I am so disorganised and rubbish gardener

The past few weeks have been glorious up here, so a good opportunity to be gardening. The only problem is I am totally rubbish at it, I don't really know what I am doing and end up creating even more work for myself. So I'm now at the point where something that should be fun and give pleasure is now becoming a chore and such hard work that I feel totally fed up with gardening and wish I had bought a house with no garden. I would like to be able to sit on the patio and chill with a book and just enjoy the garden but there is so much to do everyday that I don't have much time for that. If I do sit for awhile I start to feel guilty about sitting, my eyes start wandering around the garden at all the things I should be doing instead of sitting . I could spend 8 hours a day every day doing my garden just to try and keep on top of things. I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me. The garden is quite large and split into 3 sections. The front is a total jungle and will be a major project in itself when I can afford it. The more I look at my garden the more overwhelmed I feel by the scale of it.

 

It can feel a little daunting sometimes. I too sometimes struggle with the motivation, and the time to do it.

I usually find, that doing little chunks at a time helps. Pick an area, set in you mind what you want to do and achieve, then set to it, taking as much or as little time you have. Work your way around the garden using the same method, you will soon find the bug again.

And as for being a rubbish gardener, so am I, I get loads wrong, but thats where we learn from. Sharing thoughts and ideas on here, has helped me, so stick with it and us, and together we will get better....

 

Day 1: Start by cutting down that jungle part with a strimmer. after that make it a proper tropical jungle with jungly planting.

Day 2; mow what you strimmed (lawn) It may need feeding and watering not to mention weeding but you can buy a product that does all three in one go.

Take a break for the weekend..and admire the new look section.

Day 3; Ask a dad/nephew/son/uncle to cut out borders for you. choose some flowers you like for the borders.

If borders are wide enough buy and plant a Trachicarpus fortunei palm tree which is hardy in winter even in snow.

Carry on like that on the two other sections. if a relation helps you watch how they do it.

 

As Hairy Gardener has said above, work on one part of the garden at a time and it won't seem so daunting. If you post pictures here of where you intend to start we can give you ideas on how to set it straight. When that's done you can move on and repeat the process.

 

Been there: felt just like that! Pretty sure I posted something very similar at the time too.

Of course you feel overwhelmed - that is just what happens when we are looking at the big picture, realising our limitations and just not able to see the wood for the trees (no pun intended).

Start with what you *do* know and *can* do. So, can you use a strimmer? Is there a part which needs strimming? So, decide you will spend 15 minutes on an area strimming. Set a timer: do *not* go over that 15 minutes. STOP! Times up. Now you can sit in your garden with a cuppa and admire what you have achieved in just 15 minutes. Now, think about how much you actually achieved in 15 minutes and work out which spot you will attack for your next 15 minute session the next day.

Can you mow? Now you can plan a 30 minute block to mow. STOP! 30 minutes is your limit. Now, sit back, with a cuppa and admire your mowing.

Can you identify a weed? Any weed will do, but just one variety. Ok, so, now you can play "Hunt the weed" and pull up every one that you find in say, 1o minutes? Now, sit and have a cuppa and pat yourself on the back.

With cuppa breaks - you have just spent 1 hrs gardening and 1 hour admiring

Set yourself small goals (whichever pleases you, doesn't have to be as outlined above) and reward yourself with a sit down and a cuppa to admire your work. It's all about finding the right balance

 

Thanks for the replies I will take some pics over the weekend and then you will know exactly what I am talking about. The main problem - apart from my lack of experience - is not having the time to get outside and be doing. I have so any other things going on that time is in very short supply! I am convinced that time has been speeded up since we moved up here - I don't seem to stop running from the time I get up ( 5.00 - 5.30am ) to the time I go to bed 11.00 - 11.30 pm ). I could tell you what I do all day but that would just sound like a tale of woe.

Once I've taken the pics I can explain what I did to create the mess I've made. The front garden has a strip at the side, which was neatly laid turf ........ until I made it otherwise And then there is the dry stone wall that is no longer a dry stone wall

 

Im always in chaos,5yrs and ive still not got to the front garden
I figure if we are doing what we can when we can then alls good
Design is my worst!! i can search seeds,buy them,,grow them(sometimes with success)
but then spend weeks wondering where to plant!i never have a plan
So im sure your garden is fine and working progress like mine x

 

Chill!

