Help a total novice with new garden ?

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First things first -

1. Two adults working FT. Neither have green fingers. One (me) has green aspirations but no skills.
2. 1 baby and 1 5 yo and 1 small dog in the midst so lawn needs retaining.
3. We have no time except to barely manage to keep the 3 dependents alive and us well.

So new house has a boring rectangle for a garden. What can we do around the margins that allow us to plant some perennial shrubs and if so what should said shrubs be? Year round interest and flowers are favourites but top favourite is minimal looking after.

Also where could a small kiddy veggie patch go? Around the conservatory? Or?

The muddy patch in corner is where a small playhouse will go by the way.

Thanks enormously for any help to make this happen and double thanks if the ideas are written for me like I am 5 years old!

I feel ashamed that I know nothing about any of this!

Fence looks good. I also started a garden from scratch. I bought manure from the garden to add some nutrients. Also, what I didn’t realise, is that gardens take ages to establish. Perennials get bigger and bigger for years. So I didn’t quite take that into account in my planting and some things are a bit badly placed.

Ones I like though are salvia hot lips, bleeding heart, lavender, fuschia. Also, seeing as you have a nice fence, you can grow climbers. Star jasmine is nice. Also, some things will fail. Don’t worry about it. Also, some stuff will get munched by slugs and snails.

As for veg, it is a lot more labour intensive. So maybe just do a few easy things like tomatoes or strawberries in a pot.

And as for upkeep, try to do it when you’re just hanging out in the garden with the kids. Don’t see it as a separate chore or it won’t get done. I love pottering about when the kids are playing. Only sometimes do I need them to be looked after, eg fence painting or doing a big job. But a bit of light weeding or dead heading can be done with them around. They WILL want their own tools though. So get some for them and some gardening gloves. B and Q own brand do some kids ones.

Thank you. Spouse is currently tasked with digging the edge of the border and I will continue. What are some plants Or bulbs could buy and put in at this time of the year would you all know?

Thanks for the plant names above by the way - just wondering what could go where and what is actually feasible to buy now!

In terms of shape I would go for curved/wavy borders and make sure there's enough depth to plant taller at the back graduating down to shorter/ground cover at the front. I also put a meandering path through my rectangular garden which worked really well and drew the eye away from the rectangular-ness of it

We need as much lawn as we can unfortunately so border cannot be too deep - both Dc And little dog much enjoy the limited lawn !

You should be able to put in some perennials now. They’ll have time to do a bit of rooting before they die down for winter. Buy some narcissus and snow drops to put in for spring. Not quite yet but in a couple of months. I buy a lot of my plants off ebay! Being postal, they’re a bit smaller than garden centre plants (as in, tiny). They have all worked well but aren’t the best for instant garden look as they take a while to grow. You could also get a dwarf apple tree. You’ll need another compatible apple nearby for pollination or a self fertilising one. But that’d be nice for the kids.

Final tip! Don’t expect it to look amazing just yet. Unless you have hundreds and hundreds of pounds to buy big plants, then it’ll take a few years to look well grown. You’ll find you go to the garden centre, but why you think is loads, come home and it’ll look tiny when it’s in the ground. But a few years later, it’ll all be enormous and then it’ll be lovely.

That should say buy what you think is loads

Have you decided where you’d like to put a table and chairs for eating out yet (If indeed you want one!) and where you’d like the children’s play house to be?

Then you could think about what you’d like to see from the house - do you want to see your flowering plants from the house? I always plant early spring bulbs (crocus, snowdrops) where I can see them from the kitchen window as I know that I won’t spend much time outdoors when they’re flowering. Of course, you might, as you have a dog and dc who may like to play outdoors all year round.

I love having a little shed or outdoor chest when the Dc were little, as then I didn’t have to go back into the house to get tools or whatever when they were playing nicely and I could get on with a few jobs. I found that if I went in, that sort of stopped the play! So having access to a trowel, secateurs, small plastic flexi-tub type thing (for weeds), watering can etc was useful.

My top tip - wilko is fantastic for garden stuff. Their bulbs are same price as places like Homebase etc, but in spring they start selling supports, plastic tubs, feed and loads of other plants.

My other top tip - if you decide to have a pot, but the biggest you can afford for the space you have. Stone and ceramic pots can be pricey (plastic are cheaper) which always meant that I bought smaller ones. And then over time accumulated lots and loads of smaller ones. I’d have been better off with a few large ones as that makes more impact and you have more choices eg you can put shrubs in them.

