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.

We have had no rain in weeks.

I really need to get my rain butt sorted out so that if it does ever rain again I can harvest it. Apparently we will be getting rain for the wedding though, which is a shame as we are planning a street party.

My precious (adopts wheedling Golem tone) seedlings seem to mostly still be alive. A few have curled but none have completely died so far. A tray that I kept inside for their own safety got mauled by my two year old with a love for mucky fingers. Ironic no?

You are watering the seedlings gently aren't you sybil?

Hi guys, can I join

After spending the day cleaning DDs discusting room, I can now reward myself by planting some bulbs.

I have 15 skyscraper lily bulbs. 5 hot pink, 5 yellow and 5 red with crean at the ends. I have to plant them 25cm apart.

Should I plant them in clumps, if so how many together. Or should I plant them in a row at the back of a boarder.

Do flowers look better when you mix the colours up or in blocks of each colour?

They look after themselves once you plant them and grow up to 7ft high, but I havnt got a cule about garden design.

Any suggestions would be gratfully apreciated thanks

Hi Voldesmort - welcome to the thread - did you get the black bags out then?

Personally I am not mad about rows in gardens. I like things dotted about or in clumps. I would be inclined to plant them in groups of the same colour but I am also no garden designer so I would bow to greater knowledge and experience.

Thanks carrot. Yes bedroom is empty- see other thread

Thats what I was thinking with the rows.

We have been here three years and Ive never had a garden. After sorting out the grass and weeds, I am only just starting to plant flowers. I did plant some bulbs one year. They were spordic and in a row. When they came up they didnt look good at all.

But these things look so big. Oh well at least with bulbs if they dont look good, I suppose I can dig them up and move them.

On the plus side, I have some potatoes and veg growing in growbags whichare looking good and still alive

I read the progress in the other thread Voldemort - I think you touched on a common horror - we are all watching with interest. Your dd has become a social experiment

I don't know much about garden design but I do know that you start with the tall and bushy at the back of the bed, then medium in the middle and then small at the front, so it forms a wedge shape.

I also have friends who choose the colours in their gardens very carefully eg all pink and white etc.

We have a total mish mash of colours and haven't perfected the wedge shape at all. Our mission is to try to cover up the fence and develop more privacy - even though our neighbours on both sides are lovely.

I like things a bit haphazardly. I think it looks more natural that way. This is my argument for the fact that my garden is totally random anyway!

Carrots I am watering gently yes, honestly other than a bedtime story I couldn't give them more care, I hope the bloody things appreciate it and live a long and flowery life. Given my gardening prowess however, I predict they will each have one flower and be fairly lifeless by august.

Awww sybil I am sure they will prove you wrong. Gardening seems to be a huge waiting game and patience is not my greatest skill. I shall send them positive vibes and will them to grow huge and flowery.

I have finally been to the doctor about my arm and it is not broken (thank heavens) it is just a sprained tendon, a bit like tennis elbow. (Never trust nursey friends who haven't worked for over 10 years ) I have to rest it and wear a very fetching support - Nice! I am trying to rest it but keep finding things to do that I would never have got round to if I was supposed to be doing them.

I have bought some bulbs, inspired by my lovely gardening thread colleagues, so I am hoping that putting them in does not constitute overdoing it. I bought Gladioli so I am interested to see what happens there. I also seemed to find a few other flowers and alpines in my trolley when I got to the till so I will be putting them in too.

That should fill up my 15 minutes for the next few days.

I also think it is time our guinea pigs moved outside again. They have been out during the day but coming in at night but it is time to get their hutches onto the grass and let them get on with it. I think I will need help with that one though as I will have to lift the hutches.

I have done more than 15 mins today, planting some bulbs and violas and saxifrage (sp?) - I still have to water them in but had to come in and rescue what I was cooking. .

I have planted out this years hyacinths to see what happens to them next year. The worst they can do is add some nutrients to the soil I reckon.

The gardeners weed killing doesn't appear to have had any impact yet so I will have to be patient there.

What is everyone else doing?

Ive found the perfect solution to my garden design and lack of knowledge. here All the plants I need and a plan as where to plant them.

The sun is shining so I think I will go and and dig over the bed. It has been covered with weed repelling membrane or whatever its called and bark for a couple of years.

