New Garden Tour! | Plans and Design For A UK Garden Makeover

Welcome to the start of a major garden project! I’m going to show the state of my overgrown garden, talking about my plans, and showing my designs to create a wildlife friendly cottage garden.

I’m not sure how long it will take but I am aiming to teach and learn as I go.

0:00 Intro
0:57 Tour Begins – Wildflowers
3:04 Main Garden
4:24 Side Garden
5:08 Pond & Raised Beds
5:43 Back Patio
7:49 Design & Plan

Music: Axletree, All in a Garden Green (Orchestral Version), CCBY

Hello and welcome to my garden. Overgrown, dilapidated, and uh I think it looked quite abandoned. I’ve watched my fair share of garden tours and renovations, and I’ve always loved watching the whole journey from start to finish of an entire garden being created over time, and now I get to make my own. So, the garden is quite a mess. There is a lot of hard work and graft ahead. But moving into winter 2025, this feels like the perfect time to get as much done as I possibly can before next spring. I’m going to do a full walkthrough of the whole garden, showing any specific areas or plans and ideas that I have and try my best to show it all unfiltered, completely raw warts and all just to see what we’re working with. Most of my design ideas and planting plans are going to be based around sustainability, wildlife, wherever possible, using native UK plants. Any input from anyone would be great as there’s always something new to learn or ideas I haven’t thought of myself. This small enclosed square is going to be a permanent wildflower garden. Uh over the years it’s never going to stay static. The different grasses and flowers will change. But if just left alone, it will become primarily grasses and then turn into brambles and eventually small shrubs or tree seedlings might get in. So it’s going to continue needing constant work. At the center of this little patch of grass is a dwarf apple tree which I grafted a few years ago myself. I’m not entirely sure what it is right now. I do have the label somewhere and hopefully it will be up on screen now so that you can see what it is. It isn’t a particularly interesting specimen at the moment. It does need quite a lot of formative pruning as it only has the two small branches. But hopefully I can get it to a good shape. In a few years it will start bearing fruit. Uh the very large conifer in the corner will need to come down eventually as its roots are beginning to take over the soil and it’s very hard to dig in. It also does acidify the area around its base which also causes a problem when trying to grow more wild flowers. Also, the council did uh decide that it was blocking the road. So, a rather large chunk has been cut away from the outside edge, revealing the brown inside. And with this type of tree, it will never regrow in that area. So, it’s going to look like this until it eventually comes down along the edge of this wildflower patch. Uh, with the neighbors, I would also like to grow some small shrubs, maybe some holly. There is currently a forythia in the corner here, but it’s slightly blocked off by this red cabbage palm, which keeps sprouting out new growth. Beneath the bay windows, having some planters with tall bulbs or other flowering plants, I think, for the spring and summer will look very nice. There is also this climbing rose in a half barrel next to the door, which I’m hoping to use a trellis to grow it up and around the door. It does bloom twice in a year if it’s deadheaded, but also the blooms are small and white and double, so it should look pretty nice. Uh, the name for this particular variety is City of York. This large terra cotta pot on the other side I’m hoping to make a bulb lasagna in with daffodils, crocus, higher synths, tulips, possibly some iris if I can get that to work, but I’m not really sure about it right now. Moving on to the main area of the garden, we’re surrounded by this large hawthorne hedge, which I’d like to have interplanted with other hedge row plants such as you and dog rows, although there are already some brambles in there. Hopefully, this will give it a bit more coverage during the winter as right now it is very sparse and it’s only coming up to the end of November. The hedge itself is also in pretty dire need of some cutting back and a bit of restorative pruding which I’ll also get into in a few weeks. In this front area of the garden, I suppose like a front lawn, I’m hoping to have very short turf or clover. And this will probably be the most formal planted area. Uh, a bench with some stepping stones and perhaps some formal planting along the side, maybe with crocus interspersed within the turf, is probably the way it’s going to go. This hazel fence, or a taller one, will help to section off this front area of the garden from other areas, but also give some privacy from the neighbors or the road. And I’m thinking that next to the driveway on the other side of the fence, I can plant a row of lavender or something else that smells sweet and gives a good amount of foliage throughout the year. This new length of hedge at a right angle from the main hedge should be able to block wind, but also give more of a sense of privacy and separation between the front and back areas. Though, it is going to take a few years to fully grow in. I’m going to have a wood chip path that winds its way towards the potting shed at the end. On the side with the hedge, where it’s shadier and cooler, I’d like to have ferns and rhubarb and other understory plants. On the other side, where there’s full sun most of the day, I could have taller plants. delphiniums and other summer cottage garden growing. And I think that this old tree stump would be absolutely perfect for growing some sweet peas. This potting shed was found, taken down, restored, and then put back up. And it does do quite a good job of holding the heat. I’m hoping to have a lot of seedlings in there and a lot of cutings as soon as we get into spring. Having a variety of potted plants around here, I think, would be amazing, especially for sitting during the summer months and just taking in the sun and the garden. Next to the potting shed, there’s this really overgrown area and this pretty impressive broom plant. There’s also these two dilapidated raised beds, which I’m really hoping to get tidied up. The soil condition is actually really good, so they just need a thorough weeding. I’m thinking of a winding red brick path down towards the back of the house, possibly with a small wildlife pond on the other side from the raised beds. I’m hoping that the frogs and toads that will be there would help with slugs as well. Having a small pile of logs to make a stumpery also feels like it’d be a great idea. Now, this area is an absolute mess, and I think it’s going to take a lot of work. I’d like to see this area as a split level patio with the bottom section next to the back doors having a pergola with plants growing all over it. The top section gets a lot of sun, so I’d really like to use it for potted plants that would love that. and also possibly having some sort of hammock so I can nap in the sun. There is also this angular bed at the back where for each fence panel I would love to get the espalier fruit trees growing. Having some ground cover planting that will help the fruit trees as they grow would also be amazing. Moving around to the side, having the garden on this area be slightly higher is going to be really helpful for working in the raised beds without hurting my back. I’ve had my fair share of back twinges from standing up at a garden bed too fast. This shed is in dire need of replacement. Not only is it quite small, it’s also almost entirely rotten through on both the bottom and on the roof. You can even see that a decent amount of the felt has been torn away by wind. Having the shed door face the house wall where the tap is is also not fantastic. This whole area is one large poured slab that makes up the driveway. There are quite a lot of cracks and there’s quite a lot of breaks. There’s also vegetation like grasses growing through it. This will need to be patched and at some point the whole thing will need to be redone, but it should be okay for now. What worries me most about this area is this short retaining wall. There are some cracks and it does seem to bow out slightly and I’m not sure if there is any kind of water drainage system behind the wall. So, I may need to take down and rebuild the whole thing at some point. Last but not least is this mini greenhouse. It’s going to be perfect for growing peppers or anything else that loves heat. The garden itself is in a large L-shape, so it does get sun from most directions. However, this wall is south facing, so it will get the most heat most of the day. I’m also probably going to build something so that the bins can be put away, but that’s another discussion for another day. So, with the garden tour done, here is the rough draft of what I think will be needed along with some planting ideas. Any and all ideas I can get that will help me make a wildlife friendly, sustainable garden where I can grow some food would be really appreciated. I don’t expect this to be a job I will rush. I don’t think it will be quick, but I’ll hope you’ll join me on this journey as I change this whole garden into a place that anyone could enjoy spending time. Bye for now. [Music]