Reluctant Gardeners sign up here - gardening flylady style.

[Carrotsandcelery]

Anyone up for a gardening motivational thread, flylady style?

The idea is little and often.

We post what we have done here and hopefully inspire/motivate each other to get cracking in the garden and have a beautiful summer.

Keen gardeners are very welcome too, to show us how it is done.

Yeah same here. I want the perfect garden, but I want it NOW

I will have weeding in a few weeks but that will be the worst of it over with. Hopefully it will be containable with the 15 min a day plan from there on in.

Knickers - if you can afford it I would get someone in to help you get started. You will still find you have plenty to do yourself but they will help and point you in the right direction too.

twinmum the previous owners of our house dug out the plants too and took all the light fittings and left us with wires hanging down from the ceiling everywhere. I was only very young at the time. These days I would kick up a fuss.

Can't really afford it (unless some do it cheaply )

Will have to try and see if I can budget something into helping me get started.

All it needs doing really is levelling, and the old weed patch digging out. Then I can crack on.

Oh, and I knocked the front wall down Monday and cut down the hedge to make a drive. Yeah........there is too big a drop so that needs levelling up too.

Morning everyone. I have put in a clematis and pulled up some bind weed this morning. Away over Easter so am signing off. Am a bit concerned they'll be lots of weeds when I get back- what is the garden equivalent of house proud? I think I am being a bit too precious......
Keep going knickers! Knocking down a wall is very impressive.
Happy Easter all.

Have a great trip away twinmum and don't worry too much about the garden.

Knickers the main thrust of flylady is little and often - taking it a step at a time - so don't list all the stuff you have to do. Just decide one job and see it through and then begin the next - or set a timer and tell yourself you are just going to do 15 mins of x, y or z today and leave it at that. You will be amazed at the difference you can make.

FWIW the gardener who came round yesterday charged me £20 for at least 2 hours work, half of it heavy labour sawing big, old, dead plants out and taking the debris away.

Can I join? Have moved to house with large and very overgrown garden. We really want it to be nice so have worked loads over the winter cutting things down and making a big space in the middle for a flower bed.

We were really worry about the cost of plants so have bought cheap seeds and amazingly they have grown - now though I have no idea when to move them outside. I would be so gutted if they all died at this stage!

I am too scared to put them out, but worried they will get overgrown and die if I keep them in. Anyone know what to do for the best?

hi everybody, just checking in to see what we are all up to. I have managed to do my watering and dead heading today. We went to the seaside today and it was bloody freezing but still had a fab day. When I got home it was lovely and warm and I was shattered so instead of doing 15 minutes of gardening I did 15 minutes of garden appreciated and sat in a deck chair and had a cuppa!!!

Sybil I wish I could help you with your plants but I am so naff its unreal. I am sure somebody will come along and give you some advice. Well done with the seeds though, you have managed more than I can do. Have you tried free cycle for plants too

Evening everyone. Welcome to all the new sign ups.

Sybil I am not an expert and hopefully and expert will come along and help you. I would be tempted to repot them into larger pots so that they have room to develop a good root ball and to grow bigger.

Where are you? Are you still at risk of a frost? I imagine that would be the greatest danger to them now. I am in the NE of Scotland so frost is still a possibility but if you are further south then you should be ok. I would dig the plot over well and work in some multi purpose compost and plant them out. Then water them with a gentle spray, step back and enjoy the fruits of your labour. I repeat, I am not knowledgeable though.

Dosey I think garden appreciation is really really important. I don't like the idea that mine just becomes a place of work. I want to sit back and enjoy it too, here and there.

I was out all day on an emergency mission and then visiting my parents so nothing much has happened, inside or out today. My arm is much better though so hopefully I should be able to get going again very soon.

Little and often gardening is going well so far. So far I have done

1. Weeded all veg plots
2. Repotted herbs and placed outside house
3. Cut lawn
4. Attacked the ivy
5. Planted lots of seeds
6. Prepared seed trays ready for tomorrow. I'm very proud of myself this week

Morning all,

Loads of work going on at the moment, very inspiring.

carrots Hope your arm is feeling much better.
dosey-15 mins of garden appreciation is gardening-its all in the planning eh?
sybil I am braving putting out my tomatoes today-feeling very protective of the little things though so know how you feel, but I reckon now its the time...
Have already watered this morning and dead headed a plant-I know, get me and my growing gardening skill level
Todays job-cut back/tie off all the dead Daffs/other lovely but very prolific spring flower things.

Ok, am going to be brave and put some out this weekend (ok, so not that brave in that I refusing to put all my eggs in the basket and keeping some indoors in case the others all die - I would be seriously guttedto lose them all now ). Will let you know how I get on.

3is good luck with the tomatoes. Its nice to know I am not the only over-protective seed grower out there!

Hope the arm feels better carrot

Right, as well as potting out I am also going to de-gunge my pond. This involves me standing in the pond in a very fetching pair of wellies armed with a tadpole net. I will be trying to skim the green pond scum off the top of the pond only, but if past experience is anything to go by, I will in fact spend most of the time trying to fish kamakaze newts out of the net.

enjoy the weather everyone!

Evening everyone.

We were out all day so I have just done my 15 minutes just now.

