Help me to sort out this garden/veg plot!

[JohnnyTwoHats]

Moved into a new house in December and have pretty much ignored the garden up to now, but since the weather is getting better I would like to sort it out before it becomes overgrown.
I have (in an amateurish way) grown bits of veg in previous houses but am now a student nurse so have less time. Here there is a veg plot already, and some flower beds. So if i take some pictures will you all advise me on what to leave/what to dig up/ what to plant which can cope with fairly sporadic maintenance?

bump

Right, have put lots of random photos on now of the garden to give you an idea
Especially advice on cabbages- do i leave them insitu or what?
I think there are strawberries and parsley too but can't really tell what else.

bump

I'd be tempted to dig the lot up and start again!! Not very helpfull I know but it's what I think I'd do.

Yes, had begun to think that, but am very short at moment so could get expensive?

I would choose one pot and put something colourful in that you change regularly - I'd empty the others and stack them out of the way for when you have more time - pots need watering - one pot is manageable!

I would choose things that effectively grown themselves after the initial input - then all you need to do is to pick things - eg runner beans.

I would try to mulch or otherwise cover (with something permeable) the bare soil wherever possible to keep down weeds. You can even use old wool carpets for this - turn it upside down and it doesn't look quite so silly!

I would decide that the shadiest borders for the moment could be used for things like hebes and fuschias - you can potentially get some cuttings later on in the season - but you can probably pick up small plants for not a great deal of money - and let these cover the soil so that you don't get weeds. Herbs are another good thing to grow to provide ground cover - but also help with flavouring things in the kitchen - but most need a more sunny location.

I have always found carboot sales great value for plants.May be worth trying at your local one.

Get lots of big bags of medium barch mulch and put it a couple of inches thick between the plants that you want to keep in the flower bed bits. Pull out big obvious weeds first, litle stuff will mostly be smothered and it will stop wind-blown weed seeds from germinating. Don't forget that feeble little lumps of perennial plants might be really huge by the summer so sit on it and see what you have.

The veg bed, have a gently poke around with a trowel to make sure you haven't got any hidden treasure like asparagus or artichokes that will have huge roots and come up every year but not look like much now. Cover up any bits of veg bed you can't cope with right now with black plastic which will keep the soil decent for when you get round to those bits, then attempt the rest.

Empty the pots carefully, might be something nice lurking in there waiting to come up in which case it will probably need new compost anyway.

Bark mulch, me coining new words as usual...