I just got my hands on a small garden! But I have no idea where to start…

There are quite some plants already planted: an olive tree, some small palm trees (that I don’t like), a Japanese maple (?), a raspberry bush and some others I don’t recognize (mostly decorative). Most of the floor is lawn (that I am letting grow wilder). Unfortunately I am not able to include a photo, it’s not loading.

I am in a 9a/9b zone (I think: mild winters rarely if ever freezing, mild summers, quite wet the whole year, continental Europe).

My questions:

  • what can I do to maintain the lawn walkable but let it get more diverse?

  • what tools do I need for every-day maintenance of a small garden?

  • do you have any advice on plants both perennial and annual for newbies? I’m in particular interested in small plants that produce something edible. Ideally would like to start with a small apple tree? And a pumpkin/zucchini plant next year?

  • NochMehrG@feddit.orgEnglish
    3·
    21 days ago

    I‘m a lazy gardener in a comparative climate, I think. For the lawn: I use a motor scythe 2-5 times a year to keep my lawn from becoming a forest. That way you get a meadow with more diversity and living space for insects and small animals while it stays walkable.

    Vegetables/fruit: If you combine pumpkin, corn and beans, those will not compete for nutrients, cover the ground and require less water because evaporation is lessened. Strawberries are also nice, because they’re tasty, spread quickly and also cover the ground. Having an apple tree is also a good idea, but dice I’ve inherited my trees from the former owners, I can’t provide you with knowledge how to care for a young tree. Bet there’s good content in the internet on pruning and such. You might want to select a kind that’s good for storage, because eventually you’ll get more than you can use at once.