Complete newbie - advice

christine08

Hi all,

Myself and my partner have just purchased a house and are very lucky as it came with a very large and beautiful mature garden, that we are anxious to not kill off!
The main issue is we don't have a clue what we have or don't have, what needs pruning/getting rid of, any special care etc.
For now, given the time of the year, I'm just wondering where to start, or if I'm better off just leaving it completely as it is until I see what I have in Spring?
There are some large raspberry bushes that currently have yellow berries on them? I heard that it's best to cut this right down to the ground to encourage new growth next year?
I'm sorry in advance for stupid questions, as I say, I haven't the foggiest notion where to begin as I've never had a garden before but I'm eager to begin!

Thanks so much for any input.

monkeynuz

Hi Christine,

Welcome to the exciting, frustrating and rewarding world of gardening!

If we knew more about what you have in the garden (pics) then we might be able to advise more, there isn't a one size fits all hard and fast rule.

It basically depends on what you have that decides what needs doing.

Do you have Apple/fruit trees?

All the best and don't be afraid to ask anything no matter how trivial it seems, everyone has to start somewhere.

Also, don't be afraid to experiment too plants are quite tough so don't be afraid of them!

Oldtree

lots of maintainance this time of year. Get to know your plants before doing anything. I would start with Geoff Hamilton and his book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Geoff-Hamiltons-Practical-Gardening-Course/dp/0563362677
In fact all of his books are worth reading

monkeynuz

+1 for Geoff Hamilton, tells it straight and with no fluffy nonsense, proper understandable gardening unlike alot of the new breed of gardeners who like to complicate things for no real reason.

Alan Titchmarsh is another proper gardener, his books can get a bit tedious though.

Also look for little snippets of Geoff Hamilton on youtube, he really had a lovely way about him when explaining things.

redser7

Hessayon's Expert series of books are great. They can be got secondhand for 1p plus postage on amazon. You can get a whole library of books very cheaply.
But it would be good to take photos for people to ID and then you can decide if it is a good idea to prune or leave alone.

Those raspberries sound like an autumn variety as they still have fruit. For autumn types you should cut all the canes back to the ground each winter. Allow the sturdiest 5 or so canes to develop the next spring. Mulch with compost or manure plus a feed in spring and you should get a nice long harvest from mid to late summer till the frosts.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=hessayon+gardening+books&sprefix=Hessay%2Caps%2C253

christine08

Thanks so much for the replies. I will post pics as soon as I can and get my hands on some of those books.

We do have quite a few apple and pear trees, I assume they just need the branches to be cut back?

I would imagine when I go out to take pics I will come up with plenty more questions!

redser7

Pruning isn't just a matter of randomly cutting branches back. If you do it wrong you could deny yourself next years crop, or worse set the tree back for years. Until you have a good dea what to do I would suggest doing nothing is best. If you could get in touch with the previous owners that could be a starting point.

redser7

Nicky Kyle reckons Alan Titchmarsh really knows his stuff and highly recommends his book on pruning. Only a couple of quid secondhand ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alan-Titchmarsh-How-Garden-Training/dp/1846074002/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385333133&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Alan+twitchmarsh+pruning

Oldtree

never liked Alan, especially after the birch episode where he showed his lack of knowledge as to how to prune a tree properly (target pruning). Even after it was pointed out to him he still didn't back down in the following show merely compounding his position, bit of a clown really, never fitted into Geoff's shoes

looksee

Some things need to be pruned, others are better left alone. Until you sort out what is what, you will not do any harm at all by leaving them for a season, whereas you could do a lot of damage by pruning wrongly.

redser7

Oldtree wrote: »

never liked Alan, especially after the birch episode where he showed his lack of knowledge as to how to prune a tree properly (target pruning). Even after it was pointed out to him he still didn't back down in the following show merely compounding his position, bit of a clown really, never fitted into Geoff's shoes

Hard to beat Geoff Hamilton alright but that's a bit of a harsh assessment of AT based on one incident. Anyway that book gets good reviews all over the net and Nicky Kyle would know a thing or two about gardening so that's good enough for me.

