New to gardening, here's mine so far!

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this forum and gardening itself!

I now have a garden and would like to make it look presentable. As much as I would love to spend many hours toiling away in it I unfortunately don't have the free time. As you can see it needs a little work and hopefully has potential.



Needless to say, I am prepared to spend time and effort to bring it up to scratch so that it will require minimum maintenance afterwards. I really want to enjoy and appreciate the garden.

My plan is to give the garden a minimalist look because I'm assuming it requires the least maintenance. I'm hoping to extend the patio soon although really conflicted with the types of stone, price and design at the moment but need to decide soon!

I've got many questions to ask so I'm hoping you can help me become more informed and not totally useless!

 

Hi Gn0me and welcome

Could you give us some ideas of what you'd like.......
Fruit, veg, flowers, shrubs, lawn, patio, kiddies play area etc

 

Thanks for the welcome.

Well, where to begin! Actually my imagination is limited - I can say I'm not interested in a kiddies play area and I'm guessing that if I want a low maintenance garden then fruit & veg, flowers should be rules out?

For a start and as you should be able to see at the bottom of my garden, there's a concrete slabbed wall which I would like to cover with a vine - ideally a dark green waxy one. I'm not sure if that's unrealistic or anything to go by but I've just go this picture in my head when I was a child!

To keep the rest short, I've just got this image of a nice lawn, possibly borderless, a hanging basket feature on the garage wall and a small modern water feature - Like I said, my imagination is limited!

I don't know what that pink flowered plant on the fence is but it's nice and I'll like to keep it along with the rest that runs across the fence.

I'm guessing the first thing I should know or do is assess the lawn - I don't know if I have to re-turf it or whether it can be repaired? There's quite a few dandelions in there for a start and it's very patchy and uneven.

Any ideas are always welcome!

Thanks again.

 

Welcome to GC Gn0me. It would be helpful if you could put your area in your avatar box please, it gives members that are trying to help you an idea of climate regarding what plants would be suitable. Your soil type would also help, whether it's clay, sandy etc.

Minimalist suggests lawn free to me, perhaps you could take a look at the threads in 'Garden Projects' to help you make some decisions.

I'd start by mowing the lawn and see whether it's laying even and whether it's worth retrieving. There are forums for every subject on GC and threads within those that will help you.

 

Hi Gnome,
Give you lawn a cut, it will look better and help you to decide what you want to do with your garden.
When you have that idea, all the help you need is on this forum.

 

Hi....welcome to GC

 

Welcome to GC Gnome Enjoy....

 

Welcome from me also.

Haven't a clue why, but that photo screams Courtyard Garden to me. What do others think?

 

Hello and welcome :-)

Im all into minimal maintanence stuff so depending on the soil in your garden and the aspect

How about lavenders that needs deadheading once a year and you have two opportunities to do this.

Hydrangeas need deadheading once a year after the new growth has appeared so again minimal maintence for a plant that produces a lot of interest

Hebes are great they barely need any attention and wont grow to big depending on the variety

Hostas, crocosmia, heurcheras, agapanthus, camellias again all need minimal attention

But planting will depend on soil and aspect of your garden

Also i would paint the fences its a big job initially altho can obviously been done over time but makes a massive difference when looking out on the garden. It lifts it and makes it cheerier

 

Welcome to GC @Gn0me

The people on here are so friendle, and extremely helpful, you'll have a million ideas zipping round your head in no time. I'm with @Sandy Ground I think a courtyard garden would look great.

 

Thanks for all your replies, very helpful!

Courtyard garden seems promising. To start, I think my wife and I want to begin by extending the patio. Since we have still yet to put flooring down inside, we have this idea where we want have the same tiles inside and out so that it continues into the garden! I know this is popular with expensive houses that have huge bi-folding doors but I think we can make it work too.
We've seen a couple of companies that do them although it's a bit more than we're use to paying but hoping it will be worth it. I've always wanted that light soft grey stone/concrete look.

 

Hi and welcome to GC you have a good project going on there and I look forward to watching your progress