Garden dilemmas

8 years ago

Hello,

Here's a plan of my garden. There isn't much there yet - just a gazebo on the terrace.

The dark line on top is the gate, the pink square is my house and the pink rectangle is another building. South is on top and north is on the bottom of the plan.

Here is the photo of the front of the house (when you come through the gate and walk down the plan - sorry for the trailer, it isn't mine and I couldn't move it):

This is what I see when I go out of the house and look towards the gate (on far left):

Here's what I see when I go out and look towards the other building:

And this is my house seen from behind the tree:

I would like to set up a main playground in front of my house (yellow building) [children: 8 yo, almost 4 yo, almost 1 yo]. Look at the 1st photo again - window behind the trailer is my kitchen window and window behind the gazebo is the living room window. I spend most of my time in those spaces, so I would like to be able to see children through the window. As you can see, there are no trees in front of the building, and it gets very hot in there in spring/summer. I thought I could buy another gazebo (3.5 m x 4.5 m) and put it on the grass right in front of the current one. Is it a good idea? I don't want to move the playground too close to the neighbours' wooden fence, as they are elderly people and only come on weekends, so I'd rather children weren't disturbing them. I would like children to have some privacy when they play in the pool or do other things - do you know how I could make a temporary screen?

Another question - I keep my grill in the other building, so I thought I could set up a grilling space between the buildings. It would be nice if it had a roof of somekind as a protection from rain and sun. Unfortunately we have pretty strong winds here, so it should be taken into consideration as well. Any tips?

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Comments (4)

PRO
Yardvaark
8 years ago
It's difficult to get oriented as you talk about things without clarifying. Everything should be spelled out/labelled on your base plan. Since it was electronically created, you should be able to make a copy and add the labels very easily. We don't care about a gorgeous plan ... just that it is reasonably accurate and readable. It looks like it is upside down. The entrance gate should be at the bottom and north at the top because the bottom of the plan is what we come to first and the top of the plan is what we come to last. place the plan in front of you and that's how it will appear. Do the elderly neighbors live in the same building where you keep your grill? I'm confused. please label on plan. Do I understand correctly that you want the playground in the front yard? Please label on plan.
kicez
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you! I added labels and hope the plan is more clear now.

I marked an alternative road because if I make a hedge along the eastern fence, a combine harvester may be unable to fit between the hedge and the transmission tower. If we do move the road so it goes around the tower and over the septic tank, I could plant bushes between the tower and the fence to block the view from the gate.

Is the new plan more clear?
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PRO
Yardvaark
8 years ago
Yes. The new plan is helpful for orienting one to the property.

Now, what I wish you would do is take and post a series of pictures from a new position, that being in line with the front door of the house and about 1/3 of the distance back toward the south property line. This would place you slightly in front of the transmission tower and septic tank. From that position (which would remain the same for all pictures) you'd pan from west to east taking slightly overlapping pictures of the house and its settings. (Don't substitute a computer generated panorama as it will be too small to show sufficient detail.)

It would also be good if you'd take one picture of the property from the public road while lined up with the central spine of the property, so we could see what it looks like from the road.

You are trying to create privacy for a children's play area, but seem to be in the country and a fair distance from the public road. Too, it seems that public presentation of the house has no bearing in the landscape goals. Is this the case? You might say if you have any other goals that you're trying to account for in this process.
xiangirl zone 4/5 Nebraska
8 years ago
How is it going? What have you done so far? We love pictures of any kind!