Don’t know where to start

[Winterlove]

Hello. I’ve just inherited my parents’ house which has a lovely south facing garden with loads of large plant pots and hanging baskets. The front garden has some soil where daffodils grow but it’s north facing. Also some plant pots and it gets a little bit of sun in the evening.

I’ve always lived in flats so have no gardening knowledge. What sort of plants should I be buying and when? Don’t want to kill them too early with frost or cold. I live in Scotland.

All help and advice is appreciated! I want to keep the garden looking beautiful.

The first thing really is just to keep on top of things rather than being too ambitious at the start. If your parents were keen gardeners then there are probably lovely things already planted.

Basic jobs:
Lawn
Edges
Get rid of dead plants and leaves from pots and patios etc. if there are cards showing you what's been planted then you're looking for anything perennial or with signs of new life.

Unless you know the garden well i would just keep on top of things til autumn and see what grows. Otherwise you could be digging up treasures.

Get a plant app so you can identify plants/weeds. Take lots of photos of the garden over the spring and summer so you know what's where.

If you want instant colour in pots and baskets then you need bedding plants which you can often by six at a time. There's specific containers compost. Baskets drink a lot so daily watering is needed once it warms up a bit.

Is there a greenhouse?

The main thing about gardening is that it's for your enjoyment (and ideally the environment's). Don't stress too much and just have a go. Most plants are very forgiving but go for tried and tested (see what's in the neighbours gardens) before anything too expensive. The maxim is right plant right location. Some plants thrive in clay or sandy soil so find out what yours is. Some plants need long sunny warm days that you'll find more on the south coast of England than in Scotland. Others will just happily get on with it no matter what the weather does.

Good luck!

Baskets - lobelia or fuchsia around the edges for trailing. Then things like violas, pansies, begonias etc in the middle. Strawberries do well in baskets. Keeps the slugs & snails off them too.

You can grow pretty much anything in a pot.

Online garden centre at the moment have lots of deals on plug plants especially if you go for a lucky dip. You could get some and see what lives!

Nashville Queen gives good advice - hold off planting or getting rid for as long as you can until you know what’s there.

Get a plant app so you can identify plants/weeds. but remember the app is just doing more quickly what you could do, looking through lots of pictures to see if one looks like your plant. You’ll still need to check out its “answer” - does its suggestion grow in the UK? Does it flowers the same time as yours? Is the growth habit the same? Are the leaves the same? Don’t simply believe what it says.

If it’s a biggish garden you might find keeping on top of it enough to start with. Post a picture.

But keeping lawn cut, pots watered and fed is important. Also borders weeded, if you mulch the borders now that will help the plants and dtop you needing to weed so much, which is dull and disheartening. Also, when new in a new garden it’s easy to weed out the good stuff and leave the weeds!
Take lots of photos as things appear.

Mulching was covered by monty don on gardeners world 2 weeks ago, so episode 2 of this year.

It’s too early to plant much in Scotland. I would concentrate on general tidying up and weeding right now, maybe a first cut of the grass. A lot of things will probably appear in the garden over the next few weeks. Is there a compost heap with compost that’s ready? You can mulch with that.

Thankfully I have tools to cut the lawn and get the weeding done until it warms up a bit. The garden is quite big but a lot of it is slabs/patios so plenty of weeding to keep on top of.

There isn’t anything planted in the back garden at the moment as the pots and planters were emptied last autumn so in that sense I’m starting from scratch. There’s no soil or flower bed areas in the ground. I think I’ll get some colourful bedding plants. Is May the right time for that?

The front garden I’ll take on the advice of waiting to see if anything grows first as there is soil there.

The garden will get a bit of a makeover next year or the year after but I want it to look tidy with a bit of colour in the meantime.

Good shout with the app too - I’ll have a look for one! Thank you also for the suggestion of specific plants. Will also look those up!

To brighten up the planters you could buy pots of bulbs and transplant them into your own pots. I got a few from Sainsburys last week and put them in planters at the front door. All the supermarkets will have them.you can plant seeds as well, inside for the moment. May is right for bedding plants. Go to a local garden centre rather than Dobbies and you’ll generally get a better deal and good advice.

Have posted this link before - not used them but seems like a really good idea to me (I’m a complete amateur)

www.gardenonaroll.com/

Agree with lots of the advice above.
I would try and pick up a few gardening books in charity shops (Alan titchmarsh and RHS ones often seem to be about). There are also really handy books about specific issues - I have one on plants in small gardens, another on dry shady areas.
Depending on budget I would probably think about structural plants sooner rather than later . If you plan to get a large shrub or tree to give some height then the best time to buy and plant is dormant season (Nov-Mar) and generally much cheaper.
Perhaps have a short term plan - watchful waiting this year, maintenance, and bedding plants to brighten up.
A long term plan - what you want to do to add to what’s already there, focusing on structure and planning for the growth over the next 5-10 years.
What I love and find very soothing about gardening is that you are always thinking about now and about the future. What you do now is placing hope in the future , in a way, because you have to delay gratification and wait for things. It’s a lovely thing to get into.

Don't use pesticides and do some reading about eco-friendly, pollinator-friendly gardening

This first year, just observe and study for the most part.

@Christienne I have never heard of anything like garden on a roll and I just wanted to thank you so much for sharing the link! That's genius!

OP I have no more useful advice than you've already had here, except to enjoy it. A garden is never the same day by day and the more you do, the more changes. Enjoy it whenever you can

[quote WonkyWheelbarrow]@Christienne I have never heard of anything like garden on a roll and I just wanted to thank you so much for sharing the link! That's genius!

OP I have no more useful advice than you've already had here, except to enjoy it. A garden is never the same day by day and the more you do, the more changes. Enjoy it whenever you can[/quote]
No problem - I think it looks great, and, although not cheap, I think it would end up saving me money by avoiding buying plants that don’t thrive or look right.

Do you have a Morrison’s near by? They generally have cheap plants that would make an economical way to fill your pots.

@Brownduck just seeing your reply now. I bought bulbs for the front garden from b&q and it’s still been a bit too chilly for pot plants here but will check Morrisons. Thanks for the recommendation!

The weeding is also underway!