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Tackling an overgrown garden - beginner's questions!
cardus20
Posts: 2
I'm completely new to gardening so apologies in advance if my questions are daft! I'm trying to turn my very basic, overgrown, wonky garden into something vaguely nice. At the minute it's just dead grass and weeds (it was 3ft high grass until Sunday, when I borrowed a strimmer). Ultimately I want to level it out as much as possible and put in some new turf, decking, a wildlife area and a couple of raised beds, which means clearing off all the dead grass and weeds and starting from scratch. So far I've raked off all the strimmings and started tearing up the grass/hay by hand, then digging down into the soil and turning it over so the dead roots can rot down. I've only done a little patch so far and it'll take me a couple of weeks to get across the whole garden (it's a small area but I'm quite feeble, plus my fork hasn't arrived yet!), so is it best to cover the bits I've exposed with membrane for now so no new weeds start growing there? Is there anything else you think I should be doing differently? What else do you think I should order (I currently have a spade and leaf rake, plus I've ordered a fork - guessing I'll need a soil rake too)?
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much!
0
Posts
Great effort so far. Well done. I'd not rush to returf, get a mower over it a few times and you might be surprised by the results.
As Hosta says, leave the bit you want to turf, just for a while. Grass is a tough bugger and that might actually bounce back.
What kind of wildlife area are you looking for? Pond, long grass, pollinator plants? Log pile? Depending on what you want, you can probably mix it into the beds. That'll save some space.
I'd recommend a fork and a good figging spade. I have a telegraph pole laying one, long and thin. Slices through turf and clay easily. And if your soil is tough and hard like mine, a mattock.
Also. Go easy on yourself. It's too easy to come up with plans, but completely redoing a garden takes years. I started doing too much at the start of lockdown, and I'm regretting it. But I'm slowly getting there, it's just going to take longer. And I'll just have to deal with the bombsite while I do it (and so will my neighbours). It'll look amazing when it's done!
- Raised beds - that's an interesting thought re stuff getting between them and the fence, that hadn't occurred to me. I'd sorted of assumed I *had* to have them as I think the soil and/or drainage is pretty poor - although that's only based on the fact that I'd never managed to grow anything in it before. Even poppies didn't grow, and I thought they were pretty bomb proof! But that might just be me rather than the soil... I'll look into that in more detail before I commit to raised beds though, thank you!
- Lawn - thank you to everyone who's suggested giving the grass another chance in the section I plan to keep as a lawn. I'll give it a shot - there's nothing to lose by it after all and potentially a lot of time, money and energy to save! It's always been pretty scraggy, even back when I was mowing it regularly (which I'm now in a position to do again, thankfully), but hopefully I can make something of it!
- Wildlife area - I had in mind a (very) little meadow patch at the back with long grasses and wildflowers, as well as a tiny pond. The one thing I liked about my garden when it was in complete jungle mode was how many bees and butterflies visited, so I'd love them to come back (for now they've decamped two doors down, where the garden makes mine look like a Chelsea Flower Show winner in comparison, so they won't have far to travel!). I also plan to put lots of insect-friendly flowers in the beds, assuming they can survive my novice attempts at planting!
- Patience - that's a very good tip, thank you. I definitely need to manage my expectations and accept that it'll be a work in progress for a long time (technically forever, I suppose) and that I can't expect it to be finished in a few weeks! That "no dig" method looks like a good one that ties in well with learning to be patient - maybe I can let myself dig one patch to satisfy my wish to do something right now, but try the no dig method on other bits so they can be quietly sorting themselves out while I'm busy getting tired and grubby on the other side of the garden.
Once again, thank you all so much for taking the time to reply! I really do appreciate it.
Welcome to the forum.
When we moved I to our home, the grass was in a similar state. The property was empty and the garden had just been left to grow and grow.
My father in law came round and strummed the grass, which immediately looked much better. Once it grew a bit, we mowee it and realised our lawn was not too bad. Give it a few month and a few mowing sessions, you could be quite surprised. We had a few bare bits on the lawn so filled it in with grass seeds.
Have you thought about a few pots also for planting? There are a wide array of sizes and designs now.
Please keep us up to date with your progress. I love seeing photos of garden transformations.
We are always here for help or advice. Dont be afraid to ask. There is a massive mind of information on here on all aspects of gardening.
Good luck with your garden 😁
Don't stress over it. Every plant has a place and every place has a plant which will be happy there.
We're always here and love a new project.