My garden makes me so happy

[HumphreyCobbler]

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

Tonight had a meal entirely produced by my garden - potatoes, salad with peas and sausages with apples and leeks which were made last year and dug out of the freezer. It was very nice. Strawberries and raspberries for pudding.

We suspect that we will always remember this year as being THE year for strawberries, they have just gone on and on. To anyone who is depressed about their own strawberry harvest I must point that last year we had none at all.

Sorry to hear that the snails have eaten your Bishop of Llandaff Maud and of your canna disaster Christine. I forgave DH for weeding all the swede seedlings the other day, he was very apologetic. I must sow again actually, if it is not too late.

Oh Maud, you are not having much luck with the pests this year are you? :( I have to say that having resorted to the vile blue pellets, the snails have not troubled me much although I do feel horribly guilty, like I'm eating battery hen eggs, every time I put them down.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with an over-enthusiastic weeder around. My mother (bless her) is a very enthusiastic weeder and doesn't wear her glasses as often as she should. She has always said that when things 'don't come up the following year' in her garden that there is a possibility she dug them up but now I've realised how very likely that is :o

Ladies! I bring you a candid photo of Humphrey and her DH.

Oh and forgot the most important bit - how amazing to eat entirely from your garden HC! You must have been thrilled and proud. I think I would be tempted to have a Gwynnie moment personally!

I'm reconciled to the slug and snail problem, Christine. I too use the awful blue pellets (although not very often and none at all since I found the frog in the garden) but my hosta collection went from pristine to lace in about three days. Grrr.

My dad also tends to 'weed' out things that my mum has been nurturing for years. The drawback of my dense planting approach is that I might be planting one thing on top of another, which has much the same effect.

if only I had her arse

Perhaps you (and I and all of us) should aim for her general perkiness.

We had a salad half from the garden the other day, does that count? I had some Bright Lights in my stir fry this evening, and some lovely sweet small courgettes two nights ago, as an amuse bouche. Have dried some great bunches of herbs in the oven, and I pulled up ten big and stripy Garlic 'Purple Wight' which are now drying off in the shed. Shallots to come up by this weekend I think, first row at least.

I use slug pellets. It says on the can they are organic-approved. I just don't read any further than that. I also use pepper powder against the cats. But no sprays, and no peaty compost.

I have crocosmia and will happily share, but right now would not be good as it is just about to come into flower and I don't think that's the right time to move/transplant is it? I am about to sit in bed and catalogue my seeds into a little notebook because I am going to Hampton Court tomorrow and need something to keep me from going bananas in the shopping stalls! I definitely do not have enough room to sow everything I have even now, so I mustn't get more. The only thing I have given myself permission to buy is a new pair of quality secateurs.

So, when I am content to lift the crocs, and when I have identified just how badly duplicated my seed collection is, I will happily send or swap if PM'd! I can definitely give away some Nicky's Nursery ladybird/bumblebee conservation mixes of wildflowers, if anyone wants some?

I gather them under torchlight if they are slugs and sprinkle with salt/cut in half (no mercy here). Snails get gathered and thrown into the street (to be squashed by cars) or once I took a whole bag and put it into the bin at the local shopping centre

I do have quite a small garden though :o

I would like Felicity's arse and her perkiness. And even her nice neighbours! Mine keep ignoring the horrid brambles that are growing under the fence which are very annoying.

I do hope I get my allotment soon so I can join in with the growing things rather than growing flowers (I have room for either/or)

Humph, I am impressed by your eating and gardening endeavors.

Maud - I got your message, thank you again, and yes - I often have that response when giving my town - unfortunately, it bears no resemblance

Christine, you clearly have balls of steel. There is no way in hell I could gather slugs by hand . We don't have masses of slugs here, fortunately. They do get the hostas, but they don't get destroyed, and we get a lot of Magpies in the garden, so hopefully they eat them all.

I do have a raging case of lily beetle though.

Dh and I had to rescue DD1's sunflower tonight. It's too tall for the veg plot and was touching the top netting which is around 2.4m! Delicate removal job and it's now taken pride of place on the patio. It's not flowered yet so is still growing. All the others are at least 1m shorter. She has definitely won the sunflower competition. I have however invented another category of 'first to flower' as I won this; I needed this as consolation as mine is by far the shortest. Even the weedy one I donated to the neighbour is now taller than mine .

Pfft - I don't touch the slugs - just snip them where they lay or sprinkle with salt like some demented fairy :o There is something about the slime which means it's very difficult to wash off. I know you're supposed to squash lily beetles but I'm hopeless at it. I have found a box of latex gloves useful for queasy tasks that require a modicum of dexterity though (plus they are good for repotting seedlings etc).

I have a horrible infestation of blackfly on one of the ranunculus (although not the other strangely). I have sprayed with the washing up liquid solution I use on greenfly. Does that work does anyone know?

the rain has flattened the wildflower meadow, all the lovely crisp edges and grass paths have all but disappeared.

still at least I don't need to water

I am now banned from buying anything garden related until December. I just spent the day at Hampton Court FS and oh my god was it full of temptations. Dear lordy.

Oh, actually, I'm going to fail on the not buying anything thing because I bought some big planter-bags (Marshalls, 3 for £10, 120-140 litre capacity each, meant to fit perfectly in greenhouses) which will arrive by post next week and which will need compost to go in them. ie about six bags. But after that, I promise, I'll go cold turkey!!! (Till December)

I have just been looking at tulip bulbs online. I am in a colour quandry.

Princess Irene
Princess Irene
Princess Irene

ok then

Ooooh, they're pretty.

I bought a wooden arch today. I need to be banned from garden centres.

I have imposed temporary self-ban on garden centre trips. Hasn't stopped on-line purchases though

Show us your wooden arch, Pfft. I want either an arch or a pergola-thingy with rope, for jasmine and roses.

DH sharpened the hoe. What a revelation.

Have to confess to a slight quailing when I looked at the round veg patch today. It was bloody full of weeds (mostly ones that look like little euphorbias, what are they?) after I pulled every single one last Saturday. Most depressing.

Also rather gutted about the demise of the wildflower meadow. Actually this is a slight exaggeration, it is all still there but looks as if the pigs had escaped into it. All the crisp lines of grass path are gone and much of it is flattened. Just as it was coming into flower properly. We have realised that we planted it too thickly and in too rich a soil. The bit at the top in really poor soil (it used to be under a large shed) still looks really fantastic as the plants were not too heavy to stand under the rain.

I have also learned that plant supports are not just something to think about sorting, but that I have to actually DO it.

On the bright side my thalictrum makes me very happy. What a stunning plant that is, thank you Maud for making me buy it. The peas are coming in well and we have three different types of potato to choose from. Mme Alfred Carriere has sprouted a new lot of buds rather unexpectedly and the New Dawn don't seem to mind the weather.

I do hope the sun shines this weekend. Have fun all of you.

I have only recently been converted to weeding by hoe (I used to do it by hand). It is indeed a revelation. Those tiny weeds are a sort of euphorbia. I have a national collection of them here, alas.

New Dawn here seems to sulk in the rain -it has beautiful buds but they refuse to open. My thalictrum is just starting to flower but is only about 2 foot tall. I am hoping it'll have a growth spurt. I emphatically deny that I made you buy it, Humphrey.

Happy gardening!

you tempted me

I was powerless