First time garden-owner - help needed!

NoisyGiraffe

Hi all,

So we bought our first house in June (yay!) And the front garden looked lovely and the seller had obviously taken some time to make it look nice. I tried to keep on top of the weeding initially but it was all coming back through again so quickly that I kind of gave up! I've since learned that the seller got cheap compost from the council a couple of years back that came from everyone's green bins and since then the weeds were a big issue for him too.

I'm a little ashamed of how untidy it looks now and feel like I need to do something with it, but I don't know what! 

We have long term plans for the garden, including digging part up to remove a step and replace the lead water pipe and possibly having a driveway. We've also got the whole inside of the house to do up first so I don't want to spend too much on the garden at this point.

Do I:
1. Leave it for now. Wait until spring, dig all of the soil out, replace with fresh and start from new? 

2. Leave it as it is/clear the weeds now, plant bulbs for spring and do my best to keep fighting the battle of the weeds? 

If the second option, do you have any tips for me as a newbie?

The garden is north facing. There used to be plants on the side nearest the house but they, and their replacements, have all died quite quickly, possibly because of the shade from the house?

Thanks

DCFC79

You mention a driveway, how much of the space would you use for a driveway ?

I wouldn't do any work on the area you would use for a drive. If a drive is going to be done I'd go for option 2. I don't any tips myself other than try a salt water solution on the weeds, salts meant to be good at killing weeds, you could use something stronger eg off the shelf product but if you have pets it's not ideal.

NoisyGiraffe

DCFC79 said:

You mention a driveway, how much of the space would you use for a driveway ?

I wouldn't do any work on the area you would use for a drive. If a drive is going to be done I'd go for option 2. I don't any tips myself other than try a salt water solution on the weeds, salts meant to be good at killing weeds, you could use something stronger eg off the shelf product but if you have pets it's not ideal.

If we do the driveway (not a definite yet, but parking is quite difficult around here so a good possibility) I'd want to keep some garden, possibly a bed in front of/along the side wall where we join to next door. This project is at least 5 years away (if not more judging by the length of our to do list inside!) so I'm hoping to make the most of what we have until then. I don't mind putting work into it, but need to minimise any expensive work/moving things around until then. 

We have a cat so I'm quite cautious about using any chemicals, which will probably make more work for me haha!

theoretica

The arrangement you have at the moment has a lot of bare soil - keeping bare ground weed free is a lot of ongoing work.  What I would do if it were mine is reduce the bare ground by planting things I do like and crowding out the weeds.  Lady's mantle would take over the garden efficiently including the shady bits (though can be a pain when you decide you have had enough of it). 

NoisyGiraffe

theoretica said:

The arrangement you have at the moment has a lot of bare soil - keeping bare ground weed free is a lot of ongoing work.  What I would do if it were mine is reduce the bare ground by planting things I do like and crowding out the weeds.  Lady's mantle would take over the garden efficiently including the shady bits (though can be a pain when you decide you have had enough of it). 

Thanks for the tip! Yes, even when the garden was nicely done when we got the keys there were quite a few spots of bare soil all the way around. While I was weeding and when I replanted along the back edge I did discover a fair amount of bulbs, no idea what might spring up over time!

Farway

I'd go for option 1, and wait and see what pops up with the bulbs

TBH there aren't that many weeds there that a good weekend could not sort out {I know you're doing inside}

Do you have a long handled Hoe?

Wait for a dry spell and just hoe the weeds off for now

Weeds between the slabs can be spot treated, or you can have lots of fun with a weed burner

NoisyGiraffe

Farway said:

I'd go for option 1, and wait and see what pops up with the bulbs

TBH there aren't that many weeds there that a good weekend could not sort out {I know you're doing inside}

Do you have a long handled Hoe?

Wait for a dry spell and just hoe the weeds off for now

Weeds between the slabs can be spot treated, or you can have lots of fun with a weed burner

Thanks! I don't have a hoe, just a pair of gloves and a little trowel at the moment, so I'll grab one next time I'm out shopping. Probably shouldn't trust myself with a weed burner, I'm clumsy enough at the best of times! 

Black_Cat2

I love your pansies, so cute!  I would leave it as is and see if you have any other flowers in there come Spring as you're not in a screaming hurry to do it just yet 🐈

Congrats on your new home btw. 

NoisyGiraffe

Black_Cat2 said:

I love your pansies, so cute!  I would leave it as is and see if you have any other flowers in there come Spring as you're not in a screaming hurry to do it just yet 🐈

Congrats on your new home btw. 

Thank you! The whole garden was full of pansies at first, and a few other things that I don't know what they're called, it really was lovely! Hopefully one day I'll be able to create something just as nice! 

twopenny

That wall and coping is really attractive. You could make a lovely garden against it quite easily and cheaply and get less weeds if you buy plants that cover the soil rather than those you have which leave so much space.

It looks to me as though the previous owner planted the beds with pansies and Gladioli from the supermarket. A good splash of colour quickly, probably for sale.

At this time of year it's not so easy to pick and choose but even though it's north facing you could probably plant lavenders by the wall, Hurcheras in front which come in different leaf colours from dark red to lime green and flower in summer and have some pansies in the pockets in front in between which will give year round colour, good for bees and some scent. The bonus is there would be hardly room for weeds.

They are available from supermarkets April onwards if you want really cheap or you can get them year round from a garden centre.

The Hucheras (look at the colours online) are in Morrisons right now (£3-5 for a decent size), you've got the pansies so that's a saving. I just bought some bulbs from a small village food store for £1 and the same ones are in the garden centre for £3.

In spring of course you would have a lot more choice. There's also an option to have box balls and such If we get car boots and road side plant sales next year that's a good place to find stuff though the supermarkets are the cheapest and decent size plants.

If you buy a cheap garden long handled fork you should be able to rake over the soil between your existing plants with the prongs and save you and your nails a lot of time.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LONG-HANDLED-43cm-Cushion-Grip-Garden-FORK-Hand-Tool-/163516135621

The slabs look a bit close together to get the weeds out but you could try one of these from your local hardware shop

https://unibos.co.uk/garden-patio-weed-weeding-knife-tool-weeder-moss-remover-slab-grove-paving-pk100.html

And clean up the slabs with some of the cheap bleach in a watering can and a stiff brush will make all the difference unless you have a pressure washer. I did mine in my new place and it was worth the effort for the difference it made.

goldfinches

I would ask around among friends/family/neighbours/colleagues for anything that will give you reliable ground cover from now until next spring explaining that you're going to have a blitz and are then hoping to pack things in so tightly that no weed can get a foothold.
Hopefully, other people you know will give you lots of self seeded this and that, that they don't want, to tide you over until you have had a chance to get yourself a bit more settled and you've had time to see how the sun falls and plan how you want to use the front garden eventually. And then you just cram them in really close and dust on loads of bone meal, give them a good water and hope they take well enough to keep going through winter.
The other thing you could do is to again have a one day blitz and then sow something very thickly to again take you through to late spring, mint maybe or winter greens or leaves or some wildflower mix or wallflowers or something that will get away in the next fortnight or so.
There's a college garden near here that used a wildflower seed mix on a bed they usually plant up with bedding and they sowed it so thickly that it was absolutely impossible for anything else to get a toehold. It has been a stunning success and is much admired by many locals.
Do any of those pansies/violas have seed pods and can you collect and scatter those around too? 
Whatever you decide, enjoy your new house and garden and do what works for you, happy grubbing in the soil, goldfinches.