Come and look at my garden and advise me please

[milkymill]

I've put a picture (not the best) on my profile. I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to gardening, but I am keen . Really want to get it sorted and looking half decent this year, especially as we want to start growing some veggies in the small patch we have.

As you can see I've dug a sort of moat around the lawn where there was a lot of overgrown, wild plant/flower/weeds??? The garden backs on to a wooded bank so it was a real battle keeping the bramlbles etc at bay last year, let alone doing anything else!

What can I put around the lawn to keep it sepereate from that border area, and what can I put on/in that back border area to keep it neat and low maintenance? Oh yes, and it needs to be mega cheap or free .

Are you thinking about a path between the lawn and border? If you put down a thick layer of newspapers then masses of pine needles (is the woodland coniferous?). That would be the cheapest way.
Cut your edges first with a half moon cutter and I would recommend a six inch wide gap between lawn and path. It makes for easier mowing and looks neat. Mulch it to a good depth with wood chippings, gravel or whatever you can get.
Back border.- A really thick layer of newspapers with woodchipped bark to a depth of 3inches would keep the weeds at bay for a couple of years. Cocoa shell is also good but dearer. Use whatever is to hand ie leaf mold, gravel,pine needles or just buy a bag of bark chippings whenever you can afford it. (I ask for stuff like that for birthdays and Christmas!)
Good luck- it will be hard work but well worthwhile

Thank you. All sounds terribly complicated to a gardening dummy! I wasn't thinking of having a path due to cost, just something to cover over the mess I've made .

I've had another look and think you should do away with the circle altogether. It is going to be a faff to cut.
Have you thought about doing away with the grass bit and digging the whole thing over then start again? Also, what is the big orangy coloured shrub in the middle of the picture?

Oh it's not a circle if you mean the lawn; it's goes across the width of the garden. I have added couple more pics to try and show this. The picture at the top shows the continuation of it a bit more to the right of the original pic iyswim, or am I totally confusing you?

NO idea what that shrub is but it looked alright last year. Thanks for taling the time to look again .

The garden is a good size.
I would honestly be tempted to redo the bit you have done by forking in some well rotted manure, rake then do the 'gardeners shuffle' over it to flatten it a bit then put down fresh grass seed when the weather gets warmer.
Pounce on any weeds as they come up or spot treat them.
Or were you thinking of a COMPLETE revamp? eg doing away with the grass altogether?
Cheapest way would be to reshuffle the existing shrubs and plants so you are left with sort of island borders.