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Welcome to the ultimate beginner gardening and garden design forum! Where no gardening question is too silly or obvious. This online gardening forum is run by Lee Burkhill, the Garden Ninja from BBC 1's Garden Rescue and a trusted group of experienced gardeners.
Whether you are a beginner or an expert gardener, it's a safe place to ask garden-related questions for garden design or planting. If you have a problem in your garden or need help, this is the Garden Forum for you!
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I've done a lot to my back garden to turn it in to a haven for wildlife. It was far easier than the front as it had obvious areas and themes "shady woodland/full sun/I'm not using that bit of lawn let's dig a pond" etc.
The front garden though is harder. It's mainly south facing and the lawn was dying every summer so I decided to scrap it. The same year the cabbage palm that I hate took a severe frost and died. Turns out, it was causing most of the drought. But now I'm stuck with a horrible mess and I don't even know how to begin working on a design.
It doesn't help that I have ADHD so when I don't have a clear idea I'll chop and change. I love the overgrown cottage garden feel and I have a few dwarf fruit trees I could move around the front (I'm not allowed hedges or fences so it's very overlooked) but it also needs to be reasonably low maintenance and a good environment for wildlife.
I've managed to find pictures of cottage gardens but no info on how to even begin designing one. Any pointers on where to look or how to start? Or should I decide it in to small chunks rather than trying to design the whole thing?
Edited to add: I think some of my problem is there is no boundary so I do have know where to plan the garden to be viewed from or how to add height because there is no "back" to any planting
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