Help me plan my garden - I haven't a clue what I'm doing

[GinAndOnIt]

When we moved into the house, there was a rose plant at the top of the path which gives gorgeous flowers but is in need of a bit of attention I think - it was tangled in a bush and only 'set free' by me when I saw the flower. It's then grown three flowers since then and not done much else. I cut it back according to MIL's direction so hopefully it will be better next year.

Anyway, I was at the garden centre at the weekend and got three rose bush plants for fourteen quid, so that combined with a little rose plant DP gave me when we first moved in, I thought I could plant them with the existing rose and create a little rose garden at the top of the path. (It's a long path and I feel people need the little reward of seeing something pretty after completing the trek )

But I've started digging up a little area and now I think it's not big enough, and the plants will be too close together and/or too close to the hedge. I can't dig further towards the path as there's brick work there (?) so I'm stuck.

Do they look too close together on this pic? Am I better planting elsewhere? I could do a circular patch nearer the bottom of the path which could be bigger if they'd look better there, and maybe plant some other flowers with the rose at the top of the path.

What do you think? And what flowers would look nice and grow well in the original plot if it's too small for the roses?

I've attached a picture of where I wanted them to go, and also a picture of the bottom part of garden where I could dig a bigger patch.

Thank you!

I can't see if it's laurel or rhododendron but it doesn't matter. Either way , I'd be ripping them out. I'd get your DH to chain saw them to the ground or a stump of about a foot high . They will regrow but you can keep them small

or rip them out with the vehicles and take to the dump . A skip would be easier but £££.

Honestly , there's no point in fancying about with roses until you get them out . I'd be on his case this weekend .

Will it make him feel guilty if you go out and hack at them with loppers ?

What about getting a quote from tree surgeons to do it ? The shock of that might galvanise him into action .

Nearly all hedge plants can be cut back really hard . Do the top and one side one year and the other side the next

Main exception is some conifers that don't grow back if you cut into the old wood ( take away All the green bits )

He really wants them gone too, he just honestly doesn't have the time. He's a farmer so out of the house from 6am-9pm seven days a week! And we just can't afford to pay anyway this year (we only moved a few months ago)

Also annoyingly, we can't get a vehicle to this spot. We could get the fork lift near ish on the other side of the border fence, but that would still involve throwing everything over the hedges.

I think it's just a case of making the rest of the garden as nice as possible for now, until we can deal with it. And also I've already bought the roses so they need to go somewhere

Can you move them on the load all ?

On the load all? I don't understand

Personally I'd rip out a bit of the hedge to get a vehicle into the site

Can't you burn the waste on the farmland ?

Roses are happy in reasonably sized containers with good soil and food and water

Pull out the whole bush with the truck and lift it over the other bush on the load all to get it off site

Or maybe I've got the plan of the garden wrong in my head

Ah I see, no we can't do that as the field where we could get fork lift to the edge of has animals in, so it needs the barrier. It's also handy for our dog to be able to run without going in with the animals.

Yes, we can have a bonfire on the farm which is one bonus.

I think they bushes are too big to fit in a bucket

Oh I see what you mean. We can't get a vehicle up to it because at the bottom of the garden is steps and a narrow entrance, and hedges all along the side IYSWIM? Annoying because I also want to use the farm ride on mower, but can't get it up here!

Ha ! < rubs hands in glee > animals

You mean a free unlimited source of well rotted muck ?

Ha ha - yes!

Can you make a gap in the hedge and put in a gate, to give vehicular access ? Ride on mower is the dogs bollox , our neighbour our has one :-)

Hmm. Possibly. I'd have to speak to DP. He is desperate to lose the animals and open up our garden into the field. Not sure his dad would agree

My goodness woman, you have all these great things - space, lovely trees, heavy plant, manure, a bonfire and a man with a chain saw.

You just need A Plan.

BTW I was going to ask, in the interests of safety, if your DH can use a chain saw without injuring himself but now I see he's a farmer there's no point

Maybe get the garden you have done first and then worry about making it bigger ? It looks like you have quite a big enough job as it is .

I'm guessing they are sheep ?

Yes I keep telling him one step at a time! He had that plan before we'd even moved in though I think. Maybe one day.

Im hoping that come winter he might get bored and start hacking away at it, but last winter he was no less busy than he is this summer! I asked next door a few weeks ago if she'd mind if we got rid of the giant hedge - she almost hugged me I think. I imagine she hates it when she looks out of the window and sees our terrible garden next to hers.

Not sheep - horses unfortunately!

