Hello all.

I'm new on the forum, so apologies if I'm going over old ground here.

In the next couple of weeks, I'm moving into a new house, and the garden hasn't been touched for a year. Frankly I don't know where to start.

I know a little about gardening, but I'm out of practise. I could really do with some practical advise about how I can bring the garden back into shape, along with a rough time scale of when the actions should be done.

Some details of what I'm getting myself into:

Front garden:
Garden is not especially large. Lawn in the middle, needs a mow. medium sized trees and large shrubs ( none yet identified ) which are badly out of shape. climbing roses are in some of the tree's, very straggly and twiggy.

Soil is very poor. No light seems to get to the bottom of soil itself.


Back garden:
Windswept. Small piece of grass needs a mow and a scarify. borders full of tatty and stragly small perenials, all over grown. A few climbing roses that have grown up the garage wall and now right over the top of the garage and spreading along the roof. Small plastic pond that is 90% full of mud and plants - no fish. Needs completely re-starting from scratch. Hedges ( various species ) don't seem to have been cut for two years. Hugely overgrown. Soil seems much better quality.


I have two main desires:
1) Get the garden into reasonably tidy shape, so it's not annoying me over winter

2) carry out any preperation/planting that's needed so that I can start a spring "campaign" to make it start looking good.

The problem I have is that it's already october, and I might not be in the house until the end of october. I want to make it tidy and neat for the winter, but I *think* it's getting too late in the year, and I'm concerned I'll just kill everything.

I wonder if someone would be able to give a novice some advice on what is practical to do at this time of year without getting into a mess next year.

If some one could also provide some advice on the sorts of plants/bulbs/seeds etc that I should be thinking of getting in at this time of year, so as to get at least some colour in the spring, I'd be eternally greatful.

Many thanks indeed.

Steve

"RipSlider" ripJUNKslider{at}gJUNKmail-dot-coJUNKm - delete junk wrote in
message ...

Hello all.

I'm new on the forum, so apologies if I'm going over old ground here.

In the next couple of weeks, I'm moving into a new house, and the
garden hasn't been touched for a year. Frankly I don't know where to
start.

I know a little about gardening, but I'm out of practise. I could
really do with some practical advise about how I can bring the garden
back into shape, along with a rough time scale of when the actions
should be done.

Some details of what I'm getting myself into:

Front garden:
Garden is not especially large. Lawn in the middle, needs a mow. medium
sized trees and large shrubs ( none yet identified ) which are badly out
of shape. climbing roses are in some of the tree's, very straggly and
twiggy.

Soil is very poor. No light seems to get to the bottom of soil itself.



Back garden:
Windswept. Small piece of grass needs a mow and a scarify. borders full
of tatty and stragly small perenials, all over grown. A few climbing
roses that have grown up the garage wall and now right over the top of
the garage and spreading along the roof. Small plastic pond that is 90%
full of mud and plants - no fish. Needs completely re-starting from
scratch. Hedges ( various species ) don't seem to have been cut for two
years. Hugely overgrown. Soil seems much better quality.


I have two main desires:
1) Get the garden into reasonably tidy shape, so it's not annoying me
over winter

2) carry out any preperation/planting that's needed so that I can start
a spring "campaign" to make it start looking good.

The problem I have is that it's already october, and I might not be in
the house until the end of october. I want to make it tidy and neat for
the winter, but I *think* it's getting too late in the year, and I'm
concerned I'll just kill everything.

I wonder if someone would be able to give a novice some advice on what
is practical to do at this time of year without getting into a mess
next year.

If some one could also provide some advice on the sorts of
plants/bulbs/seeds etc that I should be thinking of getting in at this
time of year, so as to get at least some colour in the spring, I'd be
eternally greatful.

Many thanks indeed.

Steve


What a wonderful opportunity you have here :-))

Steve I would suggest that you need a 'someone' on site to discuss this
project and to that end. I would put your area and ask for friendly urglers
to email you and come and visit and over a cuppa discuss and advise on a
friendly basis. If you are Isle of Wight for example, my wife would LOVE to
come and visit and advise and even invite you here for ideas to incorporate.

If you go down the line of getting a Gardening Service in 'just to advise',
I can't see you getting the heartfelt touch.

Just my thoughts

Mike


--
www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and
Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success.
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates
www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly
"Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand

Steve wrote
I'm new on the forum, so apologies if I'm going over old ground here.

