Hello from Nederland

[bigfonn]

Hallo,

My name is Ina and I live in Darp in Nederland. 1 June we will move a little bit futher to Havelte where we have a bungalow with a big garden all around the house. The most off the garden is laying south-west.
I want to change the garden and I do need tips and help with it.

Groetjes,

Ina

[greenfinger]

Beste Ina, this forum is a platform to get help with the transformation of your future garden. Don't hesitate to ask for info if you think you need it.
Persoonlijk heb ik nog een vraagje: de plaatsen Darp en Havelte doen bij mij geen belletje rinkelen. In welke regio zijn ze gelegen. Zijn er plantenkwekerijen in de buurt?

[bigfonn]

Hallo,

Darp en Havelte liggen in Drenthe, bij Steenwijk en Meppel in de buurt.
Er zijn hier 2 kwekerijen in de buurt, in Frederiksoord.

Ik vind het al moeilijk om te beginnen, ik heb een heel klein stukje al een beetje aangepast, maar of het naar mijn zin is?

[greenfinger]

Ik zal er de kaart van Nederland 'ns bijhalen.
Do you have a digital photocamera? You can attach pictures of your garden adaptations by using "Additional Options". There is a limitation of 4 attachments per post and a size op 128 KB.

[ideasguy]

The most off the garden is laying south-west.
I want to change the garden and I do need tips and help with it.

I will give my tip, based on bitter experience.
I had a flat landscape at the back of my (dads) house when I moved home after he passed away.
Friends suggested planting shrubs in the borders.
I did. This proved to be very bad advise.
From once having large, open, unshaded garden I find I am severly restructed in where I can plant things due to having to work around shrubs.
Heres an aerial show (another thread on this forum)
http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php?topic=17.0
I'm removing may of the large shrubs and trees in that pic (especiall the huge tree on the border hedge, right of the picture - I was horrified when I saw how big it was from the air).
I'm now hiring a mini-digger to remove stumps.

Fortunately, I'm very pleased with the design of my garden. Its perfect for a plantsman, with grass paths everywhere, with neat trimmed edging. Thats my style.
 
I have another tip. NO CONCRETE until you are really really sure. Personally, I cringe when I see a cement mixer at work in those BBC garden makeovers. I hate hardscaping. I'd make Tommy redundant!
My garden has soft grass paths - OK in Ireland as we (used to) dont habve long periods without rain in summer.

So, my advice (the tip, eventually).
Until you settle on a design you like, dont plant anything "permanent".
Plant annual flowers and perennials for one or two years. If annuals, you get a chance to eradicte weeds at the end of the growing season (digging over the patch) or in the following spring (weeds will be in growth and can be sprayed - no risk of killing precious plants).
I'd recommend, in a new garden - Only small shrubs, which are easy to remove (if you dont like them) or transplant according to your new design ideas.

Above all, avoid large fast growing shrubs and trees.
Digging them up after a few years is a nightmare!! Working around them multiplies your work load - there are roots everywhere - and worse still, suckers shoot up many meters from the parent plant. One shrub I found to be particularly bad was Kerria. It actuall wormed its way UNDER a Box hedge and the suckers emerged at the other side.
I had a big problem with Prunus suckering, so be careful (includes Plum and Damson trees)

Theres an old saying:
Plant in haste, regret at leisure.
Its very true.

Over to the other members!

Edited again: Thu 10th May

[bigfonn]

Hallo,

I try to upload some pictures but pc is saying sorry there is already a file with this name, rename it.
And i do not know how to rename it.

Groetjes,

Ina

[ideasguy]

Hello Ina
In that case, the only solution is to rename the file on your computer, then try again.
Use Windows Explorer or My Computer to locate the file (the photo you wish to post) on your computer
Right click on the file name
Click Rename
The file name appears surrounded by a "box" and is in edit mode
Edit the file name. e.g. put an extra letter or number on the end of the name
e.g. Before myphoto.exe
Change it to myphoto2.exe
When you have finished editing, click anywhere in white space in the file list. This will save your editing.
Try uploading youir new file again.
Dont hesitate to as questions if the above is not clear. I'm looking forward to seeing your photos.

George

[greenfinger]

Ik vind het al moeilijk om te beginnen, ik heb een heel klein stukje al een beetje aangepast, maar of het naar mijn zin is?

How do you start the design of a new garden? When I may speak for myself I start with taking a seat in (the part of) the garden I want to transform, I read my newspaper, put a table and have dinner with the family a few times if possible and look around. This can take a few months or even years. In that way it's possible to take in the necessities and possibilities of the garden (area). Your design and later gardenwork will take a logical, pragmatical course preparing yourself in that way: leisure and active observing can nicely go hand in hand.
What I also try (but if I always succeed is another question ) is giving a garden a sense of style unity. If not the whole can give a shattered impression. You always can make a garden in different styles by subdividing it f.i. in garden rooms, separated by hedges.
In my humble opinion the most important is taking time, observing and thinking it all over. The result will be all the better.

