Hello, all I have just come across this forum and unfortunatly am joining you with limited knowledge on gardening. I bought a new house last year and the back garden is just a turfed box, not even a daisy to brighten things up. It needs planning, building etc and I don't know where to start.

All I want from the garden is to sit out in the summer and enjoy the evening with a beer and look at pretty flowers. By trade I am an Electrician so not to bothered about hard work, I've put an outside light up so far which is very bright and ample for an evenings entertainment.

I don't want a pond, but I do want tree's, bushes, flowers and a bbq.

Please help if it was left to me I'm sure I would ruin it!

"uklude" wrote

Hello, all I have just come across this forum and unfortunatly am
joining you with limited knowledge on gardening. I bought a new house
last year and the back garden is just a turfed box, not even a daisy to
brighten things up. It needs planning, building etc and I don't know
where to start.

All I want from the garden is to sit out in the summer and enjoy the
evening with a beer and look at pretty flowers. By trade I am an
Electrician so not to bothered about hard work, I've put an outside
light up so far which is very bright and ample for an evenings
entertainment.

I don't want a pond, but I do want tree's, bushes, flowers and a bbq.

Please help if it was left to me I'm sure I would ruin it!

Welcome to this Newsgroup (via Gb).

Making a worthwhile garden from scratch will not be instant as portrayed on
TV.

The first thing to do is to draw a scale map of your garden and mark how the
sun moves around it. That way you won't put the patio/BBQ area somewhere you
don't get evening sun or a breakfast area where that doesn't get morning sun
etc. Do remember it will change with the seasons too as the sun rises and
drops.
Once you have that you can discuss with your family what each wants from the
garden, both now and in the future and plan for it. i.e. Do you eventually
want a conservatory, pond, swimming pool, kids play area, washing line .....
You can then draw up a plan for the Hard Landscaping and get that built (
patio, BBQ area, paths, walls, steps....).

Only then should you start to think about planting plants.
If it's a small garden then it may not be a good idea to have any grass,
take longer to get the mower out than cut the grass.
If you aren't a gardener do you think you might like to become one or do you
just want something easy to manage?
Trees and shrubs are usually undemanding and permanent but will need an
annual prune to keep them looking good..herbaceous plants will need more
attention...bedding plants will need a lot of work (and cost) planting and
removing every year. That's besides the weeding.
Visiting some gardens with a notebook at various times of the year will
enable you to see what appeals to you and yours. Take your time.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

In message , uklude
writes

Hello, all I have just come across this forum and unfortunatly am
joining you with limited knowledge on gardening. I bought a new house
last year and the back garden is just a turfed box, not even a daisy to
brighten things up. It needs planning, building etc and I don't know
where to start.

All I want from the garden is to sit out in the summer and enjoy the
evening with a beer and look at pretty flowers. By trade I am an
Electrician so not to bothered about hard work, I've put an outside
light up so far which is very bright and ample for an evenings
entertainment.

I don't want a pond, but I do want tree's, bushes, flowers and a bbq.

Please help if it was left to me I'm sure I would ruin it!

Hi,

Welcome to the group.

I know you will get lots of advice but probably - before that - you will
get a number of questions about your garden. What direction it faces,
what kind of soil is there already (very easy to find out), perhaps what
your neighbours may be growing, how shaded or sunny it is ... etc. etc.

But you have certainly come to the right place to ask the questions.
Whether, as you say, you just want to have a pleasant patch to enjoy
your beer (excellent idea!) or gradually get a bit more interested and
start growing some of your own veg, or roses .... you can take it as far
as you want .... you have come to the right place. There are many very
knowledgeable and helpful people in this group. A bit mad sometimes but
always amusing and (generally) good mannered.

Good luck!
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

Thanks for the replys guys, I have done some research into some cornish palm trees. If I knew how to add pics I could show you all the angles I will check the soil aswell, also its abit boggy at the back so could do with sorting out somehow, maybe a tree to soak up some water. Also would like some aggregate to brighten it up.

It's not a massive garden its long and thin, as for the sun, it goes from left to right throughout the day, at the moment it goes behind the house around 1.30pm ish but the back of the garden gets sun all of the day. Thanks again guys will try to sort out pics soon.

"uklude" wrote

Thanks for the replys guys, I have done some research into some cornish
palm trees. If I knew how to add pics I could show you all the angles I
will check the soil aswell, also its abit boggy at the back so could do
with sorting out somehow, maybe a tree to soak up some water. Also
would like some aggregate to brighten it up.

It's not a massive garden its long and thin, as for the sun, it goes
from left to right throughout the day, at the moment it goes behind the
house around 1.30pm ish but the back of the garden gets sun all of the
day. Thanks again guys will try to sort out pics soon.


Cornish Palms or more correctly Cabbage Palms (Cordyline australis and not a
real palm) are Ok but do take many years to grow into their full tree shape.
The green ones look good when well grown and flowering but I can't say the
same about the reddy coloured ones IMO that simply look rather brown and
dead.
There are some real Palms that will grow in the UK, the most common one
being the Chusan Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) but again it's a very slow
grower.
If the gardens a bit boggy at the back where it gets full sun use that as an
advantage and plant stuff that like boggy and sunny conditions, various Iris
species come to mind. (I leavigata, I siberica...)
That said, if the back gets sun all day then that is where you want to put
your main patio/sitting area and BBQ and you need to be careful about
placing trees lest you hide your patio from the sun as the trees grow.
A few fan trained fruit trees along the sunny back fence might be a good
idea, peaches should do well.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden

If it is "new build", the first thing to do is check how much real soil there is before you hit the rubble from the building works. I know someone whose garden had to be entirely stripped and the rubbish removed before new topsoil was brought in. Developers have a very bad practice of spreading the minimum of topsoil and dumping turf on top.