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Gardening

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

Original poster

My garden makes me so happy

981 replies

HumphreyCobbler · 24/03/2011 20:08

I wanted a garden all my adult life, and for the last three years I have had one.

To begin with I was worried it wouldn't be as much fun as I thought it would be, but I soon discovered it was even better.

It was an overgrown, tangled mess when we moved in and slowly we have transformed it. I am still a beginner, but I already know so much more than I did.

Today I came home to find a massive pile of well rotted horseshit waiting for me. It was brilliant.

I don't really know what the point of this post is, I just wanted to share Smile

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AintMissBeehiving · 06/04/2011 21:29

Had the same problem with Macleaya - struggled in my light soil. Ran like a bugger in my Mum's heavy clay.

ChristinedePizan · 06/04/2011 21:43

My local nursery swears it'll do alright here (soil's not that heavy but it's fairly free draining). Fingers crossed. Not sure if your glads will survive maud? How bad was your winter I will tell you when mine come up and you can check then?

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 06/04/2011 21:49

That sounds like a great plan, Christine. Thanks!

ChristinedePizan · 06/04/2011 21:52

Glad you understood my complete lack of punctuation there :o I'm watching MasterChef at the same time

hellymelly · 06/04/2011 22:41

Anysuggestions for seeds I can chuck about and fill gaps in my beds? I have a classic cottage garden,lots of fruit,big 30's style beds,but there is far too much bare earth everywhere at the moment..

ChristinedePizan · 07/04/2011 10:00

I chuck a load of Nigella (love in a mist) about which has variable success. The other thing you can which is what I did when my flat was on the market last year is buy loads of bedding plants - salvias etc and bung them in. It looks slightly municipal but it's better than bare earth. And bark chippings make bare soil look like it's supposed to be bare Wink

My exciting news of the day is that some of the v. bonariensis seedlings have come up! Three so far. After the dire warnings on the back of the seed packet I wasn't very hopeful. Still, they're going to be the size of my hand by June at the rate they're going so perhaps I'll buy some anyway

UnrequitedSkink · 07/04/2011 14:56

HellyMelly - I sowed some Cosmos (in trays) on Saturday and had seedlings by Monday night! Don't suppose they'll germinate quite that fast outside but at the rate they're growing I'll be able to transpalnt them in a week or so. I'm planning on using mine to fill gaps. Can't remember the cultivar but they're white with a pink border, very pretty and flower all summer long - not bad for about a pound from Morrisons.

Christine - your VB will self seed next year and you'll be left cursing the day you grew them Wink

Original poster
HumphreyCobbler · 07/04/2011 17:11

congratualions on your verbena bonariensis. I might try some of those next year. Mine didn't self seed at all, they have all disappeared

Cornflowers are foolproof for scattering, I am pulling loads out of my veg bed from last year and replanting them.

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ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 07/04/2011 17:30

Please stop saying that VB will self-seed all over the place. Mine never have. ::Gnashes teeth::

I think I will find some white cosmos for gap-filling. The courgettes I sowed on Monday are already sprouting. Such joy.

IlsaLund · 07/04/2011 18:30

My verbena bonariensis have never self seeded.

My courgettes have appeared and I am going to sow some cosmos this evening

Original poster
HumphreyCobbler · 07/04/2011 20:41

I have just this minute come in from my garden where I have been digging out a new bed on the other side of the path, in front of the pig sty. DH is still out there in the dark, making the path Grin

Have decided to plant the peas in two triangular shapes in one third of the circular veg patch , either side of my row of gladioli. Am hoping for a tidier and more ornamental veg patch this year, last year I did that beginners thing of cramming too much in. I actually planted SIX courgette plants Blush, won't be making that mistake again. I got very good at cooking them though.

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ChristinedePizan · 07/04/2011 20:47

My VB did self-seed in my old garden - I dug up its one and only baby and brought it with me. So not exactly freely :o

I went to the nursery and got my Macleaya. Also got another knautia (you can never have too many) an astilbe (ditto) and an iris that likes dry shade apparently. I have an enormous honeysuckle with an even bigger montana growing through it up the side of the house and the titchy bed underneath has mainly leaf mould and some bluebells. I wanted a flower to give me a bit of zing

IlsaLund · 07/04/2011 20:49

Humphrey - I did the overplanting last year (6 courgette plants as well) followed by oodles and oodles of spinach

This year I need to get to grips with sucessional sowing

Original poster
HumphreyCobbler · 07/04/2011 20:56

Yes, me too IlsaLund.

I am NOT going to google those plant names ChristinedePizan, as I will only want them.

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Pkam · 07/04/2011 20:59

Finally got out into the garden tonight once DDs in bed (also forced DH to start cutting the lawn moss). Spent a fulfilling hour pulling couch grass bits out of the pea bed which we unfortunately imported in some extra earth from my mothers house Sad. Going to sow peas tomorrow and planning to make the most of some time off work over the school holidays.

Also like to report that my courgette and cucumber seeds are coming through - see Maud, talking to them does work!

Also the plants for my hanging baskets arrived today - never done hanging baskets before, excited and slightly nervous at the same time. Am determined not to kill them...

ChristinedePizan · 07/04/2011 21:07

:o Humphrey

I am going to do tomatoes, peppers and successional rocket and little gem this year. That's it There is only me (have a child who appears to be allergic to veg Hmm and I don't want acres of produce. Although I do like the sound of 6 courgette plants!

Original poster
HumphreyCobbler · 07/04/2011 21:15

I am looking forward to doing peas again, as it is the only green vegetable that has ever voluntarily passed my son's lips. Also going to do sweetcorn, two courgette plants, salad leaves, radish and runner beans. Definitely no butternut squash, that was what caused most of the overcrowding and only produced three squash. Potatoes and onions are supposed to be going in the new veg bed, but it is still waiting to be harrowed....it will be too late at this rate

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Pkam · 07/04/2011 21:56

My peas never made it in the house last year. DDs ate them straight from the pods. They also ate runners straight from the plants. Still can't get them to eat spinach or courgettes though; will keep working on that this year.

Had 4 courgette plants last year and just about coped with the crop. Am planning on 4 again but have planted 8 seeds just to be sure......

IlsaLund · 07/04/2011 22:02

I ate nearly all the peas while out gardening - the only ones I cooked were a single portion on a night when I was eating alone.
DH commiserated with me on the failure of the pea harvest Blush

Pkam - I keep doing the overplanting I want 8 tomato plants so I'd better plant 16

Pkam · 07/04/2011 22:07

I have convinced myself that I will be able to give the extra plants away but I seem to get far too attached to them...

hellymelly · 07/04/2011 22:14

ooh cosmos,good idea,I will buy some seed.I used to have lots of nigella self seeding about the place and then last year..nothing..! So need to try again I think,I do love it.

ChristinedePizan · 07/04/2011 22:22

I just want to say how much I like this thread Humphrey :)

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 08/04/2011 00:01

::Offers Humphrey a bouquet of home-grown flowers::

JarethTheGoblinKing · 08/04/2011 11:06

If I sow cosmos outside now, will they be OK? My seedlings aren't doing very well inside and have gone all leggy and falling over. :(

Original poster
HumphreyCobbler · 08/04/2011 16:42

Thank you, I am enjoying it too. I love the advice, and hearing about all of your gardens is brilliant. It makes me want to descend on you all for a guided tour Smile

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