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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Gardening resolutions 2011

21 replies

taffetasplat · 31/01/2011 16:35

Mine are:

Grow less varieties of fruit and veg, more of one sort of the things we eat lots of
Plant more fruit bushes ( gooseberry and blackcurrant )
Grow less in the borders so I can see to weed between plants
Improve the autumn colour in the borders
Cultivate more of my allotment
Sow less from seed, buy in some small plugs
Structure the DC's patch more, set aside time for them to do it each week
Get better at successional sowing for peas, salad and herbs - diarise!

What are yours?

OP posts:
ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 31/01/2011 16:38

To restrict the hens so that the plants get a fighting chance.
To only plant resilient things.
To not buy several thousand seed varieties.
To maximise the use of the greenhouse, and to grow more edibles.

trice · 31/01/2011 16:44

I decided this morning that I am going to do a red white and blue coronation style front garden. Not because I am a royalist but because I like retro kitsch and my grandad used to do it.

And I am going to keep the sawfly off my goosegogs this year even if I have to make the whole place toxic.

Minin · 31/01/2011 16:53

I am going to gradually develop the long negelected garden in our new house and make it beautiful.

I have never gardened, and today got books out of the library. i am quite excited!

Original poster
taffetasplat · 31/01/2011 17:07

How lovely, Minin. Enjoy. If you have any questions, you can get some good advice on here. I have had some excellent suggestions in the past for planting ideas etc.

OP posts:
IlsaLund · 31/01/2011 18:01

Mine are to sow less seeds - I always get carried away and end up with too many plants.

Weed everytime I am in the garden - even if it is just for 5 mins

Not to plant loads of stuff in my flower borders early in the season cos they always get swamped when the existing plants start to grow

Use up the seeds I bought at the end of last year before buying new ones

Plant more peas and beans and less potatoes

Original poster
taffetasplat · 31/01/2011 20:48

I dug over some of the veg patch today. In the sun. It was bliss!

OP posts:
IlsaLund · 31/01/2011 21:30

Must have been warmer than here tafftasplat. It was minus 9 - I had to chisel off a lump of compost and bring it in to defrost so I'll be able to sow some seeds this week. There's no way I could get a fork in the ground to dig

Original poster
taffetasplat · 31/01/2011 21:36

Goodness Ilsa! It was very cold here this morning but by 1pm it was warm in the sun. I had a hoody on - no coat! We're in Kent.

OP posts:
LaVieEnTechnicolor · 31/01/2011 23:37

Replace the hard surfaces in the garden. Assuming there aren't too many frost casualties, the borders should be OK this year (cumulative effects of years of planting) but the hard landscaping is a disgrace.

CountessVonKnackerstein · 31/01/2011 23:41

What's a hard surface? The patio stones?

LaVieEnTechnicolor · 31/01/2011 23:49

Sort of, although the root of the problem is that the 'patio' is a too-small patch of disintegrating concrete, rather than stone (real or cast), which is why it all needs replacing.

GnomeDePlume · 01/02/2011 23:04

This year I will keep my allotment tidy. I will clear it at the end of the season and not leave it looking like the corporation tip.

Original poster
taffetasplat · 02/02/2011 14:12

Gnome - I haven't been to my allotment for 3 months......Blush Blush

Resolution from mid Feb is to go at least twice a week.

OP posts:
mrspercival · 03/02/2011 21:11

[(www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/1136900-Asparagus-Top-Tips-Please)] is one of my resolutions as i'd like to try something 'tricky' and it should mean that one of my beds is in permanent use so, in theory, will mean slightly less gardening on an annual basis Hmm
also to sew slightly less of some crops and a few more varieties
and get committed to sewing successions of salads etc; never been good at that!

mrspercival · 03/02/2011 21:12

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/1136900-Asparagus-Top-Tips-Please in case anyones got any advice, thanks

KarenHL · 03/02/2011 21:15

Just two:
1 - I will plant some flowers, fed up of green flower beds (all leafy shrubs).
2 - I will grow (and eat) some lettuce.

Only when it gets warmer though.

Original poster
taffetasplat · 04/02/2011 10:54

I did lots of weeding yesterday, and thought of a new one:

  • Weed weekly as a minimum, more in the Spring.

I can now see where the bulbs are coming through......

OP posts:
WynkenBlynkenandNod · 04/02/2011 17:12

Crack successional sowing.

Will not plant runner beans, despite the fact I love the pink flowers on the variety I have saved.

Will save seeds and not plant any F1s.

CountessVonKnackerstein · 04/02/2011 22:10

Can I ask a girly question, do you all wear gloves when gardening? Cos I can't get mud out of my (dry) hands.
I also have a Magnolia tree at the front and a Jasmine tree at the back of my house (Greek tradition of smelling something uplifting when entering and leaving the house) but they've gone black!!! Are they dead?!

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 05/02/2011 07:37

I do usually wear gloves Countess, depends what I am doing.Don't give up on your Magnolia and Jasmine just yet, wait to the spring. They might surprise you and start producing new foliage as the roots may well still be alive. Bit of a waiting game unfortunately.

CountessVonKnackerstein · 05/02/2011 07:54

Thank you! I will look after them :)

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