I will become greenfingered!

So, finally after years of not having a garden i finally have a nice sized garden, and i don't want it to go to waste, if you saw my post over in the members intro category, you'll be aware, i have a slight knowledge of gardening a very slight knowledge (grass is green and i can use a lawnmower & a saw) , so i will need help and input or even ideas and suggestions,

i am going to use this thread to to keep track of my progress and see what works and what doesn't, i would still love, your input so please feel free to reply, or if you interested, if its possible subscribe or follow this thread.

So i have several photos of my garden taken today, ill try my best to describe location and my plans for these areas.

i believe my front garden is South West facing (i have gone on the premiss of using the direction of the garden as it leads away from the house wall {if that makes sense})

Photo 1: Small area at the side of the house,



As you can see its currently just rocks and soil, and a random plant pot/bucket, this area gets plenty of sun, so my idea is to maybe grow some sort of vegetables here, this is something i need help with as i don't know what type of situation is needed for the growth of vegetables, i also have dogs but they tend to steer clear of the area, would having animals jeopardise or contaminate the growth of vegetables, i also plan on reducing if not completely getting rid of the rocks,

Photo 2: Front Garden View (from corner of house)



Here it is my front garden, ill do my best to explain the photo as much as i can, starting with the rather large shrub or bush (i'm not too sure of the difference) in the center of the photo, i want rid of this, as i don't really like it, seems very bland and out of control, i want to replace it with something not sure what yet though.

Moving to the right there are several roots (3 to be exact) from a laurel bush i took out last Friday, also don't like laurel bushes, it wasn't very nice looking and way out of control.

On the far side of the photo are plants and nettles that are looking out on control i intend on removing these and defining an edge between the soil and the grass,

The Far Bottom Corner is a weedy soil area featuring a tree trunk which i have plans for, (to be featured in another thread) as you can see between that corner and the roots is a nice soil area for some colourful flowers.

Photo 3, 4 & 5: The Roots.







Any advice or tips to remove these would be greatly appreciated.

Photo 6: Garden View From Garden Gate



In front of the window is an area full of weeds and what i think used to be plants, my wife thinks its grass but im not too sure, as it is not the same level as the grass would, ill post a closer photo below. (photo just taken @ 20.35 hence the darkness)




So there we have it my garden, i know this is a pretty long post and i apologize, but this is something i am passionate about.

 

Hi Ollie, well, that was about the best all round description of a front garden that I've seen here on GC. To be perfectly realistic, there ain't nothin' there worth salvaging is there? That's good ; no guilt trip going back and forth from the recycling waste tip. Looks a nice , free draining loam but somewhat impoverished. Some blood, fish and bone / Growmore/ FYM ( farm yard manure ) wouldn't go amiss over Winter. South west facing means it'll get quote a lot of sun so, bearing that in mind, things like Begonias for example, will struggle and not give of their best. So, try not to fall in love with shade lovers out the front.
Gosh, I've prattled on a bit - sorry. Others will have different things to say but we will all look forward to seeing how it shapes up,
great post ,
Jenny

 

Lots of potential there. If you don't go with the veg plot at the side I can imagine a lovely border there with foxgloves, hollyhocks, perennial geraniums, nigella and petunias in shades of purple, blue and pink. :-) all very easy to grow and maintain provided it gets some sun.

 

Well I thought if I'm going to do it I'm going to do it properly took me about an hour to perfect the post,

Really silly question,

Blood? Fish & bone? Could you elborate more...?

As for the FYM, I'm assuming that goes anywhere I wish to plant flowers in the future do I spread it on the areas or do I mix it in with the exsisting soil?

 

These flowers you have mentioned do they do well in the sun? So if I decided to proceed with the vegetable plot, would these flowers go well in the front garden?

 

Blood fish and bone is like a powdery substance- not as gross as it sounds! I've got quite good soil so I generally only spread and dig it in where I'm going to be planting. With any soil improver you need to give it a good mix in and now is a good time of year before the soil gets too wet and cold. I also got some slow release food for my summer annuals called plant magic and it's sent some plants mentally big, really good stuff. You wouldn't use that until spring though.

 

Yes they all like sun, foxgloves and hollyhocks are tall so would be best near the back. The perennial geranium spreads quite robustly and is great for keeping weeds from growing. Nigella (love in a mist) has lovely leaves and self seeds easily. You could also try aquilegia as they are the same height (50-60cm) and very easy to grow.
Petunias have done well from seed for me and one of mine now has over 20 blooms on it. These only last one season though.

 

Thanks Charlie, I'll be heading to my local GCentre to stock up in resources,

How do I know how good my soil is? I've seen posts mentioning different types of soil.

 

This is brilliant information, I feel as I'm pestering but when planting from seed when do these have to be planted,

 

For starters I would take a look how many stones and rocks there are in there and try to get rid of the worst if you can. Try chucking a bucket of water on it and see how quickly it soaks in- free draining soil is a plus. :-)

 

That's fab!! Thank you

 

Hollyhocks are foxgloves are planted from seed one July/august and flower the following summer. (They are called biennials) You can usually find foxglove as a plant in the garden centre but they can be pricey. Just remembered they are poisonous though and you have dogs no? Hmmm. Hollyhocks I've not seen in garden centres though I'm sure you could find them. Mine are all self seeded. Aquilegia and geraniums are readily available in garden centres, the range sell them.
Nigella is very quick to grow from seed. I've got some seed from all of the above (except the geranium) which I'm happy to send you if you like? Even though you might not use it til next year. You could try sowing it straight onto the prepared soil and see what you get. It's all collected from plants in my garden.

 

Yeah I have dogs so maybe not best...

And yeah that would be lovely of you to offer to send me some, so kind of you

 

No problem, send me a message with your address and I'll pop some in the post for you, minus the foxgloves.

 

Ollie we tend to use the word shrub for garden plants and bushes for those in the wild. I don't know why, perhaps it's because it sounds better. Pictures 3, 4 and 5 are stumps not roots, roots are below ground.....in most cases. To remove them you will have to use elbow grease. Dig down around them with a garden fork or spade and gradually work them loose. You may hit some thick roots but with a bit of manouvreing/levering you should be able to get the stumps out.

The garden facing south-west is a good aspect it will get a fair amount of sun during the course of the day. Your dogs will not be a problem as far as growing vegetables are concerned unless they use that area as a toilet. I'd clear the area for vegetables, rocks, weeds etc., give it a good deep digging over and get some manure on it. You can either dig that in yourself or leave it for worms to take it down into the soil over the coming autumn/winter.

I agree with Jenny about your front garden, there isn't really anything there worth keeping. The lawn is also in bad shape so if it were me I'd consider clearing the whole lot and starting afresh.