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Gardening

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

The first rule of garden club is...!?!

999 replies

Lexilicious · 16/07/2012 18:25

hoping Humph's Happy Osteospermumsnet chums will find this... la la la... I'm uite used to being betty no mates though...

Come on in and have a seat/kneeler/foam pad and a virtual Gin, anyone who wants to idly chat about what they've been dreaming of planting, actually planting, buying without a care for having a place for it, propagating, harvesting, hacking and chopping...

OP posts:
samuelwhiskers · 27/02/2013 08:52

oooh just found this, didn't realise that MN had a gardening forum, I am sooo excited. Looking forward to spring and getting lots of advice on here!!!

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 27/02/2013 09:02

Welcome, samuelwhiskers! Tell us about your garden.

MyDarlingClementine · 27/02/2013 10:58

Yes me too, I was excited to see it - Samuel, but then MN of course has a thread about just about anything and everything!

MyDarlingClementine · 27/02/2013 11:11

I am envious of you going to Gt Dixter!.envy I didn't make it for the weekend I was thinking of and thought it was closed till March. Maybe I'll go on my day off.

I stayed in a b and b right next to great dixter ( almost literally, 2 min walk) and at the time although loved gardening had no idea about GD Blush, we went to sissinghurst too...

soo annoyed now.

samuelwhiskers · 27/02/2013 11:17

thank you comeintothegarden! It is only 8 years old as new plot so had to start from scratch. We started by trying to screen ourselves from our neighbours and then built a raised vegetable garden at the back with gravel paths, semi English garden at the front, couple of terraces, one with pergola which has lots of clematis suffocating it, then a fairly steep bank down to a bottom garden with apple/pear tree, small football pitch. Never planted from scratch before and over planted massively!! Spent last year digging up unwanted or too big plants and bushes :)

EducationalAppStore · 27/02/2013 11:24

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HumphreyCobbler · 27/02/2013 11:31

Hello samuelwhiskers - your garden sounds lovely! I started with a blank canvas too but we are only four years in. I know what you mean about overplanting. My MIL, who has a beautiful and mature garden, says she does it too though.

rhihaf · 27/02/2013 15:55

Although it's frrrreeezing and miserable outside, I just cleared away loads of overgrowth at the back of the house and my chives have come back! How they have survived I honestly don't know, but they have (goes into ridiculously optimistic daydream of how garden will look in summer)... and I even found the label for my now dead thyme! Funnyperson, your optimism is catching.

Humphrey - how do you define overplanting? I've just dug out and replanted a border and am waiting for no frost to plant out my summer bulbs and my cottage garden perennials from T&M (haven't arrived yet), but am concerned it's going to look really empty Confused.

HumphreyCobbler · 27/02/2013 17:50

Not allowing enough space for plants when they get big in the summer. I think it is a really tricky thing to get right. The worst culprit in our garden are the geraniums and catmint in the rose walk - we couldn't walk down the bloody path all last summer Blush

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 27/02/2013 18:36

Hmm. Within limits, I think overplanting is good. Nothing worse than stingy-looking borders. I like things to spill over and grow into each other.

HumphreyCobbler · 28/02/2013 10:42

I know what you mean Maud, but I always fail to find the happy medium. I end up with some things completely shading out the others and thus failing to thrive, or impassable pathways!

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 28/02/2013 10:56

Yes, I thinking blocking paths or spilling onto the lawn and killing the weeds grass are a case apart!

cantspel · 28/02/2013 16:04

I am back into garden mode now after a long cold wet winter.
I have spent most of the day tidying, cutting back and burning garden rubbish.
One large flower bed has been dug over and the contents of a compost bin dug in. The last of my tree lilies are in. My canna lilies are potted along with the dahlia in the utility area which doubles as my green house in spring. The bay tree is shaped but i still need to get the long ladder out to do the top.
leaf mold bagged up and ready for spreading
I am now worn out and need a shower as i smell of bonfire.

List of jobs still to do

cut back the suckers on the prunis
dig over the rose bed and compost
dig over 2 other flower beds and compost
lawn edges
scrub algae off garden pots and replace some of the broken feet
sort out what i want to put in the new flower bed i built last week.
prune a few large shrubs
burn more garden rubbish
and if we have a couple more dry days give the grass its first cut of the year.

echt · 03/03/2013 07:33

Autumn arrived punctually on 1st March, with cooler evenings, but warm days 28-30.

