Grass-Less Garden Ideas

Nowadays, with the busy hustle and bustle of life, more and more homeowners are choosing a grass-less garden over a high-maintenance lawn. I have to say, I can’t blame them. As much as I love getting out in the garden, I really don’t have a lot of time on my hands to give it the care and attention it needs.

If you’ve never had a grass-less garden before, you might be under the impression that they’re dull, lifeless and devoid of character. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. There are lots of things you can do to make your garden feel cosy and welcoming without adding turf or artificial grass.

Here are a few of my favourite suggestions for a charming grass-less garden. I hope you’ll give them a try!

Choose a Pretty Patio

The truth is, you really don’t need grass to create a garden with natural charm. Porcelain paving is a great alternative to grass, especially if you’re looking for something low maintenance. Porcelain outdoor tiles are designed with durability in mind, so once they’re installed you won’t need to worry about them looking dull, chipping or tarnishing over time.

To keep porcelain pavers clean, all you need to do is give them a quick wipe over with some warm soapy water. You can see how this would be a preferable choice over dragging the lawnmower out every couple of weeks during summer!

Paving is definitely a good option if you’re designing a grass-less garden. You’ll notice that porcelain pavers are available in a huge range of shades and textures so they’ll complement your garden whether you have a traditional or modern aesthetic.

I’ve even seen some porcelain tiles that have a wood flooring effect. Allowing you to create a real-wood look in your garden without worrying about maintaining real wood!

Paving is a great base for your table and chairs, your plant pots and your firepit – perfect for giving your garden a homely touch. 

Install Durable Decking

If patio doesn’t take your fancy, a garden deck might be a better option. Wooden deck boards and composite deck boards both offer a natural look that’s sure to bring your garden space to life.

If your main concern is maintenance, composite decking is the best way to go. With a polymer cap, it won’t need sanding, staining or sealing. Much like porcelain paving, all composite decking needs is a quick wipe over to remove dirt and debris making it much easier to maintain than an unruly lawn.

Wooden decking is also a good option, but doesn’t have the same low-maintenance properties as composite decking. This kind of decking can be susceptible to rotting and warping if it’s not maintained properly. That being said, it’s still going to require less attention than a lawn so it’s a suitable option for a grass-less garden. 

Take Advantage of Trees and Potted Plants

As I mentioned at the very beginning, there’s a misconception that a grass-less outdoor space is going to feel ‘cold’ and ‘unwelcoming’. Well, I’ve found that one of the best ways to combat this is to add a variety of potted plants and shrubs around on your patio or decking.

These don’t have to be plants that require constant care, they could be something easy to care for like geraniums, petunias, or something edible like mint or sage.

Either way, adding flowers, herbs and shrubs to your grass-less garden will bring so much life and vibrancy to the space that you’ll wonder why anyone bothers to have turf installed!

How to Baby-Proof Your Garden

When you’ve got a little one on the way, there are so many preparations to be made you might start to wonder if you’ll get it all done in time! For many of us, the focus is on the inside of the house where your little one will be spending most of their time. You might buy a fireplace cover, install a couple of baby gates and start re-arranging your furniture for a bit of extra crawl-space, but have you thought about your garden?

Parents often overlook outdoor spaces, but this is where a lot of hazards tend to live. Pebbles, thorny plants and water features can all be potentially dangerous for your little one. But don’t worry, I’m going to talk you through a few different ways you can address these problems and thoroughly baby-proof your garden.

Garden surfaces

While you want your garden to look great, you don’t want to choose an outdoor flooring option that’s dangerous for your child. Small stones and gravel can be a choking hazard, so if your garden is covered in them – it might be time to consider a garden renovation.

Grass is an obvious choice, it provides a soft, luscious space for your little one to play, learn and develop. Of course, the only downside with having your garden turfed is the amount of upkeep that real grass requires. You don’t want to be spending the summer holidays trudging up and down with a lawn mower when your little one wants to have a teddy bears picnic and enjoy the sunshine!

A great alternative to grass is composite decking, it offers a forgiving surface that (although not as soft as grass) won’t cause your little one a significant injury if they do happen to fall over. High-quality composite decking is designed not to split or chip, so unlike traditional wood decking, you won’t need to worry about your little one getting a nasty splinter. Better yet, composite decking will last a lifetime with minimal maintenance, giving you more time to spend with your family!

