Topic: Creation of a new garden

[Marian]

Hello

I am currently working on a very overgrown garden full of weeds and dead grass.  I have been asked to put it right and plant some colourful things in there.  My question is: Where do I start?

Do I mow the lawn and replant grass?  What plants would I put in the ground in August to give maximum colour and life?

thanks for any help.  :D

[ACE]

If you are getting paid for this job, you should have known what you are doing before you took it on.

I am often asked to rectify a garden that has been wrecked by somebody pretends to be a gardener but does not have a clue.

Rant over!

Now if you are doing it out of the kindness of your heart. Have a look at the neighbouring gardens to see what does well in that area.There is no such thing as dead grass, unless it has been weedkilled. So mow it, rake off the debris, then wait and see if it starts to recover while you do the rest of the work. Turf is always the last thing to go down, then you do not damage it while you are working on the other bits.

[Garden Manager]

If the owner of the garden is not really a gardener, then i suggest going down the low(er) maintainance route. Use tough, easy to grow but attractive plants that look good for long periods without too much human input. Shrubs would be the best bet here, with agood mix of deciduous and evergreen. Consider using weed suppressing membrane mulched with bark or gravel to keep the weeding down. Lawns are good if they are going to be maintained properly, otherwise consider lower maintainace alternatives, depending on the budget.

If the owner is a gardener or wants to be one, then discuss with them what sort of garden they would like.  Get the basic layout of the garden sorted out first then work with the owner in terms of plants etc. If they are a novice then maybe you could offer instruction on plants and techniques as you develop the garden.

I hope this helps. Feel free to post again if you need more advice.

[antipodes]

without going into teh ethical question, I know what colourful things I like in my garden, maybe that will help...

lavender is always good and hydrangeas
There are some flowers you can sow now that will come up next year, (check these as not 100% sure) like hollyhocks (OK cheated there I didn't know that till just now), poppies, californian poppies, lunaria (think its real name is Honesty).
And of course all the bulb flowers can go in soon!! Tulips, daffs, hyacinths.
All the spring flowers of course will have to wait but you have all the brightly colored daisies, zinnias, nasturtiums (they give great ground cover) etc.

Why not try a gardening calender to see what they recommend sowing at this period? for example from the RHS site;
"Collect and store seed of hardy annuals and perennials for sowing later in the autumn. Good plants to try include Calendula, Nigella, Cerinthe, Papaver, Aquilegia and hardy Geranium. Allow some plants to self-seed to give an element of surprise to the garden.

Towards the end of August sow hardy annuals directly into borders. They will overwinter and flower next summer. These include:
Hardy annuals requiring no protection in the south

Calendula officinalis
Centaurea cyanus
Limnanthes douglasii
Linum grandiflorum
Hordeum jubatum
Nigella damascena
Lunaria annua
Papaver commutatum, P. rhoes, P. somniferum
Briza
Consolida

Buy or order spring-flowering bulbs. Some bulbs can be planted now, such as Colchicum, daffodils and Madonna lilies (L. candidum).

There are lots of gardening calender organised by month on the Net.