Where do I begin ? With photos

[bunny27]

Can anyone please help and provide an idiots guide to how I make this 'bed' beautiful. I have a lot of questions

Do I dig over existing soil and then add topsoil or do I need just compost or both?
I don't particularly like the leggy shrubs there now but I do
Like that they provide privacy, can I keep them and grow climbers through them? Is this practical?
Ultimately I would like a colourful, low maintenance flower/shrub bed and don't know where to begin as there is so much information out there.
Would you recommend a book or website that would be useful for a beginner.
Would really appreciate any advice at all.

I can’t see what the shrubs are, but I’d prune them down by a foot or two.
Although we think houses at a distance where we can see the windows, rarely see directly into our gardens because of the angle of vision. If you see what I mean.
Then I’d get rid of the Ivy under the shrubs. This is quite a task so aim to do as much as possible then just keep on top of it. The soil will benefit from some soil improver, sold at garden centres. It will be pure and weed free.
The bed looks as if it gets some sun, so go for low maintenance plants that like semi shade such as hebes, cranesbill geraniums, and hydrangeas. In the Autumn plant some bulbs for spring flowers.
Alan Tichmarsh’s How to Be A Gardener books are good for beginners and easily found second hand.
Others will be along shortly with more ideas.

houses at a distance can see us

Thanks so much bee bumble. That is really helpful. I got rid of a lot of the ivy last year but it's so hard to eliminate fully. Good point about people seeing in and a foot or two off the shrubs wouldn't be too bad. Will search out some soil improver. Just cannot wait to get some proper plants in there with some colour. Thanks so much

Can you get a close up of the leaves on those bushes so we can tell what they are?

I would take at least two of the bushes out and prune right down. They're going to take a lot of light and water from anything you put in the bed.

Yes, agree with Beebumble on reducing the height of the bushes. You need the bushy growth where the house windows are, rather than as now, above their roofs. If you can post close ups of the leaves so we can identify the shrubs (assuming you don't know what they are) and tell us what sort, if any, flowers they have, we'll be able to advise on whetehr you can do it all in one go or spread out over 3 years.

You won't get a superbright border there because of the shade of the shrubs and the competition from roots, You can add colour from foliage - Geranium pheum with chocolate coloured markings on the leaves, a variegated hebe, etc.

Yes you can grow climbers over the shrubs (ivy is a climber ). Obvious candidates are honeysuckle, clematis. Tropaeolum can give you bright yellow flowers

Hi all, thanks so much for the info. I have no idea what the shrubs are. See close ups below. So if I cut them down a couple of feet the 'bushiness' will be lower. Am definitely going to do that. Also I get what you're saying about the light. It is very shady but if I cut the shrubs down and therefore the overhanging branches will come off too thereby helping the shade a bit I hope.

I love the idea of climbers and will definitely look into that.

So am I right in thinking the best plane of action is to clear ivy, reduce height of scrubs, improve soil and then hopefully plant?

“So am I right in thinking the best plane of action is to clear ivy, reduce height of scrubs, improve soil and then hopefully plant?”

Sounds like an excellent plan, was about to say something similar. Thought I could also see some brambles on the photo too? They will also need to go.

Thanks Jemima. I feel a bit more confident with all this good advice. Yes there are probably brambles too Am going to get rid of as much as possible to give me, hopefully, a good starting point. If it wasn't so cold at the moment I'd be making a start right now!

I reckon that's privet, so you can lop it down as hard as you like. Privet usually forms a hedge, so I think there was something else growing in front of it, or the ivy was much worse, so it has gone up for the light. If you chop off the tops and keep the bare bits exposed, they will start to sprout green shoots from all the exposed bits as the sun reaching the stems stimulates growth. Then you can trim it to cover the wall and form a backdrop to whatever you choose. Just keep the ivy off it or you'll be back to square 1.

I agree that it’s privet, as previous poster said, it’s pretty indestructible and easily pruned. A clematis Montana would love scrambling through the it and wouldn’t mind an annual prune in late spring when you’d be doing the Privet.

Thanks for the very helpful info. Especially the fact a clematis Montana would be good scrambling though it. All I need now is warmth and time 🙂

Montana will go and go but it looks like you've got some space there and it is pretty. I've heard it described as like putting a tiger in a terrace garden 😀

One thing I would consider doing when you have cleared the ivy is painting the boundary fence, the front border wall and the pebble dashed whatever it is. At the moment they are three textures and colours that don’t really gel , so painting them the same would pull the area together so you can focus on the planting. I would choose a very dark colour, blue black or slate.

The shrubs have probably drained the soil in the border from nutrition and body so I would want to replace that. Well rotted manure if you can get hold of it will put back a lot of goodness, but this will be a long term project so start a compost heap if you haven’t already got one. If you get the chance to dig in some good topsoil that would help too.

I would try and keep most of the height of the shrubs, cut them back by a bit, but I would thin them out from the base, taking about a third of them down making sure that you cut as low as possible, and also cut the trunks that have already been cut down as well so you don’t have different heights. This will let more light in but shouldn’t affect the privacy too much.

Sorry, I know you wanted to get plants in there fast, but I think you need to get the border plant ready first! The last thing you want is to be trampling over new plants trying to paint walls, cut down shrubs etc.

Thanks Viques. Good thinking Re the colours and painting. I had never even thought of that.

Although I am desperate to see the end result of a beautiful bed I know I need to put time and energy into the preparation. I know it will be worthwhile. Some great tips and advice on here that have really helped me focus on what I need to do.