New Gardener in need
maddie3
Posts: 1
HI all,
I am trying to sort my mums garden out for her. We live in a rented property in Leicester and the garden has seen years of neglect, and my mum struggles with the outside of the property as she is housebound.
what i do know about the garden:
It is about 7m long and 3m wide. Clay soil, partial shade. unkempt and unloved. Grass seed lawn gone wild (just mown back). Medium bramble issue. plenty of wildlife (i don't want to kill anything) Up the left hand side there is a Garage, shed and trees. lawn slopes onto the patio and them spreads muds and grass seed everywhere.
what I want to do to the garden:
1) Reinforce slope and turn in to a herb garden area.
2) Dig flower beds down the length of the garden on the right hand side and across the bottom, and maybe raise them a little and plant some low maintenance shrubs and perennials and probably some veg.
3)The lawn is soft underfoot and so i would like to harden the lawn.
How can I achieve this? i am on a very tight budget and will be doing ALL the work myself. Buying raised beds and backfilling them is too expensive, I currently have no experience and tools so will have to buy them, i would rather invest in something that will break clay properly. Im not afraid of hard work but really need to some advice on how achieve all of this.
so:
what tools are required so i don't break my back and my spirit?
what can I do so I do not miss this summer season?
how to i rid the garden of bramble, weedkiller or dig?
what would be great to plant?
All dice would be greatly received
Thanks x
Posts
Is this garden for your mum to look out at or is it more for your own satisfaction? I don't mean that in a nasty way just trying to visualise what your mum might see if it is for her
In a garden that small a lawn is little more than a nuisance and hard to maintain. Why not replace the lawn in the centre with gravel, which would give you the firmer surface you want? It would be best to lay some weed membrane first, for easier upkeep, but you could plant through it in places if it suited your planting scheme. You would need some kind of edge between the 'lawn' area and the patio to contain the gravel, the height would depend on the steepness of the slope. You might be able to source some recycled bricks or breeze blocks, or some old lengths of timber.
The cheapest way to make raised beds is either recycled timber if you can find something suitable, or scaffolding planks. At least one supplier offers kits with the necessary bits for joining the corners and they are not nearly as expensive as some other garden supply companies. They won't last forever but as you say, it is a rented property and your needs may change. The cheapest way to fill the beds is not the easiest, but if you were to level the central area you could use the soil to fill the beds. As it is clay you would need to add a decent amount of manure and horticultural grit to improve the texture and give you a good soil to plant into. You would not need to dig the part under the raised beds, so make them as big as possible and reduce the amount of digging! Use the 'eat an elephant ' approach and do it a bit at a time. That way you won't wear yourself out and if your target is 'an hour a day' or '5 hours a week' or 'a metre at a time' (something achievable) then you won't be disheartened by the lack of progress, but surprised by how fast you get there
As for tools, well, you won't need a lawn mower, so a garden fork, a spade, a rake and a trowel will get you started. Later you might want to add a hand fork (some people like them, I never use one!) and some secateurs, if you are growing things that need pruning, and a watering can. Buy a few packets of sow and forget seed and you can have some bright flowers for this year. Sit back and enjoy them while you plan what else you would like to grow next year
Some of the bargain shops, such as Home Bargains and B&M are just putting their gardening tools out, and they are very reasonable in price-much cheaper then the garden centres, and some of them are just as good as the expensive ones. They will also have compost which can be quite cheap, but beware, some of it is sometimes of a poor quality, so don't expect great things of it. Look out for the packs of seeds that have half a dozen varieties in-flowers and veggies. These are cheap too, and you will be able to experiment with what you like best.
As Buttercup says, above all enjoy yourself!
Hello Maddie, lots of sympathy with the sloping lawn and mess. I had a similar problem when I moved into my house- slope to patio, no previous love shown to it , think they gave up actually because the lawn never dried out- on clay. brambles and ivy everywhere.I wanted to dig up the lawn and turn into a low shrubbery/plant area so I think your idea of herbs etc is good. My husband wanted the grassy area so he sorted raising up the bottom and adding more soil. (don't even think about it!!!) This has worked because the water doesn't run off so much.
You could dig it up a small piece at a time and put in plants your mum likes that look good and smell nice and also herbs in the top where it is likely to be drier- need some sun for most herbs. Find out where the cheap deals are in your area for plants, talk to other gardeners when you see them out. Put bark on the areas you have dug to keep weeds down.
Re brambles etc. I have just cleared my sons and did the same as I did in mine. Cut the brambles to ground level and dig up the roots where you can. Where they re sprout apply spot weedkiller. You will need to keep an eye on them over a couple of seasons. In the meantime plant where you have cleared.
Seeds are good and annuals give a lovely show. Throw everything in this year and see what you get. nasturtiums are good too.
Tools- Fork, spade , rake and in summer watering can. Hint/ if you plant shrubs put a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off narrow end in the ground when you plant. This way you can water directly to the roots.
Good luck, hope you let us know how you get on.
Forgot to say Maddie- get something to put along the bottom of your sloping garden/ log roll or sleepers/big stones, to keep the soil off the patio if you dig it up.
Try to get to the sales section of your garden centre. There they sell the shrubs and perennials that stopped flowering often for a tenth of the price. If you choose strong plants you might not have flowers this year but a beautiful garden next year. I once planted a garden that size from a rented property full with plants within 8 months for a total of 60 pounds. Not bad. Seeds sort this year out and the details.
what about looking at freecycle, you may get free tools Also, car boot sales may have tools and plants going cheaply?
I have recently bought some very good garden tools and plants from Lidl believe it or not. There seeds are cheap as well some packets are 5 for £1. Haven't planted my seeds yet so can't say how successful these will be but if the plants are anything to go by they should be alright.
Wilko and Poundstrecher have brilliant gardening sections and prices that are very reasonable so you could pick up some bargains to get you started
Poundland are also doing tools, endorsed by Charlie Dimmock, and I have seen some great reviews.
Plants and seeds from Lidl are in my experience a bit of a roulette game. You can get really good results and sometimes be really disappointed. The seeds you can't check in advance, but by buying healthy strong plants you avoid some disappointment.
Saying that I bought in two different years two Hibiscus Syriacus. One is starting to look promising after two years, the other one is after three years still a disaster.