In the next couple of weeks, I'm moving into a new house, and the
garden hasn't been touched for a year. Frankly I don't know where to
start.

I know a little about gardening, but I'm out of practise. I could
really do with some practical advise about how I can bring the garden
back into shape, along with a rough time scale of when the actions
should be done.

Some details of what I'm getting myself into:

Front garden:
Garden is not especially large. Lawn in the middle, needs a mow. medium
sized trees and large shrubs ( none yet identified ) which are badly out
of shape. climbing roses are in some of the tree's, very straggly and
twiggy.

Soil is very poor. No light seems to get to the bottom of soil itself.



Back garden:
Windswept. Small piece of grass needs a mow and a scarify. borders full
of tatty and stragly small perenials, all over grown. A few climbing
roses that have grown up the garage wall and now right over the top of
the garage and spreading along the roof. Small plastic pond that is 90%
full of mud and plants - no fish. Needs completely re-starting from
scratch. Hedges ( various species ) don't seem to have been cut for two
years. Hugely overgrown. Soil seems much better quality.


I have two main desires:
1) Get the garden into reasonably tidy shape, so it's not annoying me
over winter

2) carry out any preperation/planting that's needed so that I can start
a spring "campaign" to make it start looking good.

The problem I have is that it's already october, and I might not be in
the house until the end of october. I want to make it tidy and neat for
the winter, but I *think* it's getting too late in the year, and I'm
concerned I'll just kill everything.

I wonder if someone would be able to give a novice some advice on what
is practical to do at this time of year without getting into a mess
next year.

If some one could also provide some advice on the sorts of
plants/bulbs/seeds etc that I should be thinking of getting in at this
time of year, so as to get at least some colour in the spring, I'd be
eternally greatful.


The normal advise is to not do anything much for a year to see what you have
got. There might just be some gems amongst the overgrown stuff. Did you see
it during the summer?
Herbaceous perennials are normally tidied up (cut back to almost the ground)
in the autumn so you will be able to do that which will make a significant
improvement to the tidiness of the garden for now and next year. The shrubs
you can attack too. I've even attacked an overgrown shrub with a chainsaw
reducing it from 10ft tall to 1ft stump and it's now a superb small bush.
Even camellias can be hard pruned. Certainly the roses can be hard pruned to
a foot tall to start them again if you want to keep them.

Once you have tidied up you may be surprised how much better it all looks
and you can then remove what you know you don't want. As I said before,
don't assume it's all rubbish.
After that fork over the soil and get some well rotted manure and spread
that on top of the soil and the worms will take it down over winter.
Then come the spring you will see what's what and can think of new plants
etc. That said you simply do not know what bulbs etc are dormant under the
soil already.

Of course if you want an unrealistic TV style makeover nuke the lot and
throw money at it. :-)

If you are anywhere near me let me know, I'm sure your garden isn't like a
friends/neighbours when they moved in. I did over 35 trips to the dump in my
90 (Defender) van for them!

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

On 4/10/07 08:41, in article ,
"RipSlider" ripJUNKslider{at}gJUNKmail-dot-coJUNKm - delete junk wrote:


Hello all.

I'm new on the forum, so apologies if I'm going over old ground here.

In the next couple of weeks, I'm moving into a new house, and the
garden hasn't been touched for a year. Frankly I don't know where to
start.

snip

In a way, you're lucky. This is a good time of year to tidy a garden and
'put it to bed' for the winter. If you get a dry spell, cut the grass - a
garden looks instantly tidier when that is done and lawn edges are neatened.
You can cut back any shrubs that don't have obvious buds forming for early
winter flowering and telling us where you live will help others in the same
area to advise you better.
I wouldn't do any serious digging because you might find yourself damaging
bulbs waiting to delight you in spring.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

"RipSlider" ripJUNKslider{at}gJUNKmail-dot-coJUNKm - delete junk wrote in
message ...

Hello all.

Welcome to URG Steve

I'm new on the forum, so apologies if I'm going over old ground here.

No problem.

a new house, and the garden hasn't been touched for a year
bring the garden back into shape

Front garden:
Garden is not especially large. Lawn in the middle, needs a mow. medium
sized trees and large shrubs ( none yet identified ) which are badly out
of shape. climbing roses are in some of the tree's, very straggly and
twiggy.

