Asked AI to create a budget friendly version idea for my mother in law garden. It came up with this. Beyond growing veg each year with my kids I’ve not done landscaping.
So – how realistic is it that I could create something like what it’s shown from its current state?
Is it a big job or doable by a relative amateur?
by NumerousToe7604
32 Comments
It seems doable to me. I am doing something similar for myself and trust me I am no pro.
Not much will grow directly under the tree, the grass will be very thin at best and the shrubs will not thrive.
Very basic landscaping literally possible for anyone to do
I’d say yes BUT you do need to look for plants that prefer shade including grass seed otherwise they won’t thrive also regular watering.
Absolutely.if you want to keep it simple/easy-just turf/seed the entire area first.So,now its completely under control-comparatively low-maintenence.
Then plan out your curves/lines re: planting out areas.Then chop out the unwanted grass areas-or spray them out.
Then pick out your plants/shrubs paying attention to heights/colour harmony etc.
Great fun and a really easy nice learning curve-You’ll be so chuffed with yourself,go for it. 💪
Easily! You can either dig up the grass for the border, or “sheet mulch” on top of the grass, and dig an edge with a lawn edger to seperate the lawn and border area. Someone said you can’t underplant a tree which isn’t true, you can use hostas and ferns if the area is shady most of the day under there
https://preview.redd.it/iuc8xelyahxf1.jpeg?width=965&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=198ea43655d389438f4e58903d2fca0d649bb7cd
absolutely. although using AI to visualise it freaks me out
I don’t have any advice sorry but I just wanted to say how thrilled I am to see other people doing this too 😅
I’ve been “landscaping” my garden with Google Gemini loads lately, asking it to give me low cost ideas etc.
I am a landscaper. You can definitely do it yourself.
OP- which AI did you ask to do this? I’ve been looking to do the same with my garden but I’m quite thick when it comes to new tech & have only ever used chatgpt for text stuff 😅
Sure its doable ,the only thing is that you may want to look at the tree in the AI it looks nice and tidy but in your photo it looks like something a lot more out of control and that is where your eye goes to in the garden. I think you may need to reduce its height to get the light into the garden
100% yes. Thats actually quite easy. Add a water feature/pond with a waterfall or stream.
So do-able. Apart from the tree, get a pro to do that.
Mow the lawn to a mid level, pull out the big weeds. Start a compost heap (behind the tree?) all the clippings can go there. I was fascinated by compost and how HOT it got as a child so show your kids that.
Then set the mower short and scalp the areas that will be borders. Then you can dig over the borders. I would just cut the turf off and lay cardboard lay the turf upside down and leave till spring. Paint the fence and weed the paving and you’re nearly there. I wouldn’t bother with the path across the lawn unless there was something there.
But do you want grass to mow and look after. Have you considered a couple of seating areas surrounded by plants and accessed by a winding path, and an area for the kids to play and have a den in.
How about a seating area under the tree, with lights hanging from the tree branches and a water feature giving you a quiet relaxing sound.
You’ve got the winter to think about it and search online for inspiration.
Plenty of options, but the trick to creating them is to focus on one area at a time, an hour or two each evening from next Spring onwards, focusing on just one part until it’s completed. Lots of small steps rather than a big project.
Yes you can….
….One of my favourite guidstars is to ‘be careful what you wish for’.
Transforming your space will take time and effort. Or a lot of cash to someone else to do it for you.
Either way, it’s a really good idea to be pretty sure that’s what you want. If you make it, and then change it, you will be wasting a lot more time and effort, or cash.
There are a few different outcomes that you could desire.
To test the AI, and to test your own clarity of ambition, why don’t you try tweaking the AI design by varying the outcomes you desire? Or you could test other AI packages the same way.
It’s better to test out all your ideas before you put a spade in the ground….
Make this what? A hat? A birthday cake? Macramé wall hangings?
Hey what app you use to create the img?
Yes you can! Go for it. Obviously shady but you’re going to be blessed with wonderful ground wildlife – mice, voles and rats etc.
Yes, none of it is difficult, it’ll be labour intensive and expensive at times in materials but it’s absolutely doable. Start at the far end otherwise you’ll be working over area’s already finished, don’t be afraid to use used paving if it’s nice paving, do cut the grass before you start and every week it’s growing, otherwise it’ll mess up the view of your progress.