Plants

Having plants in the garden is a great sensory and educational experience for your child. When they get a bit older, they might even help you plant new seeds and begin to take an interest in the natural world (something that’s so often neglected nowadays).

Make sure you remove toxic plants and mushrooms, prickly plants and plants that bear fruit and berries, these plants might look nice in your garden, but they can cause real problems if children get their hands on them.

Instead, you should think about planting vegetables, larger fruits and herbs, the leaves of which are generally non-toxic and safe for curious children to explore. Better yet, if you get a good harvest of carrots and apples, you can add some home-grown vitamins into your baby’s diet.

Some beautiful non-toxic flowers are also a great choice. Pot Marigolds, Amaranthus (shown above), Lemon Balm and Daylilies are sweet smelling, taste rather delicious and will add a touch of colour to your outdoor space.

General Safety Tips

Here are a few other baby-proofing tips to help you keep your garden accident-free!

·         Keep the garden hose out of the sun – If you’ve ever picked up or stepped on a hose pipe that’s been left out in the sun, you’ll know that they can get incredibly hot! Make sure you store them in a shaded, cool place whenever possible.

·         Use plants to protect sharp corners – There are plenty of permeant features in our gardens that might pose a risk to little ones. Use greenery to create a buffer between your child and any sharp edges. 

·         Update your garden furniture – Ditch the glass tables and wooden chairs and treat yourself to a brand-new garden set with padded cushions, rounded edges and removable, washable covers (thank me later).

Hopefully these baby-proofing tips will help you relax and enjoy your garden as your little one explores, grows and changes!

*Guest post

I got married and how I’d do a wedding in another lifetime

We did it, we went off and got married. It was very lowkey and did not take much organising for it was just us, two witnesses at a registry office followed by afternoon tea at a hotel. I purchased a flowery satin dress in a blush pink colour and Sweep wore a suit that he already had – very untypical I know but that is what we both wanted at the time. In fact, it cost us hardly anything for the whole day since we had recently purchased some land and felt like that was more important to be frugal. A large wedding was out of the question also as we have a really, really small family and are quite introverted. We went to the registry office in Sweep’s work van decorated in ribbons, met our lovely witnesses, said our vows and then all went for cakes, scones, cocktails and tea. All back in time for my son home from school!

However, in another lifetime I’d have had a large family who would fuss and want a large wedding party to attend, I’d have tons of friends and would have spent a long time planning everything from the dress to the favours and the flowers. When I was younger I was obsessed with weddings and went to bridal fayres to try dresses on for fun, I studied floristry at an agricultural college, completed a wedding coordinator course and was convinced that was the job I wanted, a bit like J-Lo in the Wedding Planner. Funny to look back at this. 

In this other lifetime I would love a wedding by the sea, perhaps the Cornish coast or in Dorset, for there is something about the sea and drifts of pink sea thrift that I find very romantic. I’d look for large group accommodations where we could all stay, it would be child friendly and even allow the dogs to stay, after all they would be included in my dream wedding; girl dogs would be wearing flower collars and our Burt would wear a bowtie. Accommodation like party houses would allow friends and family to stay together and enjoy the wedding reception without being far away from their beds at the end of the evening so nobody would need to worry about a taxi. My son could have space to be away from it all when the noise became too much and it would be easy to look after family members who may need a rest from the long day. It would be a wonderful gathering and surrounded by gorgeous gardens where we could have our wedding photographs taken.

Having a wedding party that involves as many flowers as possible would be my dream. However, the next best thing for me is that the land that we purchased will become partly dedicated to growing cut flowers, gorgeous English flowers for other brides so I feel I have my dream in a sort of way. I attended a DIY wedding some years ago where the bride had grown her flowers in a polytunnel and it worked out so well. Seasonal flowers in jam jars, cans and bottles adorning the church and the marquee was very summery – scented Sweet Peas, Astrantia, blush roses, frothy Lady’s Mantle and Ammi with dots of pastel corn flowers.

