Evening all.

We moved into our new house in December and we’re trying to get the garden sorted now (picked a kilo of rhubarb earlier, swish).

Anyway, we’re on the end of the road side on to the main road which is semi-busy with a 30mph limit. This is what is down the side of our fence

The black line is the edge of our boundary, the red is our land, the other side of the black line is unregistered according to the council, they don’t care what we do with it.

I don’t want it to turn into a dog shoot trap, I don’t think the council will be over the moon if I shift the fence right to the edge of the path. I did think about a hedge, but I don’t want to have to keep it trimmed.

I think gravel will be kicked all over the place by ne’er do wells.

What do I do with it, without spending a small fortune.

I’ve looked on google and I can’t find any ideas or similar bits, they all seem much bigger or smaller.

Any help appreciated.

They can be great spaces for wildlife and act as travel corridors. Some low maintenance, native planting. Some whips for hedgerow plants will be cheap. Mix a few different species. Beech, hawthorn, hazel, hornbeam, etc. Then a few bulbs and wild flowers. Will just need an occasional trim to stop anything getting too big.

Doubt you can move the fence, probably set by visibility splays. I’d be seeding it with wild flowers and strim it a couple of times a year.

Is it you mowing it right now? If not, whatever you do will possibly not get far without getting mowed/strimmed.

If you’re doing the fencing anyway, maybe ask if they’ve got an objection to you advancing it to the edge of your land.

Yeah we’re mowing it, we’ve been thinking wild flowers might be a good idea, but I’m concerned local scrotes would just use it as a monster can repository if it doesn’t look neat.

I need to break up that pile of cement and slabs before I do anything, its a weird shape, line of sight is fine down the road I don’t know why they didn’t straight line the wall and fence when they built it, also why they used a combination of wall and fence and not one or the other.

It’s taken a few weeks to find out if it was our responsibility or not I didn’t want to make any major changes if the council were going to kick off, unlikely as it is, a previous occupant made a slap drive to put his bay window camper through a gate in that fence. Sadly no longer there.

Could the concrete bit have had a bus shelter, or similar, on it once?
There will be a reason why the boundary is like that.

I’d be very wary of moving the fence without explicit permission to do so.

Just grass can look tidy if kept mowed.

Fence probably in that position as a condition of the permission required for a fence that height adjacent to a road

If you move it to the boundary they would probably want it dropped to 4ft

I have a similar situation where I own a verge and a ditch but the fence has to remain 8feet in due to the road

I’d be planting municipal style bushes along that, will soften the look, help diffuse noise and keep people away from your fence. Maybe leave a grass strip a long the front although that might invite dog deposits.

First you need to proof that fence 😉
I’d think about how any planting you might do works as a rhythm along the length. It’s narrow at one end so small plants there with the potential for larger as the patch gets wider. I’d want for there to be interest throughout the year, so flowers in spring but also through summer, and to consider colour, shape, size and smell and to be low maintenance.
Some of the guerilla gardeners show what can be done with relatively small areas, but I think you could create an interesting and attractive border without too much work.

This is what the concrete bit used to be, previous occupant extended the fences forward, we’re planning on building a new garage there because the old internal garage was converted years ago, crazy money at the minute though.

I think the guerrilla gardening thing might be worth investigating, we’re trying to attract as much wildlife as possible to the garden, we’ve got a family of robins at the moment, 4 baby robins cruising round, too cute.

Just remove the fence again?

The 80’s estate I grew up on was great, all open front gardens, wide verges and felt really open and spacious.

Over the years people have fenced in and gated their land as far as possible. Now it the estate feels all closed in and unfriendly.

Fruit trees? Many will give lovely blossom in the spring and food for yourselves, birds or even the local scrotes. Saw some Gage trees already have blossom out… Mirabelle, many Prunus and cherries have been out for longer.

If you want wild flowers or grasses then a few short fence posts or rocks should stop them getting mowed by the council.

You”ll still want to keep it in check and pick litter that collects whatever you do.

Do you really want to do much if you are planning on opening up the garage access again eventually?

This is the view from above, the concrete patch would be at the side of any garage we build access will be at the front off the existing drive. The actual front garden is pretty open, our house just had a weirdly open side when it was originally built, house opposite was built like ours is now. Sight lines our side are much better than looking toward the house opposite too and our fence isn’t in line with the front walls of the houses behind must’ve been a planning thing at the time though (mid 80s)

It’s a tricky one because it joins on to our front garden so I’m struggling working out how to transition from the side to the front without it looking weird.

Think I’m going to invest in a sledge hammer and some wildflower seeds for now and see what happens. No threat of the council cutting it, or picking up any of the dog shit or empty tins. Will get a litter picker too.

It’s a tricky one because it joins on to our front garden so I’m struggling working out how to transition from the side to the front without it looking weird.

Plant a pampas grass* on the corner. That way you can invite two streetsworth of neighbours to you parties…

if its sunny just pile in lavendar it’ll smell nice, will totally fill the gap, will atrract bees and is dense enough to shrug off litter back onto the path (i’m not saying thats better but it will be easier to pick up) potential to attract hedge porn to if you can get it planted just right.

*or somethign big enough to grow round the corner red hot pokers?.

I’d be planting municipal style bushes along that, will soften the look, help diffuse noise and keep people away from your fence. Maybe leave a grass strip a long the front although that might invite dog deposits.

This.

In the Scandinavian countries they seemed to use much more heather than we do, works out nice with colour etc.