What are your gardening plans for 2020?

[GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat]

It's a bit quiet round these parts so I thought I'd start looking forward to spring/summer

My garden is finally looking mature hooray.
Early spring will be spent tying in and general tidying/selective pruning however I'm having a little daydream about the fun things I can achieve once the weather starts to warm up 😂

I'm going to put a wooden arch halfway down the lawn and cut a horizontal border in to change the view from the house. I have a few unused metal obelisks in the shed so I'm envisaging evergreen shrubs either side with something interesting climbing up the obelisks and the arch

Also a wooden 2 seater bench for the patio and a hutch/cat house for the cat

I'm forever buying plants (usually reduced) no doubt that will continue.

I won a fancy water butt with attached planters - I'm aiming to install it properly and plant it up.

Over to you

I would like to plant a witch hazel tree in our garden I'd suggest buy it from a nursery during flowering season so you can check it's a good flowerer.

Thank you @MereDintofPandiculation, that’s good advice! I will do that.

@Sausagewrole I have spent today researching plants that will grow in wet soil with part shade. It's more the wet soil I'm concerned about. I'm liking the look of Astilbes, Hostas and Dogwood (midwinter one). There were other little perennials suggested too but I've forgotten what they are!

My rough plans are to create a container garden in the front. We have a large chipped square area but it is concrete underneath. I've already planted up a few things, including a Magnolia stellata (I've always loved this). And I've planned various bulbs and annuals for the front too.

Back is a bit of a nightmare. Soil is terrible with all the rain but it's really heavy clay the best of times. I'm going to try and improve it and move some of my plants around, especially a few roses which didn't like their position. My clematis were all great last year though and the hardy fuschia were amazing. Oh and I have lovely trailing begonias for my hanging baskets this year for a change.

I have 3 raised beds for veg which I started for the first time last year. So I have already prepped them for this year and got all my planning done.

Reading it back looks like far too much to do!!! 😱

I have spent today researching plants that will grow in wet soil with part shade. I planted a swamp cypress. (I grew it from seed).

Yes, astilbes are good in claggy wet clay. Try looking at various Primulas. I've got ordinary drumstick primulas, but Primula vialii is a stunner, like a miniature red-hot-poker.

How are you going to water your front garden containers? Will you have a tap out there?

Great thread. We moved here 6 months ago, we have someone coming to put in new fencing next week, so haven’t done much yet.We have an acer tree, not very big but I’m planning a fairy garden underneath it for my two small dgc. I don’t know who’s more excited them or me, found some good ideas on Pinterest . Apart from some bedding plants I can’t do much more this year sadly, run out of funds for now I’m saving up for a water feature and a bench next year . Happy gardening .

@MereDintofPandiculation I have a tap on side of the house and a 50m hose. But I was thinking of looking into those bottles you can use for watering all day!

Love this thread! My David Austin catalogue arrived yesterday, so I will probably squeeze in another rose 😁
Going to make a new bed in front of the greenhouse and put a new arch halfway down the garden.

I will also try and make the garden a bit more toddler friendly!

into those bottles you can use for watering all day! good idea!

@flindorama I have super heavy sticky clay too.

Things that do well for me in shade are hostas, Japanese anemones, geranium, tiarella, heuchera, foxgloves, astrantia.

In the sun the roses and dahlia's grow huge

Get as much soil improver as you can. Organic matter helps no end.

Some great ideas on here. My garden is still very much a work in progress and I still have a few boring big jobs to do. The back garden needs an old dilapidated wooden greenhouse pulling down and a boundary fence putting up. At least when that's done I'm hoping we can use the paved floor that's already there as a patio. Also need to pull down an outbuilding that's beyond repair.

Half of the front garden is starting to look decent as the first of the spring bulbs are pushing through. It would definitely benefit from some weeding, so hoping to get on that this afternoon. The other half is an eyesore and we need to revamp the remains of ugly pond which was there when we moved in. Think rotting trellises and a big brick structure which used to house the pump for the waterfall, complete with a dangerously placed plug socket. Thankfully it had no water in it when we moved in so I don't have to worry about disturbing any frogs! Got plans to make a nature pond and small bog area with that.

Just ordered a load of ground cover plants, creeping thymes, sedums, mini asters and pinks and planning on planting these all over the borders to hopefully add some colour and choke out some of the weeds. Not sure how effective they'll be against the horsetail though!