My first garden!

frivolous_fay

Hello! I'm new around here We've just moved in to our first house and I have a token garden to play with :T The family garden was a biggun and I know a little about plants (can tell a weed from something nice, more or less) but I know nothing about pruning or maintenance really.

It all needs attention (not least the straggling lawn which the ants are gaily making hills in) but I'm not sure where to begin If anyone has a few minutes to suggest some basics it would help me a lot. Here goes...

Back garden:

- Totally overgrown buddleia (sp?). These are considered weeds in my last town :rotfl: I know it needs cutting back... but how much? Is now a good time? Should I consult the neighbours?

- Totally overgrown honeysuckle which was obviously intended to climb, but is completely ignoring the trellis, and taking over part of the garden. I've heard they can be evergreen or deciduous... is there any way of finding out other than waiting for leaves to drop? How brutal can I be with the secateurs? It's currently making an incursion into the lawn, onto the patio, and into and around the adjoining....

- Rose bush. Very pretty pink small flowers, plentiful. I cut some dead ones off. Again, should it be cut back, if so, when? It's kind of sagging in the general direction of the lawn, and I'd prefer it to be closer to the fence! Somewhere buried underneath the rose and the honeysuckle are some...

- Alpine strawberries. I love them and I'd like to keep them... will they be happy where they are once the huge things have been cut back? They're barely peeking out from the edge of the flower bed at the moment because there's so much foliage from the other plants... that and the crazy grass.

- Dull-looking generic 'berry tree' - sorry to be cruel but they seem to be the local authority standard boring ornamental tree in the area :rotfl: Clusters of tiny apple-shaped berries, and what I'd call apple tree shaped leaves. Have no idea what it is... I may saw off a lower branch to lighten up that area of the lawn. Any hints as to identification?

- Cute little violets growing like weeds... in the lawn, grr... and also the cracks in the patio, where they seem to be struggling. Ought they to be exterminated, or rescued and put somewhere more appropriate?

- Ummm.... some bare patches in the lawn where I did battle with the invading ant hills. Will these grow back or will I need to seed them?

and on to the...

Front Garden (Very small!)

Some scrubby thyme, lavender and a woody shrub / bush like thing with berries again. When fidgeting with the shrub-bush-thing I uncovered a large fungus which is growing underneath - about 20cm across. 'Cool', I originally thought. Then I started to wonder if it's growing off the lavender and killing it... which would explain it looking so pathetic. Any thoughts?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

BlondeHeadOn

Some (amateur) answers below:


Buddliea - best time to prune is around Feb/March, when they just look like dead twigs - then you can cut them back to about 2-3 foot high and they will just spring back. They are very hard to kill however, so you will probably get away with pruning quite a bit now as well - though maybe not quite so hard.

Honeysuckle - another one that's hard to kill, so you can prune back to tidy up now - although again maybe not be too fierce so you leave enough to find out whether it srops its leaves or not!

Rose bush - usually again pruned in early spring, but you could try maybe propping it up with something if it is flopping over, or cut back enough to tidy up.

Alpine strawberries - in my experience you will never manage to get rid of these even if you want to, so I think you are safe there! If you feel nervour about them take some of the runners and plant in pots or another part of the garden to make sure, but I think you will find these all over the place soon anyway....

The apple-like tree - possibly a crab apple? there are lots of different varitues, so maybe google to find some sites for identification. Pretty tough again, if so - lopping off the odd branch won't kill them (there is a good reason why local authorities like them!)

Lavender/fungus - lavender usually prefer dry conditions and fungus a lot of moisture, so the lavender maybe suffering because it is too wet - is this part of the garden damp and/or shady? Might be an idea to move the lavender and thyme to somewhere drier and sunnier if so. Or this could just be a result of the cool and wet summer this year. Don't know anymore about fungus then that though - sorry!

Cute little violets - these tend to self-seed in my garden quite happily, but you can move them. In the lawn they should start to struggle if you cut the lawn regularly - or diig out and re-seed. And yes, it is a good idea to re-seed the lawn, otherwise the bare patches may become colonised by more violets etc.

Hope this helps a bit ...

nodwah

I reckon you can give everything a haircut just now to tidy and then prune it all hard back in February.
Don't like the sound of that fungus but don't know what to do about it!

If you really want a nice lawn it might be best to dig it all out completly and start again either with turf or seed with good preparation. My lawn was a disaster when we moved in but I haven't bothered about it as we have rampaging kids running around all the time.

frivolous_fay

My first thought about the tree had been crab apple, but my mum didn't think it was. They looked pretty small at the time... but now I look at them you might be right:


I'll feel a bit more friendly towards it if it is a crab apple - at least you can do something with them, even if it's only fancy jelly making!

Here's the lovely fungus - not very clear, sorry, but you can get an idea of the scale. I think it's growing around the roots of the lavender - I'd have to cut it up to extricate it. Spindly shrub to left of shot.



I'm not going to get too precious about the lawn, as we haven't even managed to scrounge a mower yet! But I have a vague idea that I ought to sort of keep in in check as far as possible. I'll try to dig up some grass seed.

nodwah

I think it is a crab apple!

BlondeHeadOn

nodwah wrote: »

I think it is a crab apple!

Me too!

frivolous_fay

Me again!

What do you reckon this is? a) cute purple flower thingy or b) evil self-seeding purple weed thingy? It's everywhere - all over the lawn, but also in the beds.





If it's a weed, I would like to know the name of my enemy!

On the plus side, I found someone who appreciates my crazy lawn:



Sorry for huge pics, PB won't let me resize!

Calephetos

Buddleia attracts butterflies and can be very pretty, but I'd cut it back if it's annoying. It'll attract bees too, if mine is any indication, and that's always a good thing! I trim mine every so often - it gets a lot of dead wood. ISTR reading somewhere that you can trim off all the dead flower stems now without doing harm.

I think technically, you do have to ask your neighbours, but I doubt they'll be too bothered as long as you don't hack it to the ground while howling ancient Celtic battlecries...

Cute purple thing is a weed! I have them in my 'wild' patch. (Trans: the landlady's new hedge and anything I can't be arsed to pull up!) Grows everywhere as soon as one's back is turned.

My first garden this year too Isn't it great?

frivolous_fay

Update: the possible crab apples have stones - so I think they're more boring than that! Also I read that crab apples are thorny, and probably gnarled looking... and it isn't either. Theories?

Edit: Ok, ok, I spotted some thorns! Don't know how I missed them, the flipping things are 2in long!