No Idea Where to Start!

Curv

After a lifetime of never having to do any gardening we've just moved into a house with a potentially lovely outside space.

My problem (apart from my glaring lack of any gardening knowledge whatsoever) that there are so many things I'd like to do that I don't know what needs doing first. Perhaps you lovely, knowledgeable people might point me in the direction?

What I've got:
Slippery decking in two parts of the garden.
Patches of mud in the lawn (previous owners played football on it)
Tree roots showing through the lawn
A couple of borders filled with rubbishy plastic toys and a few of what look like leylandii (sp?)
Some tubs filled with mud and dead plants
Some wall brackets for baskets
Very little money.


What I'd like:
A less patchy lawn
Less treacherous decking
Some tomatoes
Some tubs of home grown vegetables
Some kitchen herbs
Some pretty hanging baskets
Some colourful tubs

Any advice is very gratefully received.

TIA

Curv

tanith

The lawn is fixable if you fork it over and reseed when the weather gets a bit warmer... The decking needs a good scrubbing with a hard brush and some cleaner...Tomatoes you can either grow in pots or gro-bags ... Try looking at Wilkinsons for tubs , pots , soil, and seeds they also do cheap plants but its a bit early yet/.... and they are usually cheap there.. you can buy mixed packs of herbs and flowers for baskets and grow them yourself if you have some sunny window sills...

Jack's_mummy

OK This is what I would do to start with

If you are sure the plants in the tubs are dead then pull them out - they could potentially be used for growing herbs/veg/colourful bedding displays.

Pop to Woolworths or the pound shop - peruse the cheap seeds/plants. See what you fancy and follow the instructions on the back for how/when to plants them.

Search about a bit on this forum for other new gardener/veggie gardening tips.
No idea on the grass as i have given mine up for dead until my son is at least 16 lol

alanobrien

Curv wrote: »

After a lifetime of never having to do any gardening we've just moved into a house with a potentially lovely outside space.

My problem (apart from my glaring lack of any gardening knowledge whatsoever) that there are so many things I'd like to do that I don't know what needs doing first. Perhaps you lovely, knowledgeable people might point me in the direction?

What I've got:
Slippery decking in two parts of the garden.
Patches of mud in the lawn (previous owners played football on it)
Tree roots showing through the lawn
A couple of borders filled with rubbishy plastic toys and a few of what look like leylandii (sp?)
Some tubs filled with mud and dead plants
Some wall brackets for baskets
Very little money.


What I'd like:
A less patchy lawn
Less treacherous decking
Some tomatoes
Some tubs of home grown vegetables
Some kitchen herbs
Some pretty hanging baskets
Some colourful tubs

Any advice is very gratefully received.

TIA

Curv

The lawn is easy, aerate it, ( shove a fork in it) rake it (to remove dead bits) and then re seed.

The decking can be fixed using diluted bleach and a stiff brush.

Veg can be done in potts - rocket is very easy and plentiful, spuds can be done in compost bags, carrots & parsnips etc can also be done in pots.

The rest can all be done from seeds on a sunny window cill.
Look for colourful trailing sweet peas for the hanging baskets and annuals for
colourful tubs. Just be aware of where you are putting what you buy, i.e sun, part sun or shade etc.

liverpooleo

Can't vouch for it from experience, but I read in the "Thrifty ways" book that you could paint plastic pots with yoghurt and leave them in the sun to get an aged, weathered look. Has anyone tried it? Sounds like a good cheap way to get good looking pots, though not colourful, I guess.
I did have a thought last summer of making mosaic pots by buying plates from charity shops, breaking them up (a goggles job) and sticking them onto cheapo plastic pots, but work got in the way. Also, I didn't get as far as researching a cheap way of sticking them on!
Maybe this year..............