I moved into a house with a lawn and a greenhouse and a shed and trees and two bathtubs in the garden, all your typical outdoors stuff. Problem is I don't know how to take care of it. What do I do in order to not embarrass myself by doing things like burning out the neighbour's lawnmower?
How do I garden? What basic tools do I need? The only things in the shed are some bags of fertilizer, white paint and a chainsaw.
>>2595 I'll need to buy a lawnmower, I could use advice on what sort. Something small and electric would probably be appropriate for the size of the garden. Or would a strimmer do?
If it's only a small garden a strummer might be a more worthwhile investment; they can also be used for cutting back big patches of overgrown weedy stuff, so it's probably the best value for money invesment if all you aim to do is stop it looking the house is abandoned.
Did you honestly never help your dad in the garden as a young lad? It's not complex landscaping, you're not installing decking and a water feature, you just get in there and cut back the overgrown ugly stuff and trim/water the nice stuff.
>>2596 If you get a lawnmower make sure you get one with wheels. My other half bought a Flymo hover one and it was such a pain in the arse that I ended up deliberately breaking it.
Okay specifically can anyone recommend a reasonable electric strimmer and/or mower?
Any other necessary tools? There's a tiled patio and flower beds so something to deal with weeds would be good, anything to look out for quality-wise when buying a fork and trowel?
>>2602 They probably are ponds but I've never seen a pond looking like that before. I think the previous tenant may have been a bit mental, there's a random flower bed in an inconvenient part of the lawn she's clearly bodged in there as well as an open-topped tank of foetid water with a chicken-fence lid on it that I can only assume is there because she felt the garden was lacking in mosquitoes.
It's quite common to have an open tank in a garden to collect rainwater, that can then be used for watering your plants without running up the water bill.
As a fun bit of side-trivia, it's actually illegal to do this in many parts of America.
...although if you're strapped for cash just get something second hand off eBay/Gumtree whatever. I'd advise A mower, a strimmer, a decent pair of secateurs and a hoe (no tittering at the back).
Just keep your grass mowed once a week and weed your beds and hoe them over every fortnight to start off with.Trim back what you think is overgrown or cutting out the sunshine with the secateurs. Maybe even get some pots and bedding plants (although I'd do it this weekend before it's too late in the year).Actually, whilst I think about it this is really useful:
I really love gardening - I find it very soothing. Just a nice feeling sitting enjoying a beer in a garden you just made look nice. I have no experience with greenhouses, but I expect you can just keep it clean and rust free (paint it up maybe?) and move onto greenhousing when you get a but better at stuff.
That's great, thanks. I'm not totally strapped, but by the time I can afford that mower the grass will definitely be out of hand and probably just destroy the mower like it did my neighbours one. I really need to go around and offer to pay for it tomorrow, if it's permafucked.
Can you recommend a particular strimmer brand to look for second hand, as that may be the best solution?
>>2607 At that price you might as well get a cheap or second hand petrol mower, second hand is the way to go if you can make sure it runs. I would break an electric lawnmower in no time, my petrol mower is ancient and I run it over branches, stones, three foot high grass and I've got it stuck on tree stumps, the only thing wrong with it is the self-drive thing doesn't work butI didn't use it anyway. It was left outside unprotected for two years when I thought it was broken, one day I decided to try and fix it, put some petrol and oil in it and it fired up first pull. My point is they last forever, even if you don't look after them so depending on the size of your garden (post a picture) it might be worth the investment.
As for forks and spades, wooden handles are better IMO , but it doesn't really matter what brand, they'll all break eventually, same with loppers, shears etc. If you're buying online just check the reviews and buy the cheapest you can get away with.