Thoughts for starting a garden at this time of year, please

The Autumn is a great time to plant .
9 I put in a flower bed last year and though it was on my mind - I forgot stepping stones .
You need something to stand on whilst you weed .

Up against your fence ,you could plant espalier fruit trees , roses , honeysuckle or clematis .
Bees and butterflies love Buddleas ,though they can get big , but withstand hard pruning .
Lavender is wonderful and attracts bees .
I'd put in some herbs especially Rosemary and mint .
Some gardeners find mint invasive and grow it in a bucket .
You could grow wild flowers by throwing in some seeds .

The possibilities are endless - have a Google !

Envying your blank canvas .

Enjoy !

Sorry about the 9 !

What a fascinating challenge Douglas2 to make a garden from scratch!
A few questions first though
1) What sort of soil is it? That will be major factor along with
2) which way the garden faces.
And 3) which end of the country are you?
What will grow happily in the South West might well struggle in the North East for instance and while Somerset and Dorset are still quite green, parts of EastAnglia are burnt to a crisp this summer!

Do you have an outdoor tap? Rainwater drainage into a water butt is a good idea - but do be careful to keep the lid tight on if you have cats or small people about.
Talking of which, have you given any thought to landscaping?
Will you need a barbecue hard standing, room to entertain, sandpits, trampolines, slides, play areas?
A wildlife pond would be lovely to plan for.
How much attention do you propose to give? - a cottage garden planting is beautiful but there is a lot of staking and deadheading.
Can you give us any close ups of your existing plants?

There have been some excellent and helpful replies to OP’s question, but I am aware of a silence at his end regarding the information other gardeners have requested to give him the right sort of advice.
Where are you OP? Did you really want help or were you just thinking aloud?

MawtheMerrier

There have been some excellent and helpful replies to OP’s question, but I am aware of a silence at his end regarding the information other gardeners have requested to give him the right sort of advice.
Where are you OP? Did you really want help or were you just thinking aloud?

Not fair, Maw. The OP has responded 2 or 3 times.

When we moved here, I took note of what was growing well in neighbouring gardens - particularly neglected ones - in sun or shade, so would like our soil (London clay) and survive without too much fuss. I'm a very lazy gardener, so prefer the cottage style and overcrowded look, with no bare earth in sight. I have a pergola towards the back, covered in rambling roses, perennial sweet peas and Actinidia kolomikta. Hollyhocks, hebes, geraniums, ox-eye daisies and cornflowers, Welsh poppies and various bulbs just pop up every year. I do some weeding, save seeds and sprinkle them elsewhere. There's winter jasmine and double Kerria against the fence and various trees at the end (Jacquemontii birch, rowan, apple, acer flamingo and bay). I do keep the lawns short and manicured, though - as I enjoy using the old-fashioned push mower. This year, with the drought and hosepipe ban, I've taken cuttings and/or divided my supply of sedums and stonecrops!

Not fair, Maw. The OP has responded 2 or 3 times
Sorry, I worded that badly.OP hasn’t responded to any of the questions - and without knowing garden direction, soil type and (approximate) location - while respecting anonymity - any suggestions are merely academic. .

How exciting…! So many good ideas above, but I would just say is, maybe you’d like to out a few stepping stones or suchlike through the area, as you’ll need to get into it at times to prune, deadhead etc.! That’s my two penn’orth!!!! Happy gardening ??

Nobody can make suitable suggestions without the kind of information that Maw and other posters have asked for. Please answer if you want good suggestions!

Small tree Acer Aureum (10ft in 15 yrs), a bit larger tree Amalanchier Lamarkii (about 13ft high in approx 10yrs).
Bushes Abelia grandiflora mine is still going strong after 30 years and is nice to look at all year round.
I have extremely poor soil. I haven't done anything in the grass (lawn ??) area but we have wide beds (with log roll as I don't like straight lines, neither does nature) and for the last 25 years, after weeding well the first
couple of years, we have put 4ins organic compost on the top. Worms take it down, it smothers weeds, and all the plants feed on it.
My Dad was Dutch and his parents were horticulturists in Holland. I'm not in my Dad's class by any means as I won't grow edible stuff as I know how much work it takes for the effect that he got.
I live in Hampshire so it's reasonably good weather, most years, all year round.
Good luck!

we have put 4ins organic compost on the top. Worms take it down, it smothers weeds, and all the plants feed on it.

This always intrigues me, DutchDoll. Why does it smother weeds, but not the plants you want to keep? I have the same sort of garden 'technique' as you, and access to huge quantities of well rotted stable manure but I'm dubious about spreading it thickly over the flower beds in the winter in case it smothers the things I want to keep.

,

Our compost must be full of weed seeds, it seems to produce more weeds than ever when it's spread around.

Some very good advice re soil, aspect, planting etc.

Personally I think you'll have missed a trick if you do not put fruit bushes or small fruit trees in. With the current cost of food items things like blueberries, apples, figs, plums etc are a treat out of your own garden. Definitely worth looking at depending on your initial planting budget.

Enjoy your garden.

Douglas seems to have disappeared.

Germanshepherdsmum

Douglas seems to have disappeared.

Does it matter?

Callistemon21

Our compost must be full of weed seeds, it seems to produce more weeds than ever when it's spread around.

My horse manure is like that, too ?

It's probably because neither your compost nor my manure gets hot enough to kill the weed seeds.

Heigh ho!
Another OP last seen disappearing over the horizon ?

Yes Maizie, it does matter. Questions were asked in order to give the best advice - all of which were ignored. Bad manners.

Germanshepherdsmum

Yes Maizie, it does matter. Questions were asked in order to give the best advice - all of which were ignored. Bad manners.

Amazing how even a gardening thread can be turned into a bun fight.

I'm sure if the OP does return they'll feel really welcomed by being told they have bad manners.

MaizieD

Callistemon21

Our compost must be full of weed seeds, it seems to produce more weeds than ever when it's spread around.

My horse manure is like that, too ?

It's probably because neither your compost nor my manure gets hot enough to kill the weed seeds.

Oh, interesting.

The horse manure was practically soil, dug up from a corner of a friend's field where she kept her horses. Lovely stuff but the weeds sprouted.
The compost was from our own heap.

A garden designer on TV last week said repetition is key to good design.
Some attractive large pots planted up always look good when placed among the flowers.

Something I read years ago was 'always plant in odd numbers' ie a single Bush, clumps of 3 or 5 perennials etc.

Obviously, with a wildflower patch it would be random.

Hi Douglas ,

You aren't taking an exam for the RHS .

I've planted enough gardens to know that people aren't too bothered about soil testing and whether their garden faces North and South .

They wanted pink roses in memory of their mum and lavender for a grandmother .

My suggestions are pretty typical of what thrives in an English garden .

My only reservation is that some plants aren't doing well as it's hotter than it was .

Collecting rainwater is a great idea .

Have a look at your neighbours gardens ,take photos , ask around - keen gardeners will give you plants and advice for free and lots of it .

Gardeners World and Carol Klein will inspire you .

Go to the local nursery ask their advice and buy what appeals to you .

If you have grandkids you might want to make a themed garden .

I did Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and I've also done buried treasure .

Just have fun with it !

in pots there are many low maintenance shrubs that are evergreen and hardy too.Camellias are lovely and you can clip if they become too large.Also euonymous of every shape and size, lovely variagated foliage.Also large Hostas, but not evergreen.