Small Garden Makeover Journey - Part 1
Small Garden Makeover Journey - Part 1
How it started, how it’s going, and my biggest learnings so far
The journey of a complete gardening novice with an absolute determination to transform a little overgrown plot into a gorgeous oasis.
I have to start with a disclaimer. Gardens are not my forte. My main know-how is very much all about the indoors. So if you’re after some professional advice on how to create your perfect garden, this little garden makeover series may not be exactly what you’re looking for. It is rather a series of articles, documenting the garden journey of a complete gardening novice, me, sharing the ups and downs, and learnings made along the way. So, though I will leave the professional advice to the more knowledgeable people here on Substack, such as JP Clark, Jo Thompson, or Carmen, just to name a few, I still feel it may be useful to document my journey too. I hope it may help someone starting out to see that it is possible to create a lovely outdoor space, step by step, and learn a lot along the way. We all start somewhere.
Currently, I am anticipating for this to be the first blog post of a mini series, documenting my garden makeover. Starting with this post, which goes into a bit more detail about where this particular garden journey began, how it’s going, and the biggest learnings made thus far. Following this, I have no clue just yet what the next post will be concentrating on, or when it may even be posted. This is mainly, as I will be developing this garden mini series as I am developing my garden in real time. So do bear with me, as I make my way through, what I already realise, is a very ambitious undertaking for my first ever garden project.
But first, let's go back in time a little bit. I was very very fortunate to grow up with a beautifully kept garden in my childhood home in Germany. It was idyllic, having a little pond with goldfish and water feature, various areas to sit and enjoy, lush grass, an abundance of flowers and mature planting, and as the house was located on a bit of a hill, we had a lovely view of the lush green countryside surrounding us. Growing up, spending all day in the garden as soon as it was warm enough, from let's say April to late September, was a given. We would play, sunbathe, chat, and have countless BBQs.
But who was looking after this gorgeous garden? Well, it wasn't me, but with the help of my parents, it was mainly our absolutely lovely landlords, who I consider to be my third set of grandparents, and who we shared the beautiful house and garden with. Erika, the landlady, was just so knowledgeable, patient, and such an outstanding gardener. Only now, since her passing and owning my own garden, do I really appreciate her achievement. She was never purposefully trying to get me involved in gardening, but was rather allowing me to help, if and whenever I wanted to. She even once gave up a little corner of one of her gorgeous flower beds for me to look after, but after having eagerly planted some plants one spring, I quickly lost interest after that, and so she was quietly looking after it for me when I wasn't looking. Erika also had green fingers indoors and I remember our landlords’ home always being filled with gorgeous greenery, which, when they were on holiday, I was trusted to look after. Little did I know back then, that everyone was keeping their fingers crossed I'd not overwater the precious plants.
So given all this, you can definitely say my love for plants indoors and gardening outdoors was not love at first sight, but came with maturity. However, I still strongly believe having had such a passionate plant lover I could watch growing up, it did leave a mark, which I am hugely thankful for today.
Having moved out of my childhood home to go to university, it would not be until many years later, moving into our gorgeous London home, where I would own my first ever garden and start to develop my love for flora, indoors and outdoors. Having decided to concentrate on the house first and foremost, we never ended up really doing up the garden properly in the London house, but I promised myself, my next garden will be the one I would transform to my little oasis and throw myself into making it the best garden it can ever be. So here we are…
How it started
After leaving my beloved London home and living in a flat without a garden for a few years, I could not wait to move into my new home and finally have a garden to call my own again. But not only that, a garden that needed a bit of love and attention to show its full potential. A space I could put my own stamp on. I was excited by this prospect and by the opportunity to expand my knowledge further than interiors, to venture outdoors to see what else I may be able to create.
So let’s see what I had to work with when first assessing the new garden:
Patio by the house where standard riven utility paving slabs were laid on a sand base, which has moved over the years, creating an uneven surface and unusually wide grout lines, a haven for various weeds.
Planting beds along the perimeter of the garden, with some established planting such as hydrangeas and peonies, next to a huge amount of self-seeded tree seedlings and weeds.
Leylandii hedging along the bottom of the garden, which was supposed to provide a privacy screen, I suppose, but was rather bare and beyond saving.
Gravel patio, where over the years earth transported by the wind and leaf mould from the various trees in the vicinity have created a perfect base for weeds to take root amongst the gravel.
Fence that has seen better days, covered in moss and algae, and swaying in the wind so badly I was worried I may not have a fence after the first winter.
I am not going to lie, once the first wave of excitement had passed, and I had time to properly assess the situation, reality kicked in, naturally, and I was indeed quite daunted by the job at hand. It became apparent very quickly that despite the relatively moderate size of the garden, creating the ambitious oasis I was dreaming of (a) was not a small undertaking, (b) would not be doable solely on my own, and (c) would need very careful management of finances, meaning the garden makeover would take years rather than months.
And so I got to work, doing what I do best, making a plan, breaking things into smaller chunks of work, and tackling one challenge at a time.
