Ideas for Skinny Side Yards! 🌿// Garden Answer

hey guys how's it going today we're going to be looking at some narrow or skinny side yards now these are your photo submissions except for the first one i'm going to be walking you through the transformation of our last garden not really in its entirety but we'll show you what it looked like when we moved into our townhouse which was one-sixth of an acre and what it looked like when we moved out i wasn't quite done with that space but it was a fun one to learn in we received a lot of submissions thank you so much to all of you who sent them there's a lot of inspiration to be had and such a perfect thing to do this time of year like i said in the container video when we sell snow on the ground and we're in planning mode and it's just fun to see different styles and how you guys have just like your creativity is amazing and i i draw so much inspiration from that so narrow side yards are a difficult thing to deal with because a lot of times we're dealing with well space restrictions one most the time we still want a a way to get down that the side yard while not taking up too much space with a walkway because we want beautiful things too we want beautiful plantings oftentimes we're also dealing with light issues because it's usually right up next to a house or a building so depending on how that's positioned you might have a full shade area or a full sun area our house so this first picture will just cruise right into our yard here our house was positioned to where that wall there by the ac unit is the south side so it is a hot area full sun all day long you can see there if you look even further to the left there was not a fence between our grass and our neighbor's grass which the neighbors were aaron's parents lived next to our in-laws so we did put in a fence there which gave us about oh i want to say eight to ten feet in the end it was very narrow and then when you're dealing with an ac unit you kind of just add that on top this is right when we moved in you guys so you see the linden tree there planted there was one other tree in the front those were dug up and moved and it was kind of a blank slate for us so you can see right here what we did you see the brand new fence that's still nice and shiny in that picture but you can see how narrow it was the rough cut grass pathway there we decided to go with the grass pathway because that's what was there and we were utilizing it and i kind of wanted to try it you know we're going to be experimenting with that out in the well we've already put in grass pathways in the south garden but through the cut flower garden as well this next year um but you can see how narrow the planting beds were i mean i want to say in some areas areas they were a foot and a half and they kind of slopped up there on the left so we did get some water runoff not much but a little bit from my in-laws grass so those are all just things you have to take into consideration the next picture you can see the garden is a little bit more developed but it changed a lot even from this picture this is also proof that i do occasionally put my hair in a ponytail but right there by the ac unit i had some silver leaf pairs and i had put three in they were getting beautiful and huge and starting to go up over the walkway the whole feeling i wanted in this area was it to be kind of cozy and secret garden-ish one winter we had a really harsh cold snap and it killed all three of my pears so i had to take those all out but i think the very best thing that i did in this space that i learned in this space was to select some smaller evergreens that would provide some winter structure and some bone structure for the area so you can see the the green mountain cone boxwoods there i did ten of those so five groups of two they flanked each other along the walkway you know the walkway kind of curved looking back i would not have done a curved walkway it's too narrow of an area to be doing that i would have probably done straight um but i mean it worked out okay the boxwoods were amazing i loved that now you can see further on down the road i had put in along the wall there an apple tree i was utilizing that long southern exposure of blank wall to grow some produce and we had started to pull up the grass and i was experimenting with pavers to see if i wanted to do pavers there i had found with the grass pathways if they were not mowed almost like every other day they just looked overgrown and gave the whole area a kind of untidy look to me and i did not prefer that so the next picture here you can see where we had opted to go with flagstones which i thought was a beautiful look and provided that the weight that that area needed we'd also come along with some more fluffy things you know there's a diana larch there on the left and a peony and some impatiens and uh it was very much so in process but also putting in pieces like the lamp post was helpful i thought there's a couple of like dusk pictures i think this is right when aaron had bought a brand new camera and these were the first pictures he took right yeah i think he yeah because i think he we got home from work and he got this new camera he unboxed it and went right outside and took some pictures uh and so it really shows like the beautiful layering you can see the tri-color beach in there and i selected things that i knew would i mean tri-colored beaches in the right circumstances will get enormous but in our area i mean they grow