Tell me (please) what to do with flower beds (novice alert!)

[StillWearingOddSocks]

Hello green fingered MNetters!

We've moved into a rented property with large garden & one v long flower bed plus a separate reasonably sized rectangle.

Lots of stuff growing that looks mixture of a couple of pretty wild flowers, some massive tall things that look like wild weeds & some white stalked plants that (aesthetically) I don't like.

The rectangle patch is well turned soil & empty.

What should my plan of attack be?

I've raked (but not sure what I should be removing) & planted one pink flower.

Please could you give me a list of tasks to do & ideas if what to plant? Love container gardening - geraniums & herbs but never done anything in ground.

Love idea of sunflowers, herbs & a riot of meadow colour. Sewed some poppy seeds a couple of months ago but nothing happened. And a sunflower seedling disappeared overnight!

You can see I need helps!

Can you send us a photo please?
I'd recommend getting a few gardening books from the library or charity shop.
Don't be too adventurous to begin with, identify the weeds and dig those first.

It's probably late for seed sowing for this year; some biennials (wallflower, foxglove) can be sown to flower NEXT year. And had you thought about vegetables or fruit? Find a web site (or book) of the "gardening year" to give you ideas.

Lots of veg can be grown from seed, but strawberries etc need plants to be purchased in the first instance; you can often increase them in future years.

For next year, the very easiest veg is courgette; sow seed in early spring indoor in pots, plant out in May when risk of frost is over. The plants get VERY big, so plant well spaced. If you pick courgettes small, they are delicious and keep coming. If you forget, they get huge and turn into marrows.

If you start to get you ideas together, look for web sites for the specific plants that interest you, or look on BBC Gardeners World, the RHS etc. Look at gardens local to you that open under the National Garden Scheme: there are hundreds, small entrance charge, usually for charity, and some sell plants as well.

If you don't have much in the way of garden tools yet, I like the Wolf Garten tools, which are very strong and easy to use. Two or three handles accommodate the wide range of heads, for every task. They ARE expensive, but will last for ever. Look at their web site, and they can be found at reduced prices on line, or sometimes locally.

Come back to me if you have specific questions.

I'm not sure if you are allowed to remove established plants from rented gardens: maybe check with the owner