Just remember NO question is a silly one so ask away my dear and enjoy your garden
one of the first thing I did was to set up a sitting area where you can see the hole garden from and get the evening late sun because this is if like me you entertain BBQ or just drinks, I say this because you can then plan,watch and enjoy your garden.
Ps the sitting area can be just a kitchen chair or a garden bench on the grass it doesn't have to be fancy or on a patio/decking later if you decide to may it permanent
it could be just gravel with a edge so the gravel doesn't get kicked onto your grass then you can add pots to the sitting area
Debs I closed my curtains today at 11.00 am as the sun was hitting me in the eyes.
late spring and summer the sun doesn't hit that spot until about 5 or 6 pm
just a example of what the sun is doing NOW so I would wait until may until you can see what the sun is going to light up
James
Definitely agree with this advise Deb. The sun tracks much lower and goes around the garden much quicker at this time of year. You will see a world of difference in late Spring where the sun is so high that it will get into parts of your garden that you can't even imagine at the moment, and will linger there as well.
Hi Deb! hope you had a merry christmas and maybe Santa brought you some nice gardening books or gear?!
Like the others, I think your garden has lots of potential, but I can imagine it is very daunting, particularly as I imagine you have other things to do apart from gardening!
My advice would be ... take your time. You are lucky in that you haven't got a lot of horrid trees or shrubs to rip out. That can be worse - a bit like moving into a house with woodchip on every wall! For the time being, just keep it tidy and spend some time between now and the growing season looking at books/ gardens/ websites for inspiration and thinking about what you really want out of your garden. Maybe plant up some pots near the house with winter/ spring flowers just to cheer you up a bit in the meantime.
Once you have a "plan" (and that can be something scribbled on the back of an envelope - mine was!), divide up the work into achievable chunks that you can do in a short time, such as digging out a border, or laying a patio, or planting a tree. This will help stop you getting overwhelmed and demotivated. Focus on what you have achieved, not what you have to do.
Get some help for the bigger projects from friends, family, neighbours. Some of my gardening friends have much bigger gardens than I do and I help out when they get a bit overwhelmed by weeds, planting out or general tidying up. It's much more fun gardening in a group and we generally get the work done really quickly so we can crack open the (first) bottle of wine!
Finally, think of it as a long term project. Maybe this year, you'll just manage to get a few shrubs in the ground. It's a start! Plus you'll save a lot of money in the long run if you buy small plants, rather than big ones, and grow things from seed. Try and think about how you want your garden to look in two or three years time when buying trees, shrubs and perennials.
Finally met my neighbour, I immediately quizzed her on my soggy gardens. She told me my garden was once full of flowers including sweet pea, bluebells, honeysuckle etc. Phew ! Things will grow !
Deb, did your neighbour know why your garden is so water logged? My neighbour in London had a rectangle of poor grass in the centre of his, otherwise, lovely lawn. He finally discovered a piece of carpet buried a few inches down. With a blank canvas like you have, you could sort out some drainage before planting if necessary.
Apparently the whole street has soggy gardens, we get a lot of water coming from the fields above us. We're not at the bottom of a bank tho so I'm assuming that in normal weather ( well, you know what I mean !) the gardens should dry up a bit as the water drains further down. The neighbours also said they had holly bushes and a thriving veg plot.
Posts
Fell free to ask away... we all do.
that's what we/this forum is all about Deb's
Just remember NO question is a silly one so ask away my dear and enjoy your garden
one of the first thing I did was to set up a sitting area where you can see the hole garden from and get the evening late sun because this is if like me you entertain BBQ or just drinks, I say this because you can then plan,watch and enjoy your garden.
James
Ps the sitting area can be just a kitchen chair or a garden bench on the grass it doesn't have to be fancy or on a patio/decking later if you decide to may it permanent
it could be just gravel with a edge so the gravel doesn't get kicked onto your grass then you can add pots to the sitting area
just a thought
Clueless
Definitely agree with this advise Deb. The sun tracks much lower and goes around the garden much quicker at this time of year. You will see a world of difference in late Spring where the sun is so high that it will get into parts of your garden that you can't even imagine at the moment, and will linger there as well.
Hi Deb! hope you had a merry christmas and maybe Santa brought you some nice gardening books or gear?!
Like the others, I think your garden has lots of potential, but I can imagine it is very daunting, particularly as I imagine you have other things to do apart from gardening!
My advice would be ... take your time. You are lucky in that you haven't got a lot of horrid trees or shrubs to rip out. That can be worse - a bit like moving into a house with woodchip on every wall! For the time being, just keep it tidy and spend some time between now and the growing season looking at books/ gardens/ websites for inspiration and thinking about what you really want out of your garden. Maybe plant up some pots near the house with winter/ spring flowers just to cheer you up a bit in the meantime.
Once you have a "plan" (and that can be something scribbled on the back of an envelope - mine was!), divide up the work into achievable chunks that you can do in a short time, such as digging out a border, or laying a patio, or planting a tree. This will help stop you getting overwhelmed and demotivated. Focus on what you have achieved, not what you have to do.
Get some help for the bigger projects from friends, family, neighbours. Some of my gardening friends have much bigger gardens than I do and I help out when they get a bit overwhelmed by weeds, planting out or general tidying up. It's much more fun gardening in a group and we generally get the work done really quickly so we can crack open the (first) bottle of wine!
Finally, think of it as a long term project. Maybe this year, you'll just manage to get a few shrubs in the ground. It's a start! Plus you'll save a lot of money in the long run if you buy small plants, rather than big ones, and grow things from seed. Try and think about how you want your garden to look in two or three years time when buying trees, shrubs and perennials.
Good luck!
I'll bet the bluebells are still there Deb
In the sticks near Peterborough
Deb, did your neighbour know why your garden is so water logged? My neighbour in London had a rectangle of poor grass in the centre of his, otherwise, lovely lawn. He finally discovered a piece of carpet buried a few inches down.
With a blank canvas like you have, you could sort out some drainage before planting if necessary.