Barming Garden Rescue With Sleepers and New Turf

This back garden to a Victorian terrace in Barming in Maidstone needed some plant sorting and a little hard landscaping to add interest, create the impression of more space and make maintenance easier.

The large rose on the left had become top-heavy and was growing in the wrong direction. A radical prune will encourage it to re-grow the way we want it to. Other shrubs were either pruned, removed or re-located to open up the space.

Pressure treated softwood sleepers were used to create two side borders and a wider border at the bottom of the garden working around the remaining planting. The borders were laid with weed-suppressing membrane and 20mm gravel. These new areas can either be planted through the stones and membrane with additional plants, or laid with pots or ornamental stones. The larger border would make a nice seating area to take advantage of the evening sun.

The final stage, a few weeks later, was to lay new turf. The transplanted shrubs had taken well and the rose was starting to take on a better shape. We used some of the paving stones uncovered in the initial clear to create a simple path to the bottom of the new garden.