Family Garden
A garden that has to survive football, bicycles and a paddling pool while still looking like a garden. On this island it also has to be usable in a heat that keeps children indoors from noon.
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Shade is the first requirement, not the last
A family garden with no shade is a family garden nobody uses between noon and five for four months of the year. Trees do it best, a pergola does it fastest, and most plots here need both while the trees grow.
The surfaces come next. Grass is worth its water where children actually play, and this is the case where a lawn earns it, though a warm season species that goes brown in winter is still the sensible choice.
Then the plant list. Nothing spiky at child height, nothing seriously toxic within reach, and structure planting tough enough to be walked through occasionally rather than specimens that resent it.
Typical ingredients
- Real shade over the area children use
- A defined lawn or soft surface for play
- Nothing spiky or seriously toxic at reach height
- Tough structure planting rather than delicate specimens
- Clear sightlines from the house and the pool
- Storage designed in rather than added later
- Pool safety according to the local rules
- A corner for growing things with children
How this gets built
Which common plants should I avoid with small children?
Oleander and euphorbia are the two most often planted here that are worth thinking twice about, along with anything with spines at head height. Ask the company quoting to flag them on the plan.
Does a family garden have to have a lawn?
No, but it usually wants a soft defined area of some kind. If water is the concern, a smaller lawn in the right place beats a large one nobody plays on.
Like this? Get it priced
Say how the garden gets used and companies can design around it.