Garden help and ideas please

Watty1

Helpful ideas please.  Last summer the drought killed off lots of plants, and the lawn. The lawn is now a mass of weeds and mole hills.  I'm on really sandy soil (there is a sand quarry next door so really sand).   The borders are fairly empty of have dead plants.     The house ownership is currently under dispute so I just tried to ignore it.   However it seems a resolution might be in sight and I may be buying the house.

I will have very little money left over so I'm wondering how to fix the garden.   I had an idea for the lawn in that if I weed the worst of it I could maybe plant daisies and create a daisy lawn later in the year (I'm hoping people would give me those).

That leaves the borders.  Annual seeds have never taken here, mainly because of the soil I think.  So I need some ideas on how to fill the  borders on the cheap and would really welcome some creative thoughts on that.

twopenny

A daisy lawn sounds fabulous! And no mowing. They can grow really tight together and prevent other sttuff intruding.

You obviously have imagination so sandy, really sandy would be seaside plants which could be fun with some pebbles. They tent to be hardy so low maintenance.

I know there have been some gardening programmes on the subject with lovely effect.

Flugelhorn

I look after some areas  which struggle to grow much from seed - ghastly soil - but we had loads of self set mexican fleabane last year and it grew well, flowered for ages and tolerated being chopped back (several times) 

Also cuttings of succulents like golden stonecrop did very well (or similar sedums ) - need to snaffle a few cuttings off friends and they will take well and can cope anywhere

twopenny

Some plants mentioned here

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/gardens/gardening-tips/alan-titchmarsh-ive-astonished-can-grow-garden-sea-will-181035

And lovely 2nd photo down.

https://www.gardenersunearthed.com/2020/11/love-your-coastal-garden.html

I did a search for Alan Titchmarsh coastal gardens - and the images. Or just coastal.

There are some lovely ideas.

For money saving there are seeds coming that are just 89p a packet in all sorts of odd shops - poppy seeds often seed into the pavement and walls. You can collect the seed from there.

You may need to add some soil or compost to get them going but they should be ok after that. Don't buy the cheap stuff from random shops. I found Tomato growbags were cheaper and good for soil improvement.

Some grasses are beautiful and different sizes. They seed and it's easy to collect the seed if you ask nicely.

KajiKita

It would be worth you tracking down a second hand copy of Beth Chatto’s ‘Gravel Gardening’ and Derek Jarman’s book on his garden at Dungeness. 

Look at Mediterranean herbs like rosemary, lavender, thymes etc and other Mediterranean plants such as Cistus. The herbs you can get as weeny (cheap!) babies at garden centres - they will grow quickly or even cuttings from friends. 

I’d be tempted to drop the idea of a lawn altogether and just go for something like a gravel ‘stream’ path through wild and shaggy planting …. 😊 Or a prostrate thymes lawn could be an option as well 😊

KK

theoretica

Also admire other gardens in your neighbourhood - you may get great ideas for the local area, and maybe even offers of cuttings or seeds.

Farway

KajiKita said:

It would be worth you tracking down a second hand copy of Beth Chatto’s ‘Gravel Gardening’ and Derek Jarman’s book on his garden at Dungeness. 

Look at Mediterranean herbs like rosemary, lavender, thymes etc and other Mediterranean plants such as Cistus. The herbs you can get as weeny (cheap!) babies at garden centres - they will grow quickly or even cuttings from friends. 

I’d be tempted to drop the idea of a lawn altogether and just go for something like a gravel ‘stream’ path through wild and shaggy planting …. 😊 Or a prostrate thymes lawn could be an option as well 😊

KK

Beat me to it, I was going to suggest Beth Chatto etc

Regarding the herbs mentioned, you can buy growing potted Rosemary & Thyme in Asda for 80p, in the fresh veg section, not garden. I have grown both in my garden from Asda pots

PS, when you get round to planting try, if possible, to plant an upended "pop" bottle with the base cut off, spout down among the roots and alongside the plant

This will enable you to spot water choice plants at the roots without worrying about the whole border, just fill the bottles up and leave the rest of the border to get on with it

Katiehound

You might find this of interest
https://gardeningonsand.wordpress.com/

if you click on the 3 lines in the black box next to magnifying glass (probably has an icon name!!)  there are more pages talking about plants & seeds that thrive on sand

greenbee

Katiehound said:

You might find this of interest
https://gardeningonsand.wordpress.com/

if you click on the 3 lines in the black box next to magnifying glass (probably has an icon name!!)  there are more pages talking about plants & seeds that thrive on sand

The technical jargon is 'the burger'  

Watty1

You lovely lot. This was super helpful.

There is a fabulous fish and chip place near Derek Jarman's garden so I popped along to have a look under the pretence of date night with the boyfriend.    The garden was really creative with driftwood and seaside stuff but very few plants (this was last autumn) and I was disappointed but I'll see if I can find his book anyway.  Beth Chatto's book is a fab idea I'll see if I can find a second hand copy or ask at the libray.

I have just fished some plastic bottles out of the bin as I thought that was a great idea too.  The garden used to have an irrigation system but so much of it broke and the battery box that fed it stopped working and it became so brittle that I gave up repairing it and pulled it up I think the plastic bottles are a great idea.  If I restore the gravel paths and do major weeding and clearing next month that will be a start.  The mexican fleabane is a great idea (I just looked it up and realised the lovely garden down the road has masses of it so it clearly thrives here) 

so glad i posted because actually you have all cheered me up, given me some ideas. Particularly the pebbles as that would fill a large area quite cheaply too.   

Katiehound

It will probably pay you, not quite literally! to check all the local gardens and see what is growing there. Then, chat to the owners, talk about what they have, admire plants and after a chat or two maybe ask for a small cutting of a plant or a few seeds.

 Generally gardeners are only too pleased to give bits away especially if a vigorous plant needs a trim: rather give away than throw away. They might also make suggestions & say 'sorry' that one was expensive... in which case take a note of the plant and put it on your wish list. You might want to ask for garden tokens in the future....