Anyone else devastated

[myotherface]

By the end of the gardening season? Even the gardeners world finishing for the winter feels upsetting. I've only discovered gardening last year but it's one of the biggest things to help with my mental health. Trying to find something else that would feel similar and keep me afloat but struggling.. At least there's still mulching and planting of bulbs but even that won't last forever.. Anyone else feels this way and have you find any good winter replacement?

[quote peakotter]@TiddleTaddleTat I have a corkscrew compost Turner. It has changed my life (well my compost, which is basically the same thing). I added the last stuff to my old bin in June and it is ready to use already. I’ve always had to wait 2 years but this year with the sun and a 1min turn twice a week it’s been really fast.

Advert over.[/quote]
@peakotter is there one you would recommend?

I follow the mantra of ‘weeds are only plants in the wrong places’ ....

@itsmeagainagain I have a dolmen. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I like it because it’s very long and no moving parts. It lives outside by the compost bin and hasn’t got rusty in the past 3 years. If it had to live in the tool shed I wouldn’t use it so much.

@peakotter thanks!

@Booseysmom ouch! At least I don't have a bog to worry about! Been out doing some tidying up, I've got a week before the last green bin collection until March next year. I've been in total shade, while admiring the sunny hills opposite. Grrrrrr.
Then I'll start researching fungus resistant plants! Anyone else out there got ideas for coping with endemic honey fungus? It's too widespread to eradicate.

Really enjoyed some of these ideas. I've been inspired to get some manure, plant the mature bush rose that I've been gifted, and move one of the beds around (again)
My husband says we keep moving plants and I say yes... so what?!
That's gardening

spent a lovely couple of hours sweeping up leaves and planting up pots with tulips and hyacinths for spring absolute bliss in the lovely sunshine we've had today. Any hosta people on here? my first year growing some in pots and theyre dying back...can I leave them in their pots with a bit of mulch will they come back? thanks

If I had clay soil and lots of standing water I wouldn't fight it I'd dig a pond there.

@ppeatfruit...that's exactly what we've been thinking! It's on a slope so the pond would have to be at the bottom with stones all around it to soak up the rest of the bog!

@itsmeagainagain.. I have only ever grown one hosta which was promptly devoured by slugs and I never planted any again! Sorry I can't advise.

@pickingdaisies.. I've got no idea about honey fungus sorry. Your situation sounds familiar
..we used to live in the shadow of hills and looked out onto sunshine from mid-late afternoon onwards. We did have the morning sun but we had a steep terraced garden and it was almost impossible to grow anything..a real gardening challenge! Now we have flat wet turf in a north-facing setting. The joys!

You could also create a 'bog garden ' around the pond Boosey

Ref. Hostas IMO and E they're more trouble than they're worth, I did try to grow some Xmas roses but they do need specific conditions like shady, damp places. All my shady places are too dry for them ! I try to grow plants that suit the conditions rather than work to create the right ones.

Then I'll start researching fungus resistant plants! The RHS website has useful lists of susceptible and less susceptible plants.

Apart from that, it's thought that it mainly affects plants which aren't in peak condition, so it makes sense to grow plants which are good in the soil type and conditions where you want to grow them, and not struggle trying to grow something which really doesn't like your soil and conditions.

@ppeatfruit.. that's a good idea thanks. Also if Xmas Rose's like damp shade they may do well in my garden. I'm waiting until spring to see if my Cornus Elegentissima has survived.

You're welcome Boosey If you have acidic clayey soil you're lucky because you can also grow rhodies and azaleas. My one azalea is in a pot ,I have to remember to give it acidic feed because my garden has chalky,sandy soil (alkili ).

Oh Willows and Acer trees would be happy too in yours. (willow is good because it sucks up water.)

@ppeatfruit.. well I tried planting an acer but it wouldn't grow so moved it into a pot with ericacious soil and it instantly formed buds. I think we may have alkaline soil. It's basically clay and builder's rubble! I did wonder about a willow but someone said the roots can grow under the house foundations. But I can just picture a beautiful willow there.

Oh I see, I may be wrong and it obviously depends how close the tree is to your house, but that probably only happens in drought conditions. If it's not watered. I love Acers lucky you caught yours in time.

It's on a slope so the pond would have to be at the bottom with stones all around it to soak up the rest of the bog! Counter-intuitive, but if you're thinking of a pond for drainage rather than merely making the best of a bad job, then you need a drainage channel at the top of the slope. You could put the pond at the top, to catch all the water before it reaches the slope, but if you're likely to have more water than the pond will hold, then a channel across the top, directing the water into a single stream to come down and meet the pond.

I've effectively put my garden to bed. All cleaned up, furniture covered, pots emptied, last cut of the lawn and everything cut back for next year. A real sense of satisfaction that the garden is asleep while I curl up by the fire and read.

I have winter flowering pansies and cyclamen planted up in tubs with miniature bulbs, just waiting to come through, and some new bulbs in the garden with the forget-me-nots nice and developed and some wallflowers, so I know it's going to look nice come the spring.

I don't like the winter, but as a gardener, there is always something to look forward to.

Thank you @meredintofpandiculation, I've printed out the RHS list, and visited the local garden centre. I've made a mental note of some shrubs I'd like, but I'm sure you're right about the conditions. Last year's super hot summer killed off a corner of the garden that has never had a problem. Honey fungus all over everything when I dug them out, yards of it. This year it's a shady border that's taking the hit. Shrubs that have been there ten years. It's an expensive business filling all the gaps. Of course, now I understand why apparently healthy shrubs have been mysteriously dying ever since we moved here, but this year it's even killing the hostas and peonies. I'm looking at the little magnolia I planted three years ago and I wouldn't like to bet on its chances. So, now I accept that I can't eradicate it, I have to learn to live with it.
On the positive side, I've just come back from Wisley and it was beautiful and inspiring. Oh, and the squirrels have been rummaging in my tulip planters, but they've only dug out one tulip bulb. So I should still have tulips in the spring! I'm trying to get as much done as I can before the last green bin collection next week.

@MereDintofPandiculation.. thank you. Well we managed to get the builders back to put in a drainage channel, only they put it right at the bottom of the slope before the patio starts.
I like the idea of the stream running down. We could build a rockery around it.
My DB suggested French drains which I have never heard of.

Oh that sounds lovely with a stream. There's a book by Geoff Hamilton's brother in which there are plans of his streams and ponds; called Geoff Hamilton The Complete Gardener by Tony Hamilton.

wallflowers, so I know it's going to look nice come the spring. I have a wallflower out at the moment

Well we managed to get the builders back to put in a drainage channel, only they put it right at the bottom of the slope before the patio starts. That will be effective at keeping water off the patio. And will collect rain that falls on the slope, which a drain at the top wouldn't do. And of course a drain at the top of the slope only works if the slope is waterlogged because of water coming into it from the top. If it's waterlogged through water landing on it or contained within it, then a drain at the bottom will keep the patio OK, though it won't affect the slope.

French drains are basically shallow trenches filled with hardcore so that water flows more easily through them and can be directed elsewhere. So a french drain at the bottom to protect the patio, or a herringbone pattern under the whole slope to drain the slope. Or a drain at the top to stop the water getting into the slope in the first place. You need to have somewhere for the water to drain to.

You probably need to work out why the slope is boggy. Is it surface water, rain run-off? Or is it because the house platform has been carved out of a hillside so it's nearer the water table? - ie is the water coming from deep in the ground?