On 23/07/2014 7:56 PM, eve83 wrote:
Hello,
Im an absolute newbie to gardening - i really dont have much of a clue.
Plus with a toddler and a baby i dont have much time either to research
things.
I would like to re-vamp the garden, particularly the side strip of grass
we have which is pointless at the moment.
Can anyone suggest what sort of plants i should buy - i would like a mix
of flowers & shrubs which are colourful & low maintenance, and will not
grow higher than the fence.
As i stand out the back of my house im looking in a north-west direction
(i have no idea what aspect this makes the border)
Any advice would be hugely appreciated - i went to a couple of garden
centres in the spring and quite frankly they made me feel stupid for not
knowing much about gardening :-(
There is an old saying: If you want to be happy for a day, get drunk.
If you want o be happy for a month, get married but if you want to be
happy for a lifetime, plant a garden.
Another saying is: Women have 3 loves in their lives and the last of
these loves is a garden.
My advice is that if you are short of time, have babes around and don't
feel like you need another activity then just leave the strip as it is
and wait a few years because if you don't get it right, it will irritate
you and you will constantly feel under pressure by this area that still
looks like crap.
Alternatively you could use it as a place to learn about gardening from
the bottom up (ie make mistakes and experiment) and perhaps take the
kids out there so it becomes a recreation area where they can be
outdoors and you can spend time with them.
Don't be intimidated by anyone because it's YOUR garden and all
gardeners had to start somewhere.
Try a local library ofr soem basic books (like the Hessayon books
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._G._Hessayon )or take the kids for a walk
round your neighbourhood on a weekend when people are working in their
gardens and if you see a plant you like, ask the garden owner what the
plant is and if they could tell you a bit about it. I yet to meet any
gardener ('real gardener', as opposed to those instant makeover idiots)
who didn't like to talk about their gardens or their plants