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Before and after · bare yard · full sun

Starting a garden from scratch: a bare yard under a blank gable wall, redesigned as a modern garden

Old slabs by the house, bare earth and patches of grass in the middle, and the blank brick gable of the house next door standing over all of it. From one photo, it was redesigned as a modern garden: pale limestone paving at the house end, a curved lawn with a pale grey edge, and deep borders of catmint, hardy geraniums, salvias and coneflowers, with a climbing rose and a clematis on the fence beneath the wall.

Transform My Garden like this First 3 designs free · no card · UK plantsOr start a design from scratch
After: the same yard with pale limestone paving, a curved lawn edged in brick and deep borders of catmint, salvias, coneflowers and climbing roses
Before: the owner’s photo. After: the design drawn from it.
How it works

One photo of your garden, redrawn with a finished design

Shown with another design from the gallery. This modern garden works the same way.

  1. A deep prairie border in a walled garden: purple salvia, orange geum, foxgloves, echinacea and lime green alchemilla spilling over a brick edge onto a lawn.The ideal design

    The garden you want

    A finished design from the gallery, with its planting and its materials.

  2. A different garden before any work: a plain rectangle of lawn between slatted timber fences, with a bench against a shed at the far end and two bare trees.Your garden

    Add your garden photo

    One picture of your garden that shows the whole plot.

  3. The same garden with that planting in it: a stone path winding to the same bench, echinacea, rudbeckia, liatris and grasses either side, the same fences, shed and trees kept.The result

    Your dream garden

    The same style of planting and the same materials, drawn around what was already there.

Transform My Garden like this First 3 designs free · no card · UK plantsOr start a design from scratch

This makeover at a glance

Style
Modern garden
Shape
A small plot under a two storey gable
Light
Full sun
Started as
Old slabs, and bare earth with patches of grass

Kept

  • The brick gable wall
  • The fences
  • The gate at the back
  • The houses beyond

Changed

  • Pale limestone
  • A curved lawn
  • Deep layered borders
  • A rose and a clematis
In the design

Four ideas from this bare yard makeover

  1. Pale limestone, close up in the design
    Old slabs, the same spot beforeBefore

    Old slabs Pale limestone

    Pale limestone paving across the width of the plot

    In the design, pale limestone replaces the old slabs at the house end, with the long edge of each slab running across the plot, which makes a small garden feel wider. The pale stone lifts the whole yard.

  2. A curved lawn, close up in the design
    Bare earth and patchy grass, the same spot beforeBefore

    Bare earth and patchy grass A curved lawn

    A curved lawn, with a pale grey edge

    The bare earth and patchy grass become a lawn, shaped into a curve and given a pale grey edge, so a small piece of grass becomes a deliberate shape in the design. The curve is what gives the borders their depth: where the lawn bows in, the bed behind it gets wide.

  3. Deep layered borders, close up in the design
    One thin margin of soil, the same spot beforeBefore

    One thin margin of soil Deep layered borders

    Deep modern garden borders, to answer the blank wall

    The borders run deep along the fence under the gable, and that is what answers the wall: planting with height and mass holds its own against a big blank surface, and only a deep bed has room to layer it. Catmint and hardy geraniums at the front in long drifts, salvias and speedwell behind, coneflowers for the warmth, and a serviceberry for the small tree.

  4. A rose and a clematis, close up in the design
    A bare fence, the same spot beforeBefore

    A bare fence A rose and a clematis

    A climbing rose and a clematis on the fence, beneath the gable

    The fence under the wall gets a climbing rose and a clematis, purple and pink against the dark boards, to start taking the eye off the wall. They are the part of the design that keeps going up.

Before: a bare yard of old concrete slabs and a strip of bare soil along a fence, overlooked by a large blank brick gable wall
Before: the owner’s photo.
Before

Slabs, a strip of bare soil and a blank brick gable

Old slabs at the house end, bare earth with patches of grass across the middle, a bike, two camping chairs and a line of bunting along the fence, and over all of it the blank brick gable of the house next door.

The gable is the thing the eye goes to, and it is fixed, so every design for this plot has to answer it. This one answers it with depth: borders wide enough to plant in layers, and a lawn given a deliberate shape.

The design keeps the gable wall, the fences, the gate and the shape of the plot where they were.

