Absolute beginners with a huge garden

Welcome DevonPhil if you have lots of tall trees like us...we purchased a long reach chainsaw a petrol one and a shorter much cheaper electrical one...invaluable they are to us..

 

Hello @DevonPhil and welcome to GC just take your time with it then you won't feel that it will be too much

 

One tip, in case you haven’t already heard it/read it:

If you can, leave any major gardening plans at the paper-stage for 12 months in a new property. It is only by seeing a garden through a year’s worth of changes do you know what is there, how the plants are coping with the conditions, etc.
The obvious thing is hidden bulbs that are only visible above ground for around 4-5 months of the year. If you move into a property in June, you won’t find out about daffodils planted until they start to surface in the following January - and even then you have to look hard for the tips breaking through.
There could be herbaceous perennials that were cut back the previous autumn. Nothing is visible during the winter, but large underground root systems maybe waiting to explode into life again as spring returns.
There are other factors too. The soil conditions may not be the same throughout the garden. Some areas of my garden are a slightly sandy loam, whilst others are pure sand. Only by seeing how the plants react can you see the difference. I have to cut one half of the “lawn” twice as often as the other!
Prevailing winds too have to be taken into consideration. Often these only become apparent in the autumn...

You can still maintain the existing plants, and plan, plan, plan! But try not to do any major overhauling if you can hold yourself back!!

 

Thanks @Sian in Belgium - sound advice. Other than taming the things that have obviously become overgrown, we've no plans to change anything in the garden. Much better to make plans once we've seen the garden through all the changing seasons as well as learning which plants, shrubs and flowers we have.

 

I have had a look at the link, the garden is very established. Hopefully you can put you own touches in it. It is worth taking photos on a monthly basis so that you know what it looks like at varying stages and then can use for reference when planning. You don't want to make changes and then the following year realise that you have ripped out something that you really liked. I refer back to old photos to see what I have where, as already mentioned in the previous post s , this is especially important with bulbs and herbaceous perennials.

 

Impossible for me from the start to do just one area at a time, Mr.W still moans the same way..one time one job.....just give him one of my looks.....well not always, sometimes Montalembert can hear me.

 

If you have out of control Brambles to remove make sure you are well protected when removing them...wise words and wear the scars....