There is no doubt that the first sight of a neglected garden can be daunting. We understand this all too well. We moved into our forever home one beautiful spring day. It is a 1970’s bungalow, lovingly cared for by the previous owners for over 30 years. With the house came raised beds and a garden with fig and peach trees, cedars, oodles of mature rhododendrons, camellias, clematis, fuchsias, and several other beautiful plants. But it had been unfortunately neglected for a couple of years. We needed to make plans for recovering the overgrown garden and the weed infestation in many areas. Now, please understand that neither my hubby nor I have done this level of restoration gardening before. Not shying from a challenge, we thought nothing of it. We can do this. Until, of course, we moved in.
Things always sound easier than they are.
Plus re-assessing what new essential garden tools are needed and what old tools, collecting cobwebs, in the garden shed need to be discarded.
One of our tasks – and we have many – was what to do with two large raised beds that the previous owners had used to grow prize-winning dahlias and mums. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the beds had been left unattended for some time. Sadly, we were only able to find a couple of dahlia tubers that survived the previous winter. The beds were now home to a very healthy batch of thriving weeds.
We um’d and ah’d what we would do. The raised beds were large, and we were starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Do we remove the beds entirely and replace them with a lawn? The dog would love this. Or do we reduce the beds to a more manageable size?
We decided to leave it for the year. In the meantime, we needed to start controlling the weeds and make plans on how to recover the overgrown garden. As for the raised beds, we knew that we would grow vegetables instead of flowers, if anything.
Our take away in assessing a new garden? Determine your needs, what is practical, and budget. But most of all, take your time. Your initial desire may evolve to something completely different. Your garden will come together with some planning, a lot of reflection and research.
So what happened to the surviving dahlias tubers we found in the raised beds? We moved to another part of the garden. They gave us beautiful flowers during our first summer, and today, we still have them blossoming.
