Have you fulfilled your dream of having your own garden, but are now faced with an overgrown property that you first have to repair? It's easy to despair at this sight. You don't really know where to start. You can also approach the matter positively, because what is already growing there can help you with future planting. Today we will explain to you exactly how an overgrown garden can be prepared and replanted using a few tips. Find out how and where to start and what you can actually plant. Take it step by step and soon you will no longer recognize your garden. Even if it doesn't seem like it at the moment, you can be sure that you will successfully transform the property.
Where do I start?
Most people would probably start clearing the garden straight away and remove anything that doesn't look good at first glance, is annoying or that you don't recognize. The dream of a neat and beautiful garden seems much more realistic when you can simply start with a bare area. And that may be true, but you should also see the existing plants as helpers. So an overgrown garden is a kind of information source that you can use when choosing future plants.
So before you remove everything, take a close look at everything the new garden has to offer. The existing plants that an overgrown garden has provide you with information about the nature of the soil and all other characteristics of the location that cannot be seen at first glance (or otherwise). This in turn can help you choose new plants. For example, if drought-loving plant species grow in a corner, this means that the new plants and flowers must also have these needs. The soil will probably then be permeable and less clayey. And vice versa: you will only find shade-loving plants where there is only shade. But the plants also provide information about the nutrients and minerals present. If necessary, write down all of these things. Because once everything is gone and the time has come to buy the new plants, you could have forgotten everything.
What should remain?
Maybe you have found some jewelry that you really want to keep. An overgrown garden can definitely have something like that to offer. This is also something you should pay attention to before you immediately cut down and remove everything. Especially if the garden was originally cared for, the likelihood of finding great bushes, shrubs, trees and even flowers is very high. And the best part is that these plants have already adapted wonderfully to the environment. And as long as you don't radically change the site conditions (e.g. by cutting down a tree that previously provided shade and without which a sunny location is created), these plants will continue to thrive there in the future.
That sounds a lot better than all the expenses at the nursery and worrying about whether she'll actually catch the plant she bought, doesn't it? If necessary, you can also transplant an existing plant that is disturbing its location. Then you should find a location that is as similar as possible.
Preparing an overgrown garden – what do I need?
An overgrown garden will no doubt take a lot of time and effort. You can already prepare for this. And depending on whether you feel like doing all this work, you can either hire professionals, which isn't particularly cheap, or you can do it yourself. For this purpose, you should first get the right onesTools for the gardenequip. These include a sickle (better and more reliable than a grass trimmer), spade and shovel, as well as various tools for removing branches, trunks and the like: saws, axes and branch cutters. A rake, a hoe and of course the garden tiller are also very useful when a green area needs to be redesigned. With a wheelbarrow you can easily transport away larger amounts of plant waste.
What to do to prepare?
After these first steps, you can finally get started and remove everything you don't want there. Be careful not to harm the plants you want to keep. Wear protective clothing such as gloves, appropriate shoes and safety glasses to avoid possible injuries. And here's what you do if you want an overgrown garden to soon be a thing of the past:
Clear the garden
Grab your pruning cutter, saw and ax and get to work cutting down unwanted shrubs, bushes and trees. Instead of going straight for the thickest trunks and branches of larger plants, start from the outside and slowly work your way up to the trunks. This makes it easier to collect and transport the plant parts afterwards than if you cut off larger parts of the plant. Everything should be cut down to the ground.
The same applies to all other, smaller plants. Many people use a trimmer, but this will not be very reliable if the challenge is a green area with fully grown wild plants. Plus, you don't know what else is lying around in the garden. Stones, roots, boards or even pieces of metal would only break the trimmer cord every few minutes. A sickle is therefore a better choice. Start at one end and gradually work your way to the other, rather than criss-crossing.
Once you have flattened everything down to ground level, your property will look much clearer and tidier. But there are still a few things you should do before the redesign can begin. Because you can't do anything with all the stumps and roots of the removed plants and the earth that has been flattened for years.
Prepare the soil
Next comes the final step, which is a feral oneGarden for replantingis prepared. The garden tiller mentioned proves to be extremely useful here because the work can be done quickly and easily. However, it is only worth investing in a garden tiller if you will continue to use it in the future (e.g. if you create a vegetable patch every year and want to loosen the soil for this purpose). Otherwise, you will also need a hoe and a rake to loosen and dig up the soil on the property. Depending on the type of plant, a different tool is more advantageous, which you simply have to try out.
The aim is to remove all plants and roots from the soil and to loosen it at the same time. If stones come to light, you can collect them straight away and dispose of them (or possibly save them for a rock garden) so that they don't bother you later. Finally, the earth is pulled nicely smooth with the rake and a level surface is created.
Create new green space
Now that all the clutter is gone and you have a good overview of the property, you can start planning and think about where beds should be created, where seating areas should be and where the best place for vegetable beds should be. It is also the best time to potentially transplant existing plants that you want to keep. But even if you don't yet know how you want to divide up the garden and how you want to plant it in the near future, you should definitely plant something now. This prevents the former wild plants from taking over again. Because then you would have to repeat the entire process of painstakingly preparing an overgrown garden again.
One option is a simple lawn that will prevent an overgrown garden from forming again. If you sow this, you will have a beautiful green surface in just a few weeks. It is best to choose a durable and robust variety. This will also displace the former weeds, at least to a large extent and over a longer period of time. However, the lawn also requires regular care as it has to be mowed. Alternatively, you can also use green manure plants or nitrogen suppliers. These grow freely in the garden and have the wonderful advantage of supplying the soil with important nitrogen. Thanks to them, the soil remains loose and ready to be planted at any time.
Renovate and replan the property
When planning, consider the following things to ensure a neat and beautiful system in the future garden. To do this, think about and write down:
- Where should sidewalks go (a property may already have some that you may just need to spruce up)
- where should beds be designed for vegetables and flowers and other elements such as rock gardens or areas such as seating areas
- where are sunny, where are semi-shaded and where are shady locations
- Which buildings (shed, garden house, sauna, pool, pond, etc.) should be in the garden and where should they be located
You then use this information to create a planting plan. On this you sketch:
- the existing trees, shrubs and bushes
- the location of the beds and their desired shape
- all the other elements
- Mark sunny and shady areas on the sketch to make it easier to choose suitable garden plants
Not to be forgotten are two other important things that should not be missing in yours as you will need them almost every day. This is the water line and then the power line including sockets. You should think about where these should run. Where is the most convenient place for the faucet that you will later use for the garden hose? This andAfter all, you will use water frequentlymust. Would you like to have a sink available outside? You should also plan this in advance before a green space is completely redesigned.
Start designing your garden
You can now separate the beds from the lawn, for example by using boundary stones. And once this is done, you can start getting flowers and plants. Feel free to take your sketch with you to the tree nursery. With their help, the experts there can give you the best advice and offer you a selection of suitable plants depending on your location and preferences. And then you can gradually start with the long-awaited garden design and create your very own personal oasis. At some point you will think to yourself: “And that was supposed to have been an overgrown garden?”.
