Hello from sunny Midlands :)

Hello, everyone,
I registered a while ago when I found this forum on TapaTalk (android app), but never was active before.
I moved last April and finally I have my own garden, after many years of dreaming about it! It is a front garden but I want to transform it from a lawn sheet to something really beautiful.

I used to do a lot of gardening many years ago, but right now I feel like a complete newbie, I am originally from Italy and all the names of the plants (and the weather) are completely different.

Please be patient with me because I have hundreds of questions for you expert gardeners, and thank you very much for having me here

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

Benvenuti in Giardinieri angolo

 

Welcome to GC Ulivo. You'll soon get back into gardening and members here will help you along the way.

 

welcome

 

Bravissimo Zigs, and grazie


Thank you Armandii, yes it is a good idea to describe my garden a little bit.
First of all, it's small (11x6mt) and faces NW. It gets sun almost all day but not many spots get sunny for many hours.
As I said, It's all lawn with a few plants on the edges. Very sad.

It is a flat front garden and the shadiest part is the one nearest to the house (SE).
Years ago the lady who lived here had a garden that was the envy of many neighbours and I guess she made a lot of improvements on the soil, plus I still have a few plants she left, including a very healthy pieris that sits in the middle of the lawn.
Of all the few plants I have planted none died, not even some cuttings I just stick into the soil.

I didn't analyse the soil yet so I have no idea of the pH.
I'd say it's a clay type of soil.

I have a very low wall on the front and I want to create a tall/tallish mixed hedge along that wall. I really want it to be a private space, even if that means that the garden will be shadier. I am not sure this will happen because I get sun mostly from West and maybe the hedge shouldn't have a big impact.
On the west side I'd like to create a lower hedge so that the sun won't be blocked.
The shadiest part is along the house wall, SE, but even that part gets some hours of sun.
The problem with sunny spots is that they are sunny for just a few hours, probably the sunniest spots are the front and the bottom (NE) of the garden.

I am in the process of eliminating all the lawn apart from a winding path that I will leave covered in grass and a very small semicircle to sit on. I want flowers and bushes, no lawn!
Right now I am using a fork but it's a hellish job and I bought a herbicide which I am not very keen on using. We will see how much I can manage by myself.

I would like to create a small patio near the entrance to the garden (South corner) but at the moment I only have fletton bricks (loads) and I am not sure they are the right material for that. If they are not, I will have to find a different use for them.

Please if any of you have any idea to help me with the layout I'll be very grateful because this "white canvas" situation is making me nervous in case I mess up horribly!

 

Welcome! Whereabouts in the Midlands are you @Ulivo ?

 

I am originally from the Black Country.

 

Hi Ellen, I am in Hinckley now, used to live near Loughborough for many years.

 

Hello and welcome Ulivo

 

Hello from Coventry!

 

Hello and welcome

Pieris thrives in slightly acid soil, and in my experience, doesn't do well at all in neutral or alkaline soil. This leads me to suspect that you have acid soil.

If I'm right, then this is perfect, as it opens the door to so many beautiful shrubs that usually need special treatment. So much colour could come from Japanese maples (acers), Camellia, Rhoddendrons, Azaleas. You might even, if its unusually acidic, get away with blueberries straight in the ground, but if not, at least all the currants will be ok. For the lawn itself, if you keep some of it, you could sow native grassland wildflowers in there. My personal favourite, birdsfoot trefoil likes slightly acid soil, but there's also a good range of clovers, including crimson clover which is gorgeous. I'd love to have acid soil. All my favourite plants like acid soil.