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

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

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.

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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!

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!

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 ??

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. .

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!

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.

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?

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?

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!

Sorry about the 9 !

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 !

Do you have a gardening club in your area? If so, I would recommend you to join it. There are always people who are willing to give you advice, share plants and cuttings, and will be able to tell you what grows well in their own gardens. Spend your money on a couple of "statement" shrubs/trees but you should be able to easily fill the rest of the space with free offerings from other keen gardeners. I pot up almost every seedling in my garden and give them away in spring and autumn in return for a small donation to my chosen charity.

you can buy turf with wild flowers in it,but check the reliability of them.i read a recent report that someone bought some turf from a big name retailer which was full of wild flowers-dandelions. id say sow some seeds now, dont forget yellow rattle these keep grasses down, but can be invasive, lots of info out there on sowing wildflower lawns, good luck.

Small holly trees are quite cheap ( cheaper than the already shaped ones) and can be pruned to shape.

Hope you don't mind me hijacking the thread. I'd love some advice from Gransnet gardeners as I know literally nothing about plants. Ive got a few empty pots in front of the house and would like to plant something evergreen, cheap to buy, low maintenance that would just "be there" all year round. Is that possible? And if so, could anyone be kind enough to give me suggestions as to which plants to buy?

This time of year is the best time to plant spring bulbs, but make sure you have decent compost. You would benefit from using top soil. Use the fence for Holyhock and buy a water butt. I found one in the rubbish during lockdown when I was walking past someone's house. It was left outside their garden.

The answer lies in the soil - it’s true. I’ve been champing at the bit to start my garden but the lack of rain prevents me. I refuse to water unnecessarily. I threw in a handful of phacelia seeds (green manure) which is the most beautiful violet blue and smothered in bees and hoverflies. It will get chopped down and left on the soil over the winter, no deep digging as this is not good for the soil. Planning what to put in is cost effective in the long run and knowing what type of soil you’re working with. I am also thinking about the mix of horizontal and vertical plants, leaf shape and texture, colour throughout the year especially the autumn. Most importantly for me is not being too tidy and making it all wildlife friendly ( all except the carnivorous waterboatmen which have devoured the other waterboatmen (herbivores) and my wonderful pondskaters and other interesting waterlife).
I hope you have fun with your garden - it will evolve over time and you’ll develop an addiction to plants and Gardeners’ Question Time - Good Luck!

Why not!

I could have a buddleia hedge ?

The seedlings pull up very easily!

Oh dear, too late!
This could be interesting, it's rather a wild little patch anyway.

They all seed like mad but you can avoid that by deadheading as soon as the flowers start turning brown. I have several buddleias and don’t get many seedlings.

I've planted a very dark pink Buddleia, not the more common purple one found everywhere.

Will that seed, I wonder? It is in an area where it may not matter too much.