Complete gardening idiot - what can I do with my front garden?

[fibernie]

Hello all
We live in a typical semi - small front garden next to driveway. Our house has no outside access from front to back so we took away the lawn so as to avoid having to drag the lawnmower though the house. Since then we've put some weed-stop material down and covered with bark/mulch. We've put in a few spreading low ground plants (I don't know the names sorry).
Problems - mushrooms grow in the mulch, the fabric keeps popping up in wee hills, so you can see it and it looks ugly. Plants growing round the side are pushing up the edges or the fabric.
Sigh, I'm a bit fed-up with it to be honest.. I live in one of those streets with lots of elderly people with immaculate front gardens and I feel like they must look on it with disgust.
Suggestions anyone? We have a 16m old so not a lot of time for gardening.. All ideas very gratefully received.

[Chandra]

Lazygrass? Astroturf?

[squatchette]

What is lazygrass?Sounds good to me!

[mrsmalumbas]

Gravel and some nice tubs?

[Stargazer]

I'd go for gravel/slate chips (don't know how much they are). Rather than tubs (which could be stolen) I'd put in some more low maintenance, low growing shrubs - with different colours and flowers, maybe some evergreen for colour in the winter. Hope this helps. I'm a beginner too - but I'm starting on my back garden - just bought some lovely shrubs which, I hope, will be lovely. Good luck

[squatchette]

Having a similar prob with our front lawn.Not that it really is a lawn more a mass of (now)hacked down dandelions.
Lady with allotment said i should put a plastic sheet or carpet over it and wait 12 months to kill it all off.What's wrong with good old weed killer thinks i? Didn't want to sound stupid in front of very experienced gardening type though so kept shtum.
Really like the sound of gravel though once it's done it's done and then maybe a few pots etc.
Iswym about neighbours with lovely gardens.Embarrassing isn't it?I get over my own garden envy by telling myself -mine would look that bloody good had i not 2 todlers and a front that has suffered 30 yrs of neglect.

[Chandra]

LAzylawn, sorry

www.evergreensuk.com

[yomellamoHelly]

I redid our front garden after our front wall was rebuilt last year with trees (won't grow higher than 1.5 m high) at the front in a border and a narrow border in front of the house with shrubs. The rest is gravel. Will look okay once the trees and bushes have grown. I am struggling with weeds through the gravel and membrane, though despite a thick covering of gravel. The building work meant I dug the whole of the front over before sorting it out (was pretty neglected) and that seems to have reinvigorated loads of spores. Our 2 neighbours gardens are also covered in weeds which doesn't help either. Someone offered to pave it for us for £200 labour, but want to see what a few years tlc will do (back garden used to be awful, but has really settled down this last year).

[fibernie]

Thanks all for some nice ideas. I think the slate chips and gravel would be a good solution, but not sure I can afford them.
It's not really so bad, think I just had a fit of garden envy this morning... want maximum beauty for minimum input!
I've weeded and trimmed a bit, and now have a large pot out there with busy lizzies and fuschias we bought at an allotment sale.
I'll see how well the plants spread out over the summer, maybe put a few more in and some nice stones to make it a bit rockery like???

[hana]

you could get some bamboo and put in a pot, then put that in middle? do a small boarder in the very front? or along the sides?

[HaveYouSeenHerLately]

Home Bargains sell CC Grass (brand) artificial grass in store and online for £29.99 for 1 x 4m. Not sure how good it is but CC Grass have their own website too. Don't know how this compares to B&Q etc.

My friend has laid a small artificial grass lawn in his back garden and really rates it. The only problem he had was the local cats using it as a toilet (this happened prior to the lawn being laid too).
He installed an ultrasonic sensor (Amazon) which has worked

I don't know how friendly you are with the gardening neighbours but they might be a source of advice, especially regarding plants. They may even share cuttings or seedlings if you're lucky!

Some of the front gardens in my street are a bit bland. Most are paved over as driveways.
The best looking low-maintenance ones are kept neat and tidy and have a flowerbed on the boundary between semis or around a small lawn.

The flowerbeds (including mine) contain structural shrubs and maybe a small flowering tree. A hanging basket on a bracket at the door (so easy to plant up or buy) and some annuals and/ or summer flowering bulbs dotted in the flowerbed bring instant colour

Don't forget to plant lots of bulbs e.g. daffodils, crocus this autumn for colour next spring.

[funnyperson]

The problem with gravel is it is horrid if the toddler falls over on it because if the toddler falls over, the gravel grazes knees and hurts. It could be good when the toddler is a bit older because you can plant herbs and lot of plants in it, but for now, I think the others are right and artificial grass with pots could work for you.
Alternatively you could bite the bullet and trump the neighbours and create two or four small raised beds for fruit and vegetables, you can grow calendule, borage, heartsease (all edible flowers) in the raised beds too
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0202d9j

this next one probably isnt you but its fun!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0258k73

[funnyperson]

or a herb wheel?

[funnyperson]

camomile lawn, thyme lawn?

[Cedar03]

I dug up our front lawn for similar reasons a few years ago. I planted a lot of bulbs and also put down slate chips. The bulbs are low maintenance and come up year after year - from snowdrops onwards you can get quite a show going in a relatively small place. I've also got perennial geraniums which have spread themselves and some herbs. There's other stuff too but these are the things which don't take much effort. In my experience you do have to weed until the plants get established. The one that grows like a weed is a self seeded wild strawberry which produces tiny little fruits and it does a nice job of providing ground cover.