Whiners guide to what to plant and when

[kirkandpetal]

We moved house last Easter and my plan for this year was to tackle the garden. We don't need to do anything too elaborate - it's a fairly rectangular piece of lawn that would benefit from being softened by nice borders, and we have a gravelled area that we can put pots on. It gets fun sun but is also quite exposed so does get windy!

COVID-19 put paid to doing much of anything this year, so I really want to plan ahead to have the start of a nice garden for next year.

However, neither me or my husband are green fingered so I'm after a book or a website/blogger that provides idiot guides to what to plant and when, for an easy to manage garden. Any recommendations?

Gardeners world have quite good guides on their website. Plant bulbs October/November. Big shrubs/trees/barefoot roses over winter when they are dormant. Any other perennials at any time - but if you plant when hot make sure you water well & regularly.

Thanks BuzzyBuzzbee, I'll take a look.

And obvs the title should've 'Beginners....' and not 'Whiners.....'!!

BBC books have a new how to design a garden book and on on perennials and shrubs. Got lots of good ideas in.

I’d widen the borders, fork in lots of muck and get some perennials and shrubs on line. Autumn is a great time to put stuff in as the soil is warm and they’ll get established. If you have gardener friends they’ll have stuff to divide and give you.

Tall plants at back, middle plants and low and tall see through at front is the traditional way. Going for height is good. If you’ve got room for a tree then they are brilliant to plant and watch grow. Something like an amelanchier or a mountain ash. You don’t need much room at all for a small tree.

Make sure you read up on how big things grow and space them out. It looks a bit bare at first but in autumn you can plant lots of bulbs to full gaps.

Treat yourself to a years subscription to Gardeners World. It guides you through each planting month and has loads of useful info. on just about everything.

Thanks everyone. Lots of things to look into. I feel a subscription to GW may be on the cards.