like this much a year and you can keep them pruned and so i just chose things that i knew would stay semi-contained in our area but i did want that overflowing abundant look and you can see lamium on the ground there kind of spilling into the unfinished pathway and iris is there oh brings back memories and oh russell can you lay down over here come on there we go so there's the apple tree a little bit more mature i don't know that we had a picture without me standing there but i guess it shows the scale i was on a step ladder there and was able to harvest quite a lot of produce even though they had only been there for a couple of years and a couple of pretty pictures close-ups of what the finished end of the pathway looked like with hostas and impatiens you know eventually you know you saw the the space in the beginning so you started with this full sun space and then all of a sudden you put some things in a couple years later you can start shifting over to shade so that was our side yard again i had not finished the rocks there were some plants i'd probably pull out i think they're still there but it's fun when we go to his parents house i can see over the fence and i had planted some things like viburnum starts out on my parents garden that were this big four or five inches tall and now they're 10-12 feet tall it's amazing to see the growth okay now we're going to move into your submissions let me get my list up here first one is from katie gray in seattle washington zone 8b and this is a beautiful space she did include some information it's 30 feet long by 15 feet wide acidic soil full shade beautiful mix of colors and textures though i mean take a look at the left side right there kind of right below the deck there's the beautiful vertical accent is that i think might be a cypress of some kind but my eye when i initially look at this picture goes right to that huge blue hosta but the brilliant thing is that blue pot in the background because of the blue color of the hosta it brings out the blue color of that pot and it draws your eye down i think that's really awesome and then the layering with the japanese maple up above the hosta and the more brown or red colored carrots with the more fine texture it's just a beautiful space right hand side it looks like a plum tree um there's maybe a fur behind that and then a row of hydrangeas excellent job katie next one is kimberly in rochester which is new york right zone five this is a fun before and after so take a look at the before shot here um it she said have been long neglected approximately 50 feet long by 10 feet wide full of japanese knotweed it gets a couple hours of morning sun the rest of the day in shade so she said she already had some containers look at this midway shot the container she had and then she took approximately a thousand dollars to buy landscape fabric soil amendments uh gravel some other in-ground plantings which to the side there you can see there's a budlia and a viburnum there's a panicle hydrangea there by the the staircase she also bought some paint you can see in this final shot look at that isn't that amazing so she painted the stair railings that alone brightened up that space hugely adding the rocks along the walkway i think provided some amazing definition really really like that and then the addition of mulch and all of that um gardening in containers in an area like that is really especially when you're dealing with an invasive weed you're trying to get rid of is a really smart way of doing it and then you can swap plants out too a lot maybe not a lot easier but you can just experiment with some with some things see what really thrives in your containers and eventually once you've handled all the weeds down below you can start planting in ground if that's something you want to do but i do think that those tall containers add a lot of vertical interest underneath the canopy that you can see there without having something to stay within the size parameter you know something planted in the ground but on the right there you can see the color the beautiful impatiens and the blooms on the the hydrangea and i see the angel statue in the background that's really neat kimberly next one is putra in new jersey and i do apologize if i'm saying your name wrong but i did take one glance at this photo and i knew it was yours she's on instagram is good path garden and provides a lot of inspirational pictures and beautiful ideas from her own garden she said that the cedar arbor with the dark stain was inspired by ours that we have here and she likes how it draws your eye down and it certainly does i love the emerald green arbor vita hedge there that's a beautiful evergreen interest and then the hydrangeas here you she did say were lime rickies and invincibelle limetas so just that bright i love that bright clean color palette with the white and the different kind of shades of green there i also love the use of the square stepping stones it gives it a little bit more of a modern feel but it brings that weight to the garden that kind of tidiness that i felt like i was missing in our first garden and that's the reason why i tore up my grass had i seen your idea i probably would have adopted something similar i think it's just absolutely beautiful i do see a little lavender peeking through on the left hand side bottom corner couple other things she is in his own 7a this gets morning shade and full afternoon sun next one is from irene who's in sterling which is in