Realistically, given your exceptionally busy lives, lack of gardening experience and small kids I'd aim to keep things very very simple. You can get more sophisticated later and learn slowly what you do and don't like. I'd definitely put off anything veg bed related until the spring.

Grass is great because you can mow it whereas borders will need weeding. Only dig borders when you can plant them up immediately, weeds love nothing more than a lovingly prepared empty flower bed.

Shed for gardening stuff and outdoor toys, somewhere to sit when it's sunny, somewhere for outdoor washing line.

For the border that's being dug now get a large sack of daffodils and shove them in before doing anything else, they will flower in spring and be very cheery to look at whatever else happens.

Indestructible evergreen shrubs that your garden centre should have would include hebes (many available), a Daphne (expensive but fabulous scent in late winter/early spring, plant near the door), choysia (I hate the sickly yellow one but each to their own), camellia (not full sun). Also mentioned above are pittosporum which are excellent doers.

Ooooh thank you! Our decking area with furniture isn’t visible in my pictures but it’s where I stood at the edge of the eating area to take these pictures.

I was at a garden centre just now and have picked up a few things I like - they are all perennials and largely herbs I cook with (not mint!).

Also got budleja, choisya, perennial genre Uni and fuchsia.

And herbs were lots of lavender, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, fennel and sage…

Also have a double pack of different kinds of spring flowering bulbs…

Genre Uni? gerenium!

I also have a Jasmine and a couple of smelly climbers in pots from old house that would like to go somewhere..

When you put the bulbs in, put a marker the place you planted them, otherwise it's really easy to forget where they are and dig them up by mistake when planting something else.

Only dig borders when you are ready for them - otherwise they will be full of weeds in no time and you’ll have to start again.
If you want straight lines, consider diagonal beds, making the lawn more of a diamond - your eye is drawn to the widest bits and will stop it feeling boxy.

A buddleia is a great perennial for a new garden. It gets tall very quickly, has months of flowers and attracts loads of butterflies. Popping one at the back of a bed will give you colour and interest next summer.

Yeah we are ready - we’ve got soil improver, compost, plants - and have done some mega digging and weeding today!

Mega digging done yesterday - and planting up. All looks a bit bare but presumably the various perennials and herbs will grow and fill up the room! We found a few of these creatures while digging - any idea what they are?!

They look like the caterpillars of Elephant Hawk Moths. They are fascinating and emerge as a greenish moth with pink lines on the body and wings.
I’d consider myself lucky to have them living in my garden. They are completely harmless, but beautiful.

Yes, some type of hawk moth hopefully. You’re lucky if therm are! They’re so beautiful.

This is a lovely thread and I wish I could like posts - loads of great advice.

Mulch is great to keep weeds at bay, whether that’s in a new bed that won’t be planted up yet or between shrubs/perennials that you’ve already planted, and bulbs will push through. Lots of suitable mulches - woodchips, bark chips, composted bark - these will also rot down and act as soil improvers, giving you double benefit.

Good advice too about making your lawn round/diamond shaped for added interest. Makes for bigger flower beds that look generous, too. One of my pet hates is stingy little 30cm wide beds where there is room for 1m deep beds.

Keep posting pics, OP, it’s lovely to see how you’re getting on.

Update!!

Fence panels now uniform in colour.

The sunny side already fairly busy alas but did have room for 2 Budlejas and 1 hardy woody Jasmine of some kind. They’ve gone in.

The less sunny part-shade part-sun side has become the official herb border. Lots of lavender, marjoram, sage, rosemary, fennel, thyme. Also gone in.

Have put spring bulbs in patterns throughout - alliums, daffs, crocus, tulips, iris.

Went for fairly boring round the sides soft rectangle after all.

Today picking up bark chips to mulch and spouse will put edging in too.

When summer arrives things like sweet peas and runner beans can just go in direct here and there at the backs near fences.

Oh and also managed to put in a Choisya, a hardy Fuchsia and clematis and honeysuckle.

Not bad! The only problem is the large decking. Ideally would like lifting decking and getting rid to lay patio but currently no money to do so - will possibly need to “revitalise” which is money down the drain as far as I gather…

Some pics! Bark for mulch hasn’t been picked up yet but that + edging is today’s task before back to work tomorrow

Great! It’s gonna look ace.

Impressive progress!

I've weeded the front path. That's it for a long weekend.

In my defence, it had practically got to the point where the postie needed a machete.