New to everything !!!

First tip, buy yourself a good spade if you don't already have one - you are going to need it. Don't be tempted to buy a cheap one, they are cheap for a reason.

You'll need a rake and a fork as well - oh, and some string and a couple of tent pegs or similar if you can lay hands on them; a good quality edging tool (half-moon cutter) would also be beneficial.

Over the past year, I have slowly reclaimed a border from the grass - I think it was a border many moons ago, but the last householders left it to get overgrown and slowly become part of the grass. First step is to decide how wide you want your border to be front to back, and then place your tent pegs at that measured distance on both sides of the border - run the string between the two tent pegs and tie it to them so it is taut, and that will give you your starting line.

Thereafter, its a case of digging over everything behind the line, and working through it breaking it up and ditching any of the grass/weeds. You might want to get a load of top soil to top the soil level up on the border thereafter, and then you are onto the fun bit - deciding what plants you want, and then getting them/growing them.

 

Fair point daitheplant - must admit that I didn't really think about that as I am sort of stuck with the traditional straight borders as my place is rented.

Just for the sake of clarity Colin - I am only able to offer my own experiences as advice, and am in no way as knowledgeable as many other members.

 

Thanks daitheplant - I'd hate for someone to take my advice as gospel in the belief that I know my onions when I am still a learner though, hence I think its worth an occasional mention.

Thanks to GC, and a bit of trial and error, I'm learning though and my experience continues to build; stumbling over GC just over a year ago is one of the best things to happen to me.

In fairness to our landlady also, she almost certainly doesn't really give a monkeys what I choose to do with the garden - she seemed to be really happy for the house and garden to be looked after and enjoyed; however, it looks like the lettings agent that our rent goes to is either having some sort of difficulty or has gone pop altogether as the shop front has recently disappeared. With that in mind, and the fact that we are only here just over a year (and the fact that money is hellish tight at the moment), I don't want to push the boat too far at the minute.

My 'five year plan' is to build a set of four raised beds for vegetable growing, reduce the patio size, and then to completely renew (re-turf or re-seed) the grass areas so that I have lawns rather than just rough old grass - at that point, I will be having different shapes to the grass, and I want different levels of soil for the planting areas.

Its all in my head at the moment, and will probably evolve whilst I am getting the old finances in decent order that I can afford to do things properly.

 

Ashford in Surrey/Middlesex - - about three miles from Staines.

 

Thanks, very much appreciate your offer, and may well take you up on it in the future