Gardening blogs/online inspiration?

[ApplesTheHare]

Hi all

We're about to move house (fingers crossed!) and one thing I'm looking forward to most is planning the new garden. The gardens are incredible now, not huge, but one small courtyard/walled garden and one bigger side garden built up over 4 rough drywall-bordered terraces, if that makes sense. The lowest terrace has a greenhouse and veg beds. The current owners have been there 10 years and never done anything but mow the lawns so it's pretty overgrown. I'd love to find some good blogs or websites for inspiration but it's harder than I thought it would be! We've only had a small garden until now and I've been happy with herbs and all the usual suspects, so I'm keen to increase my knowledge

As you probably know already, what grows well on one site won't necessarily grow well on another - there are so many conditions that can determine this, from location in the country to aspect to soil condition and quality to micro-things like whether there are trees or structures shading bits of the soil for parts of the day or year. The first thing to do, I think, is to get really familiar with your particular plot. The way that the light falls this year will be totally different to the way it falls in summer, and there may be spring bulbs or herbaceous perennials that are invisible this time of year that will only make their presence felt in a few months. So it's worth giving it a bit of time for careful thought and observation. Have a look at gardens close by your new house with the same aspect - they will be a good indication of what will grow well.

Pinterest is really good for garden inspiration!

Thanks Holly I hadn't actually thought of that for garden inspiration! Seems obvious now... Also the point about where the light falls. The layout is strange due to all the levels so it's hard to predict.

One tricky think about the new garden is that it doesn't have any similar houses/gardens close by. It's pretty unique. We love it but I can see it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

Hey apples - you can take inspiration from neighbouring gardens, but also from things a little further away that have similar conditions to you - a garden with the same soil/aspect 20 miles up the road isn't likely to be so radically different from yours that you can't steal some ideas from it . Unless you are very remote, the chances are there's someone on the National Garden Scheme near you, or a pay-to-enter garden of some kind that is day-trippable. It's more that if you're growing on the east coast of Scotland, you might not necessarily want to base your whole garden on stuff that thrives in the far south West of England! (If you want an easy life, that is!)

Your new house sounds amazing!

I've got a book to recommend and a website for good information. I'm a big Val Bourne fan. To me she speaks a lot of sense and is a practical gardener.

I have this book which I highly recommend: www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Garden-Val-Bourne/dp/185894547X

And I'd search for her on the Saga website. It really is a mine of information. I was very pleasantly surprised.