Bought fully complete garden - what now?

getfit

I bought a site and am about to build on it. A previous owner had a caravan on the site (20/30 years ago) and never built a house on it, but, developed a stunning garden. The current garden is about 45m long and 15m wide. It is surrounded on 3 sides by leylandi trees which I would say are 20+m high.

Within the garden there are 4/5 varietys of heather, a few varietys of Christmas trees, and about 15 (possible way more) other trees and plants that are well over 20 years old. There is a also a small elevated pond. The circular pond is about the size of 2 typical circular dining tables. It is elevated about 1m above ground level and has a variety of plants and shrubs and rocks on the slope around it. The pond was obvioulsy well put together as it has no leaks even though it is full with water and this water is - as I said is 1m above the ground level.

My basic problems are that
a) I know nothing about gardening - but am prepared to put in the work to maintain and possible develop the garden
b) previous owners who bought it to build on but never got around to it - tried "to keep it under control", but only just and some plants are dead and others are taking over too much and others are loosing battles to thorn bushes
c) The grass in the garden has been overtaken by moss and thus needs a lot of help.
d) The lelandi are a little out of control which I think is blocking too much light from the garden.
e) From the back of the house to the garden is a further 25m long. So basically the garden should extend from 45m to about 70m and it will also widden considerable as it gets to the house. This connecting of the old garden to the new house via a new garden could create a really nice situation. But how?

The biggest problem is - I have very little money as all of it will be going into building the house. Thus paying for a person to come in and make recommendations is out of the question.

I need to know what good books I should invest in to develop my knowledge and possible other good sources of advice that garden folk are aware of that I am completly clueless on.

Any help or advice would be great!

prospect

Well,

First things first, The large Leylandi are causing your moss. Those trees are a pest asd far as I am concerned, and you would be best served to get rid of them.
If you decide to get rid of them, have a contractor come in and cut them down and mulch them. After 12 months you'll have decent mulch for spreading around your beds to keep the weeds down and the slugs out.

Other than that, surf the net and watch the gardening programs on Discovery etc.