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How to Renovate an Overgrown Garden
If you have just moved house and inherited a small jungle of a garden, don't despair. Apart from clearing absolute rubbish, it’s worth curbing instincts of immediate total clearance. You might want a reasonable looking lawn in summer, a level place to sit and eat, and maybe a dry surface for children to play. Take panoramic pictures of the garden throughout the first year you own it, at intervals to catch all four seasons. Snap these from both upstairs and downstairs windows looking out. Photos help you to pick out and remember good things and bad including plants that may be worth saving. It's also useful to know which boundaries you own so you know how far your work can extend. The steps in this workshop cover major features that it is useful to focus on.
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The main ingredients in taking on an overgrown garden are confidence, hard work and patience.
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Boundaries. Walls should be sound, no sign of leaning or cracks. Get an expert opinion on obvious defects in any garden walls. Fences should be sound, no loose flapping panels, broken pickets, rotten or broken gravel boards. Repair damage as soon as possible, or decide on replacement if the fence is too far-gone.
Hedges: overgrown hedges can be restored over a period of time, if you like the type but not its current looks (See Workshop: How to Trim or Prune a Hedge). You may want to remove an old Leylandii hedge, as these will not regenerate at the base if they have gone brown.
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Hard surfaces. Patios, paths and steps may be in disrepair. First of all decide whether you really like their materials and whether you want them where they are. (A good scrub can make a big difference and coloured pavers can be painted another colour.) If the answer is yes, carry out repairs, if the answer is no change the materials or, before you remove them, plan exactly what you are going to do instead. Patios are given a makeover in our Workshop: How to Revamp a Patio. Paths should act like bones for your garden and also lead to useful places like your greenhouse and compost heap.
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Structural features. Check the timber of arches and pergolas for rot, and their metal for rusting through. Repair if plants require support, or remove if they're no longer needed for any reason. Decide if these features work, and if they give enough head height and width. You may want to replace them. Check the soundness of the sides of raised beds. If the tops are sitting height, double check these for load bearing! Are they in the right place? Do they block views from the house?
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Trees. Check with your council if you have really large mature trees in your garden that you want to prune or remove. Do this before you get any work done, as stiff fines can be imposed. Trees can be protected by tree preservation orders (TPOs) and if you live in a conservation area, they are generally covered. Fruit trees are usually exempt. Sound and safe old trees can be given a new lease of life as support for climbing plants, frames for climbing kids or space for swings and hammocks to hang. They may also cast useful shade and provide good screening from wind and ugly views. Large canopies can be lifted, and branches can be thinned. Get the work done by a tree surgeon who will maintain the overall shape of your trees.
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Shrubs. These can be moved and many shrubs can withstand a good hard prune: A good rule of thumb is to look at the base of the plant. If it has just one stem from the ground, its unlikely to throw out new shoots if you cut it hard back. Remember, like humans, plants don't live forever. If they have been starved, as well as being at the end of their useful life, they are not going to regenerate as well as some shrubs which may look larger, but still have an underlying youthful vigour. If in doubt, try a hard prune and feed. If the plant does not respond to this after a full season, it's time to remove it. Identify the shrubs you have, check them out in the Greenfingers Plant database, then start pruning them. See Workshop: How to Prune a Shrub.
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Herbaceous plants can be revived by dividing up the original old clump. In spring or autumn, dig up the plant. Cut it into two using a spade or two forks, or with a gardening knife, cut small pieces from around the centre and replant. The crown of the plant is the oldest part and can be composted. Bulbs: remember that there are bulbs which perform in summer, autumn and winter as well as spring. So, when you can see a flower, stick a label where the bulbs are. Then after flowering, dig up and replant or pot it up.
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A big challenge is likely to be established weeds. In lawns many weeds can be reduced by mowing and the application of a selective lawn weedkiller. If the lawn has been completely over run with thuggish weeds such as nettles, dandelions and docks you will have to make a new one. Weeds in mixed borders can be dealt with by leaving shrubs in place and removing herbaceous plants. Deal with the weeds in the soil, either organically using a fabric mulch over a period of time, or using a weedkiller applied at the given rate (see Workshop: How to Deal With Persistent Weeds).
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Wood structures are best replaced unless the repairs are simple |
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Prune and see an overgrown plant before you decide to get rid of it |
Re-lay or replace an uneven patio surface |
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