plant killer

hi
dunno if this is the place for this kinda post but i am turning to you for suggestions.

over the years we've had little interest in the garden which has become increasingly somthimng of a joke locally. everytime i try-i end up killing stuff and basically the garden is not at all what we want...so what would you do with this?

i guess i am laying myself open to being the worst gardener here but....i want to change....




ive no idea what or how ic an transform this space...we hate the grey walls-and ivy grew only on one of them...

in an ideal world we'd have something that would give us some privacy-but now id look fr someway of making these less ugly-should we paint 'em or get some kind of trellis and climber?

each year the two beds in the garden have strange abundant growths that contribute little-but i dont seem to be able to get rid of them-even tho i try...

i am sorry that this isa ramble and i am such a beginner i hvae no idea really where to start...

we had a compost barrel but it was laid on concrete (which i now know is a non starter) and my other half has filled with non rotting down stuff...its just like mud! what do i do with that-can i take soil/mud to the 'dump'???

in an ideal world id have lots of all round colour and some space for growing veggies-but think we only have a small area...

any ideas-what would you or could you do with this space??

thanks

unbusybee

 

hi unbusybee

the pictures that you have put up are they of your back garden ?

is the bit past the fence yours as well or is that next doors ?

and whats the the other side of your garden a pain i know but any chance of a picture taken from the back of your garden looking up to your house or other other way round just so we can see the whole lot ,

im i right in thinking the grey wall in the pic is the one you wish to hide a little ?

im sure there will be lots of ideas but heres a few of mine and what i would do


the wall i would give it a paint job in white to match your house and then place some pots next to it in differant colours blue ect for a little colour which will come up lovely with the white behind,

as for plants not to sure on them but you could always pot them up in summer with summer plants or if you wanted something there all the time you could try roses or a rodidendrum (not sure if i have spelt that right ) i have both in pots and they do fine.

the garden ! like i said could do with a picture that shows it all to get more ideas ,

i can see some kind of half moon shape rockery i don't see anything wrong with been able to put some veg in that and maybe trying to make a few more either side if you could that would give you 3 sort of raised beds ,

the slabs if you want to keep them give them a good jet washing remove all the grass/weeds growing around them and place a few pots the same colour as by the wall to bring the colour out,

as for making it more private if that is next doors over the fence them maybe get some bamboo ?

do you want a lawn at all ?

hope that gives you a couple of ideas :D

 

hiya

unfortunately we dont have a front garden.
over the wooden fence is next doors-privacy wise, i was thinking about the low grey wall(with ivy on) as behind there many locals chew the cud...(im not anti social really)...

the walls are breezeblocky-can i paint directly on to them or do they have to be rendered? youll see from all of this that i am a diy & gardening dunce...

here arre some more photos to try and give an idea of the shape of the garden----i was toying with the idea of digging up the tarmac and putting a nicer design of patio down...focus has some sundial designs with some coloured gravel and putting pots on that?

initially, i thought digging p the patio and puting down a lawn-my kids are 8 and 1.5; not sure tho if a lawn is realistic-also-the whole garden is v. flat

yikes-iam clueless....

tho we bought some winter bedding plants and heathers and planted them by the back door-looks better than it has!

ideas please!!!

thanks

unbusybee

 

not to worry we have all been there deciding what to do is the hardest thing !

you can get paint from your local diy to paint the walls with my friend did her breezeblock last yr she painted it off white and bought dark grey slate to put on top which really looks lovely

it all depends on how much you want to spend

i would proberly pull up the slabs and place a shaped lawn there oval would fit nice been flat is fine mine is flat but make sure you use good top soil before turfing to give it a good start on the tarmac side i would get some fancy patio slabs or the sun dial that you have seen ,

you will proberly have to get some hardcore & sand to build it up a little first before laying so it does'nt move then use slate or gravel to cover the rest small tip - if you have cats or alot of cats round your area they will love gravel i would go for slate whcih you can also put round the edge of your lawn

stops animals using it as a loo and sets the lawn off i have purple slate and it looks great

as for the fence the good news is you can grow some veg in pots sooooooooooo !

runner beans they grow quite high so you could place them down the side put cane supports in and you would have privacy plus lots of beans !

 

good advice cattwoman, unbusybee look at our gardens on gc you might get some ideas, get stuck in and you can change your name to busybee :D the first thing to do is clear every thing out you dont want to keep, youll,e be suprised how much bigger it will look, be ruthless girl,we did that this year, and the garden looks better for it, i dug out all the ivy knocked down walls then threw out all the plants that had been there for years... good luck

 

Hi Unbusybee and welcome, I have got 4 or 5 spare gardening books which I think will be of some use to you. If you would like them ( free of charge )PM me your name and address. David.

 

You've gone very quiet unbusybee! Don't give up. Some suggestions...
Screen oil tank, something you can grow plants up, plenty of choice there.
Dose the flags with pathclear(if you want to keep them)and then when clear of vegetation a good powerwashing.
Consider lifting two or three of the flags and sinking square planters into the ground for shrubs.
Paint the brown fence, if not white, the a bright colour.
As for above the ground planters, any colour but black.
Your dalek looks forlorn, give the corner a tidy up and give him some large pebbles or stones to stand on.
Keep the tall bushes trimmed back in a 'random' hedge and weed regularly.
These, of course, are all the things that I should be doing if I practiced what I preach
Oh and get rid of the washing line and the rest of the day's your own.

 

All sound advice, also think about hanging baskets for the summer. Painting the wall and some weedkiller alone will help things no end.

s**** the forlorn gate!

 

hi busybee once you have started you will end up like this :D :D let us know hoe :D you go on

 

I've really nothing to add to the excellent advice in the previous posts. Weed,clean and paint and use planters.
I did spot some nice planters sitting behind your Dalek - those square section hollow breeze blocks would be great for low planters if painted.