Blank Slate - Where to Begin?

pmartin86

Hello All

Breif backstory - I bought a new house about 18 months ago, it was (is still) in need of heavy renovation, so time and funds are limited. I'm fortunatlte enough to have a decent garden space, but the previous owners of the house had a disabled person living here, so its almost entirely block paved / concreted with large concrete ramps. It's on multiple levels too so its a bit of a mess.

Current State and jobs done:
So far since moving in, I've had an extremely large and overgrown !!!!!! willow tree heavily pruned - It was/is growing just on my back boundry line and was probably 40ft tall, so took almost all of the light and just shed organic matter everywhere.

I've also dug out a trench about 3ft wide at the front of the house whihc was just gravel, and dug in sand and fertiliser (heavy clay soil) and planted a bare root hedge, this had a bit of a start last year, but hoping to see some actualy progress this year

First question, is what do i need to do to help the hedge along? I've been keeping weed growth at bay over the summer and watering regularly, I've also added extra bonemeal and raked in in the autumn - Should I add any "surface dressing" now? soon? ready for the new growth?

Second (and much larger) question, is how do I start with the "back" garden? I know I want some grass in one section, ive got 2 young kids and 2 dogs, and i'd like a patio / decking / "something" seating / bbq / social section in one part that gets the alte evening sun. Beyond that, id love some veg plots and some "nice" borders, but I'm well beyond my knoweldge level here.

My initial thoughts are to clear the rubble, get the old block paving up where I want the lawn, prep that area and stick some turf down - My thoughts are if I then want to put bedding in etc, it will be fairly easy to remove bits of turf I DONT want? My inial goal is to get the garden "usable" for the kids this summer, while keeping costs lowish (Can probably allocate 500-1000 to it this year)

Can provide pictures if that helps, or if anyone has any ideas or tips to organise the chaos in my head that would be much appreciated!


Edit: Couple of pictures from the property listing. The decking is rotton and needs replacing, the grass area id like would be where the definct ball fountain and the conifer are (Conifer is gone now too)

https://imgur.com/a/liqyrRZ

Farway

Hedge, what is it? Privet? I'd wait for spring & new growth then just rake in some Blood, fish & bone, or even chicken poo pellets [you can buy tubs in most supermarkets come spring] Then just watch the watering this season in case we get a dry summer like last year

With 2 x kids + dogs be warned any grass will look awful most of the time unless you can keep them off for months while it settles in & gets decent, unlikely I'd say, but I can see why you'd want grass. In case you are not aware grass comes in various "mixes", you'll need the football pitch mix not the bowling green mix

Flowers & veg.

As it is mostly paved right now I'd look into containers, large ones, or raised beds on top of the concrete / paving, for two reason, easier to get going and provides a deterrent / barrier to said kids / dogs walking / digging them [I had a Labrador that would be in Australia in an afternoon]

RAS

The first thing is to work out where the sun is?

If the sun shines on the front of the house at midday, the area near the house at the back will be in shade all year, for example. Except perhaps late in the evening in high summer.

In which case you want sunbathing/evening meal spots at the far end of back garden? The slope might further affect the light that area get?

A cool spot near the house is no bad thing in itself in a heat wave, but much of the year you would want to wander to the sunny spot with a cuppa. 

Storage? Put it in the shady area so you don't waste space. 

Vegetables need at least 5 hours sunlight a day, so there may be areas that aren't suitable. If you want to grow the heat lowered like beans and corn, they need more light. Check out Square Foot Gardening; there are some basic guides on the internet. You don't need the raised beds/slug shelters or to wholly replace the soil, just as much organic waste as you can get. Corral the willow leaves, let them rot and add to your beds. You can get a surprising amount out of a 2x1 metre space.

For the borders, this year go annual largely annual. But also see if you can pick up a few supermarket climbers. Some will provide interest along walls and fences for the future, like clematis, jasmine, honeysuckle, possibly a rose.

In shades areas, there are plants that grow and white flowers glow. Impatiens provide pops of colour.

Check the cheaper seeds at places like Lidl and Wilkos, but buy the easy growers like cornflowers, nasturtiums, ordinary marigolds, sunflowers, mallow. And buy a couple of trays of hanging basket plants and put them in large pots for impact. 

pmartin86

Farway said:

Hedge, what is it? Privet? I'd wait for spring & new growth then just rake in some Blood, fish & bone, or even chicken poo pellets [you can buy tubs in most supermarkets come spring] Then just watch the watering this season in case we get a dry summer like last year

With 2 x kids + dogs be warned any grass will look awful most of the time unless you can keep them off for months while it settles in & gets decent, unlikely I'd say, but I can see why you'd want grass. In case you are not aware grass comes in various "mixes", you'll need the football pitch mix not the bowling green mix

Flowers & veg.

As it is mostly paved right now I'd look into containers, large ones, or raised beds on top of the concrete / paving, for two reason, easier to get going and provides a deterrent / barrier to said kids / dogs walking / digging them [I had a Labrador that would be in Australia in an afternoon]

Hiya

The Hedge is a hawtorne Based Mix - This is pretty much it:

https://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Hawthorn-based-60-90-cm-bare-rootsx100.html#SID=331

I wanted it to have a mix of plants and wildlife etc and im in a semi-rural area in South Wales.

I managed to lay turf in my previous house (One of the few things I did that was green!) so am aware it wont look fantastic, happy enough to go for a more rugged grass and curse the constant maintanence of brown spots under my breath and the kids and dogs make more

I'm happy for the garden to be more "wild" rather than "bowling green" anyway.

As for the holes to Austrailia, the dogs are both Collies, they dont dig much but have made the occasional pit, I think they have always appreciated the grass a lot more than the holes, so fingers crossed they will continue that habbit!

pmartin86

RAS said:

The first thing is to work out where the sun is?