The grounds where the wedding would be set would also have to be very flowery with deep herbaceous borders and roses scrambling up arches and arbours. Some of the gardens I visit on my travels would be perfect, summer gardens with lupins, spires of delphiniums, pink peonies and purple foxgloves; beautiful grounds for our guests to chat and have drinks from afternoon to evening. These are the items I would prioritise, the location, comfort of guests and the floral aspect. On a limited budget, thinking about what is most important to you is the best thing to do and then compromise on the rest. For instance, the cake is something I am not too bothered about, something simple and summery would be my ideal, nothing fancy. The dress too, a proper ivory wedding dress for my dream wedding (although I loved my real dress for my actual wedding) but if I’d had a large event, I still would have chosen something on the budget end, very simplistic and plain but classy. Bridesmaids dresses would be off the peg from a high street store.

There was something very liberating about the way we chose to get married but if circumstances had been different, I would have loved a larger wedding to share with other people and one where it was the whole day and evening. The thing I missed the most was having photos done of the day as I have just a few snaps. It would have been great to have those pictures within the English country garden of grand house and pictures with family members.

However, I did love our day and our two witnesses were very special people. There was no stress and the day felt so relaxed, plus we spent less than £300 with most of that the admin fees for registering the marriage and the registrar ceremony, we even had the cocktails knocked off our bill as the ones we wanted were not available and now I am selling my dress so perhaps this was the cheapest wedding ever! The most important thing is the marriage and life going forward.

*Collaborative post

Country courtyard garden - March update

Sat here after the first week of March wondering where the pleasant weather has disappeared too. From the daffodils at the front gate beaming with spring sunshine to damp and miserable flower tears this week, a swipe at my gardening joy. Nevertheless I have ventured out in a bid to get started and transform the front courtyard garden into the paintbox of colour it was last year.

There are lots of plants just stirring in their pots and in our larger planters, in fact some never went away as the winter has been so mild. My geraniums are still showing some bright pink petals, ready to burst out fully in a couple of months and lots of the perennials are well above the soil, not afraid of chancing some late snow and a zap by the frost. The herb bed is coming to life although I hope they don't get too comfy as they will be being moved due to my Boo dog thinking this area makes a great toilet!

We have been around the garden and cleared away leaves and debris, moved the pots together in order to sort out what has made the winter and discover what things actually are - must make a note this year and do some labelling! With the courtyard being all pots, many of them were just slotted into gaps last summer in their shop bought plastic tubs since I was after instant oomph and I had spent a lot of money on glazed, terracotta pots and other containers. This year I'll buy more pots so that the garden looks more cohesive.

Despite the cold and drizzle, we visited the local plant nursery and antique centre where I purchased a galvanised tub £15 and some plants; garlic chives for £1.40, Arum italicum £4.20 for a shaded area out of reach as it's poisonous (had just seen it funnily enough in a garden whilst on Sweep's rounds that morning) and some lamb's ears for £2

Add to them a selection of bare rooted roses from Tesco £2 each, a lilac and a forsythia for the same price - bargains! So I have lots to do without even looking at the seeds I purchased at the end of last season. However I have sown some chard and other salad leaves into a standing trough and hopefully if the Boo dog stops jumping in here to dig (!) they will be ok.

At the moment I don't have a greenhouse and will be using a table in the living room for all my seeds and probably all the window ledges too. I'd like the garden to look more cottagey which is hard with it all being in pots so we shall see how it all knits together. This will be my first full year here after gradually moving last summer and wanting to create a quick fix garden, now I will have more time to plan and study, discover the joys of container gardening a bit more and give a bit more thought to planting combinations rather than haphazard schemes.

Family garden adventuring

After moving this year I have a new garden to work with and turn into a family space, for both adults and children, namely my 8 year old who loves the outdoors. I don't want to lose his interest in nature, mucky hands and bugs so next year me and the OH (Sweep) are going to put some plans together to create a new garden from scratch. Up until now the front area of the house was just paving stones with a few planters but over the summer I created a container garden full of herbaceous perennials to attract the bees and the hoverflies, my son loves nature as we do too. But how to add areas for children to burn off energy yet keep the garden looking lovely and keeping it safe too. I have a few ideas for the elements we are considering that will offer solutions to keep all of us happy. 

