Garden planning - first draft

A robot does not work on a flower meadow. You don’t need to worry about the wildlife.

You can almost always trim and cut plants. However, that creates work, especially when you are older.

We have clay soil and so far no problems with it becoming muddy. A lot of clover has formed on the path. I sowed my mini orchard 8 days ago with a different mixture, we’ll see. I can report then.

That is apparently your attitude. Mine is different. With us, a place is used regularly when it is very beautiful, not when it is very practical. I don’t know if there is such a thing as the “average citizen.” Everyone has to find out for themselves what is important to them. For someone like you, a second terrace in the back garden would apparently be a waste, for another person it would be a great enrichment.

That’s funny, because we actually have a pavilion as a 2nd terrace in the rear garden area. And it’s always cool when people without a terrace still want to tell you where the frog has its curls. :D

And yes, we also like to sit in the pavilion from time to time, that depends, for example, on the weather and especially whether it’s the weekend.
But in everyday life we use the terrace directly next to the kitchen.

You will probably sit more in the kitchen in everyday life and not go outside at all, because you not only have to cross the entire garden, but also the whole house.
The garbage bins stand next to the kitchen exit, if I interpret that correctly, and usually you are not allowed to build a terrace within the 3m distance area to the neighbor anyway. So I don’t see any alternative right away.

And before everyone here gets upset again that this is just my opinion and others see it differently. Yes, these are all just well-meant tips. Maybe you take the advice from in #30 and first watch for a while where you actually sit most often in the garden before you start building.

That sounds very interesting and currently exceeds my imagination ... but it’s definitely nice. I have to let the idea sink in first. But isn’t it quite a muddy affair in rain and the like? I also like to walk around in the garden when it’s raining.

I also thought about this topic for a long time. Our soil is pretty clayey and tends to retain water. But I didn’t really want to pave the path behind the house (then the shortest connection to the garden shed). At first, I considered using bark mulch or something similar, but that also requires a substructure. Currently, I am inclined to try it with grass first, possibly buried with some sand before sowing. Later, if necessary, you can still gravel the path or embed stepping stones. The decisive factor for my decision was the view into the neighbor’s garden, where there is no path laid between the garden shed and terrace either.

Relaxing, walking around, looking at plants and the (starry) sky, browsing websites on the laptop, fiddling on the phone, listening to the splashing of the fountain and the buzzing of insects, reading, smelling, grilling now and then, eating, pulling some weeds, chatting with neighbors (only works on one side), picking some fruit, painting toenails ...

I see some things that work better when you are close to the house. Sure, you can also extend the Wi-Fi to the other end, but you have to plan for that. And you can carry food on winding paths (!) across the garden. And I see some things that work better farther away from the house, like stargazing.

ABOVE ALL in old age, it’s good if you have to walk an “extra” 20m... I really don’t see any problem with that.

Says the young whippersnapper with 31 years (so 3 less than me;)). Wait another 30 or 40 years, then you will see it differently. Voluntarily walking when you are still fit is a great thing. Long walking distances when you have difficulty walking definitely are not. By the way, with small children, long distances are also at most impractical. With short legs, 20m simply feels three times as long.

I have bark mulch around my raised beds and containers. Weed fabric underneath, mulch on top. Lawn edging to the meadow. On the slope, I have a path with just thick bark mulch on it, it works but it mixes with the growth at the edges.

Regarding paths in the garden: We have no paved, gravelled, or crushed stone paths/areas in our 2000 m² garden except for the driveway and the terrace. All paths are short-cut grass. This works well for us, but you shouldn’t be sensitive if you walk through the garden with morning dew or during/after rain. In that case, the bottoms of your pants can quickly get wet.

Says the young whippersnapper at 31 years old (so 3 less than me ;) ). Wait another 30 or 40 years, then you’ll see it differently. Voluntarily walking when you’re still fit is a great thing. Long walks when you’re bad on your feet definitely aren’t. By the way, long walks with small children are also extremely impractical. With short legs, 20m simply feel like three times as long.

It feels like everyone argues that you don’t build your house for life anyway – so why should I plan everything around that? In 30-40 years I might not care, or I’ll find another solution. You can also have your garden adjusted accordingly then.

I’m actually also a fan of planning a lot for the future and really thinking it through... But if something like this should be a reason to change your garden planning now, even though you don’t want to at this moment, then I’d say: screw it – do what you think is right for the present moment.

Things like that only really apply if you’re old and frail and can’t walk far anymore. But then you’ll probably have other problems inside the house anyway besides carrying dishes outside xD