the u.s zone 6b now this is a beautiful space because if you look at the mix of plants here she did note that it's dappled light and it's taken her years of experimenting to figure out a mix of sun and shade perennials that could go in this area based on where the light fell to make it look the way it does right now she said i've got it down pat at this point and that that's clear to me because boy these plants look healthy they're thriving and beautiful i love the layering here so right in front the big beautiful hosta you see tucked in kind of behind the little statue there's a brunnera right next to it there's flocks which likes full sun and brenner which wants shade and then beyond that you can see i think that might be a red hooker tucked in there and some echinacea purple fountain grass absolutely beautiful mix it's been a little bit of a process though she said that this narrow garden was a pile of red clay with three huge boulders two of which blocked the entrance from the front of the house so they removed those and left one which is pictured right behind the hosta there which i think is really neat to leave a little piece of what was there to begin with we don't have a lot of that here like in our garden it was just all flat you know i mean you saw what the south garden looked like in the beginning it was just all kind of brush and there's no stones no contour so it's really neat to see you know people utilizing some of what was there when they started but i love the flagstone pathway there and the way that has a very gentle curve i think that's where i got mine wrong and our last place i tried to put too many curves in it i think that's just perfect and it ushers you from one end to the other beautifully love that irene next is from cherry in bonnie lake which is in the united states zone 8b now this space goes through an incredible transformation check out the before here she said it's five feet wide total uh that's really narrow that would be incredibly hard to think of what to do but look at this look at that afterward i cannot believe that's only five feet having it set up this way gives it the illusion that it's wider than that i mean that's a perfect walkway to put in there something that takes you from you know one end to the other just draws your eye down and then what beautiful color too just fitting in so many beautiful things so it's a mix of creeping jenny there's blue edge grass i do see some birch hybrid companion bottom left there i think there's some impatient sun patience azalea uh a large hosta in the terracotta pot in the background but what a fun way to use that space now cherry said that cram scaping is her thing so that's my people i like to cramscape myself next is robin in santa clarita zone nine now this is showing use of vertical space rather than planting in the ground because there was already a concrete sidewalk that was four feet wide which four feet you know is i think is that standard walkway um but you know if you're wanting to get anything from your front yard to your backyard it is nice to kind of keep that open so using wall space like this and putting planters on it is a really great great way to soften up an area like this so they used rain gutters which were inexpensive popped holes in them put cactus mix in planted cuttings of succulents and i don't know if there are cactus in there let me take a closer look there may be but i love the color palette being kind of soft like the the aeoniums i think that's a kiwi aeonium there that's the big rosette you can see that kind of apricot peach and yellow in the leaf which kind of mirrors the wall color like it complements it really well as well as the euphorbia fire sticks right behind it has that peachy color because it's north facing i don't know if i already said that it's not going to get as much light to make the succulents be super brightly colored but i think they look beautiful with the wall color that's there really great job next is from lystra in ontario canada zone five this is a really incredible idea they had a three foot space from their driveway which you can see on the left to their property line that met up with their neighbors there was a chain link fence there which they removed and then placed a a three foot tall planting bed that just met up to where that fence was and let's see that one is three foot tall one and a half feet deep and it runs 44 feet long and then the one right below it is a two foot deep planting space that runs the same length isn't that a neat idea for a fence only needing three feet for that area so there's wood and then some metal there to create your raised bed look and then in it there are munchkin sunflowers so ones that don't get super huge summerific hibiscus butterfly bushes supertunia bubblegum roses marigolds red hot poker and daylilies how cool is that morning sun watered on drip and fertilized every two weeks and soil was very rocky and to amend it with compost and topsoil from a local landscape company because i'm guessing that that um two-foot planting space they kind of built up you can see that board that runs in front to give it like a raised bed look but i'm guessing it goes straight down into the native soil there uh but that is just such an incredible idea and very colorful love the mix of plants that's very fun i bet you that that actually makes people slow down when they drive by i would try to check out what's in there next is shannon from marysville washington zone 8b