Apart from mixing some compost into it, should I be doing antthing else?
The soil is quiet good I think, going by the amount of worms and creatures that inhabit it. It drains well but at the same time is nice and moist.

Thanks for the link Voldy - I have bookmarked it as the prices are very reasonable as that sort of thing goes too.

Your soil sounds fabulous. We have been toying with the idea of putting bark down to suppress the weeds in our flower beds - does anyone else do this?

I did my 15 minutes this morning before I dashed out on various missions. I watered all the plants that are new in the garden and all the pots. It takes quite a while as there are quite a few of them.

I spotted some dead heading that I need to do as well but I will have to do a bit of housework first.

you're welcome carrots

I have bought some grow bags today and some trailing lobelia. Im going to plant them up and put them on top of the back garden wall. The wall is sandstone and has wild ivy trailing over it. I think it will be a nice back drop to my new flowers when they come.

Im going to plant my lilies here as well so they will come up at the back of the boarder.

I hav'nt used bark in the beds because I had no flowers before. I love the smell of fresh bark.

How do tell a dog to poo somewhere else I taught him not to poo or wee on the grass but now Im sticking flowers in his toilet area .

hi everybody, just been doing my watering so far this week but hoping to get some weeding and dead heading done over the long weekend. Am I right in thinking we should be planting bulbs, are these summer bulbs? My grass seed has done very well but my lawn is covered in brown patches from the dog. We could do with some rain on the lawn, its so dry. Well done Volde for training your pooch to not wee on the grass x

We have brown circles all over the grass as well as yellowed rectangles where the guinea pigs have been on one patch for too long.

I tried to teach our dog to wee and poo round the side of the house but failed miserably so I have to do the poo scoop run every day (or so ) and tolerate the brown patches.

I was feeling quite pleased with my garden but I am just back from having a drink with some friends in one of my friends gardens and now I feel a bit of a gardening failure and have massive garden envy. She is a professional gardener but still.

I have planted a few bulbs Dosey for the summer and I have a few more to squeeze in when I figure out where. The ones I planted were Tigrini or something like that and the others I have got are gladioli. Our garden centre was full of lots of different ones - very very tempting

hi everyone
It sounds as though you have been very industrious in your gardens.
Sybil - I am really impressed with your growing plants from seeds, I hope they are flourishing.
I like the idea of garden appreciation also, I think that was Dosey.
Well I tried taking a few cuttings from my parents garden, carefully planted them and watered, then later in the day heard a shriek of "MUMMY LOOK HOW BIG THIS WEED IS!!! Don't worry Mummy Sophie and I have pulled them all up!!"
So out came the carefully transplanted cuttings........I have tried putting them back in, but they are looking a bit sad. No wonder the girls thought they were weeds. So its off to the garden centre for me this avo to purchase a few more things to fill in the gaps.

Well done for trying twinmum - I think you can put cuttings into jars of water and sometimes they will grow roots. I am not sure if you have to dip them in rooting powder or something first though.

I have loads of gaps and lots of areas in my garden that just look rubbish. I have no idea what to do with them.

I went out this morning and watered all the areas I needed to and did some dead heading.

My rhubarb has at least doubled in size in a week. It's amazing.

I am not sure what else I should be doing. I want to go and buy heaps of plants to make the gaps and dodgy bits look amazing but the bank balance won't let me.

Let us know what you go for at the garden centre twinmum.

Carrots - the rhubarb sounds very impressive!
Very successful trip to garden centre I bought delphiniums, phlox, penstamon, mallow, and some little alpines for ground cover. We found someone very helpful there who then wrote down what to dead head, what not to, what to cut back, how vigorously and when, which was so helpful and should result in me killing not quite so many.
Like you Carrots I have some areas that look awful, but I'm taking a flylady approach and deciding that it can't all be done at once, so I have 3 beds that are the most visible and I'm just concentrating on those, and keeping the other bits vaguely tidy.
We recently had a wendyhouse built for my twins and it has a window box. At the end of the garden centre trip we let them choose some cheap bedding plants to put in - they have chosen, as of course they would, the vilest brightest colours and the oddest looking things. So they are thrilled, I am going for the idea that if I get them involved then they can potter around more happily when I'm trying to get things done in the garden.
Watering and weeding for me today.
I don't think it has rained here in weeks - anyone else doing industrial watering because of lack of rain.

twinmum I am watering every morning now as it has been glorious nearly constantly for a month. We have also had rain and even hailstones but mostly beautiful sunshine.

