What to do with this mess?

Skeeter

Skeeter

Skeeter

Caporegime
Joined
8 Mar 2007
Posts
37,146
Location
Surrey
I am not green fingered in the slightest, I know nothing about gardening.

So, we've just moved into a new rented place and the front of the house has this bed. Its a mess, and all the other houses around are really well kept so I want to tidy it up.

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What am I looking at? Is it all weeds, or is there some decent plants in there? The bush on the right looks to be something? What about the big thing on the left?

I'd like to tidy it up an make it low maintenance. Any suggestions? I was thinking of ripping it all up, dropping in some top soil and then planting a few small bush things? What would you recommended?

At the very least I want to cut it back as it looks a right mess.
 
It's only a rented place so I don't want to spend to much on it, but I want it to look half decent.

I'll go grab some closer photos.
 
Just spoke with a neighbour and its basically all weeds. There's a few bulbs along the front but they are swamped with weeds. The lower light green bush on the right is some shrub thing she suggested pulling or trimming back to nothing. Behind it and up the wall is a rose bush that's worth keeping.

The back garden has been gutted and gravelled so I'm thinking the same up front. What's best for that? Strip everything out, put down some liner and then gravel it and then put some pots on?
 
Sounds good to me. No interest in expensive stone, just so long as it looks nice.

I was thinking a few pots with plants in as we can then take them with us when we move.
 
Makhaira said:
Pots will work, nice pots tend to be expensive though. Your call!
Click to expand...

I've no issue spending a bit on some nice pots as we can take them with us when we leave. I don't however want to spend loads on ground work and plants in a bed.

The garden front and back were a state when we viewed the house, but we were told they would be sorted. The rear garden has been. Its been cleared and now got a patio, a gravel lawn area with a path and BBQ stand and a raised bed with some plants in, and a bark chippings area with a shed at the back. Its quite nice. But the front hasn't been done and aparently was never going to be, so its a case of leave it or sort it ourselfs, hence wanting to do it cheap.

Strip it, gravel it, and pots it is.

Any suggestions on the lighter green lower bush on the right of the picture? Anyone know what it is? It looks like a bugger to get out if its got serious roots.
 
Makhaira said:
No idea I'm afraid.

An investment for the future that will make stripping that bed easier - get a sprayer of Glyphosate - it will kill any and all plants in a few days, and will help make the membrane much more effective :).
Click to expand...

I don't want to kill the rose bush, so will do it man style with a spade and some giant scissors :D
 
Went rambo on it today. Dug out all the plants and took out as much roots as possible. There were a few bulbs along the front, but not worth keeping really.

Went full bore with a ground clearance spray on it and have put down a weed membrane, now I just need to decide what to put on top. Any suggestions on where to get cheap gravel? I might put bark chippings down if its cheaper.

The light green bush on the right hand side of the picture is actually what looks to be a tree. Its been cut down to a stump once before, and I've trimmed it back to that, but will grab a saw and take it right down as low as possible before I gravel. Annoyingly, there's a drain for the guttering behind the rose bush that is open, so I need to make sure I put something round it to stop the gravel blocking it. A piece of pipe should be fine.

So basically, I'm after recommendations for cheap gravel or chippings.
 
Wickes is my closest hardware store so looks good. I'll need to figure out how much I need, as soon as you hit 7 bags, your better off buying 10.
 
Last edited:
Much better :)

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My work is done. Its been officially handed over to the GF as she is responsible for making it look pretty with pots and flowers.

Not bad considering I wasn't planning on doing anything with it today :)
 
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