First home, first garden. Any advice?
Thewie
Posts: 2
Hi, this is my first post here and i'm looking for some experienced advice on how to tackle our first garden.
So i'm very new at gardening, we have just bought our first home and I've never had more than a yard and a few potted plants in rented accommodation. The garden we took on at the back of the house is fairly long and thin and when we moved in was waist high grass with nettles, so far we have cut it down enough to walk to the back of the garden and made a fairly hefty compost heap at the back (which is still a little overgrown but we ran out of petrol).
So when we cut it all down we have exposed the remnants of 2 old red brick buildings right of the center of the garden & a old flag stone path. The garden is very uneven as well. We still need to put up boundary fences between our neighbors gardens as well as there gardens are completely out of control (and 1 has a bit of old house debris like doors etc in it).
Now I'm wondering where to go next. We know we want to make a parking area at the front of the garden as parking isn't great on our street (there is a access lane between the house and garden). but the rest and the old buildings are a mystery what to do with. I would like the option to grow some vegetables and id like a small lawn area for my baby nephew to play on as well.
I will take a few photos and upload them to give you a idea of what I'm working with, forgive it a bit, its a little messy at the moment.
Posts
Hi there and welcome to the forum. The first thing you would need to do would be to get rid of all the rubble from your garden - not an easy task I'm afraid. Leave the path. Once the rubble has gone you can strim/mow down the grass and move on from there.
Hi Thewie,
Welcome to the world of weeds.....and gardening.
The remains of the brick buildings are something you can use to make paths or lawn edging. They give a fabulous cottage garden feel to a garden and look good too. It doesn't have to be anything too complicated. Also you have the raw materials lying around to construct a greenhouse base should you be thinking of getting one. First things first though.....decide on a layout for the garden. Once you have done that, you can work on it in sections rather than trying to do the whole lot in one go.
Have fun.
Thewie, the one thing that puts new gardeners off is trying to do a complete make over in one go, do not even try. Sit down with pencil and paper some books and decide a grand plan then divide it into doable sections, quarters, tenths what ever, concentrate on each section until it is finished and you can see what you accomplished then on to the next.
Those bricks would make a hard standing for your car, if it is essential to get it off the road then do that first, it will mean making an entrance to a hard stand with possibly a cover at a later date, big job indeed.
Meanwhile depending on budget you can keep strimming the grass down and invest in some pot plants, you can get some lovely pot plants these days large small and I would decide depending on where the sun shines in your garden on a sitting area, a couple of paves a seat and small table will be easily put in with a few pot plants around it. It is obvious you will need to get the fence up though do not expect to stop your neighbours weeds invading your garden unless you dig down and put in a barrier.
The vegetable patch could be a dug up area of the garden or a raised bed section, with raised bed once you have the sides in position can be filled with a mix of the old compost and new or all new compost and sown, immediate results would give you the heart to continue. Take your time, we all change with the weather so what seems a good idea at the time can often be a mistake. Think about it start and finish one section at a time, fill your own tubs pots or any container with Vegetables, out door tomato's peas beans potato's even, that way the garden will be working for you as you develop it, little and often, the way to go.
Good Luck Frank.
Hi guys,
Thanks for the advice, looking to remove the concrete before the end of the summer. I appreciate the help.