with a side yard that's six feet wide and i love hearing the transformation process they said this was all grass to begin with and i got really marshy every single winter and would rot so they removed the grass brought in compost every year to improve the soil and now look at it i love the big boulders lining the flower bed giving it some distinction from the walkway there and a beautiful mix of plants there there's azaleas lung wart you can see the variegated bishop swede which oh and i see the bishop's weed i think oh my goodness that's going to take over your life but the conditions here are shady with dappled light for part of the day but no like direct sun so i think that that bishop swedes bishop weed will kind of stay in check there there's also white bleeding heart and ajuga so you can see the first air view there and then from the other side looking the other direction you can see the view and i like the addition of the trellises on the wall even if you don't have anything growing on them i think they provide a really beautiful thing to look at it's kind of like having a statue there next is paula in moorhead which is in the u.s zone 3-4 so this is a bed using all annuals which i thought was really neat and it's only two feet deep two foot flower beds are incredibly tough so utilizing annuals like this is a really that's a great use of that space to provide a ton of color 22 feet long is what it is and it's a mixture of coleus purple fountain grass dusty miller diamond frost euphorbia or diamond mountain euphorbia rather you can see that on the left there but the varieties of coleus are redhead electric lime black dragon those are really pretty together i just saw that and it's just so striking four hours of sun is what it receives never is fertilized after planting uh and it's very heavy alkaline soil which i can commiserate with you on that i guess alkaline soil can be tough so in areas like that where you're dealing with a super cold zone really tough high ph soil it's a lot of times it's a lot easier to use annuals in areas like that because an annual won't show high ph deficiencies really because they're not in the ground long enough i guess to really suffer from from it anyway really great use of that space next one i thought it was really interesting because you don't necessarily have to put in a garden in a space put something in that you will enjoy that will actually make you go to that part of the yard so here there is a putting green so you can tell that this is a home of a person who loves to golf so this is from joanna in san diego california zone 10a she said this is a really tough spot spot for them to garden because it was very little sun watering was very difficult to control and water is a pretty rare commodity down in california so this was a really good solution just to take that stuff out and make this a space that they could actually use that wasn't a problem so anyway i thought that that was worth sharing because um it does show us a way to kind of think outside the box next is from russ in toronto canada zone 6b this is an amazing before and after so take a look at the before just kind of you know typical driveway there's a garage in the background there's a little cluster of pots and some plants along the way but take a look at this transformation so the addition of what looks like a porch there on the right they say that they actually don't use the garage as a garage it's more of a garden shed at this point but the plants here oh my goodness and the columns like that's so striking to me with the brickwork down below there's the huge fern hanging from the porch there and then just a bunch of healthy looking plants so let me list off what he said is in this area he said this is at the end of our fence driveway which gradually got taken over by plants tends to happen we don't use the garage anymore for parking so it's a more of a garden shed 35 feet long and only about 10 feet wide which is amazing this whole area looks much wider than that the plants are goldenrod goldenrod along the fence sweet autumn clematis rose of sharon joe pie weed japanese angelica tree potted banana climbing hydrangea potted hostas begonias and house plants this area receives three to four hours of sunlight is all i love the arch too oh and the pavers i see the pavers were there were not there so it looks like the back part right the back part of the driveway was maybe taken up and then the pavers were added i always appreciate people with a design eye like that who can really put together a space that's beautiful like that dang next is vicki in florida zone 9 where she said it rarely dips but like into the high 20s so it's kind of a hot and humid area but beautiful color so the planting beds are four feet wide and then the walkway is about four feet the sun patients next to the box was beautiful and then you can see that really beautiful fluffy fern toward the back end and then the bright white sun patients with the bright white caladiums there on the left when they moved into this area there was three huge hollies that were existing already some azaleas and old hydrangea and then this jasmine which was trimmed down to a stump so they put a new trellis up for it and that looks absolutely beautiful but the soil sandy but has been amended and stays on the acidic side which the shrubs appreciate there's shrubs that i can't grow here which is well due to zone and soil type so it's really fun to see them like this in somebody's