Hey not gonna give you the whole sob story but parents left at a young age and garden is now severely overgrown, I have a rough idea how to tackle and am ready to get started! But any advice would be appreciated! Thank you. Weeds have grown over six foot
Gate is off the hinges so basically pointless
Glass everywhere
Random upside down pond furniture and doors??
Half demolished shed
Old bbq which was actually quite nice before abandonment but feel like I’m gonna have to part ways. Am only 19 but I do not want this to be my life anymore
I am ready to spend a good amount on this too.
by conhawk101
11 Comments
Get rid of all of the rubbish and then work on pulling by out the weeds.
Once you have more of a blank surface I’d post on an app local to you and ask if anyone who is a hobby gardener would like to give you some tips and help with the space.
You’re going to make this divine
Get yourself a man with a van or a skip and get rid of all the rubbish. Assuming money is tight, get yourself a strimmer, it’s not the best tool but it’s inexpensive and will get rid of the worst of it. Once it’s a low level a lawn mower will do the job. Once you can see everything, get yourself some gloves and a spade and removed what you don’t like from the root.
Once that’s done, bit of Fence paint and you’re looking at a nice space
Don’t be disheartened, this has lots of potential. Just don’t expect miracles of yourself. A good garden can take years.
If you are willing to spend on it, I would honestly start by paying professionals to clear the rubbish. Most of that stuff looks to heavy for one person to manage, and the whole situation will look much more manageable with it gone.
I would concentrate on that before thinking about dealing with the growth. Come back with an update if you can. This has so much potential.
Council may be able to collect the sofa and other big rubbish, check their website.
Once the space is clear of rubbish maybe see if you can borrow a strimmer from a friend? It would speed up the process a lot. Some of the weeds will be easier to pull up, some will need digging up to get them out.
Once you have a clearer space come back for more advice? It could be a nice little garden with some work!
You need to slowly attack it . Step 1 get multiple trips in to the local dump . Arrange a pick up for the larger items . Step two get a garden waste bin and some decent cutters . Sharpen and oil after use ! Cut it back and get strong gloves . It’s a great project and will keep you fit 😬
You’ve got some brilliant advice here. I just wanted to add – before you go too close the ground with a strimmer, please just run a rake over it to make sure there are no hedgehogs in the growth!
As someone already said, check your local council, my council will collect 3 large items for free every year, anymore than 3 they will charge a reasonable fee. Thats your first step, don’t think too far ahead, one task at a time. I would suggest concentrating on the area closest to the house, the far end of the garden can wait
So much opportunity there, what a blessing
Sorry to hear this has happened to you. You have a potentially lovely garden there but I imagine it seems overwhelming right now. It’s easily possible though so don’t worry it just takes work and time.
Check on your council website to see if they do what’s usually called a bulky waste removal. There’s usually a small fee but (once you’ve put it in a pile) they will remove it. Or perhaps hire a skip or man with a van ?
I think I can see a few plants among the weeds. See if you can find any before you cut back all the weeds and leave them in for now. You will need a spade and some secateurs, strong bags and thick gloves.
After it’s cleared you will see what you have to work with.
This will take you some time, take as long as you need and don’t be disheartened as it will be worth the effort in the end.
When it’s cleared, grab a nice cool drink and sit in your garden and give yourself a huge pat on the back. It won’t look amazing just yet but you will be able to see the possibilities.
Why not post some ‘after’ photos? We would love to see them.
Well done for taking charge of your space. You are going to make this your own. Keep us updated.
Tons of good space here, you’re going to add so much value by cleaning it up, think of it as a positive opportunity.
1. Heavy duty garden gloves.
2. Council should pick up large items like sofas and dead barbecues cheap.
3. If you have access to a vehicle, bag up as much rubbish as you can and get to a local tip, otherwise look at hiring a big rubble bag, or a 4 yard skip for rubbish and green waste which shouldn’t be more than a few hundred quid.
4. Look into local tool banks, freecycle.org or even eBay for second hand kit. Local tool banks / libraries shouldn’t charge more than a few quid to borrow basic stuff if on a tight budget. Strimmer to cut back, buy a good steel hoe and garden spade, borrow a sledgehammer and pick axe where needed for breaking any old concrete / digging out stony ground.
5. Once you have got it clear and hoe’d back start thinking about what kind of garden you want, Pinterest for inspiration. Think about a) where’s hot and sunny/ cool and shady in your garden b) how wet is it and how well draining is the soil-is the soil you are digging heavy clay or lighter soil-you can Google likely soil type in your area. That will tell you what plants are likely to do well where.
7. Looks fairly lush so hopefully quite a lot of organic material in the soil. If it’s been neglected a long time the ground will be pretty compacted and will have a lot of weed seeds in the ground.
Once you know where you will be planting, digging and turning over the soil for the beds and getting in plenty of compost and manure will improve the soil and set you up for long term success. You’ll be amazed how much compost / manure you’ll need – council again may be able to sell you an industrial quantity cheap.
8. Planting through a good landscape fabric and a really thick (2-3 inch) mulch layer of bark over everything will make your life so much easier long term with less weeds, ease of pulling out, less watering needed. If you can’t be bothered with learning plants, look up Beth Chatto garden centre who does a very good set of ‘pot by numbers’ plant boxes for all sorts of different ground conditions which will give you instant beds with a few months of grow time.
9. Depending on budget, get a good landscape gardener to lay a good solid patio. Deep layer of compacted hardcore, if using natural sandstone, seal the rear with a pvc glue wash, stones should be laid on a full mortar base. Avoid decking, it looks good for a year and then goes all slippery.