Help ! Gardening nightmare !

Hello all

I am after some advice please. We moved to our house about 4 years ago and inherited a very long garden. The previous owners have broken it up into sections, the one nearest the house is decking, that is ok , then there is a lawn area with two unruly hedges , part of the lawn they had put down concrete slabs which the grass has over grown. The second section has a large greenhouse and is a mess, the third section is just one big mess , with small sections of concrete and slabs with soil in the spaces in between but nothing growing there, the fourth section is decking and a pond , both neighbours sides are over grown,

it is just one big headache and how i wish they had just left it as one big lawn ! is there any chance i can get it back to one big lawn? if so how or any other suggestions as to how to tame this thing, by the spring it will be over grown , i have added some photos

many thanks Lawn area

greenhouse section



slabbed section




bottom of garden

 

Hello @SunWorshiper welcome to GC and nice to have you with us

Thanks for adding the pictures as it helps members and gives then rough ideas on how to help you and there's a lot of members with long garden's done beautiful, so you'll definitely get some help regarding correcting it...it's such a shame when you have long garden's like yours and they're left neglected.

I'm into the decking which you have but mainly slabs and gravel to help cut the work out, so it's mainly attending the plants.

 

Thanks Gail for the welcome , nice to be here

 

Your welcome my friend, your amongst great friendly people...we love a great laugh and that's nice on a forum...you'll get to know them soon

 

Hiya...welcome to the forum

I think your garden has loads of potential and if it was mine I'd keep it divided into sections rather than having one big lawn. I think different sections create more interest depending on what you do with them of course!

Rather than getting overwhelmed with it, I'd concentrate on one section at a time. As soon as you start tidying it up and cutting back, you'll start to see a difference.

 

Thanks Gail, it seems a really nice place so far

Hi Fern , thanks for the post , it is knowing what to do with the sections that is my problem, if the weather is better i intend to start on it next weekend

 

Hi @SunWorshiper, welcome to Gardeners' Corner. What a potentially great garden you have, and it looks lovely and private too. This is a good time of year to get started on some garden clearance, and start planning what you would like to do with it. A previous owner has obviously been a keen gardener as there are some lovely features which might be of interest to you down the line: archway, raised beds, greenhouse, cold frame etc.

There are some very talented and hugely experienced people on this forum, but I reckon you probably want as many ideas as possible, so here are mine. Have a think about what purpose your garden will serve: do you have kids, do you like to entertain, is the garden a relaxing place, do you want to dabble in growing? Also think about sunny and shady spots, and how to use them best. Do you want to move/remove the greenhouse. It is a great one, but looks as though it blocks the where it is currently situated, and breaks up a long, flowing line through the garden.

Would you like to keep the garden in sections as now? If so, you might want to think about making some areas as low maintenance as possible. That could be grass, slabs or gravel. Otherwise, there is probably quite a lot of work in returning the garden to one long lawn, but it is certainly doable, even in sections at a time. You are right to think about cutting back the neighbours' overgrowth now, and that will help you feel like you are starting to get it under control. I think that I would cut back, and focus on perhaps the one or two sections closest to the house for this year. If you can afford to, you might also get advice from professionals locally about garden design. You will certainly get some great ideas from people on here. I would name some, but I would miss out too many with absolutely inspiring gardens (and lots of great photos).

Best of luck with this exciting project.

 

Hello @Irmemac and thank you for the post , yes do have kids and a dog, am after a lower maintenance garden , here are two more pics of outside the back door, this is view down to the lawned area , would preferably like to remove the greenhouse.good idea to focus on one or two sections as it seems so overwhelming atm

 

What a long garden! It is really lovely. Sounds like you have your hands full, so a low maintenance garden is a good idea, preferably with a spot where you can sit and relax too! If you really want rid of your greenhouse a good way could be to advertise it free or at a low price on Gumtree, stating that the new owner needs to dismantle and uplift. An alternative might be to relocate it further down the garden and get the kids from mvolved in growing simple things such as tomatoes. I would definitely start by cutting back, sprucing up the decking area and the section just beyond that, so you have a really nice area to start with. Maybe turf an area further down the garden and put play equipment or a summerhouse for the kids. Gets them engaged in outside play ( and further away, so out of your hair!!). A few colourful shrubs and/ or perennials around the edge of the grassy area beyond the decking, some pots in the decking area with lots of colour and you will have a great start to a fab garden!

 

Firstly, warm welcome sunWorshipper.

I would regard your garden as a series of "rooms" right now....much as they are now really. This means you can develop these areas one by one.

