Gardener Wannabe

Hi everyone

Thanks again for your input. When husband gets home from work and can watch little one I'm going to tackle the dead foliage.

I've taken some more photos so you can see what I'm working with.

Pic a - the decking area. You can see the full length of the lawn. Past the fence at the bottom is covered with shale and wood chippings. My tortoise lives here, so this will stay the same most likely.

You can also see our sexy shed haha. I'd really like to paint this bright, like the shed below. Is there any particular time its best to do this, or just when it warms up a little?

Pic B - We're going to put a wendy house here for our little girl, then put lots of potted plants around the decked area.
Pic C - Anyone know what the plant at the bottom is thats looking very sorry for itself? What do I do with it?


Pic D - The bare area at the top of the garden. I can't remember this being anything other than bare when we moved in over the summer. Ideally I'd like to move the photinia here as I think it looks strange in the middle of the garden like it is currently. If I were brave enough to do this, how far down would I likely have to dig to get it out?


Thanks everyone

 

I think the sorry looking thing is a foxglove. It'll pick up when the weather improves, don't worry about it.

Great garden, neat hard landscaping, tidy and with loads of potential.

The shed will look good painted. You can paint it when you like, but it'll be more of a pleasure when the weather's warmer.

Don't be in a rush to move things about - give it a summer to find out exactly what you've got. If you start digging now you might disturb all sorts of things like bulbs that are still sleeping below the soil.

 

Thanks for your help guys.

Foxglove - looks lovely!

Well the plan was to do the tidying today but my daughter decided otherwise!

Going to try and tackle it tomorrow and move the Photina. There's another empty bit on the left hand side, in nearly the same place on the other side of the lawn. How do I go about splitting the Photina so that two grow? Would be nice for that plant to be at both sides of the gated area.

 

oh, do I need to take all the leaves off the foxglove, or leave it exactly as it is?

Thanks

 

Sadly , I don't think you can split the photinia as it'll be like a little tree with a small trunk or group of trunklets and one set of roots (because it's a shrub, not a perennial this time).
You could buy another one because they are readily available, but if you shop around you'll probably see another plant that you want to collect instead - gardening's like that!

 

Nice as that Photinia looks I think its wrong-plant wrong-place - or the area alongside it needs to be planted to complement it - and problem with that approach is that new Shrubs will take 3+ years to get stature. You can cut back the Photinia during that time, so it will then fit in, but might be better to rethink. IMO Photinia looks better as a specimen in the middle of the lawn, or a whole hedge, rather than just a single plant against a fence. Flog it on eBay as a "dig-it-yourself mature plant" perhaps?

For a new house worth doing nothing, other than maintenance, for 12 months to see what comes up. Take photos from every angle every week or two as a reminder of what is where, and what flowers at the same time as what other plant(s), and what views / eyesores are visible at various times of the years when the trees have/don't have leaves on them and so on. Views from upstairs windows also worth capturing, as is the birds-eye view of the garden itself.

As you get into gardening that photo record will then give you a sense of achievement at the changes you have made and the joy the garden brings you

 

You could take off the tattiest outer leaves for cosmetic reasons but it won't matter if you don't.

 

Hi guys
Well I had a lovely time in the garden today with hubby and my spade!

We managed to move the Photina really easily - it had a nice easy round stump with a couple of big juicy roots attached. Moved it to the other end of the garden and we're really pleased with the new location. The garden flows much nicer now the big bush isn't smack bang in the middle.
Sorry the pic is blurred, it was freezing!
I also tieded up all the dead leaves etc and trimmed back the Clematis - tying any lose bits back onto the trelis.
I moved the trailing plant that was at the top of the garden to the bottom - you can see it to the left of the foxglove. Hope it survives there; I was as careful as could be with the roots.
Once the Photina had come out, I was able to die up the plant that was struggling beneath it and replant that further back to hopefully flourish now.
The day lily was easy enough to clear up and there are lots of lovely looking new shoots coming from the ground

The only boo boo I made was digging up some 'grass' that had started growing in the borders to find bulbs attached to the ends....no idea what these were so put them back! haha

My Dad has a pressure washer so will have to lend it then get blasting! Can't wait for the summer

 

I think that's a big improvement

I think the borders are rather narrow, and a bit "straight up and down", plus only some fence panels are covered with climbers. But depends a lot on what you want of course. Personally I'd prefer a border to be stuffed and have some interest rather than just being a collection of "some plants". But depends how much work you want to take on, and how "wow" you want it to look - much easier just to have "some plants" providing some colour through the seasons ...

 

I want to create a country style garden in the borders, leaving the grass clear for my little girl to play on in the summer.

The shrub type plants that are here currently don't really suit that, but I don't want to dig them up. I might just have a complete mish mash garden with shrubs, climbers, trailing pretty plants etc. So wrong it might look right haha!