Big space in Garden-what to do?

[ATW Alex 101]

Hi all I'm going crazy over this but I've been renovating our quite large garden for my mum and dad and I have cleared tons of weeds, plants and rubbish, cut down loads of trees and then made a new compost heap, a load of vegetable beds, new shrubs, flower beds and built a new greenhouse. Where I have cleared a tree and it's roots, I have a massive space in the garden about 10x10 feet. I just don't know what to put there and that's why I'm asking you.
I have suggested, but can't have:

• Chickens-Not enough time to care for them
• Pond-can get messy and take a lot of looking after and need a lot of electricity
• Beehive-Nobody but me would near them
• Garden House-Cost too much
• Brick BBQ-Already have about 4 different BBQ's in the garage+I'm not great with brickwork.

I'm just stuck with what to put there, please help me somebody, any suggestions at all.

thanks

 

[Trainfan344]

Model railway layout, at one Point my Grandad decided to try and get a OO layout running from the garden to the house and back, but got as far as a semicircle around the bottom half of the garden, it worked for a bit, until something derails.

 

[asylumxl]

A tasteful sculpture.

 

[mbonwick]

Typical British lawn?

 

[cjp]

I am an iffy gardener but for low maintenance I would go for oranamental grasses.
I visited Trentham Estate (Stoke on Trent) and was impressed by their "River of Grasses" which can just about been seen to the right at 1.09 in this video http://www.trentham.co.uk/the-trentham-estate/a-video-walk-around
and I would suggest a variety of differnt grasses such as Pheasant grass which can be seen here http://images.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=WZPA,WZPA:2006-10,WZPA:en&q=Stipa+arundinacea&biw=1111&bih=818&sei=biC-UYuUBcaAhQe0pYGABw&tbm=isch

Buy smallish plants and allow them to grow for a year or two then you can split them. I paid about £5.00 for mine in a Dorset market.

Alternatively just stick a Pampas Grass in the middle and sit back and wait and after six years or so burn it down and let it regenerate - we put ours too close to the fence to burn and it was real pain after about while.

 

[Glenmutchkin]

Garden railway! See http://www.16mm.org.uk/newsite/default.html

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Garden railway is a good idea but they are really expensive, as much as I would love one, no way on earth I would ever be able to afford it! Thanks though. As for plants, again good idea and I should have mentioned this in the OP, but there isn't really sunlight in this patch of land. But again thanks for the suggestions! Maybe a water feature rather than a pond?

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Dig into the ground, take away the grass and set up a ground high trampoline?

 

[cjp]

Dog Kennel

Asparagus bed

Pave the wretched area and buy or construct a gnomon

Start the construction a family mausoleum

Plant another tree

 

[Johnuk123]

Why not get an old rubbish tent from Ebay put it up in said garden and charge various Eastern Europeans large rents to live in said tent.

You then have the satisfaction of helping poor people who have no accommodation and at the same time making a large wedge.

 

[gazzak]

A garden house doesn't cost too much to build and is a great project. 10 x 10 is a great little size too.

 

[EM2]

Big shed. Everyone needs a man cave

 

[Cruithne3753]

I have a massive space in the garden about 10x10 feet.

<PEDANTIC>Isn't the expression "massive space" an oxymoron?</PEDANTIC>

Think about it...

 

[Bevan Price]

Fruit trees. Get those on dwarf root-stock so the fruit can be picked without needing ladders. Apples, plums, pears all possible, but as far as possible, choose a range of fruit ripening times, rather than having fruit that all needs to be picked in August or September.

Perennial flowers. Once established, they last for many years. No need to do them all at once - many will gradually spread and fill the gaps over several years. Your nearest library may have gardening books to advise you. What you can grow depends on the type of soil in the garden.

Bulbs - daffodills, crocuses, bluebells, etc. - most last for many years with little need for maintenance.

Small decorative trees & shrubs. Avoid most conifers or anything else liable to grow too large. Don't plant trees too near the house.

Bird tables ?

Avoid wooden decking unless you live in a desert climate - in much of UK, it is liable to start being covered with moss after a year or two, and can become slippery. It was just a trendy fad inspired by some TV garden programmes.

 

[cjp]

Garden railway is a good idea but they are really expensive, as much as I would love one, no way on earth I would ever be able to afford it! Thanks though. As for plants, again good idea and I should have mentioned this in the OP, but there isn't really sunlight in this patch of land. But again thanks for the suggestions! Maybe a water feature rather than a pond?

So what did you do in the end?

Procrastinate and ponder your ticket collection?

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Put my project car on it for now :/ Still don't know what to do!

And no I didn't 'Procrastinate and Ponder my ticket collect'

 

[Harbon 1]

Do what a Derby pub did, stick a Class 37 cab at the end, that'll take up a bit of space