The greenhouse? Why do you want to get rid of it? You may regret this. As you get more addicted to gardening, more ambitious and more demanding a greenhouse to produce your own plants from seed, to grow tomatoes, etc., may well be very desirable and useful to you. "Tinkering" about in the greenhouse can be a pleasurable experience in itself too

Decide what you might want from your garden.....a low maintenance garden can also be floriferous with appropriate selections of plants; a lavendar hedge or border for example is so easy yet provides wonderful colour in the summer and fantastic scent. All you need is a sunny, well drained area. I have a veg patch.....growing your own veg and fruit is so satisfying and appealing to kids too. If you think you dont have the time for veg you can still plant one or two gooseberry, blackcurrant, or red currant bushes; minimal maintenance for high return...??

Yes, you can produce one large lawn there if that is what you really want........set about clearing out the stuff you simply dont want. I love a lawn in the garden ....perfect for kids and adults to sit and play on.

Why not sketch out ideas how you might like your garden to be. On the forum we can help you whichever way you choose to go. Have fun

 

Hello SunWorshiper to GC. First things first.....rubbish disposal! There's nothing more dispiriting than tidying up one area only to create a huge pile of prunings, weeds and leaves somewhere else! Can you dispose of green waste at your local tip? If not, you need to organise some compost/leaf mould bins somewhere well out of sight. Easily lashed together from old pallets. (That's one advantage of having a divided-up garden). If finances allow, a powerful shredder is a good investment now that bonfires are pretty much a no-no. You can turn prunings into a useful weed-suppressing mulch. I suspect that one reason the previous owners laid decking and slabs is because grass struggles to grow well in shady, enclosed, root-infested areas.
It's a bit of a misconception that grass is low maintenance except for the plastic sort! Would that be an option for the kids/dogs play area?
Are there brambles? Top priority is to tackle them now so you, the children and the dog don't get tangled up in them when you're trying to enjoy your garden. If you don't want to use glyphosate weedkiller (many don't, I know) the only answer is to dig every bit of root out and bin, burn or otherwise destroy the plants. On the plus side, you've got a lovely area near the house which needs very little attention and will provide you with a haven while you tackle the rest a bit at a time I'd put pruning fairly near the bottom of the list of priorities until you've spent a summer there and have time to assess plusses and minuses. Most spring-flowering shrubs are pruned just after flowering anyway, so you've got breathing space!

 

Hi @SunWorshiper

You have a treasure of a garden there, it obviously has been planned and tended before it got neglected. Before doing anything very drastic, it might be a good idea to just tidy up the dead growth and see what comes up in the summer.

First of all I would check the garden bin collection days and equipped with secateurs get hacking down the dead stems, obviously messy bits and any hardcore weeds such as brambles. If you find a shrub, cut a third of the stems down to the ground if it looks like a jungle. Not the optimal pruning, but works for 90% of shrubs. A big clear out is a very satisfying job for sunny afternoons and you can see the results immediately. WHACK HACK CHUCK WHACK

The decking is great, and in order to be able to start using it asap it might be a good idea to focus on it as soon as the weather gets nicer. Cleaning and treating the wood, perhaps buying some new furniture, a few large (min. 40cm) containers to be planted with permanent plants and summer bedding and a lovely lantern or two would make a nice place to sit in and plan the rest of the garden. Solar lights are cheap and easy way to add to the atmosphere.

If your kids are young, the sturdy looking beams near the fireplace look like a perfect place for a swing. The shed might become a wonderful den/ summer room for older kids or a retreat for parents. My teenager would kill for it

Leave the plants/lawn for later and live with the garden for a while to see what's there and how it actually fits into your life. You might even become a greenhouse addict in a few months time (especially if you visit the forum often... you have been warned... ) or want a pond or a supersize trampoline or a berry orchard or... It's a great space you've got there, full of promises.

Please do keep posting photos as you get things done. Enjoy!

 

I wouldn't get rid of the greenhouse. If you don't want to use it as a gardening aea right away, the kids might enjoy hanging out in there on rainy days

Welcome to the forum!

 

Hi @SunWorshiper and welcome! Agree with what the others have said about doing it bit by bit; I would start with the section nearest the house and work outwards, that way you can appreciate the benefits straight away - and get an idea for what you like/don't like/might want to try. Try not to be put off by the amount of clearing either, my garden was basically a giant bramblebush when we first moved in and the most satisfying part of clearing it was how quickly you could see the difference, even with just a few days work.

How does it do in terms of sun/shade through the day and year?