Advice on our new garden

We've just moved and the garden has been severely neglected. We are in the process of clearing the weeds on the borders and lawn at the moment. I'm a novice gardener and would like some advice on what to do.


It's an east facing garden, not sure of soil type yet but there were some daisies if that helps! I'd like to grow some low maintenance plants, predominantly hardy evergreens if possible. It's roughly 12ft wide by 16ft long with a concrete path down the middle of some very parched and weedy lawn.. There is a shed at the back and weedy borders around the entire edge. Here is what I thought I could do:

• Refresh the lawn with some new lawn seed

• Grow some rhodedendrons, bergenias and geraniums in the borders for some colour and interest

• grow some poppies for height and because they are self seeding which should save some effort in future

• Install a trellis at the back and grow some honeysuckle to try and cover some of the brick wall by the shed (from the side of a house that overlooks us)

Would this work and when do I need to get started on the different elements? Thanks

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Kai

Does the brick wall get the sun at all? as honeysuckle needs that to flower.

 

Hallo Kai,
lots of help and advice for newbies. It would help to show us a picture of the garden as it is now. How much time will you have to spend on renovating? I would imagine that a fair chunk of time is taken up with getting straight indoors. Autumn's a good time to tackle labour intensive jobs. Not too hot and things will be slowing down growthwise.
Have a look at some of the threads that interest you on here. Lots to choose from,
Jenny

 

Hello

Thank you for the warm welcome. Will post a pic later which should help.

The brick wall gets morning sun, do you think that would be OK? I'd like an evergreen climber, ideally with some flowering.

 

Sorry and to answer your other question, we have time to focus on the garden so happy to tackle the major jobs now.

 

As long as it gets some sun it'll flower

 

Hope this pic helps a little. The shed needs a bit of work too! There is a shrub on the right that I think we'll keep but the rest is all weeds.

 

Welcome to GC, Kai

What do you plan on using your garden for? May sound like a strange question, but it is probably the one we forget to ask ourselves in the initial stages.

You have, what I would call, a "snug" plot there, so, depending on what you want to use your garden for, planning how to maximise the space will be a priority. So, before thinking of which plants and where to put them consider: washing line; sunbathing; bbq/entertaining; growing some bits of veg; nattering with the neighbours; water feature; reading; afternoon delight; privacy (how much, how little).

I have a "secret" garden I've created in my garden; a secluded spot approx 16'x9' (so not much smaller than your garden). For this summer, I only placed plants in pots and water feature in a pot, plus some seating and a chimnea. Already I know I will be re-siting all those elements next year ; so, a good job I hadn't put anything permanent at this stage.

 

Thank you, good questions!

Mainly we'll just use it for a bit of sunbathing in summer (happy to lay on the grass to be honest so no need to have any garden furniture) and also, we just want something that makes us happy every time we look at it from the kitchen (throughout the year). Privacy isn't a massive issue as the fences on the left are high already and the neighbours on the right already have large rose bushes which provide some privacy too.

You also can't see it, but on the right hand side near the shrub is a slightly raise concrete area (2ft by 1ft wide). I think it's meant for a barbeque to be placed on it but I was thinking of putting some pots/a large container there.

I don't want to spend hours in the garden and want to concentrate on flowers and plants that look nice all year round so not fussed about veg (i can get it at the supermarket for now)

It would just be nice to get it looking a lot better than it does now!