my first garden!

Finally worked up the courage to share my garden on here!

We moved in three years ago and it was all a bit overgrown in the back garden, but all very exciting as it's my first garden I get to do 'properly' after years of moving around rented places, and finally somewhere for all the plants I've had in pots moving with me from house to house to get somewhere to settle down

The garden didn't amount to much, it was split into two parts by the greenhouse, which I was super excited to inherit, but slightly less thrilled about the amount of weeds and brambles though!

There were only a few plants in amongst the weeds, we think most of the garden had been used for veg growing so had onions gone wild, rhubarb and a forest of raspberry canes and blackberrys, but all had been left for sometime

Hope the photos work, as I can't seem to get them work when previewing the post?

 

Meant to say will post more photos to show what we've been up to since moving in and starting to tackle the weeds and try to reclaim some sort of garden!

 

Welcome to GC day dreamer. How lovely to have your very first gaden. Yes, I can see the pics and it certainly was a bit wild! What have you done since then? I'm dying to see

 

Yes, the photos do work! It looks like you had your work cut out there Day Dreamer, I was in a similar situation with mine so know the hard work that has to go into it. I'll look forward to seeing the progress pictures.

 

Hello Day dreamer and welcome to GC. Gosh that looks like quite a challenge! Look forward to seeing what you make of it.....

 

Lots of hard work there Day Dreamer , but it will be worth it !

 

Looks like you have had plenty of work to do there but the hard work will be worth it. I'm looking forward to more photos and hearing about your plans ......

 

The first part we tackled was the end of the garden, which was really overgrown with brambles and was where I wanted the shed and greenhouse which seemed like the best bits to start with

We cleared the massive amount of brambles, found the back fence and also a couple of hidden rhubarb plants and a pair of gates!

There's lots of spare bits of crazy paving all over the garden, so we recycled some to make a base for the shed and used spare bricks to make a base for the greenhouse (though this hasn't been the most successful as either the base or the greenhouse is completely square and there is a 'slight' gap in places!)

sadly I didn't take any pics of anything between building the base and then the shed and greenhouse being in place but we got the shed built and in place, and the fence, shed and greenhouse all painted up, but then it stayed like for a long time as I tried to find somewhere to get the broken glass replaced. In the end a friend had a greenhouse given to them and preferred plastic to the glass so I had their glass for free and paid around £5 to get it recut to the right size at a local glass place = bargain!

 

There next step was then to make a path and my very first border! The border is right next to the fence and is in almost permanent shade, there is a little sun late in the day but is dappled by the shade of next doors tree, so I got planting with ferns which I adore

We found out that the end of the garden is slightly in a hollow as it several points that year it flooded! so I was very happy to get some hardcore and then slabs and gravel down to make a slightly drier surface

The holly bush (next to the compost bin in the second photo) has been with me for several years in a pot and was the first of many potted plants to get a final home and is much happier now

The initial plan was to go with just native species, but then I just couldn't resist more ferns and a tiarella and a heurchara....!

 

It looks like a garden day dreamer! Doesn't it make a difference when things start to come together, it also gives the encouragement to carry on and sort out the rest. Keep us posted on your progress, it's looking good!

 

So it seems life got a bit busy and I completely didn't get around to posting updates on what happened with the rest of the garden, so to bring it up to date seems like a good idea, especially as we've now moved house!!

 

After the end of the garden was done and the shed and greenhouse were in, I started to tackle the top of the garden which is split from the patio by a wall and a few steps and looked a bit overgrown when we moved in....


then with the greenhouse I could start clearing and it got a bit better and I found an iris, two peonies and a honeysuckle amongst the weeds



and then by the end of the year it was cleared and ready for some plants!

 

a few more pics of the top end in the summer when we moved in and at the beginning of next year when the greenhouse had moved

 

apologies for the blurryness of this one but the double glazing was gone so the window was all full of condensation!


plans afoot for an actual garden with many canes and a lot of string!

 

I decided to move the steps down into the garden so they were more central and then could put seating in the corner where the steps used to be










I wish I could do brickwork, but it's all down to a fantastic Dad who is brilliant at this sort of thing, while I just make cups of tea!