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Novice Gardener in need of tips!
stinkfoot
Posts: 12
Hello ???? I'm new ???? I have just moved into a house with a very decently sized garden ???? I can't tell you the exact size, but it's 23 standard fence panels long, and about half that wide. Does that make any sense? ???? There is NO GRASS. Only quite a few weeds, and a big old pampas grass which after the recent winds has been broken up a bit. I have a shed at the back, and further towards the house is a concrete area probably formerly another shed foundation, and a rather awkwardly narrow bit of patio right against the house. I'll try and upload some photos if it will let me (I never have much luck with forums and photos) The soil quality is, according to my neighbour, quite good....He told me the previous owner had a load of top soil brought in, and when I dug down (to bury my ill fated cat) it was quite wet and sticky a bit clay-like, although there are hundreds of large stones. I don't know where to start. We are in Dorset, on the Dorset/Somerset border. My garden is North facing, most of the sun is in front of the house although I have yet to experience a longer day here but I can't see it being much different. I would like to grow some veggies, (those that like alot of sun can go into pots out front) but I really don't know what to plant-as in what plants would thrive well. I would like some shrubs and a herb garden. Is it necessary to weed kill? I have use of a rotavator which would be useful in weed removal-but is it enough?
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Congratulations on your new home! And sorry to hear about your cat.
Im going to be such a spoilsport now, but is their any way you would consider just keeping the garden tidy and living with it for a year? I know this is really boring and not what you want, but its important to get to know your garden, if you take lots of photos as the year goes on and keep notes of plants you see which take your fancy, ypu will be well equipped to make a fantastic garden! You could always grow some things in posts in the mean time?
As far as weedkillers go, for me they are a no no, but lots of people on here swear by them, i dont find i need them if i regularly blitz the garden by hand weeding. Rotorvators are great if your soil dosent have nasty weeds like dock and bindweed, as when these weeds are chopped up, even the tiniest bit will re grow.
Have you herbs are generally really easy, most love as much sun as you can give them and arent over fussy about soil, what sort of herbs do you like?
Hi stinkfoot - intriguing name..
If the garden's 23 panels long it's a decent size as they're approx 6' or 1.8 metres in new money, so even though it's north facing you'll get sun at the end of it during spring to autumn.I wouldn't use a rotivator as it can make matters worse as bekkie says, so I'd use weedkiller once there's good growth on them to make it effective, and you'll probably need to do that a few times. Or you can hand weed if you feel like a good workout!
At this time of year it's usually best to wait a while as there could be lots of nice things waiting to erupt when spring comes, but you could make some plans in the meantime by making a list of what type of garden you'd like - do you want a seating area, flowery painting or mainly shrubs, trees and greenery. Do you want a greenhouse, shed, compost bin or screening from neighbours etc, and so on. Long narrow gardens benefit from being divided into sections to create separate areas too so you might want to think about some screens at various points which can be done with hedging or trellis with climbers.
Take your time planning and don't be afraid to ask for help at any point
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
the name is from a Zappa song....and I was dubbed by my loving boyfriend.
The weeds have good growth and I can see some bulbs coming up but they are in very random places. There is no sense to them.
Be cateful with the weed killer you use unless you arent botheted about killing the bulbs too, im sure someone on here will be able to tell you which is best, do you know what weeds you have?
Hi stinkfoot - love the name
Lots of experienced gardeners here to advise you
Not trying to be horrid here, but you do say you're a novice . Are you 100% certain that they are weeds? If the previous owner bought in expensive topsoil, they must have wanted to grow something there and it clearly wasn't grass, so could some of them be plants? Definitely think you should wait awhile before getting gungho with the weedkiller, unless you can positively identify what you've got!