Oh that's really lovely, what a great view . I'll add that to the list of assets that your garden has .

Why you would want to hide that with big evergreen bushes beats me .

All the usual gardening MNers seem to be on holiday ( maybe even in their gardens??? ) . Once they return you will be inundated with requests for scale drawings , aerial shots , more photos and links to Pinterest boards ( or similar ) .

We love a project .

I'm guessing that the hedge casts a lot of shade into neighbours garden, which will annoy her more than anything else . And yours doesn't look terrible from what I've seen, just a bit boring and shaded . It's not like it's overgrown with weeds or used as a dumping ground not that farmers ever dump stuff

Unfortunately, when the house was rented out previously, it didn't have the best tenants. One lot ran a dog training academy until the neighbour reported her so I can't imagine that did the garden much good. Another lot built an iron shed thing at the bottom and proceeded to dump rubbish down there. That should be fairly easy to clear with a trailer because it's next to the road so not bothered about that. Just need to find the energy to do it. But you get the idea that it's just been uncared for for so long.

The giant hedge just makes no sense to me, it doesn't block any views because the road (which is only a little country lane anyway) is way down the bottom and can't see into the Windows from down there. It's annoying to not be able to see the cars as well, plus it block out so much light into the kitchen. Rant rant rant.

Would be great to get more ideas flowing in but you've been a great help! I'm good at having 'vision' and planning indoor decor, but gardening is just not coming naturally to me. I like doing it, but the whole planning is my downfall - clearly!

If you can get a " vision " of how you want the whole garden to look , we can help you work What to plant and where .

If your DH can't clear the garden until this Autumn, you won't be planting until next spring so you have plenty time to work out your plans .

You need to show DH the you tube video of the man with the chain . That would be easy for two men and a tractor . Then drag the bushes into the field, let then dry out for a bit and burn em.

I love all the gardens on Pinterest when I searched for cottage garden ideas. Just lots and lots of greenery and flowers. I think it looks really cosy. I think anything sort of perfectly square with pristine lines just wouldn't suit our personalities, or the old wibbly wobbly house. I also love next door's veg patch which is lovely and big and surrounded by prettiness to look less like an allotment.

I like all these.

I think the front garden would look nice split into three or so layers maybe. So at the bottom, lots of clear green space with the trees being the focus, the middle being veg garden, and the top by the house because lots of pretty colours.

Maybe I should ask MNHQ to change the title of this thread to attract the garden planners!

That's a great start . Now you need a rough plan of your garden , with existing features that you want to or need to keep . And a list of things you want to put in eg shed, patio, somewhere to hang washing, water feature , Compost bins ,

Think where you need to put things, like wheelie bin area near back door and access to wheel them down to the roadside.

Or patio - somewhere private and in the ? Morning or evening sun ?

If you want to propogate you might want to designate a suitable area for a green house, even if you can't afford one right now .

What do you want to do on the boundaries - hide a fence, open up a view, shelter from the prevailing wind , create privacy from the neighbours ?

Your photos make it look as though you have quite a slope in the garden, so work out how best to use this and also give access all year round .

Is your garden quite well drained or is this something you need to think about putting in ?

Do you need to think about kids or pets ? Eg no open water if you have toddlers, swings or other play area , garden fenced off for unruly dog

Think about maintenance - how much time do you want to spend looking aftre it ? This has implications for the design and planting eg small odd shaped beds mean you can't use the ride on mower and have to do a lot of strimming around the edges . Some surfaces requires a lot more maintenance than others eg crazy paving

Shall I do a rough drawing? Might be easier than trying to explain it.

There is a separate small back garden which has patio, table and chairs, two sheds and 'area for pots' (which could also be a space for a greenhouse too one day). Bins are kept right down the bottom on the driveway which is fine, so no need for bin area.

There are hedges half way down the boundary side, and then it's just a hedge of nettles for the bottom half which is not ideal! So hedges carrying on down there would be nice, but that's quite low on my priorities at the moment as privacy isn't a huge issue.

It most definitely is on quite a slope, I am forever greeting out of breath delivery drivers at the door! But the ground is good, flat rather than bumpy and yes good drainage.

No kids to think of and back garden is gated so he's got an outside space where he can't escape. He's well known in the village though and always gets sent home if he decides to go for a wander

I'm happy to not use the ride on because the back garden needs a push along mower anyway, and it will be a big job just to make access for said ride on. Maintenance wise, I'm happy to spend some time on it every day, for example dead heading, or pruning (once I know what I'm doing).