To find gardening impossible

[Bloodybrambles]

I just wrote a fairly long post which I lost when clicking onto another page.

I always knew gardening was a skill, and I didn’t think I was completely clueless when getting this place with a fairly large front and back garden but I’m starting to feel like it’s impossible.

I know it’s a lot of trial and error but I feel like I’m never going to have a half decent garden until the age of 80 with the proportion of failures to successes.

And that’s not considering the expense of gardening either. I’m attempted to grow my own flowers this year to save on having to buy them. Out of eight trays it looks like two/three maybe doing something. I’ve spent the whole of this year prioritising trying to weed/dig the gardens and I know if I don’t successfully get them planted I’ll just be overran with weeds… at least I’ve learned that digging is a lot easier this time of year than attempting to in the summer!

I feeling embarrassed about the state of my gardens, because it will come in conversation that I do spend time gardening but if anyone comes over it looks like I mow the lawn and leave nature to do the rest!

Could you go with easier options?

Put a deep mulch on the flowerbeds (something like bark chipping) and then it suppresses the weeds, feeds the plants, and you don’t need to dig.

Are you growing from seed? Maybe bare root perennials would be easier.

I've been keen on gardening and trying to grow stuff for 10 plus years. I still can't get things to reliably grow from seed.

On the other hand, decent shrubs from a garden centre that you plant in a big hole in the ground are easy. More expensive though!

Definitely go for easier options like perennials and spring bulbs, you only have to put them in once and they come back every year! You should probably think about what suits the conditions you’ve got, e.g. sunny and dries out or damp and shady.

Over winter I bought a bare root rose bush from the hedging section here and it was super cheap - hedging companies might be a cheap way of getting some flowering bushes?
https://www.hedging.co.uk/by-attribute/flowering-hedges/
I also planted a rosemary supermarket pot outside and it seems to be doing fine…

Ever green shrubs create all round interest and are a good place to start. You can build up colour with spring and summer bulbs plus growing from seed.
It’s much easier to work with what you have, do you get lots of sun, is it shaded, dry, damp? Makes a huge difference as to what works best.

Same here

I am crap at gardening

Shot gardener here too. I dream of living in an apartment.

DH and I like having a garden but find it quite hard work to maintain. So we have become lazy gardeners and opted for plants that will come back each year and only need tidying up or cutting back at the end of each growing season. for a splash of colour we throw a few handfuls of mixed flower seeds over the flower beds. If they come up - result!! If not!! Ah well maybe next time!!
We have a few pots/planters which are planted up with our attempts at growing from seed but are not afraid to get the odd tray or two from the supermarket or garden centre. One planter has 'mind your own business in it' which gives a lovely carpet of green underneath my David Austin BC rose and fills in all the gaps between other plants like irises and gladioli which also come back every year and it smothers any weeds - it really lovely when in full growth and we just rake out the dead stuff in winter and it comes back in the Spring ready to green up. Lazy gardening is the way to go!!

I've just got into it in the last couple of years when we moved to a blank slate yard. It's a whole new skill set!

Best place to start is deciding what look you want for your house and then see what other people in the area have done successfully that you like. I look around at different times of the year to see what plants others have that appeal.

I don't normally bother trying to grow from seed. I maybe get a few and then a bunch die when I try transplanting. I usually buy small existing plants and some seeds which I just chuck straight in the garden. I've had more success propagating from cuttings.

It's trial and error. I had a cottage garden that looked good in spring but then gradually worse so I'm putting in perennials to make it look better through the year with some annuals popping up later. I opt for hardy, drought-resistant, frost-resistant things (ie hard to kill!).

Watch Gardeners World when it restarts in March - it’s taught me all I know!

Don’t dig - mulch. It’s easier and digging will just bring loads of weed seeds to the surface and they will then start to grow. Digging is also bad for soil structure.

I have never managed to get seeds to grow in trays. I think you need a greenhouse really.

You can buy cheap plants from supermarkets or small plug plants/bulbs from online wholesalers.

Personally I would buy some small perennials that will come back each year and if you really want seeds just sprinkle something like Love-in-a-mist, Hollyhocks or Forget-me-Nots straight on the surface of the soil in March-April. They will grow well and self-seed each year.

I only had paved back yards in my previous houses and my current house has heavy it's also and is bordered by a hedge full of brambles ( and millions of roots under the garden) so it's a nightmare to dig and nothing nice will grow in the soil, apart from the most savage rambling rose which was a huge mistake. It's a constant war to keep the brambles at bay and I mainly do pots from the garden centre. We are moving soon and the new house has a much bigger garden but it's currently very plain. I'm really hoping the soil is better and I can try and find out if I am in fact any good at gardening. My plan is to buy perennial shrub which are in flower each month so that I will end up with a garden which flowers all year round.

I love gardening but do not have green fingers. I buy things that are supposed to come up every year, but often don't. I follow instructions but it's hit and miss.

Anything that looks like it's dying gets dug up and replanted in the corner of doom. Nothing likes growing there, but it's better than throwing them away. Some survive, bizarrely.

I love growing from seed. Only a few come up but am very maternal with them.

I only buy bargains in autumn. Put them in and hope they come up in spring:)

The plants that grow best are the dandelions. Despite my efforts to eradicate then.

Go to the library and get some books for ideas and inspiration, there's a lot out there. A garden starts with some structure, fences, hedges, shrubs, evergreens. The flowers provide seasonal colour and interest. Perennials are good value. A tray or two of viola at this time of year add some instant colour. Get some water for the wildlife, you can always tell people you're wildlife gardening. A pond pot is worthwhile or a birdbath. Keeping the lawn tidy will also make everything look better. Everyone has failures, even Monty Don!