Novice Gardener Needs Advice Please (Merged)

floyd

Grass is pretty easy to get looking good with a bit of TLC. Now is the right time of year to apply Verdone, it will kill of any rye grass and weeds and you only need to do it once (its a few quid for a bottle). If you keep it cut shortish this deters the big weeds like dandelions and will stop seed spread too.
It depends how much time you will have as to what you choose to do. If you don't have much time, a patch of lawn and some nice pots with things like bamboo and other evergreens will stay looking nice all year round and as they are perennial they won't need replacing ever year (provided you look after them) so it keeps the costs down.
Are you overlooked at all, your choice of plants will be determined by what exactly you want your garden to do for you. A rockery looks nice but involves alot of work and if you want good stone it can be expensive and will need top dressing with gravel which can also be dear.
If you give me more of an idea of the shape and size of your garden and how much time you think you will want to commit I may be able to suggest a few plants that will suit you

lil_me

Have you tried on the likes of https://www.dontdumpthat.com and freecycle.org.uk for things like fencing, furniture etc maybe even seedlings and rocks if wanting a rockery? Might be able to get something from there and help with being on a budget.

Tesscha

I would really welcome some general advice on how I should get started in growing some general plants and even some herbs.

I don't have any experience whatsoever, but have an absolutely large garden that is being wasted as it's not really cared for or used for that matter.

Questions:

1- What do I do first? (Do i need to prepare soil?)
2- Is there a best time/month to plant things?
3- Does the direction of my garden make any difference to growing successful plants?
4- What are the easiest plants & herbs to grow?

I'm not sure what other questions to ask so I may post a few more today

Thanks so much

poppie,s_dream

hi
depending on what herbs you like easy ones are
coriander, parsley chives and garlic start off with seed trays to gain confidence once you have tackled these look at being more adventurerous https://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk http://www.tips-for-boomers.com/easygardening.html these sites will help have fun
xxx

zfrl

My advise would be to start small. See what type of soil you have got, sandy/clay etc. Dig in some compost/well rotten manure & plant some seeds. Most seeds are inexpensive & some are incredibly easy to grow i.e. marrows, corgettes, squashes. Even the basics like carrots are easy. Just keep them well watered & weed free. There are seeds available for planting for most months of the year so you can start any time. Have fun.

olibearhorse

Hi

The direction of your garden does effect your plants simply because different plants like sun/sun to partshade or full shade. The plant you buy will tell you where it likes to be so it's dead easy.

I am a newbie to gardening and if you ever want a good birthday present, ask for the RHS book of flowers and RHS book of gardening, they are excellent - I couldn't live without them!

Enjoy!

middleman_2

Hi there, just looking for this kind of advice for my daffs in my borders and tubs. Is this what you do with all daffodils, and what about tulips? After an abundance of beautiful spring flowers, the beds are looking pretty messy so want to tidy up a bit before planting some new stuff. I'm a novice too!

JasmineMoon

Hi, the current thinking about spring bulbs is to leave them for at least 6 weeks until the leaves turn brown, then either pull the leaves off if they come away easily or cut them down. The reason for this is that the bulbs need to build up energy for next year's flowers and they do this by storing the energy from the sun. Therefore to maximise this you shold leave the leaves (!) to soak up as much sun as possible and don't tie them up or cut them before they're ready or it could restrict the bulb's flowering ability next year. If it looks messy, try planting something which will start to come up while the bulbs are flowering and will hide the leaves like crocosmia, hosta, aquilegia,lupins, etc.
You can lift and store tulip bulbs, I've tried both lifting and leaving and haven't noticed much difference either way, it may depend on the variety you have.
Just remember,gardening is one big experiment, try things and see if they work, read gardening magazines, watch gardening programmes on TV, but most of all enjoy it - even the weeding!!

sloughflint

If you have spare space in your garden, you could hide the messy tub ready for next year and plant up spare tub with the summer stuff. That's what I do.
I have always left everything to turn brown and put up with the mess in the borders because of what JM said but this year I experimented. I cut the edges off the leaves of daffs and muscari. I won't be able to compare until next year but hoped that as long as some green is left for plant to reenergise, I might be ok. What do you reckon?

edit:Just seen how old OP post was.

middleman_2

New to this gardening game and I couldn't believe how excited I got when the daffs started appearing this year. It's my first garden and we moved in last June so it was all a bit of a surprise in spring. Thanks for the advice, will put up with the mess and concentrate on planting.