What would you do differently in your gardens next year?

[catwithflowers]

If anything! 😊. I have already made a few gardening New Year's Resolutions!

1. Only plant things we love. I'm determined not to be guilted into planting things my lovely dad has grown from seed at his allotment even if I really don't like them and if they look out of place in our garden (I'm looking at you French Marigolds!!)

1. I'm in the North East and planted things from seed a bit late in the year. We have a greenhouse now so I'm planning on starting my seeds off either very early spring or in the autumn for some perennials.

1. To be honest about my gardening mistakes and get rid of things I thought would work but just don't, eg the penstemon we had in the cottage garden which just sat like a big lump amongst the other delicate cottage garden plants. The bed looks so much more restful without it 😊

1. don't forget all about the tomatoes and peppers and then realise its July and they're still sitting there in the seed trays only 10cm high...

1. Remember to plant my sweet peas early. It makes all the difference

1. Make sure I have plenty of compost and seeds since brexit may well affect availability.

1. Cover the raspberries properly. We have a visiting pair of jays and whilst its lovely to see them, they have literally stripped the plants bare of raspberries.

I was planting for the first year this time and my lessons learned are:

• Rain shadows are a thing! Everything I have is in pots so this is important for me. The corner bit that I thought would get most sun (which it does), is also a huge rain shadow so a lot of pots that I thought didn't need watering when it had been wet were sadly parched.

• I'm probably never going to get far with seeds so buying small plants is the way to go. I don't have a reliably sunny windowsill indoors so my seedlings were weedy and really haven't done well outdoors. Possibly I should have put them out earlier with some sort of cold frame set up.

Don't plant too many violas just because they're cheap and pretty, and are all you can buy in early-lockdown. They've taken over my border.

To second OP, don't be afraid to ditch (cheaper) plants that aren't working for whatever reason. Our season is too short to put up with disappointments. (Note to self - remove some of the above mentioned violas).

Don't bother with strawbs. So much much time and effort for so little edible yield. Spinach, on the other hand, is a marvel.

FEED MY CONTAINERS!!!!!

Plant more peas! Ours have gone just on snacks. Probably need 3 big pots early, mid, late to keep DS2 going!

Fill new greenhouse. Don't bother with onions or radishes. Plant things earlier. Get better compost and give the flower beds a good dose of organic matter in autumn. Spend more money on tools ( my hori-hori trowel and old fogey stool have been game-changers), books etc if I've got it. Plant sweetpeas on Boxing day like Arthur Parkinson.

Start much earlier.

Not plant whole packets of vegetable seeds - I have a glut of lettuce and Swiss Chard at present, and a thicket of tomatoes that are going to be tricky to pick!

It looks like planting earlier is on everyone's list!

Unlike pp I want to plant more violas as they are cheap and pretty and take over my border. All good things in my book.
I'm not scattering anymore wild flower seeds, they just look windswept and shit and not like it says on the packet.
Yy to planting sweet peas earlier and not planting strawberries.

Yes to planting everything earlier, especially hanging baskets and sweet peas. Due to lockdown and a bored OH now have a large potting shed and looking forward to being able to start things off earlier.

More tulips for the spring next year. Loved the bright pops of colour this year, especially the small species ones which were quite early. More alliums and more hellebores are on my list.

Sow more flowers and look after my autumn sowings better

Sacrilege to many I'm sure: don't grow tomatoes. At least no cordon varieties Home grown tomatoes are lovely but the plants are really ugly and I don't keep up with the side shoot pinching.

Lettuce was wonderful but I need to keep it shadier in the very hot weather.

Plant quadruple the amount of coriander and keep up with succession sowing.

More peas and even more broad beans. My red flowered broad beans were pretty enough for the flower border.

@deplorabelle What's your secret with corriander? I've never had any success with it.

Carve out time in the autumn to prepare it for the winter - tidying, planting, pruning, splitting and moving plants, mulching etc.

@hollyhead I don't really know! My success is mixed (which is why I didn't have enough), but what worked was sow seeds indoors (germination took ages). Then I planted out seedlings straight to a pot outside on a really cold evening. I thought they would die but they did better than the coriander I sowed direct.

I had given up on the direct sown coriander long before it came through. It was in full sun and went to seed pretty quickly because it got too hot.

I might be proved totally wrong next year but secrets to coriander are patience and cool conditions (it comes from the Himalayas I think so would make sense)

Ah, @deplorabellecool and damp... see I always think of it as a ‘hot and dry’ plant seeing as it’s in spicy food

Might give it another go, it’s a herb I’d like to have ‘in stock’ constantly!

Dont buy too small plants.

The calibrocha I bought in small pots have struggled, and the frigging slugs seem to decimate them more. Last year I bought plug plants Queen of Hearts and the slugs took one down a day...and they were expensive. Luckily even Aldi do this colourway now

The larger pots of petunias have thrived. In fairness I bought what was available due to lockdown

Good question. Think about summer colours more - my spring colours all hang together nicely but the summer colours are all over the place.

Be ruthless about plants I don't like or don't fit.

Agree about the strawbs - mine havent been that productive and are in completely the wrong place - I might swap them all out for chamomile as they are in the middle of a path stupidly.

Dig up and dry tulips and other bulbs properly instead of giving sarah raven all my money every year (though I know they dont come back as well).

Honestly, move. I have a North facing garden overshadowed by my neighbors three giant sycamore trees. It has made it so difficult and frustrating to get much of anything to grow. I do like shade loving plants, but many of the ones I want to have are full sun types.

I am glad I finally dug my hosta up and put it in a pot though - this is the first year the slugs haven't eaten it.

I would like to plant more things that flower in spring /May/June. My garden only seems to get going around now and is a bit bare in early summer. I'm going to plant more alliums, some ornamental grass, foxgloves and aquilegia. Any other suggestions gratefully accepted! I have a small north west facing, London garden, rarely frosts, Gets 4-5 hours of afternoon sun...

Put the spring bulbs in this side of Christmas, mulch in autumn, split / prune / remove those plants that have been taking over this year.

alphae - wallflowers!

Find varieties (colours) I really like of plants I always buy (petunia, thunbergia, cosmos etc) and plant seeds early inside and then into a new greenhouse because this year I could not buy them in time!

Keep begonias potted up and set up proper overwintering for them as you lose ages waiting for them to grown again.

Kill aphids overwintering on every single plant, ditto slugs.

Label EVERYTHING. (This year). Label dahlia tubers properly!

Buy loads of compost, mulch, manure etc

Get trees coppiced again.

Wallflower Bowles Mauve never stops flowering. Literally.

But for shade I finally caved and got hardy geranium Rozanne. It's so much prettier than it looks in pics. I love it. And forever too.

And epimedium has lovely white May/June flowers, about 60cm tall. polemonium beautiful blue. Astrantia Roma was lovely this year too.

Love this!

Read the plant heights carefully as I now have mahoosive perennials at the front of my border

Don't bother with strawberries, my perpetual ones are tiny and pippy try spinach, peas and purple sprouting broccilli.

Plant more rhubarb as it is delish.

Sweet peas are amazing.

Get more daylillies and peonies.

Plant miniature tulips and narcissi in the autumn they seem to come up quicker and look so sweet.

Great thread.

Another start earlier here.

Specifically, work out what can be divided and do it before the growing season starts. I've a lot of ferns that I want to split up but apparently now is not the time to do it!

And keep on top of the pruning - have got ivy running wild on two fences and whenever I think about really getting to grips with it I realise it's not the right time (nesting birds).