Good afternoon!! (she says, trying to be positive about the SIDEWAYS RAIN)!
We moved into our current house in July and for one reason or another have only just go round to thinking about sorting the garden. Have attached a picture so you can all see what I'm talking about.
Now for details! It was previously split into two (as you can see on the satellite image) but now the HUGE conifers on the left of the photo have gone, along with a lot of what was there and also the fence between that and the lawn. That side now has more conifers planted (wwwwhhhhyyyyy?!) which are thankfully only teeny tiny and I shall keep on top of and is totally full of weeds and general detritus.
The top left corner of the photo doesn't show it but there is a slight raised bed effort going on now. Maybe 2mx7m but rounded off rather than square. Also full of weeds and general rubbish. There is a path that runs around that side of the house and attaches to the patio in the garden. There's also some sort of a well or faux-well effort with some sort of raised bed/rockery thing around it. You can just make it out on the corner of the house. The wall at the top on this side of the house is absolutely hideous so I would love to cover it if possible? I have a honeysuckle but possibly a rose or something else that smells lovely and doesn't need me to hold it's hand all day in order for it to grow well.
The lawn! It is absolutely overrun with moles and in desperate need of a haircut right now but I would quite like to keep that grassed as the chickens will love it come summer. At the bottom of the lawn there is a myriad of absolutely out of control shrubs and trees which I have now taken right back to ground level or ripped out. There seems to have been some sort of an effort to plant another conifer hedge but it's a little happy and we need to stockproof that fence so that is being remedied come Monday. The shrubs I've cut back are all euonymus as far as I can tell and the rest are too far gone to be able to actually cut them back so they have come out or will be doing shortly. There is also an ancient apple tree that has really never been looked after and as a result it is almost split in two and fully hollow (yet somehow managed to produce tonnes of apples- albeit cankered ones!)
The hedge between our garden and the pool garden is an ENORMOUS beech hedge- at the moment with no leaves it has got to be 5ft wide and 8ft tall. This is also having to be removed as it's roots are disturbing the septic tank and associated pipes. We are intending to put a fence down the same line as this and possibly plant some sort of a border? Ideas welcome
God I'm sorry that's long but has anyone got any advice as to how I make this garden something that isn't mega high maintenance but still looks lovely. I don't mind having to do some work to it so long as I know it is going to be lovely- I might enjoy gardening when I've not got record breaking brambles trying to bite me! Plants and clearing ideas most welcome! We have access to a selection of our farm machinery so we should be fairly capable of doing most things! I would love somewhere to grow veg and I also have a few hydrangea, buddleia and honeysuckle which need planting out of their pots really!
Oh ground- it's very flat and very wet down here in winter but very warm in summer. We are in North Yorkshire and (I think the photo shows it) the garden is fully south facing.