Choose non poisonous plants

Do a little homework around safe plants as many are surprisingly poisonous. Foxgloves can prove fatal if ingested, delphiniums are also toxic and other plants may cause skin irritations such as euphorbia. Check out safe plants with the RHS. Many seed companies have a children's growing range, fun to grow, educational and safe options such as calendula, sunflowers and snapdragons. We have dogs too so it is important that no accidents happen with leaves or flowers being munched. I'm going to remove the foxgloves to the flower bed outside and make sure that the flowers within the garden are nothing too nasty. Look out for anything too thorny and prickly too for small hands and paws. 

Play equipment

My boy needs some interesting outdoor play equipment to exercise and engage his imagination. I've been looking at the inspiring range from Wickey, a family run business who make wonderful wooden climbing frames, play houses, sandpits and more. The range is immense, different types of climbing frames, castles, seaside huts, space rockets that you can choose the colour of the slide and the tarpaulin to suit your garden which I think is a great way to choose equipment that compliments the home and garden. The website allows you to change colours to see what it will look like. Then there are tons of accessories from ship's wheels to climbing holds for little feet. I really love the playhouses with their cute chimneys (my Sweep will love that feature), they look like something from a fairytale and will delight the imagination of any child (and parents too) and will complete the look of a garden. I'd add swathes of wild flowers around them or tubs of pretty annual flowers. It's great for children to be encouraged to get outside and play, stimulating the senses and helping with motor and coordination skills but also great to have a pretty garden so these wooden climbing frames give an organic look amongst your flowers, shrubs and trees. There are different sizes, designs, all full of activities to climb, slide and swing from. I think even our dogs would love to whizz down the slide.

Creativity

We are also looking to add some creative areas of the garden. Even though it is relatively small, we are going to section the garden into different rooms so one area will have a seaside element where we add plants such as pink sea thrift and keep little displays of the shells, pebbles and even seagull skulls that we have found whilst beach combing on holiday. We have been around a lot of village open garden this year for inspiration and found some interesting use of found objects on our travels, dolls set into walls, vintage garden tools, skulls and other peculiar items set amongst the flowers. I like creating pockets of areas with different themes, as we like collecting things and I hope they add to my son's sensory and imaginative play. He is very tactile and enjoys discovering so shells and bones add to exploration.

Wild areas

We love wildlife too and have greatly enjoyed attracting lots of different species of hoverfly, bees and some butterflies. From just a few planters, we added more and more to create borders of containers, swapping them around and adding new ones all the time for extra colour. Next year Sweep is making a bird table to encourage them into the garden. We were lucky to have swifts nesting in the eaves this year, then soaring each evening, squealing as the sun started to set. Blackbirds made a nest in an old rake propped up in a recess and the wood pigeon was our cherry blossom tree resident although sadly with no success. A wild flower patch and log pile would be great too for other insects and perhaps the village hedgehog that we have called Chippy because we always see him/her by the chip shop. It's a rural area so I'm hoping that we get lots of wildlife venturing into the garden. 

With the limited space it will be tricky at times to accommodate all our needs but with some clever planning and using all the nooks and crannies, I'm confident that I can show you my ideal garden next year that is also a super play space for a young boy.

*Collaborative post

Creating a new garden quickly for summer

I've been moving, gradually, I've probably hinted at it since it's so very hard to contain excitement but also not say too much until it has happened. One of the aspects of the move has been my ferrying of plants and pots from one county to another to their new village location to create a new garden. I love my garden in Cheshire and losing it has been difficult but I love my man more than flowers and climbing roses so I set about changing the front yard into a little country garden. 

I wanted to create a space for us to sit and enjoy the summer, but in the quickest time possible since I'm incredibly impatient and wanted to make the most of any sunshine and build the basics of a garden for the following year. Using what was there was, so some existing amazing planters to be filled, I added more from my house in Cheshire to build up a structure of a herbaceous border but using pots and containers.

In just over a month, we have created a beautiful knitted together flowery front garden, secluded and filled with herbs, perennials, trees in pots and roses. I have spent hours poring over my Pinterest garden board and finding ways to creatively garden using containers. The outcome has been a joy to document and watch, every week, growing and uplifting.

