Blank Canvass Garden - Design Inspiration Needed

moneysaver1978

Loving this inspiring thread!

Working_Mum

Thank you moneysaver1978 - I have loved working on my garden. I keep wandering down the garden to fill the bird feeders etc and can see tiny signs of life peeking through the ground. Most of it still looks sludgy and sleeping but there are signs of hope!

I thought I'd post a pic of my garden in mid January so I have a record of it at it most drowsy and before it (hopefully) bursts into life!



My onions and garlic (which I planted in pots) seem to have survived so far. I've got three miniature apple trees I need to plant into bigger pots. To be fair I'm not sure how big a pot to plant them in - they're still in the small pots which they arrived in. A job for the weekend.

I need to sit and go through my gardening files and sort what I need to be doing over the next few weeks. So far I have:-
* cut back my roses
* trim the hazel bushes right back
* trim the buddleia right back (it always grows back!!)
* trim the ivy which coming over the back fence from the garden behind

I have a laburnham at the front of the middle bed and that needs a lop but I've no experience so need to google for advice on how/ when to do it! Does anyone have any ideas??

I need to jet-wash the patio in a couple of months - I love doing it!! The official start of my Spring as I can get plants etc back on the patio.

As a side project I am going to rack out my garage and give it a right good sorting out - I sold the green metal shed I'd been storing my gardening stuff in and need to assimilate all my gardening kelter into my garage which means a BIG SORT OUT! Currently in planning stages but will be buying some metal racks at the end of this month. I'm quite excited about it tbh!

I hope everyone has had a good start to 2025 and you're all making plans for your plots and gardens.

((WM))

Slinky

Thanks for the reminder. I need to hack back my buddleia.

twopenny

Looking at your first and last photos you've done a heck of a lot WorkingMum!

You have a lovely cosy little garden there that makes you want to walk down it and just waiting for spring.

Working_Mum

Hello everyone,
I thought I'd post a few pics with a Spring update! I have managed to get into my garden quite a bit over the last couple of weekends. My patio is jet-washed (officially the start of my gardening year!), I have cut the grass and my local Open Gardens event is in May - it's all officially on!

This is the bottom end of my garden - which was horrid white gravel this time last year and had two trees and a few low lying conifers in it - I dug it all out and want to create a "forest" vibe down here - most of what I planted last year is growing back but I've clearly got gaps - I think I'd like to pop some more ferns and may hydrangeas down here - does anyone have any other forest-y type suggestions?


One side of my garden is very shaded and is in the arc of a cherry tree next door - it's roots are close to the surface so everything I plant in this area has to be little and in a small [pot so I can plant around the roots. I'm so thrilled with this bleeding heart - it did a little bit last year but has really come into its own this Spring. A pop of colour in a shady border.


My growing area is coming along - I've planted up onions and garlic in pots and plan to sow some beetroot, salad leaves and maybe some carrots. I have rhubarb and raspberries growing in pots too. I bought a gooseberry plant cheap but it looks dead in its pot but I will be patient as it may just be waiting to burst forth! I bought 3 patio/ small fruit trees and they're growing well in their pots (I hadn't wanted to plant them in too big a pot and overwhelm them). 
The rest of my garden seems to be very lush after the day of rain we had on Easter Monday - no complaints but it means I need to get weeding again soon!!



I've realised I'm glad I've kept this diary to show my garden through the seasons and the various changes I've made. Finding it very motivating! I'm wondering whether to to dig a pond - I don't have any water feature in my garden except an overtopping pot so think it'd be a good addition to the space (it'd have to hand dug though as I can't get anything mechanical down the patio steps!!).

Thanks for reading

((WM))

debtfreewannabe321

Love the garden update WM ☺️ 
It's coming along beautifully. I have a shady forest-y part too as a large conker tree overshadows my garden (it's the neighbours but I don't mind). I've got roses which seems to do well in the area, anemone (if I have spelled that correctly), aquilegia, ferns and a few I've not seen flower enough yet to know what they are 😅. I've added ferns to it and found them on FB MP cheaper than in the shops by a local lady. I collected a dozen I think and spread them throughout all the shady areas ☺️. Have you thought about putting your trees in the ground so they can flourish? 
I miss my bleeding heart, it had died back when I moved last year and I forgot to dig it up! Need to get another one or two. Great to see the update 🌸🪻🌼.

Paspatur

I love astilbes in the shaded side of my back garden. They are planted under hydrangeas, rhodedendrons and camellias along with hellebores, ferns and hostas
I don't often buy new plants these days as I can split my existing plants
But I recently moved a honeysuckle which although thriving never flowered in the shade
So I bought some Astilbe 'Dark side of the Moon'
I blame poster @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Slinky

Shady areas are great for primroses. That lovely splash of pale yellow in late winter/early spring is so joyful. The insects love them too. Ours self seed so we get extras to spread around or give away.

twopenny

It's looking lovely Working Mum 😊 
Really looking lush and ready to sit in and enjoy.
Don't forget to do that.

-taff

That's some transformation...For a foresty thing, I dunno, heucheras look quite nice especially as they come in so many colours, foxgloves, also different colours [ I'm hoping a chocolate one will flower this year]. Dunno, I have dry shady areas where not much grows apart from the geraniums , fennel [herb] , and sculpit is growing great guns where I threw it last year under the rosemary bush.

I think a look on the rhs website might work, or wait until your open gardens and see what other people have done,.I have a terrible habit of going to a gc and just buying things I like the look of without even working out where they should be. At least they're perennial now...Think about things you can propagate too, always cheaper to make two plants out of one.