My first garden going to need your help :)

I have not long moved into a bungalow with a garden. It Was a lovely garden but the shrubs, plants,weed and bramble had not left much room. plus lady next door wasn't happy with things growing up and over the fence :( So I thought OK chop the lot right down and then start again


Here are before and after photos. I could not get them into order on imageshack but the last 6 are all before the hacking and the others are all after







































There is a lot need doing. but first I need to get rid of that pile of garden waste, so I can put my cheap argos plastic greenhouse there

Any thoughts and ideas please?

 

Oh if anyone is wondering about that fencing and those concrete steps up against the fence/gate, its just some of the things that were hidden behind all the shrubs, found chairs and slabs as well Trouble is Ive now got to get rid of it and all the stuff Ive cut down..

Going to clean up that fencing treat it and use it out the front. The front is another story that I will get to when I've sorted the back

 

The Rose looks like a Banksian to me ( R.banksiae lutea ) but I could be wrong.

 

OMG, A bit drastic action that unless you really wanted to start from a clean sheet
I quite like the boy David and Venus DeMilo in the bird cage though

I would have cut it all back and done a bit at a time
Just my opinion as I am new here too

Jack McHammocklashing

 

Kizzie,
Firstly good Luck !! Next tip, save your money and dont buy a plastic greenhouse thay are proper treetreetreetree and will last for 10 minutes. I suppose the question back to you would be what do you want from your garden? Veg? or Flowers? or both ?????

 

Chopping the brambles wont solve the problem long term. Brambles are very deep rooted and their roots spread a long way. I think you were right to chop them, but they will be back.

Get yourself a bottle of Roundup Concentrate (about £20), and when the brambles start to come back, spray them with the Roundup mix. I know a lot of people are reluctant to resort to chemicals but Roundup is harmless to animals (except aquatic life, so don't use it near ponds or streams), and the active ingredient, glyphosate, is broken down rapidly into naturally occuring starches when it comes into contact with soil microbes.

As for getting rid of what you've cut, is there anywhere you could burn it safely without upsetting the neighbours? You will need to get rid of it as quickly as you can, because once it dries out it becomes a real fire hazard.

 

I haven't a clue but its beautiful isn't it.

Ive cut it right down now and also two other rose climbers.
As soon as I moved in my neighbour was on at me to "please cut it down" as she hates it in her garden :(She got her gardener to cut my honeysuckle down that was on her side, so all my side died too

OK I know it needed cutting back but I was going to wait a year, to see what I have in the garden, but her and plus I have bad hands and have to have a op on them soon kinda forced my hard so to speak. So I just cut everything down with secateurs, sharp knife and a yard broom

 

Im a drastic kind of person Now its done I will take my time choosing what I want and where to put it.

The bird cage is going to go with other bits and bobs to make (almost hidden) features around the garden.

 

I already bought the greenhouse Good news is it was only £24 Ive read all the reviews and from what I can see the worse thing is they blow away, so im going to use big ol tent pegs and put the slabs that I found into the edge to keep it down.

Ive seen so many greenhouse on freecycle and ebay (collection only) but I don't have the transport to pick it up , nor the money to get a courier right now. Also putting it up with my treetreetreetree hands is going to be a problem. Same with a shed I really need one but unless someone gives me it and delivers and puts it up for me for free...well hahahaha


I want fruit, veg and flowers I want it all!!!! and I want it now!!! hahaha..

Ive got toms, strawberries,sweet peas ( my very fav flower) and a few other bits , but didn't have time to do anymore as I moved in beginning of May, so sort of just threw things into pots but next year going to do it properly.

 

I had to chop the brambles as they had taken over everywhere.

What I was thinking is, putting down weedcover/blanket and growing everything is large pots/tubs etc. Is that a rubbish Idea?.. Its just that Im not to sure if right now im up to digging and taking care of the garden.

Money is very very tight right now. When I moved from my flat I had to leave most of my things there as I could only afford one van load of stuff ( good job my kids are all grown as id have left them ) So Ive had to get most things from scratch, so trying to do the home and the garden at the same time. Not doing to bad really. But decided the next car im going to get is going to be either a van or a five door , then I could grab me some bargains

I did get a few garden tools and a wheelbarrow off freecycle but id mostly cut everything down by then.


Im not sure what to do with the garden waste, some ive composted, but the rest *Shrug* Ive tried to beg borrow and pinch a shredder but no luck . Im a bit scared of burning it in case I do something wrong. :o

 

shame you can't burn. we do over here. anyway, that is a lot of mess you have tackled. wow.

 

I only have the one close neighbor And if I just warn her im going to do it.. I can keep the larger bits ( chopped a flowering cherry out the front as I could not see out my kitchen window) as someone up the road has a log burner and said they would take them, once id trimmed the leaves and things off them.

 

"someone up the road has a log burner and said they would take them, once id trimmed the leaves and things off them."Cheeky blighters :D

When I have a burn I just have a small fire and keep adding a bit at a time,once I have a good build up of embers the is virtually no smoke. I always do so late in the evening.

 

Yes that's what I thought :D

Yes I think I will do the same, just had a chat with the lady next door and said I would be burning everything and that I would do it late afternoon / early evening and she just said be careful.

I'm all excited now :o

 

I've had many a bonfire in the garden.

Safety is of course paramount, but a few reasonable precautions make things go nice and smoothly. Most of it is just common sense really.

Build a small bonfire, remembering that sometimes things burn a lot faster than you expect, hence building it small at first.

Do it ideally when there is little wind, and what wind there is is blowing away from the houses if possible.

Do it well away from anything flammable or that would be damaged by the heat (including plants you want to keep, which will get scorched by the heat if they are too close).

All of the above is pretty obvious, but I also do the following:

Keep buckets/pop bottles/watering cans of water near by, just in case the fire gets bigger than you feel comfortable with.

Keep the spade handy, its good for flicking burning lumps of wood back into the fire when they fall out. Its also good for frantically chucking mud onto an out of control fire (I've had to do that once on my land when I very nearly accidentally torched a very large area, including bits beyond my boundary - the police came and everything but I had it under control by then )

Only put bits on at a time.

Always supervise the fire.

Dont leave the burning embers to do their own thing when you've finished, douse them out.