Help! Complete beginner with terrible garden!

Hi!

I'm renting and have a garden but it isn't directly attached to the house, it's down a side alley alongside my neighbours garden. At the moment it is half covered in sand (7.5m by 4m) and half overgrown with fox holes, hard ground with stones, weeds, rubble etc. There are several fence panels that have fallen down, I'm not too concerned about putting them back up just yet though!

I want to level out the sanded area (maybe for artificial grass or any other recommendations that aren't permanent) to be able to use this area to sit in the garden, and tidy up the rest so it isn't an eyesore!

The whole garden is about 7.5m by 10m (but that's a guess).

We are borrowing garden tools from neighbours but bought a cordless grass trimmer as we can't use electric corded tools because of the distance from the house! The pictures are after I have had a good go at cutting down the knee high grass/weeds!

Any tips or suggestions and gardening 'how to..' information would be VERY helpful. I'm getting a little frustrated!

 

Hi @Emily I understand your frustration, sometimes I tend to start 2 or 3 different projects and then end up not getting much done so I have to get myself back into focus and concentrate on one, rather than thinking of the whole, break whatever you want to do into sections, if it's levelling or weeding or both you will feel as though you're achieving something as you complete each section, I know it may seem daunting but it's surprising how a bit a day turns into a job well done, hope this helps.

 

If you are renting them I'm assuming you don't want to do a lot of landscaping, permanent planting into the ground?? You could make a simple container garden that you can pick up and take with you when you move perhaps?

 

Hi @Emily , welcome!

You certainly have a great project ahead, and quite a challenge. But I'm sure that by July you already have a lovely place to enjoy.

The ground looks difficult, if you are not planning to dig it all up decking over the sandy part could work. That would create a place for a swing seat and lush plants in large containers. A large, raised bed against the back wall would look good, it's easy to build one from reclaimed wood, treating it inside and outside or just simply lining with a plasticky material to prevent rotting. It will not last a decade but you should get some years out of it.

How much sun do you get? What would you like to grow- flowers, edibles, tropical look or all of them?

It's a great space and you can make it a true oasis.

 

You are completely right, we don’t want to spend money on permanent fixtures! Any tips for the best way to level out the sand and compress it, or what sort of stuff to use?? Need some really basic tips!

 

If you're going to be there for a year or so, by far the cheapest option is to buy grass seed. Remove the old grass and weeds, dig it over to level it, sow the seed, and rake it gently to settle the seed into the soil. If you're doing that, you don't need to worry too much about any big stones - just make sure they're a good 2-3" underground when you level it off, and you'll be fine.

Of course that does mean you'd need to stay off the lawn for about 2-3 months while the seed grows. If you're likely to still be there next year though, it'll all be sorted, and for not very much cost. And if you do move before then, at least it wasn't too expensive.

If you go down that route, there are many good online tutorials for preparing and sowing a lawn, as well as many threads on here.

 

As for what you need though, all you need to start with is a garden fork for digging it over and leveling it out. A spade will help too, for moving soil around, and for shifting any large stones you hit. A rake will be needed when you level it off too. But mainly your first thing will be a garden fork.

And elbow grease. Lots of elbow grease.

 

Thanks! Our neighbours have a garden fork for us to borrow! So we will get digging. Should I be worried about the fox holes? We’ve seen a fox in the garden and not sure if they still use the holes!