New house... huge over grown garden - HELP!!

[way2serious]

Hi. We have just moved into a new house and there is lots to do both inside and out.
We are not really gardeners (yet!) and really don't know where to start. Could anyone offer some basic starting advice of what we ought to try and do over the next few months.
The back is just completely over grown grass and weeds. The patio is block paved but has weeds growing through it all and the beds are just weeds. The front is mainly shrubs that are rampant. The 'beds' at the front and back have been gravelled but weeds and grass has grown through and covers most of the gravel.
We are completely broke with the cost of the house, etc and so will need to do the work ourselves. Any quick fix suggestions to get us going and to begin to make it look more welcoming would be gratefully received.

TIA

Ooh, lovely, so satisfying to transform.

Can you afford a high quality pair of shears? I'd start by cutting down everything I knew I didn't like, like bramble & nettles. Also trim the shrubs down by half each. You'll need a skip or other plan what to do with all the cuttings. Gravel will have to be weeded, but I'd start with the easy big stuff. It will get easier to envision what to do next after you've cleared some of it.

Is there a lawn in back?

I bet there are bulbs & flowers, don't cut back too indiscriminately. We once butchered a very annoying thorny thing.. turned out to be a lovely rose that bloomed like crazy following year.

Wellies & Good gardening gloves would be optimal.

Oh, snap! It's very daunting, we aren't gardners either.
We've done a quick job of clearing some space so that DD can play in the garden, then we're trying to do one area at a time.
It's difficult to know what to hack and what to treat more gently.

When we moved here last year,our garden was full of massively overgrown conifers & shrubs - to the point that they were growing in front of our elevated ground floor lounge windows blocking our beautiful west coast of Scotland views. We started by chopping down the ones blocking the view. Down to stumps which eventually will be dug out. It made a massive difference both from the house in terms of light coming in & externally in improving the look so that it didn't seem that recluses lived here anymore. Next we chopped down the hedge growing alongside & over our steep & narrow driveway. It was 25 feet long & about 17 feet high. That was an epic job,it took months. DP would chop it down (to stumps) and I would chop it up into firewood while the baby slept (5months old when we moved in),it took all winter.

We've taken out various huge shrubs in the back garden,created a flowerbed where there were 4 enormous shrubs,taken one bed out which had a huge hedge type shrub & scrubby huge old knackered heather & laid it to grass.

In the few nice weeks of weather I tackled the front bed which has tonnes of lovely shrubs in but was so overgrown it was a jungle. I am almost happy with it
I don't have much expertise so I attacked it all from the point of view that if it grew back from my hackings prunings great & if not it would create space for some of the other lovely things to grow.

There is still tonnes to be done but with a 19 month old & a puppy my time is limited. But I'm having a great time tidying the place up & it's so nice that our neighbours think I'm wonder-woman to be doing it & all comment on how we've improved the look of the street. I still have lots of work to do on the front beds but to satisfy my need for pretty flowers I planted up lots of tubs & hanging baskets to meet that need until I have the beds ready for what I want & know where to fit them in around the other plants already here.

Weeding is never ending & we have a large brick patio & huge brick drive that look terrible at the moment,I got one of those knife-gougey thingies but it's time consuming & back breaking so I'll be keeping an eye on this for hints & tips.

That's incredibly long - sorry! My main advice would be pick an area to start on & work your way around. If your new neighbours are keen gardeners,they will probably be happy to help - at least with advice. Mine are lovely,haven't really made many suggestions but are extremely encouraging & I know would help.me out more if I asked. Good lick. It is SO satisfying to see it improving through your own hard work.

Good luck. Good lUck not lick! I proof read that & took out all my fullstops that were meant to be spaces & saw good lick just as I hit post message! Grrr.