Help! New to gardening and need direction

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Hello, I'm new to the forum and new to owning a garden. The previous owner really looked after her garden, and I feel a bit guilty I've let it go for so long. (We moved in February and I have done absolutely nothing with the garden, just a bit of lawn mowing but I have a newborn so don't shame me too much!)

Can someone give me a few tips? I think its probably best I give you a few photos and perhaps someone can give me a bit of direction. Also, any advice on must have garden tools would be appreciated. 

Here are a couple of sections to start us off due to limit of post and file size 


Thank you ever so much for any helpful responses. I was tempted to ask some neighbors (the ones with beautiful gardens!) to help me but I feel a bit shy.

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A couple more I have absolutely no idea where to start. 

Fairygirl

Hi @felicitymurray - welcome to the forum. 
Were you wanting an ID of the various plants/shrubs you have?

Most gardeners are quite friendly, and are happy to offer advice when asked, especially if your opening gambit is 'what a beautiful garden'...followed by a question 

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Fairygirl said:

Hi @felicitymurray - welcome to the forum. 
Were you wanting an ID of the various plants/shrubs you have?

IDs would definitely help. I have no idea what any of my plants are and how to care for them, or what plants/weeds I should remove etc. Now my baby is sleeping to a routine I can spend some time getting to know the garden

Fairygirl

The easiest way is to start a thread with perhaps 2 or 3 plants to ID. Any more starts to become confusing. A good close up of foliage/flowers of each one, with a wider view as well to see the habit of the plant. That helps enormously. It's hard to be specific when it's a general pic sometimes 

Having said that, it's the time of year when things are settling down and becoming dormant for winter, apart from any evergreens, so I wouldn't worry too much about pruning or tidying anything. 
In your first pic, I think you have a Lilac on the left, with a little Aquilegia [columbine] at it's feet. A rose of some kind in the middle, getting eaten by vine weevils [ ] and theone on the right might be a Weigela - did it have any flowers? The second pic has a row of laurels as a hedge, a tree in there, but I can't see it well enough. The plantsin front of it aren't clear enough either, or the shrub on the right. It could be a Philadelphus perhaps. Mostly assorted perennials in the next pic, and what looks like a Viburnum [?] in the last one, among ivy and probably some weeds, and something else I can't see clearly.

There will be a few other people who'll be along to help though, and they'll probably do a better job!
@Silver surfer is very hot on IDs, so hopefully she'll see this and pop in to help.

Fliq

Thank you. Yes the one in the first picture still has the flowers on it..

Fairygirl

Yes - that looks like Weigela. 
I think the ground might be very dry- there's lot of stuff in those borders, and I know it's been very dry in your part of the world. It's normal for many shrubs to be dieing back a bit just now though, and that's a deciduous one, so it will do that for winter. It does look a bit rough in the middle, but it should recover once there's enough moisture.

It's not a bad idea just to look at the basics in the garden, decide what you like or don't like, think about what you would like and need from the garden, and just keep it tidy for  while until you get a feel of it. You may still find other plants appearing too. 

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Also, should this stuff be a concern? Sorry everyone, photo after photo but I really don't know where to start. You say there is no need for tidying or pruning anything this late in the year, but everything seems so messy and overgrown or dieing. I just feel like I should do something haha 

Thank you muchly for the IDs I will do some googling xx 

Ceres

Hi and welcome.

With a newborn your life is just going to get more and more hectic so just bear in mind that there is no shame in living in a weed infested jungle for a few years. The wildlife will thank you for it. You may have noticed that in general it is retired people who have the neatest gardens. There is a reason for that.

So, enjoy your garden and have fun but don't get too down in the mouth if it doesn't look like something out of a magazine. With a bit of luck your offspring will lend you a hand when they are big enough to wield a junior trowel.

TheRickster

There’s a hydrangea desperately needing a good drink by your stone bench 👍

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Hexagon said:

Also, I am seeing japanese knotweed? Don't want to panic felicity but there are some plants with similar shaped leaves that I see on Gurgle.

Oh no! I hope some more people can confirm/disagree (I hope disagree eeeeek) I’m having a little panic.....

thank you for all your advice though, very helpful