How to mend a broken garden?

[soulstar11]

3 years ago I bought a house from an elderly couple. The garden was then well cared for and had many - what would seem to be - mature plants and shrubs. (I am a complete gardening novice).

After tryng to maintain this for the first year, I then had to concentrate on renovating the house, which has resulted in the garden becoming neglected, so very overgrown and to be honest, a bit of a mess.

I'm now ready to get to work on it again, but am at a loss as to where to start! Roses have become really top heavy and are heading towards the ground, various shrubs and bushes are similar and are now becoming entangled with each other. Rabid convulvia hasn't helped.
After cutting the grass, it appears there are patches of weeds growing within it.

Does anyone think it Is possible to resurrect this garden, or will I have to dig everything out (bearing in mind the guilt of this would kill me!)?

Where should I start - really aggressive pruning or is this the wrong tme of year?

Any help would be most appreciated.

[landscaper2]

It's a good time to start planning your attack and certainly worth a go! If there's not one all ready, start a compost heap. Start with the obvious......rip out the tangled bindweed, pull up the big weeds, create space around the shrubs.....lightly trim the shrubs/roses to get them less top heavy - dont be too fussy at this stage. You will now have an idea of what you have. Treat the lawn with a selective weedkiller soon, which will get rid of most of the weeds and treat the weed growth in the shrub beds with 'Roundup'. To effectively prune, you will need to identify the plants. Dont be put off by this, most gardens are planted with similar shrubs and friends/neighbours will be able to name most of them, get this done before the leaves drop in the autumn. Buy Dr. Hessayon's 'The Tree and Shrub Expert' from a local garden centre, which is an easy book to follow and from this you will gleen all the information you need re. naming, pruning and caring for your shrubs. You now have all Autumn and winter to tidy the beds. Dont dig too deep, rather chip up a couple of inches or so and mulch the surface with mushroom compost or similar. November-March is a good time to hard prune (not in freezing weather tho), dont trim evergreens too hard at this stage as they grow slower than most deciduous shrubs. Finally, buy 'The Lawn Expert' author above and in in March, topdress the lawn, overseed, wait for spring and enjoy your garden!

[soulstar11]

Landscaper,
Thank you very much for your reply: a) for not laughing me out of the "gardening section", and b) for some straightforward advice that makes me feel the task isn't totally unmanageable!

Right, you've given me some inspiration, and you've robbed me of excuses to ignore the garden, so I'm off out there!
Thanks again.

[landscaper2]

Good luck soulstar..............and thanks for not laughing at me posting the answer twice!!

[sense4all]

We have bought several neglected houses , Mother Nature is hard to beat. Get out there and get pruning, most things will appreciate it and come back strong - if things don't spring back next season make sure they are given a second summer to revive, as some things need the previous years growth to flourish. Cutting the grass is often a big psychological boost to get you out there. Enjoy it, doing something (even if not perfectly ) is much bettter than doing nothing at all. lots of good links if you need them on the web. rhs site is good.

[soulstar11]

Cheers sense4all. Yep, the grass was the first thing I tackled, and it actually looks (almost) habitable - like making the bed in a mesy room I s'pose!

Will chck out the RHS site.
Cheers

[lindapinda]

I was never a gardener either Soulstar,until I bought my house,that had a small,but,mature garden. I've learnt by trial and error not to be afraid to prune or cut back or move shrubs and bushes. I've found that most plants are much hardier than you would think,and,I now get so much pleasure and a sense of achievement from my garden. Good luck and enjoy !!