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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for ideas to rejuvenate this eye sore in our backyard. We have a sloping rock garden that leads to a higher level. This path on the side looks horrible like a construction site and overgrows with weeds every year. There's a powder coming off the fence so will have to clean that up and repaint it. I have planted a passionfruit at the bottom and will hopefully be able to let it grow along the fence. We're in Adelaide. Thanks
Hello @Nuttie
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your garden path.
Would it be possible to remove some of the rocks in the garden? Perhaps move them to another spot or gather them together in a better location. Another option that comes to mind is to build small deck steps over the path so that it looks uniform. I can't tell if those are weeds or plants further on in your garden, but I would suggest thinking about the plants that are currently in your garden and are they over growing or neglected. The plan is to have access to all the areas where the plants are so that you can manage and trim them.
Can I please request for a panoramic shot of the entire garden? This will give our members a better idea of its overall layout. We can then make recommendations on how to proceed.
Here is a link for ideas and inspiration: Top 10 most popular garden makeovers.
Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1, @diy_hausdesigns, @Nikkaz and @maknilsin for their recommendations.
If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.
Eric
Good Evening @Nuttie
Welcome to the Community 
Its the perfect place for these type of questions!
A couple more questions to add to the list
Do you need that straight path for access?
Can you redivert the path to snake down the hill without having to move the large rocks (Or only a few)?
Where does the water flow when it rains?
Some ideas while we wait for that overall picture I like the idea of a snake styled path as it breaks the eyeline and also controls the steepness of the path. You can also funnel water about the terraces with piping under the path or even a small culvert or bridge.
I Have extensivly used gabion cages to form edges to my garden and pathways. You could use them to help span the distance between the stones as the path snakes down your yard. The Gabions can be bought in 3 sizes from Bunnings, A square cube, A large rectangular box and a smaller rectangular box. You can use various items to fill the cages, everything from dug up rocks, broken down rocks, old concrete or even stones brought in.
The cages allow for water to flow through them, they dont require foundations other then tamped or undisturbed soil and can take a beating (have had an air con drop on one of my cages and it only bent the edge)
Another way to solve the construction site could be to remove those long low steps along the fenceline and make it a crushed path with a slow slope, You will need a few stepped areas to gain the height but it would have less of a feel or a construction site.
So your first photo as an example, I can see four steps plus some ground slope, how about a longer grownd slope up to say 2/3rd's the distance seen and then 4 steps and a shorter path to those batch of multiple steps. Its straight but less "steppy"
Dave
Thanks @EricL and @Dave-1 for the suggestions so far. I hope these pictures will make a bit more sense what our garden looks like. The first photo is a top down view of the rock garden. We live close to a river, with our backyard being on a slope with hard bedrock underneath.
We have a snaking garden path going up as you can see on this second picture. I was hoping to keep the other one straight and a bit more easy for less mobile people and for when we're carrying big/heavy things up. And yes, I need to do some weeding.
Another side view of the rock garden with the problem area in the back.
Afternoon @Nuttie
Going through your extra pics there may be an easier way to do the path, some things will change.
-The way the steps are going, they will start with a platform at the top of the steps and then head back along the edge of the patio.
-The path will curve around from there and slope downwards and then along the fence but a little wider then what you have now.
-2.3rds of the way down you will have a batch of 3 steps. This is to keep the slope managable and to adjust for the steepness.
-The part we cant see I would suggest to do the same, remove the middle two steps, slope the distance and then 3 steps.
I have drawn some sketches and edited some photos below.
The Green is the pathway, The pink is your house.
This is how your path is now. Long sloped steps with one step down.
Profile of the existing path. Pink dotted line is your house. Green is the path plus steps
New propposed idea.
A bit of a snake but mainly straight. With batches of three steps at a time.
For the low side between the rocks I would either suggest large rocks again or Gabion cages mixed with smaller rocks to fill in the non rectangular sides between cage and rock. gabion cage will show you the range that Bunnings have. These are effectivly kits and go together so easily.
If you look at my bookmarks you will find loads of different styles of cages that I have used. yes I am a fan
Whoops forgot the pretty pics!
Longer runs of sloped pathway and batches of three steps. Note steps from patio go off towards the right.
The patio stepos down onto a flat concrete top and then follows down the side of the patio. the pathway loops back around and then slopes down to the batch of three steps. The retaining wall/rocks on the low side of the path can be as explained.
(I have forgotten so many things to use in photo editing lol)
Dave
Hello @Nuttie
Thanks for sharing those extra photos of your garden. I'm going to go with my original suggestions of re-arranging the stones to create more planting space. It appears that the original designer was thinking of a natural rock garden appearance but did not provide enough space for planting. The other option is to work with the stones by adding pebbles in between them and limiting the number of plants. Perhaps a Japanese Zen Garden appearance.
If you need further assistance, please let us know.
Eric
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