To create a courtyard garden for instant impact I have a few recommendations:

Local plant sales
We have been going to local plant sales, one at a local library and one at a cottage, both selling a variety of flowers cheaply. The sweet peas climbed up sticks we collected on dog walks and have provided scent and deep colour. The philadelphus little white love from the cottage sale and the bear's breeches are thriving and the coreopsis from the local shop is attracting the bees and hoverflies. For a small amount of money, the pots have been filled with colour and we've added some courgettes, pumpkins and homegrown salad leaves in for veggie crops too. Herbs too are providing a scented small garden and have been useful adding to our cooking.

Lighting
For evening use of the garden, some glowing lights for ambience extends the hours and adds a pretty look whilst sitting out with a glass of cider for me as dusk descends. Have a look at Lights for a range of outdoor lighting for patios and terraces with interesting options for every kind of style, contemporary to more traditional and eclectic such as fabulous LED illuminated plant pots and solar mosaic lights. I love the way garden lights create a cosy glow through leaves and casts shadows of flowers. The bedroom looks out over the garden and it looks so pretty and atmospheric with lights positioned around the space and we can enjoy the garden for much longer. I eventually want an electrical supply in the garden for path lights when we develop the space behind the house but for now solar is such a useful, instant and inexpensive solution. 

Adding height
We've added some patio fruit trees to bring height to the garden and interest, cherry, apple and pear trees so we will have in future years some nice fruit crops. I'm most excited about the morello cherries. My clever man has made an amazing arch gate for roses to climb up and over, spilling across and blurring the edges. It's given the illusion of a maturer garden. Different heights and textures using lavatera, buddleia and clematis, quick growers that are working hard already. Runner beans are now escaping over the wall and the garden is bursting with energy. 

Variety of containers
A bit of creativity when selecting containers has added impact to the garden, such as those I found at the cute plant place in Shropshire. Traditional pots are quite expensive so variety by way of crates and baskets has enabled many plants to be grown and a layered structure has been put together to create an exuberant mix of flowers. I've grown seeds in anything possible and we've picked up found items to pop a courgette or two into. Hopefully too creating a garden for wildlife, herbs in old sinks, bee attracting flowers in moss lines wire baskets or a drawer full of frothy butterfly attracting annuals.

I'm so pleased with how it is all looking and leaving my more traditional garden behind has felt like no problem at all as I feel so happy in our new garden and loving the space more and more. I have always admired gardens created in less typical spaces so the challenge is very fulfilling.

*collaborative post 

A little plant centre in Shropshire

I am in a whirl of new garden, one with a front yard area that needs a variety of pots and clever ways to grow and create beauty. And so with my constant wittering of herbs and clematis....I was taken here to what can only be my new favourite oasis of plant buying and various vintage item, stuff the car boot full of loveliness kind of place. 

Which way to look, corners of leafy and scented confectionery, boxes to fill with beautiful blooms and obelisks for sweet peas to climb up. Things that used to be on farms, now for peonies and not for pigs, now for hellebores and not for hens, tansy in troughs, ferns in feeders..... Dinosaurs stampeding on tree stumps, ideas in my head and being tempted by a cup of tea and cake whilst looking at wire racks to line with moss and fill with sprite-faced violas or bulbs in autumn. Antiques and items I'd faff around with, candles and lanterns, kitchenware, enamel bowls for strawberries and mint, curiosities for shelves and shelves for curiosities to peer over, dust bunny gatherers but I don't mind.

So what did I buy......borage prickle leaved and ready for bumble bee enchantment and a spidery purple centaurea montana, a square metal tub and things I've now forgotten because I'm a crazy plant buying woman. 

Things at the moment

My life seems to have phases, things come in blocks, so a particular series or fascination with something or coincidences whether good or bad.

This has been the summer of watching The Handmaid's Tale. I rarely watch television, but this series looked interesting and so I am watching it online and await each episode eagerly with a relish I remember from my younger years when Lost or Twin Peaks were favourite. It's based on a book by Margaret Atwood, admittedly I have not read it. I do have a copy of one of her other books Oryx and Crake so on the back of this series and its great story line, I think I will give it a whirl. The Handmaid's Tale is gripping and following the main protagonist, June/ Offred and life in a dystopian USA where a totalitarian government has take over and the main gist of it is that only some of the woman are still fertile, the Handmaids and they are sold as slaves of reproduction to the wealthy families. Really worth catching up with on Channel 4 or read the book as I'm told it is amazing.

