my garden progress thread

not sure if this is the right part to do this, but I am a beginner. if not feel free to tell me

Okay, so I'm going to post pictures of my garden so I can see the progress being made throughout the year(s)
I am a total beginner at this, so it is all a learning experience for me. I am keen but broke - so my keywords to gardening are - frugal - free - recycling -- if i spend any money it wont be much.
It's going to be a challenge but one I think/hope i will enjoy.

 

this is a view up my garden taken the other day, after spending roughly 20 days getting it almost tidy. I still have one main rubbish pile to get rid of that is soil, stones and weeds and god knows what else is in there!
Overall look I want to try and achieve is somewhere between cottage garden and romantic, but half decent will do

 

At the far end of my garden is a suntrap area but it's ugly concrete. It's raised and has great views which is a great plus. At the minute it has a DIY brick thing for bonfires and a pile of wood to burn. I'd maybe like some grasses up at this end eventually so it kind of feels a little seasidey-ish.

 

What about making this concrete raised area your patio and spreading gravel on it. You need to provide a border of sorts to stop the gravel from spreading too much like a box hedge or edging. Then you have a fab vantage point to look at the rest of the garden from your suntrap.

 

this part is my main lawn that i grew a few years ago, and also my pet cemetary that i wanted to make a little special. the grass is poor as the ground was full of stones (too many to even hope of removing) and dandelions, but not too bad really. And to the side is my garage/hut which desperately needs a make over. This part of the garden is going to be my cats section and I plan to have lots of cat nip potted about. i may even leave some of the grass long at the fence side and have meadow plants in it for them to play in (undecided)At the end of the lawn is my junk pile. When thats gone I plan to extend the lawn to there.

 

gravel would be great eventually, but short of funds at the minute :( this is going to be a next to no cost thing, make do and mend - but i'm getting aload of free plants next week off my parents, maybe i'll mention gravel haha

 

this next part is a patio area that is before the lawn above and heres where the great water feature will be!! I've got a railway sleeper just begging for plants edging the grass which i think could be a nice feature. The paving slabs look so dirty in my photo but you know they don't in real life, maybe i will scrub them anyway.

 

this part is to the right of above and where my 'patio set that REALLY needs a makeover is as well as a raised bed made with concrete and railway sleepers. ALso have a spot with some soil and a recycling tub in with ivy that refuses to grow. Did want the whole of the fence covered in ivy but it never happened.
his area is infront of the garage door that I want covered too as it just gets used as a hut.

 

Definitly worth a scrub, yes. Gravel can be surprisingly cheap and lasts a lifetime. Your rocky lawn is interesting, if the grass is healthy and growing then don't worry about below. If not, the cheapest thing I can think of is blood and bone preferably sprinkled on the lawn when rain is due or watered in. Word of warning - cats love to roll on it!

 

and last but not least, the enterance to the garden. the soil area is actually concrete just underneathe it and i planted grass seeds, so heres hoping for another lawn sometime soon. I have a caterpillar tree and a black berry tree here and not much else. this area i would like nice as it's the first thing you see and what i see the most. you can see my attempt at being posh by painting stones white to use as edging lol. thats posh to me

and thats about it, hopefully next lot of photos will be posted in a week or so with some plants on show!

 

my dad used to use that, it stunk lol he could probably give me some. he has always been a gardener, as has my brother, i take after my mum unfortunately!. i think the grass could use something for sure, i only have a strimmer not a proper lawn mower and i think that doesnt help as it leaves it uneven, everyone elses grass always looks much greener than mine and thicker blades, but i just used lawn seed whereas there's has always been there and is well established - mine was just dirt and stones a few years ago so i cant complain too much.
i'm glad i started taking a real interest in all this as i'm feeling pretty excited about it all!!!

 

sounds like you are doing a great job! keep enjoying it and this site seems like a great learning curve

 

yeh this site seems to be just what i needed as seems to have a good few beginners. didnt want to join somewhere that was too professional if you know what i mean.
i feel if i go 'public' i'll have to then actually get it done.
anyhoo better get off the pc or i'll get nothing down today haha, hopefully it'll be another bright sunny day.
night and happy gardening

 

goodnight!

 

Hi mgn , don`t you guys sleep up there , looks like you have a lot of work to do , but you will get there i`m sure . i have just finished my back garden and i`m a beginner like you . I`m pleased with the results , getting lots of info from gc helped . I shall be watching your progess . Good luck