First garden please advise on first plants

[Kamma89]

Hi. I'm after the most basic of advice. Just bought first home & finally have a garden I want to spend time/money on. It's SW facing and I'm looking to plant something early July. A bush, flowers, literally anything. I need to practice keeping something alive! Any recommendations? Mum suggested lavender but my gran said it's hard to keep going. I've killed every house plant I've owned so have zero confidence.

Do you know what type of soil you have?
I'd advise having a nose at what is doing well in gardens close by, chances are you have similar soil and what works in those will work for you. I've never had a problem with lavender, it's in a sunny spot in acidic soil.

One tip is to go to a garden centre every month and see what appeals to you at that time. So you might like the Camellias that bloom in February, Forsythia in March, Rhododendron in April and so on. After a year, you will have a list of plants that will bring interesl to your garden all year long. Then decide where to position them (taking into account the plants' needs for sun/shade, moisture etc) and off you go!

Also, space and money permitting, a garden with three or five of each type of shrub looks more "put together" than just one of everything.

Honeysuckle grows pretty much anywhere and you can get evergreen varieties.

Hi I'd go to the garden centre and get some annuals to pop in and water well, so you have some colour.

I recommend you don't spend much money until you've been in a year and know what's there already. SW facing is probably the best aspect- you're very lucky.

Lavender is only difficult if you plant it in a wet place, or out of the sun. You are probably ok with a SW facing garden. There are so many different sorts of lavender - have a rummage here:

derrydown lavender nursery

Spend your time and money in the first year on reading up on gardening, and watching gardening programmes, and improving your soil, with well-rotted manure, unless the garden is clearly very healthy. I wasted a lot of time and effort and money trying to get things to grow in poor soil when I started!

What size is your garden?
I go for an infrastructure of shrubs, things that bloom at different times, snd / or have berries in the winter. So Berberis , mock orange, cotoneaster, holly, rock rose.
Then perennials ( things that come back every year) alliums for May, verbascum for June,hollyhocks for July, etc. You can look everything up on google images to see if you like , then on rhs website which will tell you how big it will grow, if it needs full sun etc.
If you have a fence you can grow clematis or roses up it for added interest. Look at Taylor’s clematis website for endless inspiration.
I second looking at neighbours gardens to see what thrives.
And Lavender is easy, so go for it if you like it.

Also you can look at Pinterest to see what styles you like, cottage garden with roses and lupins, modern with grasses , formal with box balls.
It’s all trial and error with gardening, just enjoy choosing.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm quite excited, if a little nervous. Wouldn't have thought of checking our the neighbours, pinterest or finding out about soil types etc. The garden is quite big for London, about 40 Sqm.

I'll certainly take my time and research before spending too much. Very lucky to be close to a few lovely garden centres so I'll try and become a regular visitor.

Thanks again

How exciting!
In your first year you are best off sitting on your hands a bit- and seeing what comes up.
I have a surprise wisteria and loads of bluebells and would never have known of i'd gone charging in. Pull up things you know are weeds and go mad with pots in the mean time.
If you fancy dipping your toe in veg growing I really recommend Rocket Gardens for beginners!

Alan Titchmarsh's How to Be a Gardener is a good start - available as books (check ebay!) or on Youtube. Covers all the basics.

French lavender won't survive the winter, it's an annual. You need a perennial English lavender if you want it to come back next year.

Start with a framework of a few evergreens to give some year round interest. In a few months you'll be able to plant Spring bulbs for next year (daffodils etc). Have a look at different garden styles on a website such as Crocus to get suggestions for what plants would suit your preferred style.

I'm hopeless with lavender as I can never remember when/how to cut it back and it goes all woody and leggy .