There’s a particular point in a renovation when the dust finally settles, the last tradesperson leaves and you can begin to appreciate everything you have achieved. And then you look out the window.
Because while months – sometimes years – have been spent considering everything from kitchen layouts to light fittings, the garden can find itself further down the list – and so by the time attention finally turns outside, budgets have been stretched, decision fatigue has well and truly set in and there can be an understandable urge to just get it finished.
Resist it, says Damien Keane, founder of Damien Keane Garden Design.
“Don’t rush or make rash decisions,” he says. “Look at the space from the inside out and figure out what it is you want from the garden.”
RM Block
Ideally, Keane believes, the garden should be considered before a renovation even begins. Potential access restrictions or a tree that needs removing, for example, can be dealt with far more easily while building work is under way, he points out. But if that ship has sailed, there is still plenty to be said for doing very little at first.
Patrick Kelly, owner and director of Outdoor Living, agrees. Rather than immediately thinking about paving, planting or furniture, he suggests starting with a much simpler question: What do you actually want to do out there?
“Is it somewhere to entertain friends, a quiet space to relax, somewhere for the family to spend time together, or do you need an additional space for working, hobbies or storage?”
Once you know the answer, the garden can be broken into areas and tackled gradually. More importantly, living with it for a while gives you a chance to discover how you naturally use the space before making expensive decisions you may later regret.
Groundwork
When you are ready to spend, both experts agree that the less glamorous elements deserve attention first. Levels, drainage and the main patio or decking area may not provide the instant gratification of a beautifully planted border but getting them wrong can prove considerably more expensive.
DIY and interiors content creator Paul Rogers discovered this at first hand while finishing the garden following his own home renovation. After laying a lawn twice and repeatedly battling poor drainage, he eventually admitted defeat.
“We were constantly fighting a losing battle,” he says.
Rogers spent around €3,000 installing proper drainage and replacing the grass with Himalayan White porcelain tiles, laid on a slight slope to help water drain away. It was a significant investment, but one that changed how he and his husband use the garden, “It completely transformed how we use the space,” he says. “It genuinely feels like we’ve added another room to the house.”
Kelly takes a similar view when it comes to allocating a post-renovation budget. “I’d rather see someone do one area properly and build on it over time than try to complete everything quickly with compromises that may cost more to put right later.”
Make an impact
Not everything requires a significant investment. If the budget needs time to recover, Keane suggests concentrating first on the area you see and use most.
A simple area of pebble outside patio doors, teamed with planters and a firepit, can create an immediately usable space while you decide what comes next. Painting fences or walls and pruning existing hedges can also make the garden feel far more considered.
Privacy is another consideration, particularly when choosing fencing and screening, but Kelly cautions against simply enclosing the garden without considering the effect on the overall space.
“Ultimately, the best screening is the one that gives you the privacy you need without making the garden feel closed in or out of place,” he says. “The best solutions become a feature with a function.”
For Rogers, paint has been one of the simplest ways to transform his own garden. He painted a newly skimmed back wall a vibrant terracotta, while fencing that went through several shades of grey eventually became black.
“I think people can be nervous about using black in a garden, but against green planting it looks incredible. It makes all the plants pop and gives everything a really clean backdrop.”
It is an approach he carries through the rest of the space, treating the garden much as he would an interior by considering colour, texture and how individual elements work together.
Let it grow
And then there are the plants.
“For me, no garden is complete until it’s heavily planted,” says Keane, who points out that Ireland’s temperate climate gives gardeners enormous choice. The trick is choosing plants for the conditions they will actually live in, rather than simply picking what looks good at the garden centre.
Planting also provides the softness that newly paved, fenced or landscaped gardens often need, and it doesn’t have to mean spending heavily on mature specimens.
Rogers happily admits he is no gardening expert. When it came to choosing plants, he brought a more knowledgeable friend to the garden centre and asked for help. Five years later, hydrangeas bought when they were much smaller are now around four times their original size, while ferns, Fatsia japonica, Japanese maple, geums and campanula soften the porcelain and black fencing.
“My biggest advice with planting is to have patience. You don’t need to fill every gap with a huge mature plant on day one,” he says. “Let the garden grow into itself.”
It is perhaps the most reassuring advice for anyone who finds the prospect of gardening intimidating. Ask questions, choose plants that suit the space and accept that some things will work better than others. Unlike a newly renovated room, a garden isn’t supposed to look exactly the same a year after you finish it.
And autumn needn’t signal the end of the project either. Keane recommends using the coming months to plant spring-flowering bulbs, trees and evergreen hedging, prune established trees and shrubs where appropriate, tidy hedges and, crucially, make plans for next year.
Because, as Rogers discovered while his own garden evolved through different colours, planting and even two unsuccessful lawns, there is no deadline for getting it right.
“Your garden doesn’t have to be ‘finished’ in one summer,” he says.
