10 beautiful garden ideas for different parts of the garden

Are you looking for garden ideas for a difficult part of your garden?

Perhaps you’ve changed the way you use the space or something needs replacing, such as a dead tree or a rotting shed?

Or you’d just like more wow factor as you step out the back door or look out of the window?

Garden designers would advise you to consider your garden as a whole. And, of course, they’re right.

But unless you have the budget to have your entire garden re-vamped, most of us tend to renovate our garden bit by bit.

This is a two-part post. In this first part, I’ll look at ideas for the area closest to the house, because this is what you see when you look out of the window or step out of the back door.

Part 2 will look at garden ideas for difficult corners and neglected areas.

Garden ideas for the outdoor space closest to the house

One tried and tested garden design tip is to have the neater, more formal or structured areas close to the house.

Then, even if you have quite a small garden, you can vary the feel, with a wilder or more open areas further away from the house. This is what we decided to do.

When we moved in the garden was sloping, so we decided to make a formal clipped lawn area which we call the parterre. It’s divided into four with paths to echo the four rooms on the ground floor of the house.

And the other good design tip is to echo the house’s materials or architectural features close to the house.

Remember the principle of mass v void

One of the most basic principles of garden design is that you need a balance of mass and void.

This means balancing out the flat areas, such as the lawn, terracing and paths, with three-dimensional elements such as trees, shrubs, sheds and pergolas.

You can find out more about this in the principles of garden