New to gardening

Hi, I have recently moved from a town centre terraced house in Engalnd, where I just had a lawn and mature shrubs in the garden, to a house in the Scottish Borders with a large garden. I really need help as I have no idea what are plants and what are weeds!
Can anyone recommend a good beginners book?
Thanks Marianne

 

Hello Crazeemaz, and welcome to the forum!

I am afraid I don't have any book suggestions as I look everything up online, but the RHS has good information on their website, in case that helps.

 

Thanks. Is it ok for me to post photos of plants I am unsure of?
My cousin told me what some plants are but I have already forgotten which were which. I know I have Hosters, Delphiniums, Haliborus and Azaleas as well as buddleia and clematis. I had a lot of snowdrops and now lots of daffodils too.

 

Hello @Crazeemaz to the forum.
How exciting, a new house & a bigger garden , I hope you've managed to unpack all the boxes , I still have boxes of stuff from when we moved to our house 13 years ago .
Anyway back to the forum , do ask lots of questions we will all help you, we are a friendly bunch, you will never wait too long for an answer. I'm looking forward to hearing all about your progress & maybe seeing a few photos of your garden

 

Oh yes please we would love to see some photos , we can give you much better advice if we can see what we are helping with
(Delphiniums are one of my favourite flowers )

 

Hi...welcome to GC. Yes...post your photos and someone will help you id your plants.

 

Hello, I have just joined as well. Sounds like an exciting time for you. I have bought many books over the years but RHS books are my most used.

 

Welcome to GC Crazeemaz.

 

to GC @Crazeemaz

How wonderful to have a lovely large garden to play with!

I've downsized from a quarter acre garden to a very modest one. I had much fun playing in the big one.

Abolutely! In fact, we have a dedicated area just for that purpose: Identification Area . Always helpful to post a picture of leaf and flower where possible.

The general advice, when you move to a new house, is to wait one year and see what comes up (taking notes as appropriate) before you begin renovating/getting stuck in. Now, if you can bear to do that, it serves a few purposes:-

• you don't kill/throw away good plants by accident
• you don't waste money buying plants which are already there (just not seen yet)
• you get to understand your soil and growing conditions by what does pop up

When I first moved into my big garden there was one area of total jungle, which we cleared of every living thing bar a few fruit trees. Then set about sowing lots of wildflowers. The main area of garden we left for a year before we carved our own borders and beds into it

A good book for beginners (or it was for me) was Alan Titchmarsh How to be a Gardener - I got my copy from a charity shop, which is as good a place as any to pick up gardening books. Also, check out your library.
It was from there that I started thinking about what exactly I wanted my garden to function as: e.g a place to dry washing; house my chickens; grow fruit and some veg, have fragrant flowers/shrubs; eat al fresco; enjoy a cuppa; entertain friends and family; encourage wildlife .. and ... ultimately, to be a low maintenance as possible

Good luck in your new home and wishing you many happy gardening hours ahead

 

I've never moved into a house with anything other than concrete and grass. In my mind moving into a garden such as yours, @Crazeemaz would be so exciting. Waiting to see what pops up where and all the time dreaming plans to make the garden mine.
Enjoy

 

Hiya @Crazeemaz