ᐅ Garden Design for New Construction: End-Terrace House

Hello,

We moved into our end-terrace house in February and so far have only had the landscaper do the essentials (paths, terrace, lawn). Unfortunately, there was little time for garden planning during the construction phase, so we now want to tackle it.

Here is the site plan with some comments:

We are still unsure about the following points and would appreciate some ideas and support:

1) Since we have neighbors on all sides, we would like some privacy screening. We don’t like chain-link fences or hedges, but prefer flowering hedges or similar. Do you have any tips on their arrangement or other ideas? The most important privacy screening is in front of the floor-to-ceiling 3m (10 feet) glass wall on the long side of the house, as well as in the garden area and next to the terrace. We made the planting strip wider there and up to the terrace so we can plant more. For the other areas, the privacy screen doesn’t need to be completely dense; it’s okay if you can still see a bit of the neighbors.

2) We will probably rotate the shed and the tree (see arrows). Otherwise, we want to design the garden to look modern and not too cramped despite its small size. Any ideas for that?

3) We can still fully design the front garden but have no ideas yet. We would like raised beds and a path around the house. Raised beds, for example, behind the lawn grid stones. Perhaps something nice in front of the heat pump as well, to cover it.

To help you get a better impression, here are a few pictures:

If you have any questions, just write.

Regards,
Nicola

Hi – what kind of patio slabs are those, and how did you have them installed? In a gravel bed or concrete?

Thanks

nocotool schrieb:

Rather flowering hedges or similar. Do you have any tips for layout or other ideas?
The most important thing is privacy screening in front of the floor-to-ceiling 3m (10 ft) glazing along the long side of the house, as well as in the garden area and next to the terrace.

nocotool schrieb:

to be able to plant a bit more.

Phew, that’s not much garden space. I once had a similar garden with a detached house, about 10.5m (34.5 ft) wide overall, of which 3.5m (11.5 ft) was the narrow side.
At the back by the terrace, it was about 7m (23 ft) or so (I don’t remember exactly).
There wasn’t much space for planting.
The challenge I see is on your narrow side, where you want privacy but also need access through. With a flowering hedge, you have to allow about 2m (6.5 ft) depth/width. That leaves little room to pass through without getting wet from the bushes themselves because they grow close to the house. You also need to consider planting them with enough distance from the neighbor’s boundary.
I would wait and see what your neighbors have planted along that edge. You might be able to benefit from their planting if it already provides privacy screening for you.

nocotool schrieb:

Otherwise, we would like to design the garden so that it looks modern and doesn’t feel too small despite the limited size. Do you have any ideas?

A modern look is already achieved with a clean, simple lawn area. For small plots, it’s common to design in a way that uses diagonal lines effectively, making the diagonals longer than the actual plot depth. So use diagonals if you want to create a greater sense of space through sightlines. Raised beds can also be placed along the boundary in the front garden without issue.

South is at the bottom of the plan, right?

Oh, that’s quite a large garden for a mid-terrace house.
We have 90 sqm (970 sq ft) with just 4.60 m (15 ft) width and are currently redesigning it.

On the narrow side, where you still want to walk through, I would skip a flowering hedge. Instead, place a pergola at the maximum allowed height for direct boundary contact and then cover it with climbing plants.

I can only suggest plants if they are native and insect-friendly, and depending on how tall plants are allowed to be directly on the boundary.

Where we live, neighbors don’t really care about this because setback rules are impractical. But I don’t know your neighborhood.

ypg schrieb:

I would wait at the edge and see what the neighbors have planted there. You could benefit from their planting if it serves as your privacy screen.

Would the neighbors’ planting be very helpful, since they are one meter (3 feet) lower?

chand1986 schrieb:

On the narrow side, where you still want to pass through, I would skip a flowering hedge. Instead, place a pergola at the maximum allowed height for direct border contact and then add climbing plants.

I would go in the same direction. Otherwise, you would just be looking at a dark green wall through the large window.