Tell me what to grow?

[Drivingish]

I've recently got a house with decent (small) garden space so I can finally start a garden but I have no idea where to start, I've looked up info but it's overwhelming tbh. My garden faces south west, has full sun from mid morning.

I want to mainly grow in containers and raised beds but don't mind larger things in the ground. I'd like to grow flowers rather than veg and as low maintenance and easy to grow/care for as possible to make it easier on me. I can't start planting for about a month but don't mind waiting if some plants can't be started until later.

I don't mind what I start with really, I like most flowers, but if it helps, I love lavender and hydrangea bushes, tulips, ranunculas, wildflowers and sweet peas. Any suggestions please?

If you want low maintenance, then go for things you don't have to sow or buy each year. Lavender works great in pots. Sweet peas will self seed in the ground, but you will have a lower success rate in pots. If you want year round flowers, consider cyclamen and hellabores. Things like violas and pansies are hardy. Roses do well in pots, but can be prone to disease.

Put roses in the ground as they will be really easy to look after that way and put on a better display.

The easiest way of building a garden when you don't know much is to buy one plant a month from the garden centre that looks great and you like. That way there will be something nice in the garden all year round. Just make sure you check the labels for how big the plant gets, and also choose things that come back year after year. Expect to make some mistakes and lose the odd thing but don't worry about it. If you get interested you will gradually learn what grows and develop a garden sense, but you can just keep going buying things that take your fancy every so often and still have a nice garden.

Growing in pots and raised beds means a lot of watering in the summer months. Another option is to plant in the ground using the "no dig" method. This is where you pour compost on top of your soil and disturb the soil as little as possible. (Obviously you have to dig holes to put plants in). You have to buy a lot of compost to get started but you'd also have to do that to fill raised beds as well. A thick layer of compost won't stop weeds growing but it will slow them down.

It's worth taking it slow, as you really need to suss out what is already there before you start planting. I'd suggest start with a few pots, and see what emerges over the spring and summer. Take pics to remind yourself!

Pots are great for annuals, but you won't want to get those until after the last frosts (end of April at the earliest, later if you're somewhere chilly.) Will you have any indoor space for starting seeds, or will it all need to be outdoors?

If you're digging any borders how about shrub roses, and underplant with things like nepeta and hardy geraniums. Would look great and all would love the South facing aspect. All that sunshine!

Thanks for all the advice!

@SeedsSeedsSeeds - so if I make a bed using the ground by my fence I can plant the sweet peas and they'll (hopefully) self seed every year? I can put some trellis up on the fence for them to climb up (or would they give it a go climbing up the fence alone?).

@deplorabelle - I assumed roses would be fragile to grow, are there hardier varieties and/or varieties that are awkward to grow? I love the idea of buying one thing at a time, I had it in my head I'd have to have it all planned to start with

@MrsBertBibby - yes, I've got a massive deep windowsill inside that I can use to start seeds off and I'm happy to wait for things to be ready to go out, it's quite cold here and we seem to get quite a few frosts during the winter/spring.

@FflosFfantastig - thanks, I'd never heard of nepeta but it's gorgeous and I like roses and geraniums too, I'll look for some of them.

Start your sweet peas now! Get some loo roll inserts, and a pot to hold them (I have 6 rolls in one lurpak box). Fill the tubes with compost, and put 2 or 3 seeds per tube. Stick on a windowsill, and they should sprout. Nip out the growing tips when they have grown a bit to bush them out.

I have 1 sweet pea sprouting from where I had them last year, so not reliable self seeders!

Sweet peas are hungry and thirsty so ensure you water and feed often once planted out, esp near a fence where it can be dry. I would give them trellis, they really like a wigwam to grow up. Pick regularly and deadhead to ensure more flowers.

You plant them out in the loo rolls, which rot down providing nutrients. Using loo rolls helps the plants get the deep roots the peas need.

Nepeta is catnip, so do be ready to find the local cat population rolling around in your borders, off their tits on the nip.

It's fab for bees etc too. Several varieties, so you can pick the best size for you.

@Drivingish roses are tough plants once they get going, though there are some diseases some varieties are prone to. They need a good, stable supply of water but if you plant in the ground they grow long roots to get it so once it's grown a couple of seasons it will look after itself. Choose a rose that has "disease resistant" on its label and you'll be fine. There is a lot of unnecessary mystique about roses (and lots of other things in gardening)

Re planning the garden, it's a nice thing to do but I think you have to be really experienced to know how the plan will turn out. I have been a keen suburban gardener for 20 years and wouldn't trust myself to draw a plan that bore any relation to reality. For a newbie it's much easier to work with a small number of plants that you can see and handle in the space they are going into.