Tiny Japanese Garden

One dark and damp corner of the garden which presented an opportunity for improvement was the narrow passageway between the garage and the oil tank compound. It is part of the main path around the outside of the house, so I really wanted to make it an attractive space.

It was a good size for a small Japanese zen style garden, and we already had the stone fountain basin we brought with us from Leamington that had been sitting upside down on the grass for a year.

So I designed a little garden and squeezed in as many Japanese features in as I could without making it too crowded.

I decided on irregular stepping stones over the more regimented railway sleepers. I wanted a feature stone lantern too. Around the path would be gravel, and I wanted to include some planting that was happy in shade, and some nice stones. There was scope for some additional planting in traditional Japanese kokedama planters that would improve the look of the fairly ugly compound wall.

The first thing we needed was to fix the compound wall. The mortar was crumbling in places and several of the top layers of bricks has been knocked off, probably by the oil delivery company. So, Michal fixed that for me.

Next he installed the stone bowl fountain for me and got it working, but I needed a new pump and a replacement spout os the old one had perished. A reservoir had to be dug in the sopping clay, and a new drainage pipe was put in to try and remove some of the ground water. A metal grid was placed over the reservoir to sit the stone bowl on top and the surrounding was decorated with stones and moss.

Next we removed all the ugly old gravel, put liner down and used lovely white stones around some fairly realistic looking concrete 'stone' paving slabs. Next was to go online and order up some Japanese plants that like the shade and are hardy and stay fairly small, and steal some moss from off the stone walls opposite the house. There is still room for more planting when I get chance to buy some more plants... I added my Japanese cranes (tsuru) as they symbolize longevity, good fortune, peace, and fidelity. Because these majestic birds are believed to mate for life and are tied to legends of living up to a thousand years, their statues are placed in outdoor spaces to attract positive, harmonious energy. I'm really happy with how it's turned out so far - it feels calm and tranquil. Sadly I couldn't find a 'before' photo for comparison, but I hope you like it too.