Help me plant some flowers

[GooseFat]

I have a rectangular patch at the bottom of my garden, just full of mud and weeds. I would like to plant some nice flowers. I know nothing about gardening. My plan is to get rid of the weeds first of course. And then do I need to put something down ie weed control fabric (no idea if that's what it's called but found that on Homebase) or binliners or something? Then add soil on top? Do I use some of the mud that's already there and put it on top of fabric? I hope this makes sense to someone and they can give me a dummies guide TIA

That sounds like a plan! So, how big is the area? What's around it - fences, or hedges? Could you show us a photo? If you can put some photos on of your weeds as well that would be helpful!

What will grow best depends on how dry your soil is, and how much sun it gets. So, if it's in the shade of a big hedge, it will be dry & shady for example.

When I was doing something similar I removed weeds, brambles and Ivy, then put dug it over and put down sheets of cardboard. On top I put a mixture of compost, soil improver, old grow bags, these all raised the soil level by about 20-30 cms. So you need to consider the height and depth of the end result.
By using cardboard it disintegrated and allowed the worms to work through the soil, while suppressing the weeds. I did also transport some worms onto the new soil.
Very occasionally a blade of couch grass or bramble will appear, but they are easy to deal with.
As pp said the aspect of the bed is important.

Hello, sorry for the late reply, been a lazy bank hol weekend! I'll attach a photo (hopefully it works). It's beside the road, not shaded at all really, we get a lot of sun on this side of the house. Think I'll give the fence a paint too! Don't want to spend a fortune on it as we are renting and planning on buying in 2-3 years!

This is the time of year when everyone starts to get excited and goes to the garden centre or Homebase or whatever. Pretty much everything that is in flower now will not be in flower for all of the summer and into autumn.

So if you want flowers, you have to decide whether you want whatever you plant to come back year after year (and if you do, you need shrubs or perennials) or whether you would be willing to replace whatever you plant at the end of the summer flowering season (and if you are, you would be looking at bedding plants).

What do you think?

If I were you, I would buy some evergreen small shrubs, maybe choose ones that flower such as escallonia pink Elle (flowers in June/July and has another burst in September), some perennials that flower now (such as sennetti) and perennials that flower for all of summer and pretty much until first frosts (such as some salvia eg Amistad and Hot Lips). All of those would do well in a bed like that.

You can then plant spring bulbs in the autumn, they’re always pretty cheap in places like b&m.

You’d need to clear the bed of weeds and improve the soil with compost/top soil. And keep it well watered.

A climber against that fence would be lovely too. Climbing roses would love it there, as would many clematis. I’ve bought Clematis Arabella in wilko before (£3 each, I bought a few) and they’ve been amazing in a sunny spot.

I’m no expert but those weeds don’t look too bad, I would hoe/fork them out and top the bed up with clean compost. Then plant away with whatever you fancy.