Total Beginnger!

Roz on that wall at the back of the house a couple of troughs[I probably spelled that wrong SORRY but you know what I mean]and you start container gardening.You can change the appearance every year with the vast array of bedding plants and you can save money by growing them from seed,all you will need is a few empty window cills.

 

Sorry roz after looking at the photo again I ment the window at the side of the house

 

Roz - I think I'd do window boxes and hanging baskets in that case, and fill them with lovely smelling things. Maybe Nicotiana, stocks, something like that.

 

Thanks so much for the suggestions everyone, you've been a real inspiration to me! I want to get cracking on it now!

Think I've decided on some hanging baskets for the wall of house as window boxes may get in the way when walking past. For the garage I'm going to get some trellis and use honeysuckle to cover up the wall. Going to put fuschia's in the 2 smaller containers and Cordyline Terminalis for the largest.

For the shrubs along fence I'm going to cut back and plant some colour in there and then train climbing hydrangea along the fence. Not sure when we are starting this, weather permitting hopefully this weekend! Will of course post photos of change :o)

Any other words of advice are gratefully appreciated!!

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner - excellent for advice...........

he tree looks very much like a Coryline - can be a bit of a nuisance as the leaves come off.

 

Should have been CORDYLINE of course....

 

If you are looking for cheap -
If you see something you fancy in somebody elses garden then complement them about it and ask for a cutting, put cutting in a bit of hormone rooting powder and put in a pot of soil, waterwell, but let it drain, keep soil moist and wait for the roots, once it shows signs of growing (not dying) then you can put in garden and grow away.

 

Yep that's the one, leaves go everywhere if it's windy! Thank you chobart.

 

Roz, The tree is def a Cordyline and it grows like that because the roots are not restricted by a pot or container. Looking at one of your pics, the one with the laurel (shiny green leaves) I noticed creeping buttercup, you can root these out or treet whith glyphosate to kill off. The passage along the side of the house with the (concrete blocks)holding back the lawn, you could form a nice long bed along there and plant up with trailing plants hanging over the blocks to hide them and put some summer bedding along the border too. Things like geraniums, busy lissies and tagites will tolerate partial shade so will bedding begonias.

 

Finally I've got round to some gardening in the back

I've attached some pics so you can see the progress:













Decided to buy ready made hanging baskets as worked out cheaper that way. We are going to buy a long trough type contrainer to put on the floor and then train a clematis/honeysuckle/jasmin (can't decide which yet!) with trellis up the garage wall. We have decided to trim the shrubs, which are either side of the 3 pots, in the winter as if we do it now there will just be bare twigs left. Then next summer we'll hopefully have lots of colour when we plant new things!

I'd like to get some little laterns to put up round the garage too, think they look so pretty of an evening. Then also some floor cushions they now have for gardens (sold in Matalan & The Pier) as perfect for our daughter!!

For the front I emptied the old pots left by previous owners, cleaned them out and planted pink and white begonia's. We did buy 2 bright blue ceramic pots for the front but can't decide what to put in them yet so will use these ones for the time being. Ignore the awful 'brick stands' they are currently on, god knows who built those eyesores:eek: Got my mum round on Tuesday to help me kill weeds, trim the shrubs at the front and hopefully help me plant the seeds I bought this week! Got Morning Glory, Sweet Pea & Aster.

Will post more pics once in the next phase for the makeover thanks again so much for the ideas:thumb:

 

Hi Roz,
I've been watching your progress with great interest. You're doing really well, and you've had some excellent advice too. It's really coming on, isn't it!

 

Hi Roz you are doing a fab job with your plot.
Seeing how you have a small child how about doing your daughter a sand pit? It would give your little girl a safe and soft area to play in of which I'm sure she will have many hours of fun in.

You can knock one together quite cheaply out of wood etc and pick a tarpaulin cover up (again quite cheaply) we did one for our sons when they were little ours was HUGE and afterwards we turned the sand pit into an Alpine bed. As you can guess I'm a great believer in re-cycling things and of course it's so much cheaper too! Hel.xxx.