I am starting a brand new garden from scratch

Good luck, better you than me. It would cost a fortune to let a designer loose.

We started ours from scratch, fifty-odd years ago. I love it now. It's all mine. Just do a little bit at a time. It will soon grow into itself. Good luck, and enjoy.

Try and dig out as much stone and rubble as you can, then add any compost you can get hold of. Plead with gardening friends to give you a bag from their compost bins and you will soon have it ready for planting! Good luck.

The soil is very stony and compacted in parts, seems to be fair soil but lacking in humus. I made a small start last week, ordered the 3 small trees that I want, 2 M26 apples and a crabapple called jelly king. I have put small piles of stones to tell me where to place the trees in september, they will be pot grown. I am giving up about 1/4 and a whole corner, have put lots of humus on top and covered with weed fabric in a semi circle shape, hoping that worms come. Spacing ts about 10` for the trees and triangle shape.

I think I will attempt to work with nature and bees, companion planting, starting with comfrey bocking 14 in and around the corner. I have bocking 14 on my allotment, absolutely adored by bumble bees and the plants have never spread from their patch in 9 years, makes superb compost and liquid feed

So, chives, monarda, bergamot, daffodils, crocus, nasturteums, dill, echinacea. That area is evolving but I need bits of hard areas, like some curved paths and maybe a space for a solar fountain. Don`t want wood because it eventually rots if in contact with soil. I have 2 large rusty corten steel, rectangular planters and no idea how to incorporate them. I have a veg patch up the side, covered and humus below, for next year and I have 6 large lovely blueberries in pots on the patio. Most of the ground is just that, stoney, bare and lifeless and I am wanting inspiration

What about having a lawn laid first, that should bring the worms in.

When you have lived with your garden for a while and understand it more, eg, Shade, sun, soil type etc c
Cut out a flower bed or two.

Add a little winding path to give interest. (My garden is same shape as yours, I have a curved path up one side of the garden to another seating area and my garden swing.
My garden is also smallish, but have found little seating areas give an illusion of bigger garden, especially if hidden by flowers or bush.)

Some climbers over fence will give extra height.
As will a few fence clip -on flower pots.

Planters of summer bedding and a nice table and chairs (bistro wine ?) will soon cover over your slabbed area.

Enjoy your space.

I have a tiny new build patch. For a long time I couldn’t find a plan for it .... until one morning had a lightbulb moment.

Don’t rush it is what I’d advise. Let it evolve as you say. Do the groundwork by improving the soil .... dig, dig and dig.

I now have earthworms, bees.

I gave my space a focal point ... a silver birch ... and my design has developed from that.

Consider a pond, l not a tiny pond in the middle of the garden, but a pond about a quarter the size of the garden in the furthest corner fed by a waterfall and backed by a mirror to enlarge the image.

Draw up some plans on graph paper and use cut out bits for larger trees eg fruit trees, and any walls or other structures. That is what DH did and it helped although we could not have just what we planned due to stony soil.

Can you make/buy raised beds and fill with topsoil - they would be easier to look after as you get older too. Comes with worms! a compost bin will ensure worms as well.

Ours still evolves years later.
Enjoy planning

Craftyone plenty ideas at the Chelsea flower show ????????

You can also buy earthworms when you are ready to introduce them into your garden.. enjoy making your sanctuary...

My DH and I started a garden from scratch about 8 years ago craftyone . Ours is a strange trapezium shape too but with quite a steep slope. We are very close to the North Sea and it faces East South East (not ideal) so it can be quite challenging plant wise . Although all the usual seaside favourites seem to thrive.

Firstly our soil was almost non existent so we bought several tons of top soil and just kind of piled it on. Then we built a retaining wall half way down in order to create a kind of tiered garden rather than a deep slope. Once we had the shape and the soil I sent for (I can’t remember how many thousand) earth worms from Wiggly Wigglers on line and my 2 Older DGD’s (then 5 and 3) scattered them randomly around the soil. What fun they had although thousands of earth worms in a box is not a sight for the faint hearted.

Moving on our garden has kind of evolved into a top tier of grass and patio and a bottom tier of mostly planting and a smaller patio (into the point of the trapezium where the sun leaves the garden last) .

