Advice on how to start a garden needed :)

Hey Guys. I have decided to try and do something about our communal garden that has been neglected for decades. I have zero experience or knowledge and have no clue where to start. I have the passion though, so with your help hopefully I can make it work it's a tiny wee jungle of nettles and weeds at the moment, so I guess the first questions are :

- what equipment do I need to buy to start ?
- how do I get rid of the weeds ?

I am in limited budget so I am gonna try to do it all as cheap as possible. I have some free time at the moment, because of the lockdown, so if theres a time for me to do something about it , it's definitely now. Thanks in advance for any help at all. Pictures attached

 

Brave man I dare say that once you get that garden looking nice a lot more residents may show Interest in it too.

 

Welcome @Piotr W !

Wow, your garden looks very, very promising, proper stone walls instead of droopy panels, apparently fertile ground (seen how well the nettles are growing), some trees and great space. It has great atmosphere already.

First tools I'd suggest are

• something to cut down the nettles so that you can see whats beneath, a scythe would be brill but an electric strimmer will be fine. Link to Argos strimmers
• An extension lead and a circuit break if you go for a corded tool
• Fork
• Spade
• Rake
• Bucket
• Hand trowel
• Gloves
• Watering can
• Comfy chair

Argos, Wilkos and Wickes for example sell perfectly good tools on reasonable prices. Garden centres tend to be expensive.

The rest depends on what you want from your garden. If you want a lawn, you'll need a mower. You may need topsoil, compost, manure, sand or something like that, depending on your soil and what you want to grow.

You can get rid of the weeds by cutting them down and raking them off first, then it again depends on what you discover and what you want to grow if you are fine with mechanical methods (cutting down several times, or digging them up), or if a chemical solution is needed. We have many experts on this subject in the forum, you will get a lot of good advise.

What kind of plans do you have? Grass or hard paving, wild cottage style or modern and neat, exotic....?

A lot of very rewarding work ahead

 

Thanks very much. Your reply makes me feel very positive about it I'll start with getting the basic tools, getting rid of all the weeds and from there think what the next step will be.

Its not much space, probably seems bigger on the pictures then it really is, but I was thinking grass, with some plants around by the walls and space for a little bbq area with a bench to sit down on.

The plans may change as I go and learn more about gardening in general and about what my options are, but I'll be happy if I can get rid of the weeds and get something else growing. I dont have big ambitions. It's just a little project to use some extra free time, and I ll see where it takes me

 

Hi @Piotr W and welcome! The advantage with nettles (if I can put it that way) is that by digging out the roots you can be pretty sure that you've got it out - much better than trying to weed out lots of little annual weeds that keep germinating from seeds you accidentally expose. However, you need REALLY good gloves - a lot of gardening gloves have plastic coating on front and just knitted back - the nettles can sting through those! I tend to put on latex gloves underneath to help - otherwise your hands will be throbbing for days.

 

I am not an expert, but the way I got rid of a large patch of nettles and other weeds in the back of the garden (my wife truly hates nettles) was to to cut them down in small section with a streamer, leaving them on the ground, watering it all well and cover it with cardboard.
I left it 6 weeks and when I removed it there was only bare soil left, and quite fertile looking.

They did not come back, but perhaps I was lucky. And of course 6 weeks is quite a long time.

You could also look into "no dig" approaches before starting, you might find some useful ideas to keep it all relatively low maintance.

Your garden looks potentially awesome once fixed.

 

Before getting it cleaned, think if your neighbours are the people you'd like to hang there. Nettles, no people, clean, peaceful and quiet .
I would pile cut nettles to rot down. They will be good in mulch for future beds.

 

Hi,

Think we would take the easier route and apply a non persistent weedkiller first and let that knock down things and ensure it gets into the roots to properly kill them.

Wirst length tough gloves strong enough to withstand thorns etc are worth every penny in a plot like that.

 

Hi Piotr and Welcome

I'm a complete novice gardener so I'm afraid I have no insightful advice to offer (the last time I did anything with nettles it involved full motorbike gear, including helmet, and a Japanese katana - in my defence they were about 6 foot tall and I was a 5'3 teenager... it seemed sensible at the time). I would however like to offer my support and encouragement - it looks like it could be turned into a lovely space

Please do correct me if I'm wrong anyone, but the stone walls look good for climbing plants such as honeysuckle or jasmine (these generally smell good too, are hardy and relatively cheap) - I believe these like their roots in shade so could be good at the back of borders?

