This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
New to gardening and New garden
fromtheshires
Posts: 72
Hi all
In the last couple of months I moved into a house with a front and back garden! I am a complete novice to gardening and my old patio yard had three planters, a couple of chairs, cafe table and chimnea thing.
As you can see from the photos, the house is three years old and the previous owners did nothing with the garden.
Ive managed to pull all the weeds from the stones and between the slabs and thats as far as i got this weekend as I did the front garden as well (I have that one in the bag as its fiarly small). I have several problems / thoughts and after reading this forum to do the front to hopefully good success, I wondered if anyone had any hints and tips for the rear.
Thoughts:
> Put decking in the top corner to sit a square table and 4 chairs. Go along two fence panels and down one panel.
> Dig out all the grass in the bottom coner after the retaining wall ends and etend the bottom patio up into the grass and extend the retaining wall
Problems:
> The moss - The water runs down the garden and is boggy as a result leaving loads of moss growing.
> Its not rained for days and we have had sun and its still sucking in the water from the noise coming from the garden. Under the 'grass' it is pure clay. No topsoil from what I can see. Due to it being so boggy it also means that its still too wet to cut, despite some areas being in real need.
> The grass by the bottom step is waterlogged and full of weeds so will hinder any growth and the grass that grows is very weedy and not real grass
> I have two man holes I cant cover up - one just behind the retaining wall and one in the grass. Unfortunately I havent opened them to see what way these run through the garden yet but limits our options as to what we can do obviously as access will be required
> What type of plants can I have in here with the plans we have come up with as its kind of limiting me to potted plants or the very top of the garden next to the decking in my head as I need some grass for the animals to play / toilet on
what are your wise words of wisdom?
I have to get rid of the moss - Probably dig / rake it out
More than likely I will need to totally re-grass the grass laid down as its terrible
In the last couple of months I moved into a house with a front and back garden! I am a complete novice to gardening and my old patio yard had three planters, a couple of chairs, cafe table and chimnea thing.
As you can see from the photos, the house is three years old and the previous owners did nothing with the garden.
Ive managed to pull all the weeds from the stones and between the slabs and thats as far as i got this weekend as I did the front garden as well (I have that one in the bag as its fiarly small). I have several problems / thoughts and after reading this forum to do the front to hopefully good success, I wondered if anyone had any hints and tips for the rear.
Thoughts:
> Put decking in the top corner to sit a square table and 4 chairs. Go along two fence panels and down one panel.
> Dig out all the grass in the bottom coner after the retaining wall ends and etend the bottom patio up into the grass and extend the retaining wall
Problems:
> The moss - The water runs down the garden and is boggy as a result leaving loads of moss growing.
> Its not rained for days and we have had sun and its still sucking in the water from the noise coming from the garden. Under the 'grass' it is pure clay. No topsoil from what I can see. Due to it being so boggy it also means that its still too wet to cut, despite some areas being in real need.
> The grass by the bottom step is waterlogged and full of weeds so will hinder any growth and the grass that grows is very weedy and not real grass
> I have two man holes I cant cover up - one just behind the retaining wall and one in the grass. Unfortunately I havent opened them to see what way these run through the garden yet but limits our options as to what we can do obviously as access will be required
> What type of plants can I have in here with the plans we have come up with as its kind of limiting me to potted plants or the very top of the garden next to the decking in my head as I need some grass for the animals to play / toilet on
what are your wise words of wisdom?
I have to get rid of the moss - Probably dig / rake it out
More than likely I will need to totally re-grass the grass laid down as its terrible
0
Posts
@Borderline - the decking in the top left was because this is where the sun is strongest from about midday to 3pm so it makes sense to have the bit where you would sit up there. I agree about the two flat areas. Its not a large garden at all, probably about 20m long x 15m wide. I was thinking about extending the bottom patio so there was somwhere to sit out of the view of the neighbours or be in the sahde if we just wanted to sit out there, but point taken about it possibly looking clunky. Also a good point about the drainage issues.
I think this is going to take a lot of working out in my head and maybe get in a landscaping professional who will be able to design around all the drainage, sloping garden and manhole issues and then think about plants and stuff like that afterwards once the garden has settled in
As for planting, you can do a border behind the retaining walls, and around the top sitting place. You could also put a narrow bed alongside the stepped path and anywhere else you fancy. Have fun!
Ideas:
- You have a large 'flat' unbroken green area of grass which looks healthy enough to do well after a bit of 'Weed and Feed' treatment.
- You could break up the flat appearance of the grassed area with flower borders eg next to the fence (a bit traditional, I know!)
- The general slope of the garden creates drainage towards the house so it might be a good idea to see if you can use the fact to your advantage:
- The retaining wall could become a one side of a raised bed which could be tended standing up from the patio side. The other side would be at the level of the lawn (a friend of mine has done just that but with heavy railway sleepers).
- The only consideration with (4) may be: is the wall is strong enough to hold back the extra soil you'd need to bring it up to a level you could reach from the patio?
- If you like the idea of (4) you could extend the patio to full width for all of its length... and then...
- Also extend the retaining wall (or use sleepers) to extend the new raised bed as far as the terraced steps.
Because the garden has so far had little done to it you have a blank canvas which is great for your own ideas to be introduced as you think of them.@Birdy13 - great ideas. I was thinking flower beds around the edge and using the retaining wall as a raised bed. It should hold the extra weight of soil as it's pretty much to the base of the topping bricks anyway. With Borderlines suggestion as well about the extra greenery soaking up the moisture, I think that's a deffo to begin with. I just need to get the husband tied down to discuss the excellent ideas put forward.