I am going to have my very first garden!

[PotteringAlong]

We are moving house in the next 2 weeks hopefully. I am currently and enthusiastic 'gardener' but we only have a back yard so if I can't grow it in pots it doesn't happen (although looks v nice if I do say so myself and all the herbs etc will come with me).

The garden at the new house is turfed. And that's it. It's about 65ft square and has not a bed nor a single solitary plant in it. It's north facing but not overlooked so lots of light.

What do you think are the best things to start with?

Do you have children and what age? Is there a paved area? What kind of soil is it? How much time can you devote to garden maintenance? What else do you plan to do in the garden ? Eg barbeque, store kids toys or wheelie bin, entertain

Sorry i should have said this first. -the best thing to start with is a plan. Work out what you need in the garden, what you will use it for and plan it out. Buy nothing yet

Wow. How exciting!

I've planted some more (already started to grow) bulbs today as I want loads of daffs when it finally gets warmer.
We have a really lovely fern in a dark corner of our garden.
Bird table? It's lush to get loads of visitors.

Do you have a specialist garden centre near you? In ours the staff give me fantastic advice and plants and shrubs.

A tree - would be nice to watch it grow.
Gotta go and deal with bedtime. Congrats on house move and a garden.

I have 1 DS who's 8 weeks old so will need running around space eventually. There's a large decked area already.

I have no idea about soil type but there is a specialist Market garden place so will go there and then hatch a plan!

Same here!

We moved in last week and I have moved from a terrace with a back yard 16ft by 8ft to a Semi with front and big rear garden.
My DH bought me a garden planning book for Christmas but its very scary and excited at the same time

I've just got a vegetable growing book on amazon!

Can anyone recommend a good beginners book for gardening? We are about to (fingers crossed etc.) move into my 'forever home' (although thinking about it I hate that phrase for some reason) which has a large garden, including a separate area with raised beds. Current owners have kept the garden well, my worry is that although I'd LOVE to get into it, I'm a bit of a city girl wuss who is scared of spiders, and basically a bit of a numpty when it comes to the outdoors. I want to get over these stupid phobias, grow up a bit, and get stuck in! It's a lovely garden and I want to do it justice, but don't know where to start.

I'd like to as well...I have tons of space but no gardening prowess whatsoever, and need help!

Alan Titchmarsh's "how to garden" books are good for beginners, once you get the hang of it a bit there's "the RHS gardening manual". Request them from your library if you aren't sure whether they'll suit you.