[bigfonn]

Hallo,


Here some pictures off the garden as he is now.


Greeting

Ina

[greenfinger]

So the upload succeeded very well.
There are already some structure elements present as the garden is now. They give the impression to be quite loose the one from the other. I refer to my previous observations in my own garden.
How big is yours?

[bigfonn]

The garden is about 1000 4m (vierkante meter) and it is goiin down a little bit to the road on the westside (glooiend naar de weg en aan de overkant van de weg is een bos)

There are a lot off struiken, don't know the english word, and there are no bordres, only the rose border (see photo), but there are also  roses dead.

I like an exiting garden with borders and natural paths in it, with here and there a little corner to sit down.

At the north-east side it is only struiken.

I will make some more pictures and put it in a weblog.

Ina

[ideasguy]

I used a language translation program on the web and find that struiken are bushes in English.

Sloping to the west is good - it will be like a warm bank. I have read that that can make a difference of 1 or 2 weeks earlier for plants to bloom, compared to sloping the other way.

Its really good to have (almost) a clean canvass to start drawing on Ina. Its much easier than having to make plans around an existing design which may not be your style.

By natural paths I assume you mean grass, in which case its along the same design lines as my garden, and I would not change mine.
Make the paths about 2m wide minimum. The more grass, the better the vista, and your photos will be much better.

In my back garden, I have "inner lawns" - expanses of grass. One, I call the sweep, as it has curved sides. It is about 5m wide.
Another one is much bigger - probably 10m x 12m (I'll measure it and edit this message)
It is "the football pitch" complete with goalposts and a swing for the younger children.
It has a gentle curved periphery, making its shape oval.

Also, I have a number of seating areas - each one a special feature.

I find that as long as the grass is cut neatly and the edging is cut smoothly, the whole garden looks great - even thought the flower beds have "a few weeds"!
I use a special edger which can do the whole garden in about 20 mins, with an immaculate stright edge. It really makes a BIG difference to the appearance of the whole garden.

I'm looking forward to seeing more photos. If you have any specific questions about plants, please go ahead and ask. There are lots of people here who would be pleased to help.

[greenfinger]

I like an exiting garden with borders and natural paths in it, with here and there a little corner to sit down.

Ina, do you know the plantsman Piet Oudolf?

[bigfonn]

Hallo,

Nee, Piet Oudolf ken ik niet.

I am trying to found out how to start a weblog so I can show some more pictures
Groetjes,

Ina

[greenfinger]

Ina, when you have in mind starting a new border I can advice a few very good (hand)books to begin with:

Henk Gerritsen en Piet Oudolf: "Méér Droomplanten. Natuurlijk en betrouwbaar". Warnsveld, 1999, Uitgeverij Terra.
Piet Oudolf en Noël Kingsbury: "Ontwerpen met planten". Warnsveld, 2001, Uitgeverij Terra.
Noël Kingsbury: "Designing borders". London, 2003, by Cassell Illustrated.
Noël Kingsbury: "Natural Gardening in Small Spaces" London, 2003, Frances Lincoln Limited.

Wat het snuisteren in tuinboeken betreft, ik vind regelmatig goede lectuur bij De Slegte. Het is wel mijn ervaring dat je de boeken van Oudolf zelden of nooit in het tweedehands circuit vind. Wat ik over de aanleg van mooie borders denk te weten, heb ik voor een groot stuk te danken door o.a. de bovenstaande boeken aandachtig te lezen en vervolgens met de spade en schoffel in de hand de adviezen trachten op te volgen. Niet alles lukt natuurlijk, but the taste of the pudding is in the eating.

[bigfonn]

Hallo,

If I have done it right, then this must be the link to see the album with pictures off the garden.

http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Album-7QLSHIKR-Foto's-van-Natuur-Bloemen_en_planten.html

There are some plants I do not know the name, so any help is welcom.

Groetjes,

Ina

[ideasguy]

Youve done it very well Ina, and youve given us a very good walk-around of the garden.

I can see plants I know, and some I am not familiar with.

I recognised Buxus hedging (green), and Berberis hedging (the low purple hedge) Bergenia, Hosta, Cononeaster horizontalis (growing against a wall) , possibly Spirea, Hellebore, the bed of white flowers close to the wall of the house - were they Cerastium?

Which ones do you not know the names of? Perhaps other ,members can have a guess.