Novice needs help please!

Get a good book. Asking for advice is all very well but if you really are a novice you need to read as much as you can.

There are no short cuts to a good garden. Make a start and build on that.

Alan Titchmarsh has some good gardening books for novices.

J52 The raised bed where the rhododendrons are planted is mostly shaded. That’s the only place I intend planting anything

The rest of the garden is grass.
DP has a little cidery in my shed at the bottom of the garden and planted some apple trees recently that are doing really well. As is a vine that is growing over the shed/cidery.
So between us we might become gardeners yet

Went to a nursery with very few staff today, so had to decide what to buy based on the info on the plants.

I will update you on their names tomorrow as it’s a bit late now.
Luckily, the rain has softened up the ground so we can get digging soon!

Oops sorry! ? reverse the East and West faces!!

If your garden is N facing I would plot where the sun shines. North facing gardens are rarely totally in the shade.
It depends on how long they are and if there are any surrounding buildings.
For example in a 100ft garden, with no surrounding buildings, the back of the garden would face south and get a lot of sun, the West facing side would get morning sun and the East facing would get afternoon sun.
The house would cast a shadow on part of the garden, again depending on how tall it was.
Some plants prefer semi shade and morning or afternoon sun.

I agree with Squiffy. Rhododendrons need an acidic soil to thrive. I would definitely do a soil test, to test the PH and I would do more than just one. I would check out a couple of areas of the garden just in case the soil is different in another area as can happen.
You should be able to buy a very simple testing kit from a garden centre. It has a test-tube, and a liquid which, when added to soil, changes colour. There is a colour chart that you use to match up the colour of the liquid, and that will tell you what the PH of your soil is. This will help enormously with your choice of plants.
Come back and let us know how you are getting along with your exciting venture Flaxseed.

Well if there are rhododendrons doing well, that means your soil is very likely to be acid, or at least neutral.

One shrub you might consider is www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/332180/Hypericum-x-hidcoteense-Hidcote/Details

It is very easy to grow, has flowers in summer, and ornamental berries after. I think a good local nursery would help. It's too late for most Open Gardens this year, but they are good to visit for ideas.

I think if you saw a lovely garden nearby and asked for advice on what's best to row, the owner would hopefully be glad to give you some tips. Good luck.

Flaxseed If you have rhododendrons it would suggest that your soil is acid or fairly neutral. That might narrow your search a little!

My favourite plants for ground cover are Heuchera. They are evergreen and come in all colours of the rainbow. They even flower too! You would probably need some other plants with them to give height.
www.google.co.uk/search?q=heuchera&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6osmOncTcAhXSesAKHRRnAHAQ_AUICigB&biw=1341&bih=633

Thanks all.
I have no idea what my soil is like although I have Rhododendrons that are thriving if that’s any clue!

Unfortunately my neighbours won’t be much help. One just grows weeds and the other just grass! I can ask further along though.
It’s a North facing garden unfortunately.

I’m going to pop to a local nursery later so will bear all these things in mind and hopefully find a helpful assistant!

The BBC's Gardening magazine is a good place to start. It can get a bit repetitive over the years...we took it for 12 months and found it easy reading on many subjects with a few quite technical things thrown in. Dipping in and out of a magazine is far less daunting than a whole text book!

First you need to know what type of soil you have, in order to choose plants that will thrive in your particular conditions. In our area we are on awful heavy clay, but a mile away is light sandy soil.

Also, is your garden very exposed to wind, or sheltered. Are you by the sea?

The best thing is to first talk to a neighbour with a lovely garden and ask them. See what you like in their garden. When you know the type of soil, please come back, and we can make suggestions.

Many of the nurseries and garden centres have very helpful staff who can point you towards some good plants etc. It would be a good idea to have some kind of rough plan for what you want where e.g. trees, shrubs to hide fences, walls, bad views. I would also try to think of what colours you like/dislike. Its really good fun starting a garden from scratch and a good idea to get advice to stop you making costly mistakes.

You’ll get lots of suggestions for shrubs, this is just to say that if you live on chalky soil I hope you’ll sow some flax seed. .
Scarlet flax is best grown as an annual but the sky blue variety can be bought as perennials. In both the clarity of the colours is magic.
Good luck and have fun