Gardening for dummies

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shaking

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We've recently moved into a new house, with a large mature garden. I have no idea about gardening! It's looking a bit overgrown and some trees have what looks like ivy climbing up around them. From what I can remember my granny saying, this isn't good!

Funds are tight as all money is going on renovations internally. Any advice on where I could start learning about gardening? Is there a good book anyone could recommend?
 
In my own case what I did was picked a section of the garden (we have a stretch over over 50 yards by 15 yards to maintain) each year and worked on it - there is no way I could have tried to tackle it all in one go. I find the RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening invaluable as a help to how to go about it. I think most people would agree though that the best way to learn about gardening is through your own experience, trial and error so to speak. There are so many variables at play that you really need to learn for yourself what suits your plot best.
 
There are a myriad of books and it'll come down, somewhat, to your own tastes. Some gardening books seem unbearably smug, some way too complicated, some really not complicated enough. A bit like cookbooks really.

I'd suggest checking out what's in your library and having a look through a few of them. The RHS books are, in general, excellent I think. I got my brother their A to Z years ago and he loves it. A friend of mine found the Alan Titchmarsh book, The Complete How to be a Gardener really good and I quite like it, too. I've never had my own garden to do with as I pleased so haven't been able to use it much (joys of renting means most of my gardening was in containers or just maintaining what someone else put in) but it's a good basic book.

I also love Monty Don's writing and have read several of his books. My Roots, which is a collection of his articles from newspapers over the course of a decade, isn't a gardening book as such but it has given me so many ideas of what's possible and what having a garden is all about. One of my favourite books. He also has a book called the Complete Gardener - haven't read it but it's on my list for when I do eventually have a garden.

Finally, your best source of information is going to be other gardeners. Check out neighbouring houses with well-cared for gardens and the next time you see someone out and about in the garden, ask them for tips. Good way to meet the neighbours. Check if there are any allotments near you and if there are, pay a visit and see if you can get chatting to anyone.
 
As above.

Other things

It's a very good idea to "live" with a garden for a year - to see where the sunny, sheltered or dank/drab spots are. Before you do anything major. And yes, trim that ivy offa them trees! Just snip all the way around at the bottom and it will die off. You'll need to take the ivy out ultimately.

Try and at least keep the garden in trim though - a garden needs regular attention and best to do that on an ongoing basis rather than getting overwhelmed with a huge job.

I like this website: http://www.garden.ie/. It's Gerry Daly who is a regular radio contributor and really, really down to earth - if you'll pardon the pun!

Take some trips to the Botanic Gardens - I love the change of seasons and the different landscapes.

Take some time to look at the various garden programmes on TV = Gardeners World on BBC is very good for practical advice. Radio 4 on Sunday @2 for Gardeners Question Time ( Bunty from Bedfordshire and Wendy from Wandsworth ) is most entertaining and very informative.

Don't rush in to buying/planting expensive trees and shrubs - you'll have them for a long time and best to choose ones that you will love. I'm currently enjoying my laburnum tree in early bloom - the first thing I see coming down the stairs in the morning from the landing window. Sets me up for the day.

Make friends with older gardeners - as a rule they are generous with their time and their plants. My first garden was almost entirely planted up with slips, cuttings and baby plants from yogurt cartons courtesy of my best friends mam. Much to my OH's eye rolling irritation, I have continued her tradition of never refusing a cutting or a plant in distress and have a plastic greenhouse full of yogurt cartons packed with cuttings and patients


Finally - find a place for bird feeders - it is one of the greatest pleasures of gardening to simply sit and enjoy your surroundings to the sound of bird song. Mind you the 4.00 am Dawn Chorus is not always welcome directly outside my window!

Enjoy - I believe that gardening keeps you sane. At the end of a stressful day, when all you want to do is to rip somebody's head off , go out in to the garden and dig a hole. Best stress buster ever!

mf
 
Leave the Ivy Please.

1. It takes no nutrients from the tree.
2. It is one of the best late Autumn plants for feeding our scarce Bumble bees.


Since its a mature garden I am with MF1 to take it (handy) for a year, otherwise you might take out some great shrubs and regret it later.
 
I would be of the opinion that you should remove the ivy too. Most of the trees that I saw felled during the winter storms this year were heavily cloaked in ivy and they all looked very dry and brittle to me. Indeed one came down in our neighbours garden, it too was completely enclosed in ivy and the inside of the tree was nearly bone dry.
 
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If it is a severe covering in ivy it will impact on growth but unless it is severe or very unsightly , suggest leave it alone.

There are trees that are choking with ivy and I agree if they are choking =remove.
 
Some good advice here from the RHS, including what to look out for and when and how to control it.

Their Beginner's Guide is probably a good place to start for all aspiring gardeners.
 
I always found dead heading flowers during lunchtime saved me trying to rip the head off my boss in the afternoons, great stress relief!
 
Many thanks for the replies. Im heading to the library today to check out the books mentioned. I think some of the ivy wil have to be removed, like one poster said some of the trees are looking very dry and branches are snapping very easily.
 
Good advice posters!

Defo live with garden a full year before doing anything drastic. Take notes/photos to remind yourself of what is at it best at various times. Do out a plan marking on orientation and where sun reaches midsummer/midwinter.

Perhaps invite a gardening friend in to advise on what can be done now on a day to day basis. Some shrubs could be ruthlessly pruned back at any time and others only at right time and maybe some are past their best and could be taken out. Good to have a daily patrol with a seceteurs... little and often to keep things trim.

With so much info online, I have culled my shelves of many gardening books but I do like the Dr Hessayon range of paperbacks on various topics. It is nice to have an entertaining read such as Helen Dillon. I must look for the Monty Don book.... and there is his BBC program on a Friday evening which I record and whizz thru the exotic flowers bit to focus on Monty in his plot doing ordinary things.
 
Take a few pics of your existing garden and post up to this forum here => [broken link removed]

Ask for suggestions on maintaining and working on what you've got - together with any more specific queries you have. Ask for any suggestions with regard to changes you could make.
 
Belton said:
What is qid?
Click to expand...

It was included in the link you posted. Amazon qids are IDs used in the Amazon referral program. If someone clicks on a link which includes a QID and makes a purchase, the user the QID belongs to gets a referral fee.

I've replaced your link with a direct one to the book.
 
Leo said:
Any reason for the qid referral link in that url??
Click to expand...

Ah right, now I understand you. Thanks for pointing this out and explaining what a qid is. The reason for me posting the qid is pure ignorance. I'm not trying to gain anything whatsoever. I hadn't realised that a bog standard Amazon user is also a potentially referral earner. I'll log out of Amazon or edit the qid out in future. Didn't even realise!
 
Be carefull what you might dig up and throw away when renovating a garden. My father was walking his dog in a field near a house where the garden was being renovated and found several large Camelia plants dumped that were sucessfully replanted in my garden. They have flowered beautifully every spring since.

The renovated garden has since planted some small camelia plants and probably never knew that they threw away mature plants worth 5 times what the paid for the new plants!
 

Go to any book shop and get yourself The Garden Expert series of books by Dr D.G Hessayon.

You will learn alot of very usefull things from these books.Theres books on garden diy,garden design,pruning,planting flowers and shrubs,veg and fruit planting,pond bulding and water plants and so on.
They cost about 5 euro per book and are great to read over when sitting out in the garden or even by the fire or stove on a cold wintery night.
They also have fantastic pictorials in them too.
 
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