On 24/07/2010 18:37, Jake wrote:
On Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:01:49 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:


Hi

I'm moving into a new place next month and it's got a garden )

It's only a small lawn with a couple of borders, no more than 30 ft
square, but up till now I've only ever lived in flats so it's my first
garden...

Basically, what should I do with the border? I was thinking of planting
up some bulbs for next spring then putting some bedding plants in next
summer... but I don't want to dig up the bulbs after they flower if
they'll come back every year like daffodils. So should I plant the bulbs
in the back half of the border and put the bedding plants in the front?

Sorry I'm completely clueless

Good luck in your new home!

Your incredibly basic question doesn't have an incredibly basic
answer! To start with, the size of the borders, the direction they
face and how much sun they get will influence what you can plant as
will the type of soil you have in them. What plants are already there?
Do you want to make the borders bigger? Do you just want bulbs in the
spring and bedding in the summer and bare soil the rest of the time?

I'd suggest you pop along to your local bookshop or garden centre and
see if you can get a copy of a book called "The Easycare Gardening
Expert" by Dr D G Hessayon (costs about £8). It's one of a series of
"Expert" books which are all easy to read and understand (though a lot
of "purists" look down on them). The one I suggest will take you
through testing your soil type and preparing it and then planting a
range of plants to give you all year interest without too much work.
You can take the ideas in the book and adapt them to make the garden
your own.

Jake

There's a very good book which I started with and still have, I noticed
that Amazon have it very cheaply:

The link, (I hope it works):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creating-You...0046853&sr=1-1

Good luck with your garden
Don