I am pleased to hear that you got delphiniums as I am waiting patiently for them to come into our garden centres. Up here we usually get things a bit later than down south. I did have some but there is no evidence of them coming back as yet.

When I was wee my dad gave my brother and I a little patch of garden each to plant and tend (with a bit of help). I got a really dodgy corner so made a little rockery with it and it did ok. My brother got a good patch and totally ignored it. Maybe in a few years your twins would like a little bed of their own to plant and tend (sneaky way of making them responsible for one of the beds that aren't looking so good maybe )

I have watered today but having moved animal runs and hutches that I shouldn't have yesterday (out of frustration that noone would help) my arm is now aching madly so I think my missions will be limited for a day or two. I might manage to persuade dh to dig a big hole for me so I can plant the climbing hydrangea which is waiting patiently for a home but he is out most of the day so I too will have to be patient. [boo emoticon]

Hello everyone!

Solid blue sky again here.

Everything is watered and I have done some more dead heading.

I will work on dh again shortly re digging a hole for me

Glorious sunshine here too. Apart from a sprinkling friday morning I can't remember the last time we had rain, which is bizarre for April. My pond is certainly looking a lot lower than it should this time of year.

I have planted out most of the seedlings now. All this talk of garden design is making me very nervous as I am very much a 'bung it in and see' kind of gardener - still I enjoy a bit of random chaos so thats all right!

i am planning to water the beds and mow the lawn later on when the sun is going down. is mowing the lawn after the main heat of the day so it doesn't burn the grass a myth? My dad always did so now i always do, but I wonder each time if I could have done it earlier...

I think when it is really hot the grass can suffer if you do it right in the heat of the day sybil. I think watering is the same - either early morning or late afternoon or evening is best as far as I know.

Dh is engrossed in a magazine and I have already disturbed him to open a velux window and then to lift a hoover upstairs and then to help hang up a king size duvet to dry so I dare not pester him again.

The hole has been dug - the climbing hydrangea has been planted and watered in

We also split up another plant and planted bits of it around the beds. Neither of us is sure what it is though although I suspect it is Mombresia (sp?) It had loads and loads of tiny white bulbs on it anyway and had grass like leaves like Mombresia.

I planted 20 gladioli bulbs too so fingers crossed my garden will be a little more beautiful for our efforts.

I am going to suffer tonight/tomorrow. A friend just gave me heaps of little geraniums which I have planted straight away as they had bare roots. Then I decided to move an aqualegia (sp?) which had sprouted through some gravel at the side of the house to somewhere we could see and enjoy it.

Then, of course, I had to water all of them in.

I will stop now though or I will be unable to move.

Am I the only one gardening today or are the rest of you so hard at it that you don't have time to post?

Hi everyone
Yeah for the hydrangea planted carrots! And good work with all the bulbs, I'm sure you'll be reaping the rewards later in the summer.
I took the ivy off the fence last night, and this eve just a good water is all I have time for. Though I have noticed a strange change..........I realised I am now gardening because I enjoy it! Time is tight at the moment (I have 3 under 4) and I am getting most of my gardening done in the evenings, which I am choosing to do over anything else once everyone is in bed. I never thought I'd see the day. A geranium that I planted in March has started to flower and it makes me smile every time I see it.

twinmum I take it the one in the tum is no longer in the tum? 3 under 4 can't leave you a lot of time during the day for gardening.

Mine are 10 and 6 so even when they are playing in the garden they don't need me to help every 5 minutes so gardening is a good way of being around them still without being an overbearing presence.

I started this thread as a reluctant gardener but the revelation of only having to do a few minutes here and there has made all the difference to me. I look forward to getting out there and pottering away. I always gardened in great big, all day sessions before, when my parents offered to take the dcs, and always ended up sickened and exhausted at the end of it. Flylady style makes much more sense and is a lot more fun.

I took dh to the garden centre today for our big plant buying session of the year today. We got lots of beautiful plants, ready to fill up our more pathetic areas of the borders. We couldn't get all that we planned though - the hardy perennial section had been decimated - so we will have to hope they stock up again soon. There is plenty to keep me very busy for now though.

No more for me tonight though as I have been up since 5am and we have just come back from a hill walk with the dog so I am ready to flop on the sofa with crisps booze and chocolate.