Gardening Virgin- don't know where to begin :(

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I grew up in a small Victorian house with a yard at the back and a front door that opened directly out into the street. I've moved around a lot but have never lived anywhere with a garden. We've recently moved into an Edwardian terrace with a bland entrance at the front and a beautiful but small garden at the back. I love it. The problem is, I'm beside myself with worry about how I can maintain the garden or make the front look pretty because I have ZERO gardening skills. I don't even know how to plant plants! I also have a tendency to kill houseplants- not through neglect- because I don't know what they need and end up overwatering them or adding too much feed to the water.

Can anyone give me tips on how to look after a garden please? What do I need to do over the autumn/winter months? Which tools should I invest in? We have a small shed at the end- how often do in need to paint it to make it watertight? What is soil? Compost? Topsoil?

Is there an organisation I can join that will hold my hand while I up skill myself re: being green? Or a website or popular YouTubers who can give me an idea what I need to do? I know this sounds like a windup but I really need help and I'm too embarrassed to ask anyone in real life.

Ah, I love that! I might pop to the shops tomorrow and get some daffodil and tulip bulbs :) We've just moved from a flat too- the prospect of being in charge of a garden is frightening!

Congratulations on your new home!

I would also say take your time - observe your garden over the next year. See what everything does, what comes up/emerges as the seasons change etc. That way, you can decide what you like, what you want to remove and then look into what you want to add. You’ll also get to know where gets sun/shade, where gets boggy or battered by winds etc. Maybe take a few photos and post them on here if you’re not sure what a plant or shrub is - people will help you identify them so that you can then look into what care they need. One of the “worst” things about a new garden is having no idea what previous owners have planted.

I’d probably spend autumn/winter letting the garden rest and just observing things. Keep on top of the lawn. Maybe get some tulips into pots on your patio so that you look forward to some spring colour emerging (and who knows, you may find in spring that there are bulbs in your beds too). Next summer, inject colour with annual bedding plants in pots on the patio. That way, you’ve had a full year to observe without spending money on drastic changes.

Re the holly, I’d say cut it back to whatever shape/size you like. It’s fairly hardy, provides great colour 8nterest all year round, so make it work to suit you.

Also, think honestly about how much time you have to actually do the gardening.

I went a bit mad when I first moved into my place - loads of different plants that needed different care at different times of the year. It didn’t work for me! Back garden is now mainly a variety of evergreen shrubs - colour is injected with annual bedding in pots on patio/decking etc. Front garden is mainly shrub roses and tree roses. Much easier for me to maintain.

I like going to garden centres too to learn. You can see what bulbs are available in each season and what is currently in bloom. Read the labels of plants you like and use Google! Plants flower at different times, grow to different heights and need different amounts of sun etc.

Gardeners World program is a good place to start too 🙂

I was in your position five years ago, OP, and I made lots of mistakes so advice to watch and wait is worth heeding. Gardening can be very expensive. I found allotment sales much cheaper than shops, plus you get all that expert advice (don't be shy, they love sharing their enthusiasm!).

I also googled 'free plants'/'free seeds' and was surprised to see quite a lot on offer, some you have to pay postage, but great savings. Gardening magazines quite often have free seeds or cheap offers.

I love wild flowers and collect seeds from all over the place - and making friends with neighbours is also a good move. We hate to see plants go to waste and will happily pass on cuttings, excess tomato plants, etc.

Be prepared for some failures. Sometimes slugs or other beasties can ruin your plants - there's loads of advice online. And my last bit of advice - label your plants/take photos/ keep a diary. You think you'll remember where stuff is but you won't!

Give us an update next year!

My favourite perennials for colour and growth all year round are photinia, heuchera, hebes and loropetalum Perennials are split between “herbaceous perennials” like Heuchera which die down each winter, and shrubs and trees, like Photinia and Hebe, which have a permanent woody structure above ground. Often people use “perennial” to mean “herbaceous perennial”.

I would cut back the shrub over the shed to leave a clear gap between it and the branches above. Otherwise it’ll be damp and encourage moss and hasten the breakdown of the rooting felt. I’d also trim back the neighbour’s shrubs - you’re allowed to do that as long as you only go as far as the boundary. Strictly you’re supposed to offer them the cuttings, but you aren’t allowed to just push them over the fence without asking.

So you’ll need secateurs. Go for “bypass” (like a parrots beak) not anvil as they’ll give a cleaner cut and last longer. Don’t try to cut branches too big for them, as it’ll twist them out of alignment, so you may need loppers and/or a pruning saw - a little folding saw which is easy to manoeuvre between branches.

Other than that, just look at gardens, pictures of gardens, think about how you want to use your garden, what sort of plants you like, and work out which direction is south.

• *I would cut back the shrub over the shed to leave a clear gap between it and the branches above. Otherwise it’ll be damp and encourage moss and hasten the breakdown of the rooting felt. I’d also trim back the neighbour’s shrubs - you’re allowed to do that as long as you only go as far as the boundary. Strictly you’re supposed to offer them the cuttings, but you aren’t allowed to just push them over the fence without asking.

So you’ll need secateurs. Go for “bypass” (like a parrots beak) not anvil as they’ll give a cleaner cut and last longer. Don’t try to cut branches too big for them, as it’ll twist them out of alignment, so you may need loppers and/or a pruning saw - a little folding saw which is easy to manoeuvre between branches.**

Thank you so much- incredibly helpful advice. Off to search for bypass secateurs!

@MereDintofPandiculation interesting, I didn't know about that distinction... Although my heucheras don't die back in the winter!

I know, I was thinking about that as I wrote it. I think the key point is they don’t have a permanent above ground woody structure like lavender (which, strictly, counts as a small shrub), everything is growing from a soft rhizome like stem.

Bookmarking thread.

OP I totally get the thing of wanting a mentor/guide. I'm employing a young local gardener to help me create something lovely out of a blank canvas of a garden that was an afterthought to the developer from whom I bought this house. It's my first house post divorce so my first own "real" home and like you I want to be a good gardener!

Get a bag of compost, a trowel and some rooting powder, and buy a Rozanne geranium, a salvia nemerosa, and an aquilegia. All resilient and low maintenance, pretty much.

Dig a generous hole, chuck in some compost, water the hole and the plant, sprinkle in some rooting powder, plant the plant, water the plant, admire the plant.

Then plant a lot of bulbs - especially tulips.

Then start reading/instagramming gardens and plants, and start to get ideas about what you really want. good luck!!

Congratulations on your new garden. It seems to have a lot of mature structural plants, which is a great start. Like others have said wait until spring to see what comes up and what shrubs flower or are in bud. Come back on here with photos and questions.
you seem to have a palm in a pot. I’d put that somewhere sheltered in the garden for the winter and if snow or severe frost is predicted, cove it with several layers of newspaper.
Gardener’s World also have a monthly magazine that focuses on gardening for that month. Maybe a subscription to that would be helpful, you can buy it individually in the shops.
Gardening is great because gardeners are always learning, no one ever gets it right all the time, including the experts. Also there’s a never ending variety of plants to choose for your garden.
Above all have fun and enjoy your space.