I don’t want to waste the plants

[Okz]

I moved into a house 5 years ago and the previous owner was a fantastic gardener. He has an array of flowers (including beautiful roses), shrubs, fruit trees, other trees (a gorgeous acer) and a great vegetable garden set up. He also timed it beautifully as well so when one flower is finished blooming another different type will pop up shortly after.

However, I’m not a good or keen gardening and don’t have the time to maintain it. The layout also doesn’t work for us and we have a baby arriving in a couple of months so it’s not very child friendly.

The last thing I want to do is for someone to come in a flatten all these stunning plants - or send them to the chipper. I will try to move some of them but most of them will be surplus to requirements. Some of them are very mature, so I think will be difficult to move but there are also some smaller fruit trees about 4ft that seem a same to get rid of.

Is there a way of gifting them to a gardening club? Or is there a general rule that anyone knows?

Love this idea!

😂 Just a tad

Established plants especially fruit trees are so much easier to maintain than anything you could put in their place unless you propose raising your children on joyless fake grass.

We moved into house where the previous owners had done the same and established an incredible garden. To be honest, I’m sad you’re going to change yours. I felt such a sense of responsibility for the garden, which is also HUGE, and we’ve managed it for 5 years, despite both being busy and having moved in while I was pregnant and we had a 18month old. It’s not as much work as you might think, and the established plants will mostly take care of themselves, they just might need a prune once a year. Our garden has so much life and beauty, and all the incredible plants come into their own at different times. Year after year I love getting used to the rhythms and patterns of the garden and watching it grow alongside my kids.

Please reconsider scaling back, or at least living with it for a few years before you do. You might be surprised by how much you grow to love it, and how little work it can actually be.

Funnily enough, I’ve found the most work in our garden to be the hedges and lawn. Honestly, everything else just does its thing.

@WidowedMum can I ask what was planted in your garden that looked after itself?