Oldtree

redser7 wrote: »

Hard to beat Geoff Hamilton alright but that's a bit of a harsh assessment of AT based on one incident. Anyway that book gets good reviews all over the net and Nicky Kyle would know a thing or two about gardening so that's good enough for me.

I may well have a bias as Geoff was my head gardener , but my assessment of AT is not based on one incident, it was the straw that broke the camels back. AT seems too preoccupied with the asthetic and the superficial for my tastes, whereas Geoff was a hands on man.
Monty Don is another good gardener, as is Bob Flowerdew.

redser7

Fair enough. You couldn't get much better mentoring than that!

monkeynuz

Oldtree wrote: »

Monty Don is another good gardener.

I am afraid I can't agree with your statement about Monty Don, he really hasn't got a clue, he repeatedly makes mistakes and doesn't give correct advice, he is a failed jeweller who got lucky with TV presenting. he is a presenter plain and simple.

Alan Titchmarsh served many years as an apprentice in horticulture.

monkeynuz

Christine,

Wait a good while for advice on the fruit trees before messing with them, although you are coming into the perfect season for pruning them but pictures would be invaluable.

Oldtree

monkeynuz wrote: »

I am afraid I can't agree with your statement about Monty Don, he really hasn't got a clue, he repeatedly makes mistakes and doesn't give correct advice, he is a failed jeweller who got lucky with TV presenting. he is a presenter plain and simple.

Alan Titchmarsh served many years as an apprentice in horticulture.

While monty may not have a formal qualification he has passion about gardening, alan lacks this passion and clearly wasn't paying attention while serving as an apprentice. :P

Oldtree

monkeynuz wrote: »

Christine,

Wait a good while for advice on the fruit trees before messing with them, although you are coming into the perfect season for pruning them but pictures would be invaluable.

Good advice, I would be tempted to wait a year to see what is in the garden and go from there. This would also allow you time to get up to speed so to speak.

monkeynuz

Oldtree wrote: »

While monty may not have a formal qualification he has passion about gardening, alan lacks this passion and clearly wasn't paying attention while serving as an apprentice. :P

I don't understand your hatred for AT but Monty really doesn't have a clue and in my opinion is not in the slightest bit passionate he is entirely a presenter of a gardening program he does not have the love of plants, you only have to watch the way he manhandles plants and throws them around to know he couldn't give a toss.

As for AT not paying attention as an apprentice I don't know what you mean I have never found his advice to be anything but accurate and well delivered.

redser7

Well I can't agree with either of you in full In his TV work Geoff Hamilton for example would more or less throw things into the ground. It's something I liked about his approach. Bit of muck, fish, blood and bone and in she goes.
I don't know how anyone can accuse either of them of not having passion for gardening. They are each of them among the most famous gardeners in the world. Monty Don has had numerous TV and radio shows and there's no doubting his passion. As has AT who by the way is eminently trained.
Think this is just a case of personal preferences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Titchmarsh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Don

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Hamilton

monkeynuz

redser7 wrote: »

Well I can't agree with either of you in full In his TV work Geoff Hamilton for example would more or less throw things into the ground. It's something I liked about his approach. Bit of muck, fish, blood and bone and in she goes.
I don't know how anyone can accuse either of them of not having passion for gardening. They are each of them among the most famous gardeners in the world. Monty Don has had numerous TV and radio shows and there's no doubting his passion. As has AT who by the way is eminently trained.
Think this is just a case of personal preferences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Titchmarsh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Don

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Hamilton

Geoff and Alan are/were fully trained in horticulture monty ain't.

I just don't particularly like him or his style of gardening. Also he actually does very little gardening at all, the giveaway when watching gardeners world is sometimes you can hear the team of gardeners at work.

Oldtree

monkeynuz wrote: »

Geoff and Alan are/were fully trained in horticulture monty ain't.

I just don't particularly like him or his style of gardening. Also he actually does very little gardening at all, the giveaway when watching gardeners world is sometimes you can hear the team of gardeners at work.

It would appear that we all have our likes and dislikes

monkeynuz

Oldtree wrote: »

It would appear that we all have our likes and dislikes

Absolutely lol