Help needed for newbie - Ideas on planting and layout

rebecca-laura-johnston

I have just bought my first house in North Wales and looking to completely revamp my garden. 

At the moment the garden is North West facing so we get a lot of sun on the right hand side. But the patio is along the bottom (Pictures attached). I am thinking about putting a seating area on the right, but also want some inspiration on what i can do with the rest of the garden and any recommended plants. I was thinking an oval lawn as we aren't that bothered about the grass? 

I have little/no budget and hoping to do most of the groundwork myself. However, I appreciate i would need to buy some plants. I have started collecting some plants but would like to extend this to include more colourful evergreen scrubs that are easily manageable.
Colours I would like are blue, purple and pink. 

Also any help with the dead conifer on the back right is much appreciated to. 

autumnglory

I can't think of many evergreen shrubs that are colourful all year. I like pittosporum tom thumb as an evergreen with purple leaves. It's a small shrub that can be clipped into a ball. There is also a dwarf blue spruce that has blue needles that I love, picea pungens glauca globosa. Camelias and azaleas would give you bright colours in spring and are mostly evergreen.

Astilbes are one of my favourite perennials and would do well on the shadier side of the garden.

The conifer hedge will mean that the soil is dry and poor at the back - you'll probably find it difficult to grow plants under it. If it were mine I'd remove it in an ideal world but it's probably providing privacy or hiding something ugly. The dead one will have to come out anyway!

DampGardenMan

rebecca-laura-johnston said:

 I was thinking an oval lawn as we aren't that bothered about the grass?

Oval is good as it will allow some deep beds to be made in the corners, and deep beds look much better than narrow ones.

Put some climbers on the fences to disguise them (and you might even get birds nesting in there).

Perennials can usually be bought fairly cheaply in small pots this time of the year. Plant and forget until the gardening bug really takes hold

If you want something to read I recommend The Very Small Garden by Martin Baxendale - the first gardening book I ever bought and it inspired me. Good solid advice for people who haven't got huge plots to play with.

josusa47

Yup, nothing to do with a dead conifer but to get rid.  I too have a garden in North Wales that's all squares and right angles, I feel your pain!  I assumed everywhere in North Wales would have acid soil,  and I looked forward to rhododendrons and blueberries, but here in Llandudno we're on a limestone outcrop.  You need to know if your soil is acid or alkaline because that will determine, at least in part, what you can grow.  You can buy a soil testing kit. But it's cheaper just to chat with your neighbours and see what grows in their gardens!  There's a thread on this forum called Seed and plant swap 2018 where you can get seeds for the cost of the postage.  There's a website called The green plant swap, which is locally based, growing plants not being easy to post!  You may be able to get tools and materials on Freecycle, but you have to be quick because anything garden related is soon snapped up.

rebecca-laura-johnston

autumnglory Thank you! I like the dwarf blue spruce and astibles. Both great ideas.

Yes the conifer is currently providing privacy from the house at the back. I was going to cut off th dead bits at the end of May. The rest of the tree ironically is green. So some of it is still alive. What do you recommend to fill the gap? 

rebecca-laura-johnston

DampGardenMan thank you! I was thinking of clemantis along the fences but consious that i will need a lot of soil to fill in the raised beds. 

rebecca-laura-johnston said:

 I was thinking an oval lawn as we aren't that bothered about the grass?

Oval is good as it will allow some deep beds to be made in the corners, and deep beds look much better than narrow ones.

Put some climbers on the fences to disguise them (and you might even get birds nesting in there).

Perennials can usually be bought fairly cheaply in small pots this time of the year. Plant and forget until the gardening bug really takes hold

If you want something to read I recommend The Very Small Garden by Martin Baxendale - the first gardening book I ever bought and it inspired me. Good solid advice for people who haven't got huge plots to play with.

rebecca-laura-johnston

josusa47 Thank you for your response.

The conifer has parts of it that are still alive so was planning on cutting off the dead bits. What would you recommend to fill the gap it will leave? Taking it down will leave a huge gap between myself and next door’s garden.

The soil here is neutral actually. However it is so so sandy! Not a lot of nutrition so i will have to spend some time building it back up. 

Great advice on the web. Will sign up! I am after purchasing more established plants for immediate effect but i would still like to do some seedlings. 

autumnglory

If you really don't want to take the dead one out you could try growing a clematis or even a something like a hop up it.

The problem you'll have is the soil will still be poor and it will still look like a dead tree but with something growing on it!