Advice, Suggestions or Help

kilburn

Hey guys, trying to make my Dads garden a bit presentable without the cost of a landscaper.
I have attached a few pictures and hope I can get a few tips from you. Please ignore the stupid ornaments
The pic with the wall on the right and the shed at the end, Im just going to plant grass, seems to be the easiest way out.
The wall to the left of the garden, has shoots coming up again of hedges that were cut down but are regrowing, so going to have to dig all the roots up and probably plant grass into the wall.
The biggest problem is the end of the garden, as you can see there is roots of a tree, big poplar tree stumps and a raised area. My thoughts are running railway sleepers across the top of the garden and up the side of the shed to form a raised garden. Maybe 2 sleepers high across. If i push the raised area back to the end do i need to kill it with weed killer before I dig it up. Will it regrow when it is dumped into the earth at the back?
Would you leave the stumps there?
At the very back of the garden there is a hedge so I will need to put up something to stop the raised garden collapsing into the hedge at the rear. Would you put sleepers across the back or is there a cheaper alternative maybe a sheet of wood would suffice?
What would be the best strongest weed killer to use?
I am clueless about gardening and I am sure from reading some posts here that some of you guys are experts. So I hope you can point me in the right direction. Access is very poor for getting machinery in, would have to go through the house. Thanks again !

goat2

kilburn wrote: »

Hey guys, trying to make my Dads garden a bit presentable without the cost of a landscaper.
I have attached a few pictures and hope I can get a few tips from you. Please ignore the stupid ornaments
The pic with the wall on the right and the shed at the end, Im just going to plant grass, seems to be the easiest way out.
The wall to the left of the garden, has shoots coming up again of hedges that were cut down but are regrowing, so going to have to dig all the roots up and probably plant grass into the wall.
The biggest problem is the end of the garden, as you can see there is roots of a tree, big poplar tree stumps and a raised area. My thoughts are running railway sleepers across the top of the garden and up the side of the shed to form a raised garden. Maybe 2 sleepers high across. If i push the raised area back to the end do i need to kill it with weed killer before I dig it up. Will it regrow when it is dumped into the earth at the back?
Would you leave the stumps there?
At the very back of the garden there is a hedge so I will need to put up something to stop the raised garden collapsing into the hedge at the rear. Would you put sleepers across the back or is there a cheaper alternative maybe a sheet of wood would suffice?
What would be the best strongest weed killer to use?
I am clueless about gardening and I am sure from reading some posts here that some of you guys are experts. So I hope you can point me in the right direction. Access is very poor for getting machinery in, would have to go through the house. Thanks again !

look out for second hand scaffold timber, since the fall of economy there are plenty about they will be a cheap alternative to sleepers, of course you will be able to do it yourself, be patient do one thing at a time, clear out stumps, i would say if you dig down a little and just saw out the top bits it will do, and anything that come up next year spray it or paint on a little roundup on the new growth, you do not have to break your back, a pike a spade, a rake also a saw for cutting boards to size and cutting out stumps from below the earth this thing does not have to cost much, just a bit of your time and patience

HardyEustace

In the process of doing up my garden at the moment.

It's an exhausting process but will be worth it in the end (I hope).

I'm only starting out so am open to correction on any of the points I list below.

Right - on weed killer - round up will be sufficient for most gardens. However it works on the leaf of the plant so you need to spray now before things start dying off.

Personally one of the first things I would do it go and buy a few books on amazon and have a look through them. I bought two and they gave me wealth of ideas.

Once you have a design down, I think you'll need to get a skip and put all the rubble beside the shed and anything else you want to get rid of.

I'd also get rid of the ivy at the back of the shed. I don't think it's very good for walls and can ultimately crumble them.

For a raised garden you'll need good foundations and then good drainage behind the retaining wall as well. I have a B&Q book which has a few pages on this which I found very good.

Other questions
1. Are you living at home? (i.e. is it possible to do a few hours every evening and then)
2. How long term do you want this to be?

Personally, having started to investigate it, I think you're better off taking a bit of a medium to long term view and investing a bit of time and money in it. From what I've read on this forum, anything that's a short term solution doesn't seem to work out long term and can sometimes cause more problems than it solves.

But equally it's up to you. It's just something to think about.

kilburn

Thanks for your tips.
I am not living at home but I am out of work so I have plenty of time to tackle it. I have a rough idea in my head alrite of what i want to do.
Just trying to figure out where to start.

goat2

start at what you definately want to do,say the raised part, get that done, and then move on to next project, at your ease, you will be amazed at how fast things will come together, also we do get nice days in the winter for you to be out there, and next summer you can do the tweaks and get it right for you, an hour here and there will get you to your dream

looksee

I sometimes think that gardening should be in philosophy Its not something that you do all in a minute, it takes time and patience. Things go wrong and there is no point getting into a state about it, just accept it, learn and move on.

Getting your garden landscaped is a bit like people who want to furnish their entire house to a finished stage before they move in. Where is your identity in that? How do you know what the house needs? Similarly a garden is a tree at a time, a flower bed here, no, it would be better there, well we'll just move it.

Some of the gardening programmes on tv are very misleading. Any fool can make a garden look wonderful by getting professionals in to build walls, then filling it with a small fortune of planting. How do you get to browse around garden centres if your garden is fully planted. And there will always be way too many plants after a couple of years, so you waste the money you spent at the start, pulling up the spares.

A garden is hugely satisfying, but you need to take it easy, lean on your spade and watch a robin, sow seeds and prick them out and plant them, enjoy.

Sorry OP, this isn't aimed at you, just a thought that I wanted to write down

goat2

looksee wrote: »

I sometimes think that gardening should be in philosophy Its not something that you do all in a minute, it takes time and patience. Things go wrong and there is no point getting into a state about it, just accept it, learn and move on.

Getting your garden landscaped is a bit like people who want to furnish their entire house to a finished stage before they move in. Where is your identity in that? How do you know what the house needs? Similarly a garden is a tree at a time, a flower bed here, no, it would be better there, well we'll just move it.

Some of the gardening programmes on tv are very misleading. Any fool can make a garden look wonderful by getting professionals in to build walls, then filling it with a small fortune of planting. How do you get to browse around garden centres if your garden is fully planted. And there will always be way too many plants after a couple of years, so you waste the money you spent at the start, pulling up the spares.

A garden is hugely satisfying, but you need to take it easy, lean on your spade and watch a robin, sow seeds and prick them out and plant them, enjoy.

Sorry OP, this isn't aimed at you, just a thought that I wanted to write down

very well said
it is a past time and a very rewarding one at that, look at others gardens in your area at this time of yr you will see what does best,
remember the bigger the leaf on plants, the faster that plant grows,
as for hedging medium to small leaves will do, you will not want to be cutting back every couple weeks, instead of once or twice a year,

kilburn

Going to get the round up today and get cracking into it.
Never thought of scaffolding planks.
What is the best sheeting for the bed to stop weeds ?

looksee

The weed suppressent stuff you buy in Woodies or Homebase is fine. You have to cut a decent sized cross in it to plant anything afterwards so keep some spare, cut out a square with a single cut from one edge (not corner) and put this on after you have planted and folded the X back. Otherwise the weeds will find the cuts and come through. Get it well to the back of the bed also, tuck it down if you can to discourage weeds there too.