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

That's encouraging, Ilsa. I'm not sure what varieties I've got this year - I need to rootle around in the shed to see what I've got in stock. (At any one time I've got about five years' worth of seeds lying around). I usually do Matucana but last year tried some white varieties to go in my black and white border ::ponce alert::. The ones that did best, though, were the ones which came free with my dad's Gardeners' World magazine which I grew for the school fete.

a black and white border sounds brilliant. I have just sown some black-ish cornflowers that look interesting.

It would be brilliant if 'white' things didn't keep turning out to be pale pink (and if I hadn't been a softie about planting a rose there because it had sentimental value rather than chucking it out). . It is now mostly black and white. I think I have some black cornflower seeds - I may chuck them in the blank spots once I've finished planting.

And don't forget that a 'border' in my little garden is teeny-weeny.

it sounds lovely

I aspire to such design in mine. I reckon in about ten years I might have a small handle on it....

I have black cornflowers too.. I went to the aformentioned Gwynfor
Growers today and instead of mother's day flowers DH bought me a boot full of plants (that's car obv,not wellie) I have forgotten what they all are now! will look tomorrow and report back-but there is a tree peony,and a magnolia with starry tissue paper like petals . Lots of japanese anemones.Some fairy like campanulas with huge long bells (not in flower yet,but I saw them last year).Black arum lilies.Lavendars to replace the dead ones. Pretty pretty things. Oh and he bought me a moleskine gardeners journal too so I can try and remember what I've planted and where it should ideally go!!

That sounds lovely!

Hellymelly
That's sounds like a lovely mothers day present.

My gardening shopping trip has to be postponed until after Easter but I think I'm going to do some "research" in a few local nurseries before hand. I'm definately on the look out for plant sales too.

I have put sweet peas in from seed before and they were fine. And this is from someone who knows next to nothing about gardening (although very enthusiastic )

I've done my sweet peas straight in the ground, but have done a few more packets in long pots and ordered an arch for the allotment. I want a pretty allotment, s'there. [puts hand on hips]

My broad beans and peas which I sowed direct a few weeks ago started poking through this weekend.

I am seriously excited about the garden this year. 7 years in, with a year away, I feel I am finally getting there......

I really want to be a good gardener but struggle with heavy heavy clay soil that when combined with an army of slugs stops al but the weeds in their tracks.

Used nematodes in past to deal with slugs and were ace but just too sling to use them regularly.

I envy all you green fingered gardeners!

Doodle - I have the opposite problem - very dry, chalky, poor soil. Great for lavender, rosemary etc but not good for lots of fruit and veg. I manure and compost regularly but the ground is a bit like my skin - it sucks up the moisture and is then all dry and lacking in nutrients again within a day.

Japanese anemones! That's what I bought! They came unlabelled and I couldn't remember the name so I could look them up. Thanks HellyMelly. BTW, I did the same thing and got a bootful of perennials rather than a bouquet, much more exciting. :)

PS - how do you stop slugs getting your sweet peas? My seedlings all got munched within about 48 hours of transplanting them last year. Bastards.

Slugs are a nightmare :( Nematodes work well but are very expensive. I used to go out in the garden on damp evenings with a torch and sprinkle salt on them. You can also protect individual plants with gravel/egg shells or coffee grounds round them, none of which slugs like to cross. Or sink chopped off yoghurt pots with an inch of beer in the bottom into the ground but I hate emptying the pots of slime personally.

I have found the snail breeding ground in my garden - there were about 50 snails hanging around the trellis by the living room window after the rain. Now it's dry again, they've all disappeared but I'm going to lure them out and squash them. Murder is the only way I think.

Just starting our first veg garden. Potatoes, parsnips, broad beans, leeks, artichokes, tomatoes, peas, raspberries, strawberries and currants. More to come. Happy growing folks!

I was just watching the sparrows having a dust bath in my garden .

Beer traps seem to do the job with my slugs. Cheapest beer / lager you can find and pour it into margarine tubs and dig it into the ground so the top is more or less level with the earth. I pretty much wiped out the entire slug population in my garden a couple of years ago, after 3 weeks of them there were no more left to catch. They are minging when you have to empty them out though, and don't leave them for too long in hot weather .

I didn't get in the garden today as I had some last minute work - but it was FREEZING anyway so I didn't miss much.

I want a tree peony now. You lot are a bad influence. In fact, a peony bed would be nice.

The botanist who does elegy for a suburban garden gathers up all his snails and deposits them down the road in a woodland. That made me laugh for some reason.

I might take mine to the beach Humphrey - let them do battle with the sea-snails :o

Today I potted on salvia, impatiens and lobelia for my tubs. And planted up a load of alchemilla mollis and a few bits of Johnson's Blue that my mum gave me. I'm being a cheap as chips gardener this year :)

I use beer traps - emptying them is gross but if I set them early in the year I can keep on top of the slug population.

I love paeonies - there is something so extravagant and decadent about the flowers. You do need some Humphrey!

I'm off to get some cheap lager, I've already spotted loads of tiny slugs and I'm too squeamish to squash em. Next door's chickens will eat some but they're a bit picky and they don't like big ones or black ones of any size. Tell you what though, it's VERY satisfying watching them gobble down snails. Take that ya leaf munching slimeballs!

Potatoesofthecarribean Give your DP a pat on the back and tell him for a 1st go he has done a VERY good job of your deck, I frequently see "proffesionally" built decks which are not as good.

Oh and yes you do need to post a final pic!! :) we need to see it!

More from the killing fields - the lily beetles are at it too. Grr.

You know you need to get rid of the lily beetle 'poo' stuff too don't you Maud? God I hate them - once you've got them, they are virtually impossible to get rid of. I stopped growing lilies in my old garden - they just wrecked them :(