If the sun shines on the front of the house at midday, the area near the house at the back will be in shade all year, for example. Except perhaps late in the evening in high summer.

In which case you want sunbathing/evening meal spots at the far end of back garden? The slope might further affect the light that area get?

A cool spot near the house is no bad thing in itself in a heat wave, but much of the year you would want to wander to the sunny spot with a cuppa. 

Storage? Put it in the shady area so you don't waste space. 

Vegetables need at least 5 hours sunlight a day, so there may be areas that aren't suitable. If you want to grow the heat lowered like beans and corn, they need more light. Check out Square Foot Gardening; there are some basic guides on the internet. You don't need the raised beds/slug shelters or to wholly replace the soil, just as much organic waste as you can get. Corral the willow leaves, let them rot and add to your beds. You can get a surprising amount out of a 2x1 metre space.

For the borders, this year go annual largely annual. But also see if you can pick up a few supermarket climbers. Some will provide interest along walls and fences for the future, like clematis, jasmine, honeysuckle, possibly a rose.

In shades areas, there are plants that grow and white flowers glow. Impatiens provide pops of colour.

Check the cheaper seeds at places like Lidl and Wilkos, but buy the easy growers like cornflowers, nasturtiums, ordinary marigolds, sunflowers, mallow. And buy a couple of trays of hanging basket plants and put them in large pots for impact. 

The back garden is eastish facing, so gets plenty of sun in the morning and is covered till about 2pm, then it starts to shade, the "left" side in the first picture (with the rotton wood-pole fence and ramp thing) gets sun most of the dayu though, so the "vague" plan is to put a veg spot here and the seating area down the bottom. I'm not at all a sun person, anything voer about 20 degrees will find me heading inside to sit next to the AC - Im quite happy sitting out there at this time of the year with a hoodie on as long as its not raining - I'm even considering something like an open framed wooden strucutre with a corrugated (or equivilent roof) so I can sit out when it IS raining.

Storage is covered nicely, theres a hardstanding area to the "right" of the conservatory that carely gets any sun, so I'll be building a shed there.

"Square Foot Gardening" has given me some good looking links to browse, so thats a winner, thanks.

I'm not sure if I should be spending money on pots and planters this year given the limited budger, or if I should focus my energy on "landscaping" as much as I can, so that when the budget allows I can build "proper" beds etc? is there anything I could plant now that would be nice, that will easily trasnpant into a more "permanant" home in a year or 2? An example is id love a couple of fruit trees (We plan to live here "forever" - Think 30+ years) but dont really want to buy them, plant them and then have them die when I move them.

KajiKita

Re re the bare root hedge, sounds like you’re on the right track. Check for weeds, feed as previous poster suggested and I would also mulch with something to keep the weeds down / moisture in. Could even be swept up willow leaves if you have enough of them 😉

KK

KajiKita

Personally I find planters and pots a complete bind, except for very special things I am prepared to keep on top of watering. I end up with fewer and fewer every year, as I find things just do grow better in the ground (for me anyway). 

You need to think about where to put the practical things; rubbish/recycling bins, compost bins, your veggie patch, storage, seating areas for both warm and cold blooded people 😉, where your paths will need to run to and from etc. 

I would also look at and start thinking about what you do and don’t want to ‘see’: 
- are there borrowable landscape elements such as a view or a neighbours tree you would like to visually link to through planting or framing?
- when you sit in the garden, do you feel snug and secure or exposed and over looked? Would some subtle planting with some SMALL 😉 trees help? I think this will help with getting some of your wanted fruit trees in - just plant them where you want them now. 
- what do you want to see from the house? When I moved here I realised that I couldn’t see the front flower beds from the front windows of the house because they were too close to the windows  - I have slowly been moving them from one side of the front garden to the other over a couple of seasons, and the view from the house is transformed.  

Draw it all out and then take the family outside with you and ask what they think. They may see opportunities or risks that you have missed. 

If you can get all those blocks up without too much damage you might be able to sell them through FBMP which will offset your costs a bit?

KK

RAS

If you are interested in fruit trees, go for bare rooted maidens. Expect to pay £20 plus. You need to look for varieties that are not susceptible to canker as the wetter climate encourages it.

If you plant them as cordons 50-60cms apart, you can utilise a narrow south or west facing wall/fence and get a small orchard in a strip less than 50cms wide. You won't get a lot of fruit of any one variety but you can plant for successional cropping. A lot of varieties don't keep so 60 fruit are a waste, but quarter of that will be used.

Apple trees on M27 will rarely grow above 1.8 metres but you do need to be ruthless about removing any fruit until they are at least 1.5 metres tall. Otherwise, expect a tasting from year 2. MM106 takes a year longer but it grows quicker. Needs serious summer pruning but that takes a couple of hours a year. Don't buy triploids on MM106, though, or anything described as vigourous. Pears are harder to keep small and plums even more so.

If you can find a supermarket tree that hasn't been lopped off to fit in 1.2 metre box and has it's growing point intact, they are fine but a bit of pot luck. Wilkos sometimes have taller trees, but are useless re labels. My favourite was going in to ask what the trees were? I was told the prices (a bargain), and kept asking the what they were. Not one had a label! I could tell an apple from the plums and cherries but ...

Re any shelter, Great for planting climbers but consider corrugated clear plastic to reduce the shade for the plants?

YoungBlueEyes

I noticed yesterday that Tesco have fruit trees in. There was apple and cherry, and the box was half empty.

RAS

Check whether they still have their tips on, or have been lopped to fit in the box. The latter can be really hard to grow into a decent tree.

YoungBlueEyes

I didn’t give them a good look over tbh cos we only nipped in for their loos 🤭