Help needed please

Hey
I need help with my small garden please. This is my project this year. As a newbie I'm looking for lots of ideas on what to do.
As you can see by the lawn it's bald in places and looking very sorry for itself.
Some thoughts I had was maybe doing a border around edge for plants/flowers? Or more of a container garden?
Im going to paint the fencing but don't want brown/green, something more light grey/blue? Not sure
As for the grass itself I have no idea what to do. (I have dogs)

Also the other picture is whats left of my plants from last summer, they were just bought from the supermarket and reported but I wasn't sure if I'm meant to just bin them and start from fresh or if anything will grow back from them? They are petunias, cosmos etc

Any ideas/inspiration really appreciated

 

I'm not good at garden design so personally, being you have dogs, (how big?), I'd just try to get the grass growing when spring arrives, then paint the fence, maybe get some decking stain or similar.
I think most of you plants will need replacing this year .

Perhaps some hanging baskets on the fence .

 

Hi thankyou for your reply, I like the sound of beds around the perimeter. What do you mean by framework? Sorry it's all new to me.

 

Thanks for the reply, unfortunatelyI can't take up the decking as its a rented property. The jungle style sounds great though.

 

Thank you for your advice, definitely going to paint the fencing and clean up the decking.

 

Ahhh okay got you

 

Owning a dog myself I wouldn't bother with the grass, as a suggestion, maybe gravel it all and create a garden around potted plants. I have seen a few shows on tv before now where potted gardens can look fantastic with lots of life. Plus if you are renting it means if you ever decide to move on you can take it all with you!

Maybe grow some evergreen's to give your garden some year round colour towards the fence, things that require little maintenance and maybe even some height to hide some of the fencing (help with the jungle suggestion above I reckon).

Do you have any young children about? If not I'd always recommend a pond or some sort of water feature, they tend to bring a garden to life I feel (I'd have it set off to the side rather than being the central feature though)

 

Thankyou for your reply, I think im just going to leave the grass alone at the minute[, as for a pond, it sounds good but I have a 2 year old grandson and I would too nervous.
I have been thinking about tropical plants for sure though.
QUOTE="Luseth, post: 1355436, member: 35883"]Owning a dog myself I wouldn't bother with the grass, as a suggestion, maybe gravel it all and create a garden around potted plants. I have seen a few shows on tv before now where potted gardens can look fantastic with lots of life. Plus if you are renting it means if you ever decide to move on you can take it all with you!

Maybe grow some evergreen's to give your garden some year round colour towards the fence, things that require little maintenance and maybe even some height to hide some of the fencing (help with the jungle suggestion above I reckon).

Do you have any young children about? If not I'd always recommend a pond or some sort of water feature, they tend to bring a garden to life I feel (I'd have it set off to the side rather than being the central feature though)[/QUOTE]

 

As it's rented - are there are restrictions on what you can do in the lease?

My initial thoughts are to go for 'things' that can be easily removed and placed in another garden - by this I mean container gardening.

I would also be looking to add some height - have a look at my recent post in 'Your day (apart from) gardening' - the obelisk was £8 from Wilkinsons and the baskets are a couple of pounds each. I'm planning on putting Surfinia in those baskets - you would be amazed how many different colours they come in .

 

One other thing to consider when purchasing containers. Go for terracotta pots - not plastic - terracotta will let more air into the soil around the roots and the plants will grow more strongly.

 

I'm fairly new to gardening too - well - I've been doing bits for years but only started seriously in the last few. And what I've found is that there are some plants which are easy to grow in most soils and aren't over fussy about water and light. And then there are the rest. I mostly do the former - with some attempts at the latter. I'm rubbish at watering (I travel for work) - so last year put in an irrigation system. The results were absolutely unbelievable!

I focused on annuals mostly finding that the wait for biennials is too painful at the beginning. I always plant sunflowers: they do like light but will grow OK without full sun too in my experience, as long as they've got some nutrient and a but of water. There are millions of types from dwarf multi-headed ones to giant singles that grow to 14 feet or so (estimated) in my garden. Cosmos just keeps flowering from mid summer; cornflowers are lovely and don't take a lot of looking after (at least not for me); a load of spring bulbs could go in, in sept/oct/nov - daffs and tulips for eg.

And then those fences are asking for a few climbers. Clemtis is fantastic for everyone but me (trying again this year...more light and more water maybe?): loads of great varieties; my absolute favourite though is Cobaea Scandsens - the cup and saucer vine. I'm in Jersey (so pretty mild) and it flowers right through the year. I think for most folks it stops in maybe October/November - but it is evergreen so gives cover at least. Once it gets going it will climb well along anything you give it - string, wire, trellis. I bougth a pack of 10 seeds on ebay for not a lot: great buy! Then sweet peas and morning glories are easy to grow, flower forever and look great! Both will grow in the ground or in pots. My MGs definitely liked the sun but the sweet peas were NE facing last year and did fantastically anyway. But they must both be watered regularly. If they dry out they die.

And lastly, if you can get a bit of organic material into that soil it will pay. There are others here who know stacks more than me - having been doing it for lifetimes, but I think in general the view is agreed that you get back what you put into your soil and some.

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.

 

Those look great! Will look in wilko when I'm next in.
Our landlord is pretty good but I don't know how long we are going to be here so I guess pots/containers are the way forward.