In the borders

Modern planting, in long drifts

Seven plants, repeated along the borders, and a clematis with the rose on the fence.

  1. CatmintThe front of the border, in long drifts
  2. Hardy geraniumsBlue flowers beside the catmint
  3. SalviasPurple spires behind them
  4. SpeedwellMore spires, blue and purple
  5. ConeflowersThe pink, and the warmth
  6. Climbing rosesUp the fence, beneath the gable
  7. ServiceberryThe small tree, for height

With Pro, every design you make names every plant in it, how big each one grows, where it goes and when it flowers, so you know what to look for at the garden centre.

What you get

What comes back from one photo of your garden

  • Redesigned around your fences and trees. About two minutes after you add your photo, in the same style and materials as this garden.
  • Planting matched to your light and soil. Add your light and soil if you know them, and the planting follows them.
  • Every plant named, with Pro or Max. Pro is one payment: £29 for 20 designs over 14 days, two at once; Max, £49 for 50 over 30 days, four at once. Every one names its plants, how big each grows, where it goes and when it flowers.
  • Built by a professional gardener. Real plants that grow in UK gardens.
Transform My Garden like this First 3 designs free · no card · UK plantsOr start a design from scratch
Questions

Questions about starting this garden from scratch

Does the app need an existing garden to work from, or will a new build plot do?

A bare plot will do. This one was slabs, bare earth and a fence, and the design was drawn from that photo. With little in the picture, the app draws the whole garden: the paving, the lawn, the borders and the plants in them.

What can you do about a blank wall next door?

Answer it with depth: borders deep enough to hold planting with height and mass, a small tree among them, and climbers on the fence beneath the wall, so the eye has somewhere else to go.

How much does a garden makeover design like this cost?

Your first 3 garden designs are free, no card required. After that, Pro is one payment: £29 for 20 designs over 14 days, two at once; Max, £49 for 50 over 30 days, four at once, every plant named in every one, and clean pictures to keep.

Is the after picture a real garden?

The before is the owner’s own photo. The after is the design Garden Design App drew from it, using real plants you can buy in the UK.

Keep reading

More before and after garden makeovers

After: the same strip as a planted courtyard, with a paved path through deep borders of lavender, purple salvias, coneflowers and grasses to a small table and chairs
Part sun · narrow plot

Wildlife garden makeover

A narrow strip of lawn, redesigned as a paved path between deep borders of lavender and salvias.

After: the same plot with a brick and stone path curving to the shed between deep borders of roses, delphiniums, lupins, foxgloves and peonies, with terracotta urns at the top of the path
Full sun · fenced plot

Cottage garden makeover

A bare, straw coloured lawn and a deck crowded with pots, redesigned as deep borders of roses, delphiniums and lupins.

After: the same garden as a Mediterranean gravel garden, with pale gravel, flagstone stepping stones, clipped olive trees in terracotta pots, drifts of lavender and a timber arch
Full sun · acid soil

Mediterranean garden makeover

A rectangle of lawn, redesigned as pale gravel, olive trees and drifts of lavender.

After: the same garden with an irregular stone path winding through grasses, white anemones, foxgloves and peonies to the chairs at the far end
Shade · town garden

Small town garden makeover

Long grass and a hosepipe in a shaded town garden, redesigned as a winding path through grasses and shade planting.

After: the same passage with a stone flag path running through deep shade planting of ferns, hostas, foxgloves, periwinkle and a Japanese maple against the fence
Deep shade · narrow run

Shady side passage makeover

The bit down the side where the bins live, redesigned as a shaded path of ferns, hostas and foxgloves.

After: the same plot as a meadow garden, with a stepping stone path through deep borders of purple salvias, crimson scabious, pink coneflowers and grasses, wisteria and clematis on the fence beneath the gable, and the deck edged with lavender
Part sun · clay

New build garden makeover

A rectangle of new turf beside a blank gable, redesigned as a meadow of salvias and scabious, with climbers on the fence and the shed.

After: the same plot as a white gravel garden, with one straight path of large grey slabs to a small patio under a white pergola, deep borders of white rock roses, lamb’s ears and white foxgloves along sage green fences, and agaves in terracotta pots
Full sun · clay

Long garden makeover

A long plot of grey gravel and slabs, redesigned as a white gravel garden with one slab path to a pergola at the far end.