I'm not sure if there are likely to be any pets about the place, but some plants are toxic for them (I was upset to find out sweet peas are apparently poisonous to dogs so I can't have them) so that might also be a consideration in a communal garden.

All the Best and Good Luck,
Emma

 

What a lovely location and full of promise. This will make a garden to be proud of whatever method you go for. A compost heap perhaps, putting nettles and weeds in there would be beneficial later. Show photos of progress.
Good luck

 

Thanks very much guys for all the advice and support. I spoke with a couple of neighbours interested in joining in and since apart from nettles theres a lot of other weeds there, that have been growing for over 10 years, I decided to go with ricky101 approach and spray them with roundup. I thought they would keep growing back otherwise. In a weeks time I am gonna go back and get rid of the dead plants and dig out the dead roots, prepare the soil and sow some grass and take it from there. I'll keep you updated with pictures. Ill keep in mind what's poisonous for dogs, as we have one ourselves, and I'll definitely look into plants that could climb the walls I have a few people excited to help so it will be a nice project and good way to get to know the neighbours better. Thanks everybody.

 

Hey guys. I have cut all the weeds. Then dug out all the roots ( never ending job ). While doing it I have realised, that unfortunately only tiny part of the garden (left hand side by the wall) gets any direct sun at all, and only 2 - 3h of it a day between 8 and 11.

I have decided to make up sort of raised beds on the sunny side and planted some radishes, peas, rocket, kohlrabi, some strawberries and even a rhubarb etc. I am not sure if any of it is gonna produce anything with that little sunlight, but I had plenty of free time so thought why not give it a go. Rhubarb and strawberries would probably need much more sun, and maybe I have put them outside a bit too quick, but even if it all fails, I'll be more prepared and educated for the next year

On the right side of the path I have sown a thick line of wild flowers mix and the main part of the garden I just covered with grass seeds.

I also dug out all the roots of the fern plants I previously cut down, and planted them all in a line by the other wall opposite from the beds.

I am waiting for the grass and wild flowers to grow ( been a week now). Its been raining pretty much every day so I think its wet enough and its just a matter of time. Or at least I hope so.

I am not sure what I can do next. What can I grow in the shaded part, that deosnt get any direct sunlight at all ? What vegetables and herbs can I successfully grow in the beds with only 2 or 3h of sunlight a day ?

Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated. Bear in mind, I am doing it with a minimal budget at the moment. It might change in future, so I can keep doing things that dont cost much for now, and plan anything needing spending more money for future.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

What an amazing transformation, I certainly wasn't expecting that after seeing the first pictures, you must have worked extremely hard. I don't know enough yet about shade loving plants but somebody here will.

 

@Piotr W
Very good job, well done!

In my limited experience, there are not a lot of edible species which will be happy with very little sun.
However, I have a corner of the garden which receives very little light (less than 3h), and still some things manage to grow there: radish, cabbage, spinach, carrots, rockets and potatoes.

I also tried tomatoes, pumpkins and courgettes there, and they were not very happy.
The tomatoes developed and made fruits, but they never turned red due to lack fo sunlight.
The courgette grew large but seemed to have pollination problems.

If you like strawberries, you could try wild strawberries: Fragaria vesca (F) | alpine strawberry/RHS Gardening
They need less sun and they are quite nice.

Mint will grow without direct light. However, you should be wary that it is self propagating, so it might invade the whole garden unless you contain the roots.

One option for particularly shady corners are mushrooms in woodchips beds. "Garden Giant" is a very easy variety to grow. Some kind of oyster mushroom might be suitable too.

 

Looking at how well the nettles are/were growing (Well done!), you must get a fair amount of indirect light in the garden.
I did a quick google, and found this link...
10 of the best fruit crops for shade
which confirms my suspicions that rhubarb, blackcurrants and blackberries would be possibilities. I remember a friend grew her blackcurrants under her fruit-trees. You can get thornless blackberries, which could be trained along those lovely stone walls....