This is probably a good time to prune most shrubs as they will be going
dormant. Try to find out what they are - or post some photo's for us to look
at.

Soil is very poor. No light seems to get to the bottom of soil itself.

Compost Compost Compost :~)))


Back garden:
Windswept. Small piece of grass needs a mow and a scarify. borders full
of tatty and stragly small perenials, all over grown. A few climbing
roses that have grown up the garage wall and now right over the top of
the garage and spreading along the roof. Small plastic pond that is 90%
full of mud and plants - no fish. Needs completely re-starting from
scratch. Hedges ( various species ) don't seem to have been cut for two
years. Hugely overgrown. Soil seems much better quality.

Trim all de dead stuff and maybe wait to see whats what next year?
Clear out the pond or make a bog garden ?


I have two main desires:
1) Get the garden into reasonably tidy shape, so it's not annoying me
over winter

Tidy and prune ......

2) carry out any preperation/planting that's needed so that I can start
a spring "campaign" to make it start looking good.

Get some compost and spread it on the borders - start your own compost heap
for all the trimmings you'll be producing

If some one could also provide some advice on the sorts of
plants/bulbs/seeds etc that I should be thinking of getting in at this
time of year, so as to get at least some colour in the spring, I'd be
eternally greatful.

GREAT time to plant bulbs !! - you can always plant them in pots and put
them in the soil after flowering when you have got everything a bit sorted.
I'd also plant some winter pansies in pots and any oteh flowering stuff they
mighyt have at the GC. Put the pots near the front door and where you can
see them from the hosue. That way you'' have a something nice to look at
while you waiting for spring to arrive :~)

You can plant all sorts of trees/shrubs/perennials NOW - best time of year
to do it !!

Jenny

Hi Steve and welcome, I see you're in York as well.

Re the lawn, if the grass is very long make sure you mow it on a high setting to begin with and bring the height down gradually. Cutting it right down will more than likely leave you with a brown lawn all winter. Mow it as and when it needs it over the winter, but it will be too late to do any major renovations as the grass needs to be growing fairly vigorously. You can plan to scarify, topdress and overseeding in the spring. Over the winter identify any problem areas to be addressed in the spring.

Of course if you decide to do a whole makeover and lay some new turf, this can be done at any time of year providing the ground's not frozen and will certainly transform the garden immediately.

Good luck with the house move.

Thanks for all the comments so far.

As Helen states, I'm in York. The village I'm moving to is a few miles outside the city, so it will be pretty exposed and windy. There are fields on two sides, so I'm expecting a chilly winter!!

OK, here is my plan of action, based on the advice you've given so far plus a few days intensive reading.

If anything isn't right, please let me know:

1) Dig out pond. Mud on the compost heaps ( there are two in place ) and fill with water, then leave over winter. fish and plants added in spriing
2) chop tree's back by about 1/3 into a tidy shape
3) chop the woody shrubs back fairly hard, as required by their space and location
4) dead head/cut back rest of plants
5) Mow and edge the lawn with a half moon spade. At some point, I'm thinking of edging at least the back garden lawn with bricks. Any issues doing this in winter?
6) fork over the borders, especially in the front. Manure added.
7) Set up a leaf litter bin
8) put up a few bird boxes ( Is it too late to do this?)



I also have a few new questions if that's ok?

a) I've read about "green manure", but not sure what it is. It seems to be some type of grass. can someone tell me about it? Usages, pro's, con's etc

b) I'm starting to think about next year, especially spring and early summer. Any specific plants that I should be planting around now? Is it to late for daffodils? I know that tulips need to go in later on. How about crocus, snowbells , blue bells etc? Remember that the garden is exposed.

3) raised beds: I won't be growing any vegs. Is there a point to a raised bed purely for flowers? If so, is winter an OK time to construct one?


many thanks

Steve

"RipSlider" ripJUNKslider{at}gJUNKmail-dot-coJUNKm - delete junk wrote in
message ...

Thanks for all the comments so far.

As Helen states, I'm in York. The village I'm moving to is a few miles
outside the city, so it will be pretty exposed and windy. There are
fields on two sides, so I'm expecting a chilly winter!!

OK, here is my plan of action, based on the advice you've given so far
plus a few days intensive reading.

