Help needed - Total novice!

Hi all,

I came on here a few years ago after ideas about what to do with a garden. But we've since moved house, and again the garden was a mess and again i need ideas of what to do.

We initially came into this:



Last year we did some tidying up, painted all the fences, sorted and painted the shed, fixed the flooding issue, cleaned the patio and the long and painful task of digging out all the weeds/over grown stuff and through down some bark to try and make it look nicer.

Now this year ideally we want to get it sorted so we can finally have a bbq in the garden under the sun!

Tackling one bit at a time so starting with the 'left border' I now have it as below (managed to dig out a stump/roots out today, there's still some roots left as you can see and i'll get round to them.



My question is, the pieces of wood that should be making the 'wall' as such that are missing the middle/rotten - What are they called and where can i get some new ones? Take it if i dig some of the soil out from behind they'll lift out?

Finally - once i have the new wooden bits in, what bushes/larger flowers would you recommend that stay flowered/green all year and are easy/low maint to care for?

Thanks for your help

Lee

 

I can't tell from the picture what sort of wood is there but you might like to consider railway sleepers as a retainer for the soil, I've used them on a two tier bed below.



You need to look at evergreen shrubs and perennial plants which live from year to year. A look round your local nurseries or garden centres for ideas is best, taking note of what suits your garden in size, soil and whether plants need sun or shade.

 

Hi,

Sorry for not being very clear, yes i mean the wood to retain the soil. I thought about sleepers but didn't know if they'd look ok that high. I was hoping for something similar to what was there?

Thanks
Lee

 

Have a look at these from B&Q which look similar. You can have a single row or else stack them.
Love your border Loli

 

Hi Lee&Jodie,
The first thing that struck me about your garden was where you are forced to keep the bins. As a thought, why don't you remove the soil more down the LHS fence to give a flatter area and put your bins on the soil by the fence. You can easily access them by walking down the path, then create a long 18inch wide border running from your patio down the RHS of the path, to this you plant some tall plants. That way you screen off the bins, get more space on your patio and when you sit outside, you see the new border and not your bins. The best (cheap and easy care) plants for this would be something like something like Miscanthus or Calamagrostis, they grow tall and thin and are grasses.