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A garden that has been left for ten years is genuinely overwhelming, and the usual response — start at the nearest corner and see how far you get — is how people end up having done a great deal of work and changed nothing.
There is a better order, and it starts with not making any decisions.
Stage One: See It
Before deciding anything, get the garden to a state where you can walk round it and see the ground and the boundaries.
- Cut rough grass down, however rough
- Cut back brambles and scrub to stumps, without digging anything out
- Clear a path all the way round the boundary
- Cut back enough to find the fence lines
That alone transforms how big the garden looks and how possible it feels, and it is the cheapest stage of the whole thing. Do not remove anything permanent yet.
Stage Two: Wait, If You Possibly Can
If you have just moved in, give the garden a year before removing anything established. A neglected garden will contain bulbs, perennials, fruit trees and shrubs that are invisible for most of the year. People routinely clear out a mature magnolia in February or a productive old apple in November. A year of watching costs nothing and cannot be undone the other way.
That is not always practical — if you are letting, selling or building, the garden is on a timetable. But where you can, it is the single best piece of advice about a neglected garden.
Stage Three: Decide the Structure
Now, with the ground visible, work out the fixed points. Not the planting — the structure:
- Which trees stay and which do not, and whether any are protected
- Where the boundaries actually are, and whose fences and hedges they are
- Where the light falls, and at what times of day
- Where the ground is wet, which becomes obvious after winter
- Where you will sit, and what you will look at from the house
Stage Four: The Heavy Work, in Order
- Tree work, because it drops material onto everything below it
- Hedge reduction, for the same reason
- The main clearance, which collects the debris from both
- Stumps, once the ground is visible and they have been found
- Invasives — bamboo, knotweed — dealt with properly before anything permanent
- Structures — fences, sheds, paths
- Cultivation, levels and drainage
- Turf and planting, last
Doing these out of order is the commonest way to pay for something twice — a new lawn laid before the tree came down, a border planted before the fence was replaced.
Do Not Try to Do It All at Once
It is perfectly reasonable to clear the whole garden and then bring one part at a time back into use, leaving the rest mown and simple. Mown rough grass is a legitimate and pleasant way to hold ground for a couple of years, it costs nothing to maintain, and it is far better than four unfinished projects.
What Is Worth Paying Somebody For
Honestly: stage one and stage four. The bulk cutting and the heavy work are quick with the right equipment and slow without it, and disposal is most of the difficulty. The deciding, and the planting, are the enjoyable parts and there is no reason to hand those over.
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If you have just taken on an overgrown garden and do not know where to begin, send photographs. We are happy to say what we would do first, whether or not you use us for it.
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