I hacked 3 palm lilies cordyline rubra down to make room for a white buddleia. No tears to shed for this native, as the merest piece of root will grow again within 6 months. The Terminator of plants: I'll be back. These cordylines, are very good for height in a border; tough as old boots and give a jungly effect. No compunction about prioritising a non-native though, as I want see butterflies. Planted a thunbergia against the south-facing fence. They like light but not heat, and should race away.

A sulking grevillea Robyn Gordon must have heard me saying it was for the chop if it didn't cheer the feck up, and has put out a flower.:o

In a hot dry border I've planted a frangipani, so let's see what happens.

Split the pups of a bromeliad to make two, potted up, and hung from the fence. There are more than 25 of them now, and they break the monotony of the fence as effectively as a climber, and I can shift them around as they flower. They can be seen from the front room and kitchen all year round.

The big winter project is to get rid of the shed and plant a flowering gum corymbia ficifolia - think bright orange frizzy poms poms about the size of a child's football. We want to buy it as an advanced tree, about 6-7 feet. Big bucks, but fab tree.

funnyperson · 03/03/2013 09:23

I loved reading that post echt

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 03/03/2013 09:32

Yes, me too. It's a glimpse of gardening in a completely different climate.

echt · 03/03/2013 19:51

Thank you, though I'm paying for it this morning. My hips are aching after all the crouching and tugging away at those blasted cordyline roots. I had to send in DH after the last one defeated me. He has had his reward by looking at the shed prior to taking it down next week:

DH: It shouldn't take too long.
Me: Good.
DH: And there's some good lengths of wood we can keep.
Me: Why?
DH: Because.

What is it about men and collecting wood?

ComeIntoTheGardenMaud · 03/03/2013 20:01

Or is it just about hoarding stuff?

echt · 04/03/2013 06:11

I think that aspect is important, Maud; wood that Might Come In Handy.

When DH's father died, the garage he rented some way from his house was opened up and found to be full of wood from floor to ceiling, hence the narrowing of my eyes whenever the subject of "useful" wood comes up. :o

Sailormercury · 04/03/2013 06:45

I can't wait to get DS one of those little Yeominis sets!

HumphreyCobbler · 04/03/2013 11:43

it is innate to men, this hoarding wood thing. DH does it. I can't complain though, because it does tend to come in handy Grin That tree sounds amazing echt - I too think you write really beautifully about your garden Smile

We have got ten downy birch coming on Saturday to put in at the top of the garden - this is to help screen us from the barn next door and from the planned solar development. We have to buy more mature trees than we were planning so it is costing a fair bit. Hope they don't drown in the wet.

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 08/03/2013 18:15

First GW of the year, tonight 8.30 Smile

HumphreyCobbler · 08/03/2013 19:59

Hooray!

Blackpuddingbertha · 08/03/2013 20:03

Just came on to say GW at 8.30 tonight but Wynken got there first Grin

I am going to plant stuff this weekend. I have determination. Plus if I can't get a couple of hours in the garden on Mother's Day I shall be cross!

I have some plants flowering in my garden. Things are looking up. And GW is back on, or did I already say that? I think a Wineis in order to celebrate.

funnyperson · 08/03/2013 23:21

There is a lovely mist of gentle spring rain over the garden. The Hellebores are out and all sorts of shoots are coming through. I pruned the Clematis Viticella Abundance down to almost ground level two weekends ago in an act of fear and faith, and this week, to my delight, vigorous new growth is spurting up just like it says in the books! The snow drops are still a bit of a mystery though. 100 planted in the green still not showing ????

Did anyone else watch Monty and friends on Gardeners World? Wine Its great to watch, ..but.... I think they all need their knitwear sorting- there are some gorgeous neutral organic cabling and Fairisle patterns and whilst it is true that one doesn't garden in one's best handknit, nevertheless it does seem a shame that Monty is still in last year's jumper which has, after all, done sterling service. Carol's scarf and mitts were just dowdy. Also- well, was it just me who thought the winter gardens chosen were disappointing? The swathes of snowdrops were lovely though. And the little shed and path just perfect, and did anyone see those espaliered trees???? Stupendous.