garden it's funny oftentimes when i look at you know people's gardens who are in really warm zones i often can't even identify the plants because i'm so unfamiliar um with the plants that will grow in those sorts of zones next is from almetta or amida in california zone 9b uh this is a fun looking space just a lot of beautiful color a lot of different things a lot of potted items i'm guessing that this is astroturf so a different idea for a pathway there and i only say that because these pots with pot feet and on pot stands are sitting right on it so i'm guessing that you know you're not having to cut it because you probably wouldn't plant huge crab apple trees in a pot right on top of your grass unless you know it was something a low maintenance option but she said that there are crabapple trees in big pots and too many other plants to name lots of petunias in there there's beautiful delphinium popping up there on the right hand side and a whole bunch of other things i can see some euphorbia there on the left some salvias with some like magenta blooms a sunflower a big canna in the back there and some evergreen interest it would be fun to see this one like through the seasons and see what different areas look like because i'm guessing well in a 9b i don't know how much of this goes away in a 9b but it's a really fun space watered with drip irrigation fertilized every week with a liquid fertilizer next one is from liam in toronto canada zone 6b and he said this is a simple east facing shade side garden it gets one hour of morning sun so a really great looking flower bed for those of you who need some shade garden ideas there's a list of plants included so there's pachysandra which is the bright green right up front i noticed that jack barnwell on mackinac island he uses a lot of pachysandra as a ground cover there and i've always admired that i need to add some into our garden but that is a beautiful look especially up against that climbing hydrangea i think it sets it off beautifully there's hostas there's a ligularia right there at the corner of the house let's see did i miss anything and there's gonna still be in there i think that's beautiful and i love the flagstones and the grass beautiful flowerbed idea next is sandra in germany zone 7b and her planting beds she says are one meter deep which is just over three feet beautiful blend of plants here you can see right along the side of the house there there's an evergreen and then lavender and salvia there's no plant list included so i'm just going to try to do my best here but beautiful along the fence there so there's the grass walkway lined with pavers or bricks i think that's a really great way of edging your grass and something i would love to do out in our cut flower garden if we didn't have to drive a tractor into the quadrants to till or do any kind of work that way i just really like the definition that that gives to flower borders but you can see the black place elderberry there maybe a mock orange i'm guessing up against the fence there's lavender uh we take a closer look um there's some hearty geranium in there drumstick alliums geraniums daisies just beautiful stuff gara there's some gara in there this just gives us a lot of good plant combination ideas sandra lovely love it and the last one we're going to look at today is from janie in northern california which is a zone 9b she actually has a youtube channel called dig plant water repeats so we should check that out but i love what she did along her fence line here because she said it's kind of a dinky side yard and that's where they keep their garbage cans but she wanted something beautiful to look out at because that's her view from her kitchen window so she espaliered some honeysuckle in a really beautiful pattern she said west facing with some afternoon sun it does take some maintenance to keep it pruned that way but it's so worth it and then colorful annuals in a window box that kind of peek up you know from the window so she's standing there doing dishes you can see some beautiful color when she took this video it was right now so there's cyclamen it's warm enough there to where they can still have those outside we we can't hear but in the summertime they have other colorful annuals there so beautiful color there and then something really architecturally interesting so low maintenance of course on the ground there's rocks and things down there and then just a beautiful pattern i would love to do that somewhere here so i think that's a really a really great idea and that's it you guys for today's video of narrow or skinny side you're an inspiration thank you to all of you who took the time to send us pictures and information like i said this is probably going to be a part one just like with containers we'll put together another one um just because there's there's so many beautiful ideas out there and it just like it gets my creative juices flowing and makes me start thinking about fun projects to do outside and i hope it does the same for you guys as well i hope you're having a great day and we will see you in the next video bye

Channel: Garden Answer

Views: 418,455

Keywords: Garden, Answer, Laura, Flower, gardening, gardener, beautiful, succulents, diy, grow, green, Proven, Winners, Fall, Winter, summer, spring, plant, planting, growing, plants, succulent, shrubs, shrub, bush, soil, dirt, earth

Id: jD7hN9sxfDs

Length: 25min 7sec (1507 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 10 2022