Can you help a very new beginner who currently only has two weedy gardens?

[NickNacks]

Ok we're both crap gardeners with no knowledge or time.

Both front and back gardens are lawns with borders full of weeds. Front is south facing on a main road and back garden is north (obviously).

I would like a low maintenance child friendly (am a cm so know expensive plants which are likely to be trampled on).

Does anyone have any suggestions please? I need step by step instructions! What when and how do I spruce up my gardens? Thanks.

Sorry, no advice, but I am going to lurk as I shall (fingers crossed) soon be in a similar position.

I'm a pretty lazy gardener (I love gardening in the planning / plant knowledge sense but am not into physical gardening) and have managed to neglect my garden to weeds.

I'm giving up, bringing up the lawns and rotavating. Am putting down turf (worked out to be about £80 for reasonable back down) with the simplest of plants and lots of veg/salad plants that I dont mind whether live or die (plus good fun for ds). Front garden same with bed filled with cheap bedding plants.

Okey dokey. The first (but certainly not the last) of MN's gardening obsessives checking in.

Amongst the weeds, have you got any salvageable plants - shrubs or perennials (which wowuld be coming though about now)?

First, obviously, you need to get rid of the weeds. If you have the time, you can just pull/dig them out. There's also the chemical warfare approach if you're in a hurry but, frankly, by the time you've sprayed and waited for them to die, you could have just pulled/dug them out.

For OP' sunny front garden, I would suggests lavender and thyme and other shrubby herbs like rosemary and santolina. They will provide lots of sensory experience for the children. There are lots of other low maintenance perennials - such as aquilegias, geraniums (not pelargoniums), astrantia and alchemilla mollis which will just get on with the job. Bamboo is low maintenance and will make a good screen against traffic noise but be careful to get a non-invasive one (such as black bamboo, phyllostachys nigra) as others will quickly run amok and choke other plants.

Is the back garden large? If it is, you could create a veg patch where the children could grow things - radishes, beans and peas are easy. So are flowers like nasturtiums, clarkia, godetia, cornflower and love-in-a-mist.

A living willow wigwam or maze would be fun, if you have the space.

Go to boot fairs, scghool fetes ansd WI markets to get cheap home-grown plants.

Please forgive typos.

Wow Maud, you really know your stuff! I've never heard of the living willow wigwam before, what a lovely idea and quite cheap too for what you get.

Lurking for tips! We have acquired a massive wilderness...

Cagney - Err, thanks. When we bought this house, we inherited nothing apart from a peony and a lawn full of ground elder. We had no spare cash to get a gardener in so had to create this garden from scratch. As it then took me a verrrrry long time to produce a baby, I had lots of spare time in which to get obsessive about the garden interested in plants. It does become addictive.

Willow structures are beautiful. If we had a big garden (which sadly we don't) I would have a willow structure.

I'm always happy to talk about gardens and plants!

Thank you very much!

I've written lots of these down and popped it on a list for the garden centre. Will let you know how I get on.

Just one more question...

I like the look of gravel or bark in flower beds but I'm a bit thick and wondered how I achieve this look. Do I need to get rid of any soil? How thick a layer do I need of bark? Are there any plants which I cannot do this to?

Thanks again!

The gravel or bark is what is known as a mulch - you put it on top of the soil. You don't need to get rid of any soil, unless you would end up with the beds overflowing (and getting rid of soil gets complicated because some plants might then need to be replanted deeper so that their roots aren't too close to the surface).

You generally need 1-2 inches of mulch. Mulch is a good thing because it keeps in moisture, so try to put it down after rain (if we ever get any!) Put it around the plants but not over any shoots that are emerging from the soil.

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Thank you very much. It's my project over this summer yo get the garden looking tidy at least.

Will report back with how I get on!

I would really not advise a living willow structure for a small garden. The size of the garden indicates that the structure would be near the house and willow roots are very invasive, finding their way into watercourses, drains and soakaways and blocking them up.

I create and renovate willow structures for schools and if a year is missed from the cycle of pruning then the client is left with a real problem of finding the tools and the knowledge to maintain the structure. I spend a lot of time putting neglected structures right.

I don't want to rain on your parade but I would suggest a static structure such as a pergola with a swing rather than living willow, considering that the OP is a novice.

I would like to do a livng willow wigwam...sorry for hjack...how do I do it? Can you reccomend a site to advise please cutteduppear?

I was careful to say that willow structures need space and you are right, Cutteduppear, that they also need maintenance as otherwise they become a shaggy mess. Nonetheless, for anyone who can provide both those things I still think they can be a lovely and sustainable addition to the garden.

AwkwardMary - if you google willow igloo you'll find lots of websites ranging from those that supply willow withies to those that will build it for you. You might be able to find one who will do a site visit and advise on whether you can site one where it won't (say) undermine your drains.

I have looked into it and am too late in the season...they need to be bought between November and March...theyre all growing now and have to be put in dormant.

Look on the bright side - that gives you plenty of time to plan for next year.

My difficulty is that in an urban garden as small as mine, there's nowhere that's far enough away from my foundations/drains and far enough away from my neighbours' - the calculation of the space needed isn't just the space for the thing itself. My neighbours have ornamental willows in the front garden that I think they may come to regret, although it may be a blessing that one has already succumbed to disease (to which willows are prone).

Are you by any chance in London? There's a lovely willow igloo at the wetlands centre in Barnes.

No we're in Cheshire...we have a large garden so I don't think it's an issue with drains but the lady who told me I was too late also said that she offers an advice thing....so if you order some willow, they will speak to you about your plans...I will tell her the measurements when its time but have no idea without measuring.

I want a little den type thing... suppose November will come round very soon! Time flies!