GreenFly - A 'flylady style' gardening thread with weekly tasks to tame your garden

redofromstart

Hello @spendaholic

That does sound like a really interesting big project.  I am trying to rescue a neglected garden too (mostly neglected by me) and I found that there is remarkably little useful guidance out there.  The two books I found offered very little helpful advice about approach but suitably full of enthusiasm about what to do when it came to replanting. I like playing in the garden, and chip away at it regularly but I am not a knowledgeable gardener so I figure I just have to break it down into manageable bits.

Most trees I prune once the leaves have dropped, and if in doubt I take no more than a third off.  I haven't killed anything accidentally yet with this approach.
Ivy I chop back as much as possible whenever I have the energy, blasted stuff roots as it hits the ground and in my case comes in from the church yard next door so it is an annual job.  I try not to do it when the birds are nesting. 
The roses leave till spring.  See what they are like once they flower and make a decision then.  Some of the older ones just aren't worth the space no matter how you prune. 
Shrubs - depends what they are, but again I mostly take a third out (width rather than height). Some useful stuff here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/beginners-guide/pruning-plants/pruning-shrubs
Nettles I take out early spring when there is little growth, black berries whenever I see them spurting out of the walls

November 'to do' lists?  They seem to be mostly about planting tulips.  (Which I still haven't done) 

I also bulk buy weed killer from Amzn, much cheaper than buying in small quantities. Doesn't seem to do much to ivy though. 

Good luck with it.

spendaholic

Working_Mum said:

Hello Spendaholic,
Do you feel comfy sharing pictures? It'd be good to see what's there and people can share their thoughts which may inspire you too!

Thank you! 

Well, that gave me something else to do on my first ever 15-minute walking assessment! It took the full 15 minutes and then another hour, nearly, to get them uploaded and transferred to a garden folder on the desktop! But...I had to do it anyway, as we like to do before-and-after photographs of anything we do to the property.

Now, then, all I have to do is rename them and decide which ones to share. (I took 81 pics! 😱 ) (No, I won't bombard everyone. They were of the entire front garden and we've decided to start with one spot, front-right.) 

So, as soon as I've selected a handful, I'll see if I can post them. 😊

spendaholic

redofromstart said:

That does sound like a really interesting big project.  I am trying to rescue a neglected garden too (mostly neglected by me) and I found that there is remarkably little useful guidance out there.  The two books I found offered very little helpful advice about approach but suitably full of enthusiasm about what to do when it came to replanting. I like playing in the garden, and chip away at it regularly but I am not a knowledgeable gardener so I figure I just have to break it down into manageable bits.

It would be even more interesting if we knew we were going to stay, we might not be so inclined to not pay for anyone to come and do it for us then. But you're right. I've searched and searched and I can't find much either. Plenty on garden revival, plenty on garden design, and plenty on maintaining a garden. But not a lot on land clearance  or clearing the canvas. 

We need someone to just tell us what to do first, then what to do next, and then what to do afterwards.

I'm working on pictures...

spendaholic

Thanks for suggesting I post pics, @Working_Mum

We've decided to concentrate on just one section first, the bit we call front-right (it's on the right with the house behind us, but on the left as we look at the house from the road).

In these pics you can see the dead ivy that invaded the house, the poorly apple tree, one of the overgrown buddleia (this is the smaller of the two), the big bramble patch that has 4 massive tree stumps inside it, and the bushes towards the back of the house that are pushing the greenhouse down on the other side.

After my 15-minute walk taking pictures, job #1 changed from 'remove dead ivy' to 'unblock drain'. But Mr S has just come home from work and done that already. So the next job is to remove that dead ivy.

It sounds worse than it looks, but it is a big job and I think the next job will be to hack down that big hedge and work forwards towards the road.

EDIT: I don't have any historic pictures of this part of the garden.

Cherryfudge

You've given us all a winter project, @spendaholic! Redo's advice (above) seems like an excellent starting point to me, the only variation being that I'd take out any weedy rose branches because I doubt they will benefit the roses next year. As Redo says, the roses will tell you what they are in their own time.

I'm not an expert gardener at all, though quite good at pottering and a long-term enemy of ivy. It invaded my parents' house too. Incredible how it can actually get inside. I still have to pull it out quite often here, but if it's climbing up something and you can cut through lower down, half the battle is won.

I'd suggest keep secateurs by the door and a box or wheel barrow for trimmings, in the area you are working on. Chip away at it if you have a few minutes. Wade in if you have a few hours. Next year, all progress you can make in spring is worth it many times over. What you cut back or rip out then may try to grow back, but it won't be as big.

PS. Tie bright pink string to the secateurs or the garden will swallow them when your back is turned.  

Cheery_Daff

@greenbee that is indeed excellent scything, well done! 😃 I can never quite manage a straight line, always curve round to one side, which gets more pronounced as my rows go along 😂

@spendaholic welcome! I wonder whether some of the principles of permaculture might be useful to you? If you don't know it, this is principally about taking inspiration from nature to design gardens (or other things) to suit your needs.

So you'd start with observing your space, where the sun is at different times of year. Thinking about what resources you have, and your limits (in your case, you don't want to be installing anything permanent just yet, for example).

This looks like a nice article - someone talking about the principles and how they've applied them in their own garden while not being able to be hugely physically active 

https://earthundaunted.com/the-principles-of-permaculture-made-gardening-accessible-for-my-chronic-illness-and-pain/

I'd say start small, start near the back door, and observe as you go. 

greenbee

There’s still loads to do @Cheery_Daff, particularly as there’s a layer underneath that has collapsed in the other direction. I’ll need to go over it all twice and still have a lot to do. It’s starting to feel a bit overwhelming and I may need to give in and get the petrol mower out for the rest if it ever dries out! 

I definitely need to work on garden design over the winter and get some beds dug in the spring. 

SuzeQStan

Cherryfudge said:

PS. Tie bright pink string to the secateurs or the garden will swallow them when your back is turned.  

Where have you been all my life!?! What a brilliant idea I lose my secateurs about 10 times each time I walk into the garden. Thank you 🥰

Cherryfudge

SuzeQStan said:

Cherryfudge said:

PS. Tie bright pink string to the secateurs or the garden will swallow them when your back is turned.  

Where have you been all my life!?! What a brilliant idea I lose my secateurs about 10 times each time I walk into the garden. Thank you 🥰

LOL, I can't claim the idea as my own though I don't remember where I read it. When I had to replace my secateurs I got a bright red pair and so far I still have them. It's very sad finding ruined garden tools that used to be a tasteful green or brown but are now starting to revert to nature from having spent too much time in it!

redofromstart

I lost my original (bright red!) felco secateurs for ages, they eventually turned up in the compost heap. Mr Redo sighed and refurbished them for me. He was very useful like that, although he only gardened with a chain saw. 

I am being tempted by more bulbs, need to plant these tulips first.