Sadly this summer seems to be a lot about cancer. It's rarely touched on my life before and yet this summer I have people that I know who are bravely battling the disease. Indeed my poor little dog is too. I can't begin to imagine how life changing it is for a person and the ladies that I know, I have so much respect for their strength. I've heard their words around chemotherapy and how poorly it makes them feel. One of the ladies was trying to perk herself up, wearing a pretty chemo hat, having pampering sessions and going out for lunch on the days she felt ok. It must be just so hard to keep going and I have huge admiration and hope for them to recover soon.

This summer has also started a rosé wine / white wine and soda drinking phase for me. I wasn't really drinking so perhaps it is the studies but it is rather nice to have a cool glass of wine on a sunny day or evening. Also olives have sneaked back into my life, tubs of them in olive oil, with feta cheese and stuffed with pimentos. 

Also I have become mad on roses. I bought two from the market at Ludlow for £6.50 each, a large buttery yellow one called Absolutely Fabulous and an interesting striped pink rose called Ferdinand Pitchard. Both are heavily scented and will be going into a new flower border.
Then my neighbour popped over with some pretty roses in a jam jar from a wedding so that was really nice gift and I put it on the mantelpiece. So roses, roses everywhere! Next year I will have more in the garden so I can cut more to bring inside and fill the house with their scent.

*Collaborative post

Graveyard gift

Standing in the churchyard, local quarried stone

Keeper of lost souls, the guardian of bone,

Seasons of people passing through lych-gate to this acre

A remembrance of life, a trustworthy caretaker.

No longer in mortal memory of freshly wiped tears

Generations have long forgotten over many years,

Through times of hardship and wars with skies so leaden

Vandals, neglect and weathering spelt graveyard Armageddon.

But still the stones remain although edges decay

The words that were inscribed oft have little left to say.

Now it is the nature that speaks in volumes with such might

From those that crawl and slither, scuttle or fly at night.

An angel full of lichen and a skull that's topped with moss

An ecosystem of memento mori on every arch and every cross.

Winding paths cutting meadow grass welcome dainty wing

Summer ox-eyed daises, buttercups and snowdrops every spring.

Tussocks of Yorkshire-fog with plumes of purple florets

A food source for the Speckled Wood and where beetles rest in showers.

Amidst a sea of flowers with waves of buzz and pollen golden

Centuries of graves to which wildlife is beholden.

Ferns in damp shaded corners, a steady drip of blessed dew
The avenue of limes and the mysterious ancient yew,

Hiding places for woven nests, the robin and the wren

Tangles of ivy and prickling bramble, a dashing foxes den.

A hunting and foraging site for creatures of all sizes

The nocturnal and crepuscular and songbirds at sun rises,

A figure of eight loop-the-loop from a pipistrelle

Catching flies, dancing high above where granite tombstones dwell.

Moonlight brings the badger on his familiar trail

Trodden path with humbug grunts and wiry tufts of tail,

And as he stops to snuffle for worms and droplets of elder berries

Peace abounds; consecrated ground, tranquil cemeteries.

Open the gate to these sacred spaces in countryside or town

Take some time to sit there and really look around.

Whether your journey is spiritual or somewhere to find ease

Celebrate the gift of the natural world underneath the trees,

A place for green enrichment and replenishing the mind

A rich mosaic of living and departed intertwined.

Christmas Flowers

 This week I am writing my end of term essay for uni and so I haven't been a garden visiting and the weekend was spent at a medieval fayre........Looking back to last year, I never shared the floral extravaganza that I went to at Arley Hall in Cheshire. Each room is filled with flower displays so creative and the feeling is unbelievably festive. There are also Christmas trees, see last year and a little shop that sells jams and chutneys made from the produce of the estate and garden. It's an event I really recommend and it's on the 3rd December!

Now back to my history books and time to get writing that essay.