After: the same plot as a cottage garden, the lawn replaced by beds of delphiniums, foxgloves and roses either side of a stepping stone path to a metal bench, climbing roses on the side fences, catmint at the foot of the wall, a terracotta pot on the step and thyme in the joints of the patio
Part sun

Tiered garden makeover

A slab patio, a step and a raised lawn, redesigned as a cottage garden with roses on the fences for privacy and a bench at the top.

After: the same plot as a cottage garden, an oak framed gazebo with a slate roof where the summerhouse was, a teak table and chairs under it, a gravel path through lavender and catmint, borders of pink roses, blue delphiniums and silver lamb’s ears on both sides, clematis and roses on the black fence either side of the gazebo
Full sun · dry

Gazebo garden makeover

A lawn gone brown and dry and an old summerhouse, redesigned as a cottage garden with an oak gazebo and a gravel path through lavender.

After: the same view with the pergola in full wisteria flower over the deck, a lawn with curved edges and deep borders of foxgloves, mullein, geum, catmint and black eyed Susans, a path of sandstone slabs through gravel to a small sandstone patio with a bistro table and two chairs to the right of the lawn, and the brick walls and back shrubs where they were
Full sun

Wisteria pergola garden makeover

A patchy lawn under a wisteria pergola, redesigned as a curved lawn with deep borders for bees and a sandstone patio to the right of the lawn.

After: the same view with a path of grey and buff stone laid in herringbone curving down the middle to the foot of the spiral staircase, borders of Mexican feather grass, Japanese forest grass, blue fescue and heuchera on both sides with blue delphiniums and purple top verbena rising through them, lavender beside the path, lilac clematis and pale climbing roses on the fences, and the staircase, the brick house and the shrub where they were
Part sun · clay

Urban garden makeover

A narrow strip of artificial grass under a spiral staircase, redesigned as a curved herringbone path through borders of grasses and perennials.

After: the same view with paths of pale gravel winding out from the patio between drifts of purple salvias, lavender, pink coneflowers and yellow black eyed Susans, a small pond with a pebble edge and a stepping stone on the right, an untreated oak bench against the back fence, the fences stained a warm brown behind blue Californian lilac and orange firethorn, and the tree, the conifer and the patio where they were
Full sun · clay

Wildlife pond garden makeover

A wide lawn scorched brown, redesigned as a gravel garden with a small pebble edged pond, drifts for bees and an oak bench at the far end.

After: the design drawn from the patio edge, with a winding path of buff gravel held by low stone edging, deep borders on both sides of pink and white roses, astrantia, catmint, white foxgloves, blue delphiniums, sea holly, white brunnera and lady’s mantle, a white clematis over the trellis on the left, the yew where it was, the fences stained a warm brown and a weathered teak bench under the trees at the far end.
Full sun · acid

Winding path garden makeover

A lawn beside a patio, redesigned as a winding gravel path with low stone edging through deep borders of roses and catmint, to a bench under the trees.

After: a design drawn from the owner’s photo, with large grey slabs laid at an angle with dark pebbles between them, curved beds edged in metal holding New Zealand flax, agave, yucca, purple salvias, orange geum, white gaura and Mexican daisies, the fences stained charcoal with star jasmine on the right one, an L of teak seating built round a gas fire pit in the back corner, an olive tree in a tall planter beside it, the boarded wall and the potted shrub where they were, and the neighbours’ brick houses and roofs beyond.
Light and soil not recorded

Fire pit garden makeover

A lawn gone brown between a boarded wall and a fence, redesigned as a paved garden with slabs floating in pebbles, architectural planting and teak seating built round a fire pit.

After: the same garden drawn as a cottage garden, a flagstone path down the left, a circular lawn in the middle, deep borders of blue delphiniums, pink and white foxgloves, purple hardy geraniums, pink and peach roses, catmint and box balls, espalier fruit trees on the wall at the back, a timber arch, oak table and chairs on pea gravel at the far end, and roses and lilac clematis on the warm stained fence.
Full sun (the design’s notes) · soil not recorded

Cottage garden plan makeover

A lawn beside a concrete path, redesigned as an English cottage garden: a circular lawn in deep borders, a flagstone path, espaliers on the wall and oak seating on gravel at the end.

Transform My Garden like this