We’ve included some great tips and resources here for you whether you’re an Experienced gardener, lazy gardener, or a rookie. We hope that you
find the following useful. Obviously, it is important to note that you
should be careful to ensure that you take independent advice as
conditions vary dramatically. You have to take into account weather,
soil type, wet or dry conditions, light and shade, and which direction
your garden faces. There are many other factors, but always check with
a local expert before making any significant decisions, purchases or
changes.
Experienced Gardeners
There’s not much we can teach you as many experienced gardeners will have developed their own solutions to gardening problems.
Choose
family run garden centres and nurseries to purchase from as the staff
will usually have much more experience and know their stuff. DIY
stores and supermarkets are excellent generic shopping areas and good
places for the less experience to start as prices are often lower, but
the depth of knowledge can be lacking.
Talk to the
staff, do they have knowledge of the plants and do they guarantee their
plants? How well do they look after customers and are they able to
make solid suggestions based on a little information from you about
your garden conditions? Talk to professional gardeners, landscapers
and designers. Where do they do they get their supplies? Some will
tell you and some won’t, but you should be able to work out which
garden centre or nursery has the best reputation.
Also single out nurseries that specialise in one genre of plant, as they will be able to give you the purest advice possible.
Lazy Gardeners
There’s
nothing wrong with wanting to have a low maintenance garden which is
more for leisure than graft. If you’re planning a carefree garden
think about how you want the space to work for you and your lifestyle.
Do
you want to entertain in the garden, relax, or provide a play area for
a young family? Decide the prime purpose for the garden then start
looking for the furniture and equipment that will serve your needs
best.
Think about use of hard landscaping such as
paving, screed or decking and then punctuate the space and add drama,
nature and colour with a few well-chosen architectural plants. These
can be kept in pots or planted directly. Does your garden get a lot of
sun or shade, is it sheltered or exposed? Is it quite dry or boggy?
The choice of plants should suit the general conditions of the soil and
the position of the garden.
Under borders and
hard-landscaping, make sure you have weed-suppressing membrane to stop
unwanted plants taking hold. Low maintenance plants include
evergreens. This means they maintain interest throughout the year.
Euonymus is great against a wall and the fortunei variety is easy to
grow and tolerance of most fertile soils.
Our obelisks
provide a touch of drama amongst the planting and don’t forget that the
whole purpose of plant supports is to protect and preserve many
varieties of plants and to show them at their best, maintaining good
levels of control, especially in borders.
Bergenia is an
evergreen perennial with large ground level leaves giving good cover
and several grouped together can reduce weeds. Heathers are
trouble-free with only a trim necessary immediately after flowering to
keep them in check; promoting further growth and providing colour in
summer.
Rookie Gardener
For
new gardeners sometimes a first good option is actually to go to a
national DIY gardening chain where the plants and equipment is usually
well priced and limited to what works for most gardens and experience
levels. Plants usually come in smaller ranges of more commonplace and
manageable varieties that are good to start with. As national chains
usually offer low prices, it proves less costly if you make mistakes
and lose a few plants and flowers.
As your experience
levels grow, then you can move onto independent, family run garden
centres and nurseries with more knowledgeable staff that can advice on
a more personalised level. You will be able to describe more
accurately your garden and soil conditions and get appropriate advice
and suitable plants.
A few larger plants in pots make it
easier to move them around the garden to work out which is the best
spot for optimum care and growth. Going for a mix of shrubs, planters,
evergreens and bedding plants will encourage interest and colour for
much of the year and building up a collection of good gardening books
and websites will help you advance your knowledge.
