Looking for garden ideas

[karl210]

Hi,
After a couple of years trying to get the front lawn looking acceptable it's proving impossible, due to the poor quality soil which is 50% stones and the lack of sun it gets. We had some scaffolding up and it has now ended up this bad and I've decided I'm going to astro turf it.
What else annoys me is the front of the garden, the soil is on a slope and it looks awful as well as showing the cement holding the fence posts in etc.
I'm looking for any people out there who have any ideas what I can do. I'm no landscaper but I will happily get stuck into anything with a bit of reading up.
I was thinking of either a timber or brick wall about 2ft high and level off with soil to create a sort of flower bed. The issue I will worry about then is any plants/ flowers that we plant there will get less sunlight as they are closer to the tree leaves?
I know it's never going to look amazing but I just want it to look half acceptable.
Any advice would be really helpful, thanks

 

[mattice]

Quite likely lack of sun rather than the soil. What's the drainage like? What's on the other side of those shrubs and which side of the garden are they on? I'd be tempted to cut them down and let the light in if they are the culprits for shadowing the garden. You may be able to attach some trellis for additional privacy.

I wouldn't build a wall, massive effort, you won't able to grow anything in it, and you'll loose space. I'd probably try a more cosmetic approach such as screening or even face the whole lot off with some feather edge.

You could add some structure to the soil slope. Some rail sleepers in two tiers for example.

Your ground also looks quite compacted. A good dig over plenty of sandy loam and lay some turf.

Or your could lay astro turf....

 

[karl210]

Thanks, yeah well it's mainly the house which blocks the sun. Drainage is really poor. The shrubs are on this side and on the other side of the fence is a tarmac path. We do like the privacy which is why they haven't been cut down. Yeah after I thought about a wall I then realised the effort compared to sectioning it off with some timber or railway sleepers as you suggest is a good idea.

 

[youngroughcaster]

Hi karl210, I totally agree with your plans to put down artificial grass down on the grassy area. That would I said before I'd even seen your comment. With your flowers/plants you could put a small fence 10-12 inches high to separate the flower bed from the grass p, however this will still allow the daylight you receive to reach the flowers. Trimming back the bigger bushes may also allow more daylight in and it may look more tidy.