Hi- it looks like I will shortly have my first garden- I'm doing a council
flat exchange and gaining a city garden in the process. Its small (roughly
30" x 20") and with nothing much actually growing there- it hasn't been
tended for a long time. Gets a fair bit of sun though. Someone has hacked the
weed jungle back to ground level recently, revealing some rather nice moss in
large patches. Its a smallish lawn (rough) surrounded by the vestigial
remains of what was once a rectangular flower bed around it on three sides.

I do know a bit about gardening but my experience was long ago-now I'm middle
aged and with enough of a disability to not be able to do anything remotely
like normal garden maintenance.

I know of the concept of the low maintenance garden and if I can get someone
to dig it all for me and maybe plant some shrubs and ground cover plants, it
can be very low maintenance. My plan is to buy one of those calor-gas-fired
weed burning appliances that you can use to burn weeds at ground level
without bending and just zap what shouldn't be there maybe once a week or so
and let the things that should be there grow. its crude but it may do the
trick.

I have the idea that I can try to incorporate some of my favourite plants;
old-type (in appearance anyway) roses with a scent, phlox and stuff like
that. Its similar to a cottage garden idea but with some deliberate ground
cover planting. I think I can stake a few plants when needed- maybe even
divide the occasional clump of perennials- what i can't do is potter around
doing a few hours maintenance per week. A few minutes per week is more like
it.

There is a lawn, sort of. Not healthy but its there. The problem is- do I
keep a grass lawn and then somehow mow it regularly in summer (maybe I could
actually use a hover-type mower myself if it is relatively effortless) or is
there another plant that can be a real lawn substitute? I've heard about
chamomile lawns but heard they are a real hassle in practice. And then
there's wild thyme that apparently can make a lawn. A lawn that is fragrant
and does not actually need mowing or much in the way of maintenance could be
a very good thing.

Another complication is I need some shrubs that reach 6ft to grow at the rear
and sides so that there is some visual screening. Something that does not go
totally bare in winter would be handy, but I don't want a row of boring
pointy conifers!

So I thought I'd ask for any suggestions for plants, and for getting the
further info I need to do this. Gardening books that focus on small, city,
semi-natural, cottage or low-maintenance gardens or plant characteristics
would be helpful. There are a lot of books out there and my guess is that as
with other areas, only a few of these books will really stand out. If you
know of any books that you think are really good that would be useful for my
situation, do please let me know!

If you know of any good web sites or mail order suppliers that would be
useful (I know about Crocus already) then please let me know!

Ditto if you know of any shrubs for visual screening or any other plants that
you think are a really good idea. Many thanks for any suggestions.

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