Gardener newbie

Hi guys,

Probably not a very exciting one for you, but i've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and thought i'd check a forum for insights.

I have attached photos of the garden to show the before (we just moved in), and have since done some weeding (two additional photos attached to show current state).

Some parts of the garden are muddy with no grass (primarily where there were some old vegetables/weeds growing). Also some parts of the garden are bobbly (it was quite hard to mow).

As we are not doing any major garden work initially, I was thinking of raking the muddy bits only, aerating (shoe spikes), then when spring comes planting seed (followed by more raking/stamping in) with some basic lawn feed. Essentially we just want a nice green grassy garden.

Does that sound like a plan or would anyone recommend I rake the whole garden to make more flat? (assumed this would end up killing and wasting the existing grass).

Any tips/insights would be greatly appreciated!

Sam

 

Welcome to the forum! @Sams321 I am guessing from your pictures (and thank you for posting those!) that you are in the UK? If so you are in great luck as there are a lot of gardeners in your growing zone who can help.

 

Hi! Yes UK based (London)

 

You'll probably beg lots of help in the morning. It's nearly midnight there, I think

 

Welcome. Ask away. Your questions will be answered and loads of help is here for you.

 

Welcome Sam321....I am a newby also its a good garden forum with vast amounts of knowledge and helpful advice...variety of topics is very good as we spend our lives doing other stuff as well. Born and breed near London myself now living the french life.
Myself, I would think what your garden is to be most used for, then plan from there. If it was mine I would grow climbers up the fencing and add a background first...

 

Hello Sam, welcome to GC! You've done a good job there of weeding . I wonder if the 'bobbles' on the lawn are worm casts? If so, the usual advice is to wait until they're dry, then brush them off the surface. Your plan of re-seeding the bare areas sounds good. Just rough up the soil surface a bit first and keep the area just damp, should you have a dry spell after sowing.

 

Hi Sam and welcome to GC forums , if it's very wet I wouldn't walk on it, it will compact the soil, wait for it to dry out a bit. If you need to put a board down first and walk on that, it will distribute the weight on it.

 

Thanks for your replies guys.

@DianneW - thanks for the ideas. Sorry, silly question, but what’s a background? (In the context of gardening?)

Would welcome any other inspiration/thoughts on where to take it!

 

The background ...as in, around your boundary fence, I would put in Plants that grow up the fence, as it is smallish hedging would maybe take up too much of the garden. Honeysuckle is good and can be kept to the size you wish. There is a honeysuckle that keeps its leaves throughout the year but we tried at type when we lived in Bexhill and the downside for us was that it lacked many flowers..Jasmines are a good one for climbing, you will not need much to keep them towards the fence either. Take your time to plan for your lifestyle.

 

Thanks @DianneW , i've been looking into options for this. Nice idea

Our neighbour said he would consider hiring a small rotavator to level it out (it's quite bumpy/lumpy, and not level in different area. Is this a good idea? Not sure if it will just ruin all of the exist grass and then be really hard to grow back thick grass?

Would love to hear people's opinions on this!

 

Rotavators here are used to turn over the soil in preparation for sowing crops or the small ones could be used for flower beds..if used on the grass area it will turn it all over and the grass will still grow back but likely be all over the place unless you flatten it out after and scatter seed maybe early spring. I have never owned a rotavator but seen many in action on crop beds though...You maybe would need some storage for tools.Is there a side entrance on is it terraced where everything has to go through the property?

 

Ah that's good to know! Maybe not a rotavator then! Good feedback!

Maybe I'll just start by adding a bit of top soil (and I've heard mixed with sand?) to the main uneven areas for now then. I imagine I can put this on lower areas of ground that already has grass on it too? (perhaps allowing the grass just to poke through still).

 

Being a small garden I wouldn't bother with a lawn I'd just have the plants and a pathway or something.

 

Raised beds can be any size and a BBQ and Leisure Seating on the Patio..Sun Shade or Canopy