It takes time and there's no point breaking your balls trying to do it in one hit. First off, work out what you're keeping that is already there, what plants you want and where they'll go. Then decide to sort one bed out - not one of the three sections, just one bed. Concentrate on that when you have the time and energy. Go about it this way and you start off with one bed that is sorted, then two, then three and so on. What you don't end up with is three sections none of which are sorted. Basically, just be realistic.

This is my third season here and there are whole chunks that I still need to sort out.

 

And a garden is so gracious in it's forgiving. It doesn't sulk or turn against you. It is grateful for what you can do to help and there's always something that's just about to say "thank you" @luciusmaximus ,
look around - you will see it,
enjoy,
Jenny

 

Totally agree @longk , I think I said in another thread some time ago, instant gardens are for the realms of TV, and a very deep pocket.

@luciusmaximus you will get there, patience is probably the biggest virtue a gardener can have, it takes time.

 

Here are some photos of my garden As you can see it literally is a wilderness. I just stare at it and then walk away.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a128/flavrat66/jungle.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a128/flavrat66/jungle1.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a128/flavrat66/jungle4.jpg

The pics below used to be an area of grass with a few Daffodils around the edge. The builders dumped a load of infill from taking up the old patio on it. They were going to take it away until I had the wonderful idea of turning it into a kind of raised bed planted with Hydrangeas and shrubs As you can see I've made a complete hash of it . I have had gravel boards put in so the soil is no longer sliding down the bank, but the weeds have gotten the upperhand again and I haven't planted very well so will need to take everything out and start again. I don't really know what I am doing. I can see an image in my mind of how it could look but don't know how to actually create it. My latest ' idea ' is to remove some of the top soil and the small shrubs and make a small wildlife pond but again I don't know to do it. Advice would be appreciated

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a128/flavrat66/bank.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a128/flavrat66/bank1.jpg

 

Hi there, Luciusmaximus, you are not alone, sometimes the garden seems like a stressful burden, much as I love it, there are times when it gets on top of me!

Looking at your pictures the main problem seems to be overgrown grass going to seed. As people have already described, tackling this will go a long way towards putting you back in control. Once you have restablished a lawn of sorts - and it does not matter at all if it is not perfect - you can enjoy the shrubs and plants which you will uncover. Weeding round them will be the next task, but concentrate on the lawn first.

The side bank looks potentially very productive - if you don't feel that you can manage to clear and plant it just yet, why not cover it with plastic or old carpet until you do? It will stop any further weed growth on the area, takes minutes, and will keep it all on hold until you are ready to tackle it, this year, next year, whenever.

 

I was thinking of getting rid of most of the grass in the front and using gravel/slate/rocks, etc. The ' mound ' in the middle I was tentatively thinking about turning into an island with a pond around it. There is not much depth of soil anywhere in my garden, so it would have to be a shallow pond, which might not work as water will heat up quickly in summer.

What do you mean by potentially productive?

 

I mean that it looks like you could have a fantastic collection of plants giving a sheet of colour there. Could be shrubs like lavender, perennials or bedding plants. Or even veg - depends a bit on the soil quality. Is this where you removed the turf from?

Where are you living BTW?

It sounds like you have some excellent ideas for planning. Why not keep a notebook and jot stuff down or make sketch plans while you work through them? Make rough sketches of the images you have in your mind or collect cuttings from magazines. It takes a long time to create a garden and it would be better to have a really well-thought-through coherent plan before starting a load of heavy, expensive and difficult work which you have not really got the time/energy for at the moment.

There are lots of people on here who could point you in the right direction as regards how to tackle big projects but it seems to me that general maintenance is what is needed at the moment to stop you feeling overwhelmed. It would be much easier to get the grass sorted out than to get a pond dug, for example.

A few afternoons' work would make a huge difference to the grass and the overall look of the garden right now and give you a feeling of achievement. If you start digging a pond, even a small one, you will have committed yourself to months of back-breaking effort, mess and a steep learning curve. It sounds unlikely that you would get it finished this season, all things considered, (I know I wouldn't be able to) so put it on the plan for further contemplation.

Also, if you feel your skills are low, basic maintenance tasks are a good way of gradually learning about your plants and garden.