed our planting for exactly those criteria. Easy to maintain (self maintaining) trees, zero mowing, and no-faff plants. It took her two years ( or a lifetime depending on you POV ) to design it. 

 

There's a lot of fun in thinking about it and visiting places to get ideas.

 

And lots of friendship in chatting to anyone and everyone about their ideas. 

 

My criterion? Zero mowing. ✅

[Gone West]

15 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

Zero mowing.

Get a Kress, good German engineering.

[ToughButterCup]

😁 

Naaah, the GPS signal is poor here - shaded by trees. Now if they did a robotic strimmer on the other hand

[Gone West]

Same here with large trees. Doesn't make any difference as long as you're not under trees all the time.

[Mr Blobby]

On 18/09/2026 at 13:28, Spinny said:

Is that a wall around the edge of the patio ? If so it would seem to cut off the lawn from the patio. Wouldn't you want to look out and see the lawned area when sat on the patio or in the house ?

 

This wall and drop is where we are stuck.  We want to level the lawn so it has only a gentle slope.  But we also want to see the lower lawn section but can't have a 1m retaining wall without a fall protection wall at the top.

 We will either be ditching the wall and just have a bank, or maybe a hybrid 600mm drop and then banking down to a total 1m drop over a 3 metres.  

 

We want to try to level off the lawn section as much as possible for kids to play on.

 

Here's a picture from the FF window.  It was taken just after midday, with sun from South on right hand side. 

 

 

Its funny how, now the house is built, its obvious that the kitchen window should have been on the back wall facing the garden at the rear, where the plant room is.  Plant room should have been at the side of the house where there is no view out.  Oh well, too late now.

Looking out into the garden was on darling wife's list of priorities but she hasn't noticed this planning blunder yet.  I'll not mention it. 😬

 

Our sewer connection is at the far right corner so we will need to drop a pipe under the lawn, and, I guess, an IC at the patio for a vertical drop, if we have a retaining wall.

 

We have a set aside some budget for landscaping  to include a wall if required.  What to do 🤔

 

 

Edited yesterday at 20:26 by Mr Blobby

[G and J]

Not sure which room is which  ( take sliding doors to indicate one most used rooms?), nor how old kids are, but how about wide tread, shallow steps down? Not necessarily cheap but would give view downs to grass and double up as extra seats? (Could be done more cheaply to start with, grass treads over sleepers or like with a view to a paved version in future)

 

 

[Mr Blobby]

I like the stepped wall but landscaper is not too enthusiastic.  Suggests raising the lawn up by 500mm instead.  That would be kerbs as retainers at the rear and side and about 20m x 20m of 500mm fill.

I wonder which would be the easiest and cheapest 🤔

Edited 8 hours ago by Mr Blobby

[Mr Punter]

Raising the lawn 500mm may cause planning issues.

[Spinny]

Our place faces west as well. We are fortunate to get some evening sun flooding down the north side of the house into the back garden. perhaps you get a similar effect with some evening sun coming down into the back where you have your 2.7m wide area to the north of the house ? If so you might want to consider a seating area where the planters are ?

 

When the sun sets the shadow of the house creeps over the back garden and a patio near the house becomes shaded. And then it becomes nice to (a) stll look out onto areas that remain sunlit as long as possible and (b) have a second sitting area to catch some evening sun elsewhere in the garden.

 

Our back garden is longer but thinner and so we plan to have a patio near the house, and a second one at the bottom of our garden.

 

Photo is 7pm on 7th July.

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Spinny

[Mr Blobby]

32 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

Raising the lawn 500mm may cause planning issues.

 

and cost an arm and a leg, its a ridiculous idea 🤦‍♀️ 

And we only have about 2m wide access down the side of the house so getting tonnes of material round the back is totally impractical.  

 

27 minutes ago, Spinny said:

perhaps you get a similar effect with some evening sun coming down into the back where you have your 2.7m wide area to the north of the house ? If so you might want to consider a seating area where the planters are ?

 

Exactly this, we also get a sun trap in the far left corner that is in the sun into the evening in the summer.  The planters and greenhouse may end up as a bench and a barby.  We will be installing a mini pillar with some sockets in that corner, not just for the mower station but also just in case we want some lighting and an occasional beer fridge. 

 

 

[Mr Punter]

2 minutes ago, Mr Blobby said:

a bench and a barby

 

2 minutes ago, Mr Blobby said:

beer fridge

Very much my taste in landscaping.

[G and J]

2 hours ago, Mr Blobby said:

the stepped wall but landscaper is not too enthusiastic.  Suggests raising the lawn up by 500mm instead. 

Is that because he can do the latter and not the former?

[Mr Blobby]

38 minutes ago, G and J said:

Is that because he can do the latter and not the former?

 

Could be.

 

On Wednesday I'm on site with builder and diggerman for a clean up and to lay the drains.  It will be a more down to earth and cost effective conversation I think 😏

 

[G and J]

1 hour ago, Mr Blobby said:

will be a more down to earth and cost effective conversation

+1

[Spinny]

An Architect designs buildings, a builder builds them.

A Landscape Architect or Garden designer designs gardens and landscapes, a landscaper builds them.

 

They are different skill sets and IMO it is rare for a builder to be much good at design, or a landscaper much good at design. Rare to see a designer actually building things themselves too.

 

It is easy for those with unlimited funds. One deisgner I spoke to was asking £8k for a 300sqm design. One landscaper £250+sqm. It adds up to a lot pretty quickly.

 

Stealing ideas and a bit of direct labour becomes attractive. Lots of ways to go with steps...