Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Cheers all. I should have said that the leylandii will be going in spring when we've decided what is going in the borders instead (Hydrangea petiolaris at the back but haven't decided on the sides). Just didn't see the point in ripping out the greenery now when nothing will be replacing it for a few months.

I was more wondering if anything could be done to make the lawn less crappy between now and spring so it's less of a mud pit. It's been knackered all year and I never got round to sorting it because we were using it too much and then the hosepipe ban came along but I have plans to level it and and put down new turf or seed early next year.

@lemonade it gets used quite a bit for sitting out in and kid playing so don't really want to make it much smaller, it's also nice to have a shaded area to sit in because the rest of the garden gets the sun for most of the day.

Ajuga/Heuchera are don't grow tall and have coloured winter leaves/flowers.

For summer Geranium have a lot of colours to pick from and there are many groundcover ones, they do go brown in winter I think.

Maybe that works?

Ajuga/Heuchera

I'd also like some herbs in there, so that could be nice and the colours should go with the irises.

Before.
1st pic is the large corner bed.

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Depending on how much work you want: Thyme is low and pink flowering (needs sun/draining soil), lavender is herb-ish (the white / pink ones don't do as well according to my mum but they exist if you want a non purple one), sage/chives also do wee flowers.

After that you end up with annuals and more work.

A rosemary becomes a big shrub/bay trees so not really a bedding thing anymore. Mint is easy to grow but rather...invasive.

That's a pretty big front garden! Lots of options :)

Oh Nasturtium are not seen as herbs, but fully edible. Only red/yellow/orange hues though, so unless you want a yellow/purple clash maybe not for you?

Japanese knotweed

Edible, though

Ajuga/Heuchera

..Gesundheit!

Here is the nearly completed.

Current thinking is the flag irises either side of the path with some other stuff mixed in. Probably try and take a cutting of the fushua on the right and mirror it on the left (I know you can't really see it).

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Anyway the question of where to find inspiration still stands.

Luckily it's not exactly the time to plant stuff so we have time to plan.

That's a pretty big front garden!

I know, but it needs to provide for 2 cars (ours and guest rather than golf club) and my motorbike.

But there are effectively 3 x 90cm wide beds for plants. So still plenty of greenery and not just a giant paved surface.

I like Nasturtiums but they are messy and can spread.

I probably should have said I'd like some fragrant plants. I have a very tight knit lemon thyme which I'd quite like to find again as it would give nice ground cover.

It is hiding on you? ;)

We have a lemon balm in the Cavehill Castle Herb Garden, it smells lovely. So far it doesn't seem to be as bad as the tea-mint which really does spread... but it is more shrubby than ground cover.

Lemon Verbena also smells great but it is a shrub again. Jasmine also smells great shrub-wise, a few people have it nearby and in the evening it smells lovely.

the question of where to find inspiration

6 months of Gardens Illustrated magazine plus a free book or hand rake for just over £20 here

https://www.buysubscriptions.com/print/gardens-illustrated-magazine-subscription

It's the best gardening magazine and although like most of them it mostly features enormous, spectacular gardens you can still find plenty of planting inspiration for a normal garden

Book or rake can be regifted as a Christmas present, meaning the subscription is essentially free

Looking at hedges I would -love- a Camillea.

We have red clay soil which I think is acidic, but how picky are they?

As the drainage isn't so great, so I was going to get compost but that is "neutral".
I do see them in front gardens of neighbours, but don't know if they changed up their soil or not.

Would probably be cheaper to buy a soil pH testing kit and a few bags of ericaceous compost to dig in, than to find that your new camelia hedge is dying because the soil was too limey?

Camelia hedges look incredible - great idea

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Tx!

Yes an expensive option, I'll get some testing kits.

I got a pack of 10 of ebay super cheap.

EBay is surprisingly good for plants, got lots of seeds on it already.

Will get Clivia in rare colours next year for the house on there.

A long as there is floor space more house plants can fit, right? ;)

Any suggestions for a bulb planter thing? Tried a cheapo one from Amazon and this happened the second hole I tried to do.

Get a decent widger. Won't put the bulb in, like, but won't fold like cheap suit either.

I have this one: https://cpc.farnell.com/kent-stowe/70100182/ss-widger/dp/SI19609?

Is the green handle meant to be telescopic?

Yep, the whole thing allegedly opens out to deposit the plug of dirt you have removed. As illustrated, it won't and they're made of cheese....

they're made of cheese....

Presumably the Miche branding is on the reverse side?

They would fail the rigorous quality control standards of Miche.