Crouch End Garden

A compact space is transformed.

the view out from the kitchen shows the subtle palette of materials and plants that unify this scheme.
the view out from the kitchen shows the subtle palette of materialsand plants that unify this scheme.
Stage 1

The Brief

The clients of this garden are a young couple in Crouch End, with a keen eye for gardening and growing vegetables. The aim with the overall design was to make better practical use of the space whilst incorporating a good balance of planting for both low maintenance ornamental plants and culinary varieties.

The existing garden was underused with no space to sit outside the kitchen, and a very slippery, softwood, grooved deck leading up to the back. A lack of screening from the rear neighbours was also an issue.

Stage 2

Design and Build

We chose to use the same reclaimed slate paving from the kitchen to extend the patio out further into the garden, and created a retaining wall with wrap around hardwood, timber seat that also acts as a step up to the next level. The middle section provides a deep, attractive planting bed, instead of a flat lawn, filled with seasonal flowering herbaceous plants, grasses and ferns.

Off set stepping-stones transport you through the planting to a second patio area in the same reclaimed slate, where the clients have a large dining table and BBQ. A raised retaining bed for a combination of ornamentals and some vegetable growing, doubles as a perch, and allows for horizontal tiered pear trees to be planted, providing a soft screen from the neighbour's house.

The hand drawn 3D visual explains the initial concept and design by London Garden Designer to the clients of this Crouch End garden.
The hand drawn 3D visual explains the initial concept and design by London Garden Designer to the clients of this Crouch End garden.
View from the top floor of this Crouch End garden, North London, showing the reclaimed slate patio with a hardwood ipe banding detail.
View from the top floor of this Crouch End garden, North London, showing the reclaimed slate patio with a hardwood ipe banding detail.
Stage 3

Finished Project

Cor-ten has been used on the lower and upper retaining walls to link the two areas, in addition to the slate paving. The bricks walls have been painted a light grey to tie in with the house framework and kitchen colours, and the fencing is dark grey to recede and off set the climbers and planting. The scheme overall has transformed a small, neglected, garden in Crouch End into a green oasis with plenty of room for entertaining.

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View from the top floor of this Crouch End garden, North London, showing the reclaimed slate patio with a hardwood ipe banding detail. At the back, a raised corten steel bed is planted with an old rhubarb and some pleached Pyrus ‘Chanticleer’ amongst perennials.
Some pleached trees, Pyrus ‘Chanticleer’ form a green backdrop to this Crouch End garden, adding some privacy to the seating area. They are underplanted with some herbaceous perennials and some vegetables in a Corten steel raised bed.
The rear of the garden can accommodate a table and chairs to enjoy the evening sun in this North London garden. The slate paving is delineated with a hardwood ipe deck strip, in line with a detail in the existing brick wall. At the back, a Corten steel retaining wall becomes a raised planter, full of herbaceous and some pleached trees.
The green and white planting scheme looks wild in this Crouch End garden, in North London whilst the hard landscaping is simple, following a strong geometric design. The colours of the rusted Corten steel, the reclaimed slate paving and the painted boundaries blend together nicely, offering a quiet background.
View from the kitchen into the Crouch End garden in North London, where the lush planting, mainly evergreen, shows a few white flowers in the distance. The lower patio wall is softened by integrating a built in floating bench. Some corten steel details are repeated throughout to unify the space.
The newly built trellis, above an existing brick wall, has been painted dark grey. Some stainless steel wires have been fixed to the cedar for climbing plants to grow on. A passionfruit is bearing orange fruits in summer.
View towards the house in this Crouch End garden, showing the matching colour on the french doors and the brick walls. The stepping stones disappear behind the lush low planting whilst the tall Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ are flowering in Autumn.
The bespoke built in ipe timber bench wraps around the lower patio area, wide and comfortable, and becomes a step to access this Crouch End garden. It floats above the slate paving and poured concrete, fixed to the Corten steel retaining wall.
Planting details in this lush Crouch End garden, North London, including Euphorbia ‘Ruby’s Fen’, Gallium odoratum, Geranium maccrorhizum, Iris ‘White Swirl’, Luzula nivea, Hakonechloa macra and Cenolophium denudatum. They overhang the stepping stones and the concrete retaining wall, above the slate patio.
Planting details in this lush Crouch End garden, North London, including Euphorbia ‘Ruby’s Fen’, Gallium odoratum, Geranium maccrorhizum, Iris ‘White Swirl’, Luzula nivea, Hakonechloa macra and Cenolophium denudatum.
Some Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’ are clipped to form a neat structure, contrasting with the wilder look of the grasses such as Hakonechloa macra ‘Aurea’ and Luzula nivea. Some tall flowers emerge above the lush foliage and create some contrast in the colour scheme.
The hardwood ipe bench wraps around the reclaimed slate paving in the lower patio. It faces the kitchen and when the french doors are open, becomes part of the house.
Foliage details, evergreen structures and soft shapes of Alchemilla mollis, Dryopteris erythrosora, turning copper in late summer, Helleborus orientalis and Hakonechloa macra ‘Aurea’ in this small Crouch End Garden.
The planting is all intermingled, creating a wild and lush effect that soften the strong lines of the hard landscaping. Mainly evergreen, the planting beds will still look green during the winter months in this Crouch End garden.
The Corten steel raised bed is planted with sun loving herbaceous such as Sedum, Stipa tenuissima, Alchemilla mollis and some Euphorbia. An existing rhubarb has been kept, and a small Amelanchier feature tree was added, visible from the house. Some pleached Pyrus ‘Chanticleer’ provide some privacy from the neighbour’s garden.
Close-up of the low planting, overhanging the poured concrete stepping stones leading to the house in the Crouch End garden. Key plants are Gallium odoratum, Euphorbia cyparissias, Luzula nivea, Dryopteris erythrosora, Geranium maccrorhizum ‘Album’.
The shadow gap under the poured concrete step is visible on the built in hardwood ipe bench, floating above the reclaimed slate paving in this Crouch End garden.
This Crouch End garden, North London, before LGD designed the space and the landscaping works began.
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Photos by Marianne Majerus