How it’s going
And two years later this is where things are at. I have by no means tackled everything I’d like to, but I made a good start…
The riven utility paving has been replaced by beautiful and much more durable porcelain tiles, creating a slightly larger, cleaner and perfectly level patio, where I can now host dinner parties without being worried my guests will twist an ankle.
The existing planting beds are no longer covered in weeds or undergrowth, but now proudly display the beautifully established hydrangeas and peonies the previous owner lovingly planted, and the various new additions I added.
The Leylandii hedging has made way for lush green cherry laurels, which will grow into a beautiful evergreen privacy hedge in no time.
The fence has been secured with some additional posts, and partly cleaned and painted, and once fully finished will be preserved for another few years.
Getting here was no mean feat. It took a lot of sweat and tears, the help of family and friends, endless research, trial and error, a lot of saving and bargain hunting, and an endless amount of patience. But rather than sharing the details of this two year long process thus far, which seems quite unique to my garden, I thought it may be more helpful to share my main learnings, which may be more transferable to other garden projects.
The biggest learnings thus far
Take your time to understand the space and how you would like to use it
If you have been here a while, you will know that I like to approach any of my interior projects in a structured manner where step one is always creating a design brief as well as a layout plan. So, when it came to my first proper outdoor project, I thought I could not go wrong applying the same approach. To be able to even do that however, first, I always follow one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received when it comes to decorating your own home: Live in the space for a while to see how it feels, how you use it, and how you want it to work for you.
This may be no different for a garden project, I presumed, and so I decided to take the first year of garden planning to understand what is growing in the garden, where the sun is hitting at different times of day, and different times of the year, and what would be important for me when it comes to enjoying this garden, hopefully every day in years to come. And so after months of keeping on top of the weeds, clearing the beds of self-seeded tree seedlings, ivy, and undergrowth, watching the trees go through the seasons, and moving the couple of garden chairs I owned around the garden, following the sun, a plan was forming slowly.
This helped me work out exactly where I wanted to sit at different times of the day and in what kind of seating - dining set vs lounge seating for instance. It helped me understand the different vistas I would get looking out of the various windows or from the future garden seating, and what planting I would like to look at, smell, and generally experience. It helped me understand which plants will grow in which beds, having studied the amount of light each bed would get at different times of day throughout the various seasons. Experiencing the basic amount of maintenance required in this garden throughout the year helped me choose more appropriate materials for the future makeover. For instance, I considered replacing the gravel patio under a tree with decking. However, the amount of leaves, sap, and general lack of sunlight the decking would get under this tree, keeping the gravel does now seem to be the more appropriate option to avoid slips or constant cleaning of moss and algae.
Invest in basic structures first
Having understood how I wanted to use the space, led me to think about the order in which I should tackle the garden makeover. The easiest to resolve would have been the planting and I was really tempted to just go to the garden centre and purchase a bunch of lovely plants to make the space look lush and gorgeous as quickly as possible. But the sensible voice of mine, which does usually win to be fair, has pushed me towards tackling the less pretty and more challenging tasks first, like fixing the fence, updating the main patio, and replacing the privacy hedging. This did mean I needed to wait another year before I could start my ambitious planting scheme, but tackling some basic hard and soft landscaping first had some major advantages.
While the patio was not level and difficult to keep weed free, I did not feel like I wanted to really spend any time there as I was not enjoying the environment, let alone wanting to invest in an outdoor furniture set. So updating the patio first allowed me to sit outdoors this year and start enjoying the garden while I watch the planting, which I would eventually plant, develop. Then, giving the fence some attention as a priority had allowed me to fix the affected sections rather than having to fully replace them. And finally, replacing the half dead Leylandii with lush green cherry laurels as soon as possible helps to restore the privacy in the garden sooner rather than later.
Having now tackled all these basic landscaping structures, means that finally this year, I am able to fully concentrate on developing my planting scheme.
Consider starting work on the garden before tackling the interior
Now, I’ve spoken to quite a few homeowners about the priority of tackling the garden versus the interior when moving into a new home, and the opinions are varied, understandably. On the one hand, ensuring the space you would use the most, i.e. the interior, is updated first, does make a lot of sense. The garden can usually wait, which is also what we decided to do in our London home for instance. However, having chosen to concentrate on the garden first in this house, I can now see the various advantages that this brings over prioritising the interiors.
One of the major advantages is that the earlier you start to give attention to the garden, the earlier you will see results. Gardens require a long time to establish, where some plants need years to properly develop. So in this house, by tackling the garden before the interior, means the garden should reach a good level of maturity at the same time or even before the interior is finalised, allowing me to enjoy both simultaneously, once I get there. Additionally, renovating a home is stressful and is a constant rollercoaster. So having made headway on the garden allows me to distract myself from the renovating stresses by either attending to the garden, or by simply shutting the door on the renovating mess indoors and sitting outdoors, enjoying a glass of wine and the beautiful nature I created. This does absolute wonders to my ability to handle the renovating stress.
And that’s it, my main takeaways, and progress made thus far in my current garden. I hope this is helpful in any way and may even provide some food for thought for your garden or renovating journey. As always, I am very intrigued to know your own experience, be it similar or totally different. Let’s chat in the comments, or send me a DM if you prefer. Looking forward to it.