Now is the time to prepare the far end for planting, patience will be needed in huge amounts but it’ll save money as well, when shrubs are needed search the garden for tiny shrubs that are growing in the wrong place and replant them before going out to buy them, supermarkets occasionally have a host of bare rooted shrubs and trees so take advantage of those prices because the fencing is going to be expensive, more expensive than you imagine because you’ll be using concrete posts rather than doing it all again in 7 years time.
This is the time of year to be buying plants from random sources, for example hever castle are currently selling cyclamen at £2 each and there’s a discount on rose bushes, national trust have a few similar offers because they’re all about to close for a month or so and don’t want to be paying someone to tend plants throughout the winter, many places have this issue.
Super easily, I don’t understand why people will spend many thousands/tens of thousands for something like this when they can do it themselves for a fraction of the price, and have the satisfaction of knowing you achieved it etc.
Yes but can i suggest a couple of things that I think will make a huge difference:
– don’t make the flower bed on the left a thin slither as suggested. I think people think it makes it easier to maintain but that can be done with clever planting instead. Get some lovely soft, evergreen flowering plants and shrubs and give them space to grow. They will fill the space without taking up loads of your huge lawn!
– when you do that flower bed, give it some gentle wavy/curved lines instead of a harsh straight line, with smaller plants on the ‘out’ bits, and shrubs on the ‘in’ bits. It will provide lots of depth and interest to the garden.
– instead of having a path to nowhere, why not snake it around towards the tree and then ending at the back and put another bench there. You could even do a small patio, gravel or bark chip area with a table and a couple of chairs or a hammock in the summer. Having an additional space to sit in is always nice, but especially when it’s under the shade of a tree on a hot day as it makes the garden useable all year round.
– and finally, a lesson that I wish I’d learnt myself before doing the garden – take time to work out where the sun hits and when, which way the garden is facing, what kind of soil you have and then googling what a particular plant needs, how it looks in the winter and how big it grows. It will save you a lot of money in the long run planning a little bit instead of picking up whatever looks nice in the garden centre on the day and realising it’s say, a tree or an annual when you wanted a perennial, or will immediately die because it’s not suited to the area you put it in.
Enjoy and please do share pictures!
Depends on how much sun it gets. You may also struggle to plant by the tree due to the roots. You could however use pots
Yes it is doable. I put similar landscaping into my garden over about 3-4 years. It’s difficult to predict how long it would take and what sort of things will make it harder but don’t underestimate how much hard work that would be. I’ve not found anything that is quite such hard work as that sort of gardening!
I’ve seen AI put a path to nowhere many times before. Please don’t do it. I’d suggest running it by a designer or even just a friend with a creative eye- Reddit is a great option but ask more ‘design-y’ people.
AI depresses me so much
That looks very doable to me and very nice too.
Yeah very possible.
However can I ask whats going on to the right of your photo, just out of curiosity. Is the garden to the right a lot lower. The fence looks really low your side, but the back of the neighbours garden you can see a 6ft fence.
Would you be adding a higher fence your end for privacy? As your AI picture is showing more privacy on that curved border side.
Mow the lawn, rake the leaves, make a bed on the side.
Any thing is possible with time and money,
The ai image is not that tricky, looks like you have a overgrown patio to dig out, so that’s some work. Could reuse the slabs and save some costs
Sure, with a bit of graft, cut in the borders, give the tree a good hard cut back and get rid of all the lower stuff, choose your border plants
Tend to the lawn more, cut it back, reseed.
A few days doing the borders and cutting the tree back and it would look a whole lot cleaner by itself
Yes give or take. I don’t see the point of the path to nowhere, you won’t be walking to the tree often enough to find it useful. If you want to lead the eye along a path (which is generally a good design principle) send it to the other side and put your bench there maybe?
The grass may not thrive until the tree as it will compete for water and light there. You might find it better to put plants for dry shade in there or just let the grass end where it naturally peters out at the root base of the tree.
My personal opinion is if I can see bare soil, you’ve failed. I would aim for bigger, fluffier planting than this. Not much point making those big deep beds and then not filling them.
I find the bare fence on the right rather jarring compared to the green on the other 2 sides. I’d suggest climbers, or some taller planting.
Yes
if youve got the same amount of money as jeff bezos. that shit is expensive