Help me design my new rental garden? :)

[Smokering]

So, we move house tomorrow! I drew a wee picture of the grounds. The back yard gets the morning sun, the front yard the afternoon sun, and the little strip along the back of the house gets nothing whatsoever (I was thinking of putting my compost pile there!).

I'm allowed to do whatever I want to the garden as long as get rid of it when we go - we'll have to flatten it out and sow grass, which a friend blithely assures me is no big deal. But we're planning to be here for a few years and it's just about the time to start planting a summer garden, so...

What should I do?

I want to keep some front lawn for the baby to wander on, but I don't mind digging some up (it ain't huge, though). The fence is plain and ugly, so I want to either grow something up it or have a bed in front of it. I persuaded DH to let me buy a few wooden half wine barrels for container gardening, so I might put one of those on the deck and one or two more... somewhere.

This is what I want to grow:

pumpkins
zucchinis
tomatoes, lots
onions
herbs
marigolds
sunflowers
carrots
leeks
capsicum
silverbeet
rhubarb
strawberries (in a strawberry pot)
I also have a small lemon tree in a biggish pot.

I love French potager-type gardens, but I'm not much good at design. Can anyone tell me how to shape the beds in a manner somewhat more interesting than a strip around the edge of the lawn? I love interesting gardens with height and nooks and crannies, but I realise with a small space and no money that might not be possible (ie, I can't afford paths and fountains and rustic garden benches!).

So, any ideas? I'm sick of rental gardens that look like rental gardens, I want a pretty garden for once! I'm open to mixing a fair few flowers in with the veggies too - just tell me what's foolproof, low-maintenance and pretty!

ETA: Oops. Visited the house today to drop some boxes off, and realised that both the deck and the grass are shorter than I realised. They don't extend to the end of the house as in the picture, and the lawn's smaller than I realised - almost square, in fact. The fence still goes right out over the gravel to the driveway though.

[aikigypsy]

I am just working on the planning of my garden, so what I have to say is more in the realm of abstract ideas than seasoned, practical advice... but I did do a few terms of architecture school, so I do have some design ideas.

I don't get much sense of scale or direction from your drawing, but I'm assuming that the yard in front of the deck is the sunniest spot and/or otherwise best for your garden. I would do a set of raised beds about a meter wide, probably edged with some kind of woodden plank. You might not need cedar or pressure treated because you're only going to be there a few years. I'd run one raised bed along the fence, with two arms reaching out towards the deck, and ending so that they're just outside the edges of the deck, rather than running into it. If there's room, and you feel so inclined, you could run another set of beds inside and parallel to the first set, but what you'll probably want to do is make a centerpiece with one of the following:

1. More raised beds, possibly a square cut into 4 triangles, or a circle/octagon.
2. a bunch of pots and/or other containers
3. a birdbath with flowers, strawberries, or herbs grouped around it.

I'm seeing lots more containers on the deck, too.

OK, those are my thoughts for today! Good luck with it.


I looked at the book The Backyard Homestead in a bookstore earlier today, and it's really inspiring. If you can get it there (check the library?) it's worth a look and should help you with some of these design decisions.

[CariOfOz]

Can I just say SIGH, how jealous I am that you are renting and they're happy for you to put in a garden!!!!! We have this PATHETIC back yard (north facing so it gets ALL DAY sun) that is baked hard as a rock, grass won't grow... but I don't *think* they'll let us put in a garden bed there.

I think the PP's idea of making 4 triangle beds (essentially as if you cut the square from corner to corner and pulled the triangles apart... leaves paths between) would be lovely. I can't tell quite how big the area is, but if you can leave 1metre walkways between the beds you'd have enough room to move around & tend things without wasting too much space. Then again... I don't think the paths would be a waste, I think they add ambiance to the garden

You CAN still do raised beds over the gravel too Or do what I'm considering, get something like this and add the base to it (or not, and just water the leftover soil into the rocks when you move