It is getting dark but not dark outside yet here. [bugrin]

My 15 minutes consisted of putting a chive that I had finally managed to find into my emptiest herb pot, potting three little flowers into the pot we use to hold the back door open (which is crumbling to pieces but still looks nicer with something in it and should last one more summer.) Then I pooped scooped, watered all the pots and even wound the hose back up onto its reel [bushock]

Quite a productive little venture I felt!

Thanks for the good wishes for my arm. My nursey friend thinks it is a stress fracture but I doubt it very much. Dh thinks it would be hilarious if I had broken my arm. I suspect he quickly wouldn't when he had to do what I generally do in a day.

I would be [bublush] if I broke my arm weeding and throwing the ball for the dog!

sybil and magic let us know how you get on planting your precious babies seedlings.

Hi just marking my place for when I get back home after the Easter weekend. I have been helping my mum in her garden - always easier to get motivated someone else's garden

hi everybody, once again my fifteen minutes consisted of watering, but I was very happy today, my mum and dad came round. My dad is a very keen gardener, he turfed our lawn, he has a massive alloment and grows loads of yummy things and his garden is so so lovely. I have not inherited any of his gardening skills. However he told me today that my garden looks lovely and very colourful. I was so pleased. I was all coy but really chuffed!!!!

Carrots I cannot believe what time you were out there. I was in my pjs at that time!!!!

Not much is happening with my grass seed. It said on the packet that I should see results in five days. Its now two weeks and nothing is appearing. I did the same thing last year and got good results.

I am hoping to get a few jobs done tomorrow while dds are playing. I hope the weather stays good.

Happy Easter everybody x

Dosey I was out in my pjs and the very ancient fleece that was old when I wore it when I was preg with ds who is now 6. That is why I stuck to jobs in the back garden.

I am itching to get my sweet peas into their trough in the front garden but felt the neighbours had done nothing to deserve having me in my ancient fleece and equally ancient pjs inflicted on them [bugrin]

And a Happy Easter from me too - when do I do the Easter Egg hunt? Is that Sunday?

hi everybody, well my fifteen minutes turned into over an hour, I sorted my clematis out so it will hopefully grown in the right direction, I tied and pined so hopefully it will help it on its way. I weeded the lawn, we seem to have lots of dandilions poking through. I planted some bulbs that had been house plants but have died off. Then I have sorted out the trampoline. The enclosure was torn so I have cut it off, taken some poles down, washed the cover and now it looks like a new trampoline. Which has also made the garden look tidier. We have just had a rain shower so at least I wont have to do any watering tonight.

Carrots, we are having another easter egg hunt tomorrow, its like Willy Wonkers chocolate factory in our house!!!!

I am waiting for the rain to stop (looks like it is nearly over) and the Indian takeaway (yummy!) to settle a bit before I tackle the sweet peas - that is my mission for the day.

Dosey I didn't know house bulbs could be planted out after. Can I do that with my hyacinths?

My sweet peas are finally in! and I planted the pot by the back gate as well [bugrin]

I like this 15 min gardening lark - the trick is to head out, gloves on, just after tea so dh loads dishwasher while I potter around with compost - 2 jobs achieved at once (and he would have probably left me the dishwasher if I had been inside!)

carrots my mum told me to do that with the bulbs, I thought it would be worth trying, I am sure I read it on a label too somewhere. I suppose I wont find out until next spring!!I I am very pleased again today, my grass is finally coming through. Though I did find a pile of cat poo in the middle of the patch today. I have put some miracle grow compost on the seeds to give it them a boost. Fifteen minutes a day does seem to be doing the trick for me too. Even if its just picking up rubbish, or the odd weed. I hope the sun keeps shining because that is a big incentive to keep going x

My ddad is a big fan of sowing grass seed on bare patches. He then won't let anyone outside for weeks incase they spoil the seeds. We do have to inspect them with him a couple of times a day though. Then he pokes and pesters it so much that what was growing dies off and the whole process begins again

This year my dmum pre- empted his strike and got 2/3 of the lawn made into an enormous patio for all her GC to scooter on. The only bit still with grass is under the swings and he has been dared to touch the patches there. My poor ddad. [bushock]

I hope you are not obsessing about your grass seed Dosey?? (as if you had the time!!) I'm glad it is coming through. It is really satisfying when you can see things you planted thriving.

Tomorrow's job is going to be to plant out my bulbs then.

Happy Easter everyone. How are all of you celebrating? We have just had an Easter egg hunt in the garden and dh has cut the grass. Does that count as our 15 mins? [bugrin]

I have set my arm off ironing so I won't be planting my bulbs today after all. I think I shall have to give in and go to the doc to get it checked out. What a pest!

The garden is beginning to look lovely though so even the little bits and bobs I have done have paid off.

More seeds planted yesterday. some flower seedlings planted out.

Today's job - hedge trimming and trampoline mending. Shed clear out might have to happen soon. Gulp!

Oooh Wombling the shed clear out sounds scary. We did our garage last year so it is not AS bad this year but it is still bad. I am dreading it and dh is off next week so it is highly possible that he will decide it is time.

I have been pondering what a weekly garden "blessing" would consist of - any ideas?

I thought it would have:

Cut the grass
Clear the weeds
Tidy up garden toys/equipment
Sweep the paths

What is missing?

Has anyone been gardening today? We had hailstones so I was a touch reluctant