If anything isn't right, please let me know:

1) Dig out pond. Mud on the compost heaps ( there are two in place )
and fill with water, then leave over winter. fish and plants added in
spriing
2) chop tree's back by about 1/3 into a tidy shape
3) chop the woody shrubs back fairly hard, as required by their space
and location
4) dead head/cut back rest of plants
5) Mow and edge the lawn with a half moon spade. At some point, I'm
thinking of edging at least the back garden lawn with bricks. Any
issues doing this in winter?

Don't think so. You could use empty wine bottles instead "~))
See bottom of page : http://www.ljconline.nl/garden/gardenfront.htm

6) fork over the borders, especially in the front. Manure added.
7) Set up a leaf litter bin
8) put up a few bird boxes ( Is it too late to do this?)



I also have a few new questions if that's ok?

a) I've read about "green manure", but not sure what it is. It seems to
be some type of grass. can someone tell me about it? Usages, pro's,
con's etc

See this : http://www.kitchengardens.dial.pipex...reenmanure.htm

b) I'm starting to think about next year, especially spring and early
summer. Any specific plants that I should be planting around now? Is it
to late for daffodils? I know that tulips need to go in later on. How
about crocus, snowbells , blue bells etc? Remember that the garden is
exposed.

It's a fraction late but you can still plant bulbs - tulip, daffs, crocs,
hyacinths etc..... Later planting will mean that they bloom a bit later, but
will be fine. Look out in the GC's for reduced bulbs :~))

3) raised beds: I won't be growing any vegs. Is there a point to a
raised bed purely for flowers? If so, is winter an OK time to construct
one?

No special advantages unless for instance you are on clay and want to grow
rhodendendrons (acid soil lovers) Or you want a dry bed for sun loving
plants - raised ones drain better.

Why do you want raised beds ? is it part of a design feature?

I have loads, but that is because my garden is a concrete space :~)
http://www.ljconline.nl/garden/indexgarden.htm

many thanks
Steve

Jenny

On 6 Oct, 01:36, RipSlider ripJUNKslider{at}gJUNKmail-dot-coJUNKm -
delete junk wrote:
4) dead head/cut back rest of plants
5) Mow and edge the lawn with a half moon spade. At some point, I'm
thinking of edging at least the back garden lawn with bricks. Any
issues doing this in winter?
6) fork over the borders, especially in the front. Manure added.
7) Set up a leaf litter bin
8) put up a few bird boxes ( Is it too late to do this?)

Point 4 and 8 - there's some benefits to let plants to die back by
themselves, the first is that they bring structure and interest to a
garden in winter, they also bring food stuff to birds, insects and
seeds, and they'll want to settle in your garden. If they look too
untidy cut them down, but keep as much seed heads as you can. Next
year there will be more ofsprings, you'll be able to identiify the
plant, keep it if you like, collect the seeds, sow them somewhere
else, of just get rid of it if you don' t like it!

After 2 years some of my bricks are cracking, leaving piles of broken
tiny bits that I can't get rid off. I find bricks boring for this now.
I've started using wooden hedges - not only it looks nicer, I don't
accidentally drop a brick on a frozen finger either and it won't
desintigrate like bricks do. At least I hope so )

a) I've read about "green manure", but not sure what it is. It seems to
be some type of grass. can someone tell me about it? Usages, pro's,
con's etc

Green manure will fix nutrients and stop them being washed away by the
rain, especially after legumes harvest and will protect your soil from
the winter elements, like compaction. Also it is good to supress weeds
(which in winter won't matter) but also it provides a habitat for
insects. However, unless you are prepared to dug it in after
flowering, it will go woody and start using the nutrients. But then
you can add it to your compost (but that defeats the green manure
objective innit). Unless you want to use the soil for growing vegs, I
wouldn't green manure it. It is also a good idea to leave your plot
for up to 4 weeks after green manure before you start planting. Your
organic manure alone will be enough to protect your soil until spring
and will do a better job.

Now, what vegs are you going to grow?

b) I'm starting to think about next year, especially spring and early
summer. Any specific plants that I should be planting around now?

Lots indeed. From conifers to rasberries, from roses to tulips
(bulbs), from perenials to onions! Now is good because this auturmn is
just fantastic. The soil is still warm and the weather ... well we're
quite lucky in the north, I'm in Manchester ;o)