Oh I would love to do another garden from scratch. I hope you have the best fun planning and watching your new patch evolve craftyone

Great ideas from you and yes I am watching chelsea avidly. I have to let it evolve, it is enough for me to be getting the house sorted right now and I have made a nice frontage of 12 David Austin roses, a low lavender hedge and 2 hydrangea annabelle on the side. As well as running out of steam, money is starting to get tighter

I have peace and quiet here and lots of birdsong and can see a row of wonky red roofs on listed buildings, I think I will need to go with the flow ie mellow and soft rather than hard. I want curvy paths but they don`t have to be hard, they could be chamomile or thyme or even bark. Its going to be a lovely venture

I was disabled about 15 years ago. With half an acre, difficult decisions had to be made. Fortunately, I had a big strong son living with me. Now I have a very large patio right across the house, about 40ft wide and 12ft deep.

I have some deep pots where hydrangeas live permanently, with geraniums, fuchsias etc. in summer.
All the fruit trees, all the borders, and the vegetable patches which were once my late husband's pride and joy have gone. Really sad for me at the time, but I'm so glad we did. Now all my son has to do is mow the lawn on the garden tractor, no flower beds or trees to drive round any more! We are not overlooked, with mature hedges either side (mostly cut by a friend of my son's using a tractor mounted cutter) at minimal cost, and oak trees at the bottom, so it's not a barren desert! Green woodpeckers have always lived in the oak trees since we moved here in 1976.
Before you do anything, decide how much time you want to spend gardening. If it's not your idea of pleasure, just have a simple lawn and pots on the patio. Accept that you are getting older and plan accordingly.

It's a lovely challenge in a way to create a garden from scratch. You say that you've bought some small tress, would woodland flowers be an idea - such as violets (mine have gone berserk), wood anemone, cyclamen, snowdrops and cowslips be a good idea? Hardy geranium and vinca periwinkle will spread nicely if they are happy.

Go visiting! Going round other people's garden, both large and small will give you ideas - if there are any gardens open locally - if you are in UK - opengardens.co.uk has a diary or National Gardens Scheme has the info you need.
If you visit locally, you will be able to get advise from the garden owners as to what grows well in your area as they may well have similar soil.
Compost? ask if your local council has a composting scheme - sometimes it is even free or one of our local tips sells huge bags cheap!

I've just had to re seed an area of the lawn that the dog dug up. The new grass has grown really well but it now needs mowing. But it isn't established enough to cope with a mower [it just churns everything up]. I am cutting it back with shears but it's backbreaking and still isn't really short enough. Would a strimmer be even worse than a mower. Or has anyone got a sheep I can borrow for a while? [lightbulb moment; my daughter has a guinea pig !]

Ask your friends if they can give you worms from their garden.
If using a large mirror in the garden, make sure you put a transfer of a bird on it, otherwise birds try to fly through it and get killed. Its the same with windows in sheds. We used to hang a cloth in our shed window after finding several dead birds out side.

After the lawn is laid, put in a couple of climbers?

I’ve given up on watching the Chelsea Flower show . It’s rubbish . Haven’t seen a single item I would like to replicate . They seem to be just trying to fill in air time .

You can buy earth worms on line . ( wiggly wigglers) You need to be prepared for a bit of a shock when you open the box though !

My advice, skip the plants, put weed fabric over the lot and then divide into sections of different colours and textures of gravel. To break up the flatness, use the occasional planter tub or sculpture

our neighbours have made winding paths from bark, craftyone - it is a 'wild' garden (planted purposefully, not neglected!)

worms seem to appear like magic in the compost heap - where from?

DH & I have been creating out brand new (small) garden over the past year. Our aim is two-fold: to have an easy-maintenance/pleasant outside space, and to make it bee/bird/butterfly & wildlife-friendly. We had help in planting a hedge of hawthorn & mixed "native" hedging. All the flowers and plants offer something positive to wildlife. It's still a "work in progress" and we love it!

Re worms, Callistmon, I once made a tiny garden in a Middle Eastern desert - true desert, but stony rather than sand.
A load of what they called 'sweet soil' was delivered, but it was literally just sand, minus any salt. No organic matter whatsoever. At the time it wasn't possible to buy anything for gardening at all.

I first planted something I knew would grow literally anywhere - it was called Bahrain creeper. And it was astonishing how quickly the mere fact of growing something plus watering, turned that sand into soil. And worms appeared! Where they came from, God (or perhaps in the circs Allah!) only knows.