2021 will be the year I plant....

[didireallysaythat]

Half a dozen tomato seeds and not the entire packet

A variety of squash and more interesting courgettes

An entire packet of melon seeds

Lots of annual flowers (cosmos, sweet peas) as well as lupins and fox gloves.

Give me something to look forward to and take my mind off our current predicament, please tell me what are you dreaming of for your gardens in 2021???

I'm going to try growing morning glory in a hanging basket. Although living in West Wales my hanging baskets always get blown to bits by the wind just after they've got established.

Lots of flowers. I've given up on fruit and veg. I'm going to plant so many dahlias and sweet peas, and more bulbs in the autumn.

@margaritasbythesea morning glory are those big purple flowered climbing plants, right? I've never tried to grow them - easy to germinate? I've got a pergola that could probably do with some cover. I'm east of England so usually no rain and arctic winds, but currently we've got rain and a cold wind ...

@ComeTheFuck0nBridget do you lift dahlias? I do every year religiously, then pot them up in the spring and then wonder what I've done wrong when Monty's are four times the height of mine. And then I forget to plant them out so they stay in pots - I don't know if this is why they don't do very well. May some dahlia's are tougher than others? You can't beat their flowers though so next year I'll try and do better - all tips greatly received.

Yes they are. They come in lovely blues too. I've always grown them up but saw them somewhere growing down and they looked lovely.

@margaritasbythesea I'll take a look in my seed catalogues (currently my happy place!)

More trees -

A twisted willow
Rowan
And cherry

This is the year I need to plant a couple of apple trees. My dad passed away last month at 62 and knowing I like gardening (I like it, but wouldn't say I was good at it) he's asked if I would plant a tree for him. Maybe even with some of his ashes.
Problem is, I haven"t got a sodding clue what type, when I should do it, how mature it needs to be, how it would do in the shady garden, what other type of tree I need for pollination or well.... anything really. I'm clueless.

Well, 2021 is the year. We're not quite there yet. Oops.

If you want to plant sweet peas they should be in already. I planted mine in October.

@DreadingSeason2020sFinale I'm sorry for your loss. I have some experience of apple trees and now is quite a good time to think about it. Have you any thoughts on what kind of apple you'd like? What size? And you can fit two?

@EttaG yup and yet here we are. I've only just ordered them. My amni I planted at the time I should have planted sweet peas are doing well though.

I want to grow pumpkins! That’s all!

@LoveNote

I want to grow pumpkins! That’s all!

Me too!

I tried this year but the seedlings all failed
Will be extra careful

@didireallysaythat I'm hoping for some sturdy, long living trees that can grow in mostly shade (except morning) in a very small area and with Scottish weather. And produce sweet eating apples.

I have a tiny 2m patch of lawn that's attached to a slightly bigger lawn that technically belongs to my neighbour. There isn't even a set border, just a rough idea of where a fence might have been in the past. (HA flats). Thankfully he doesn't want anything to do with any of it and has told us it's ours to use as long as he lives there so I'll be planting one in my bit and the other possibly in "the neighbours" bit.

I have researched and researched and have only a vague idea of what I need.
It's all so complicated! I'm hoping to find a knowledgable garden centre type place who will just tell me exactly what to do

@margaritasbythesea the Marshalls catalogue arrived today. I didn't realise that morning glory comes in mottled hues as well.

@DreadingSeason2020sFinale with a 2m by 2m patch you're probably looking only one tree but you may not need to go for the most dwarf root stock (M9) but fit in a M26 tree. If you only get one, then it will need to be self fertile and to take care of the weather, I guess a late flowering one would be better to avoid a late frost taking the flowers off (more of a problem for pears in my experience but I live in the south). But you probably want to talk to someone who has more experience in your climate. I've always found fruit tree specialist nurseries so keen to make sure you get the right tree for the right spot, that they just want to give you advice. For you I think

www.scottishfruittrees.com/

might be a good starting point. I should stress I haven't ordered from them directly, but when I was researching trees for our garden I came across them several times.

I’m going to grow tomatoes again but I am actually going to stake them properly rather than getting surprised when they are taller than me and falling over.

Our local council has absolutely butchered the hedgerow at the bottom of our road, in the name of tidying up I think. They've cut it back so hard it is now basically a row of 6ft stumps.

When I was clearing out the cupboard under the stairs the other day I came across a load of packets of out-of-date wild flower seeds. They are cornflowers, poppies etc, so I'm going to sprinkle the packets all along the base of the hedge.

@EssentialHummus I promise myself this every year. I often get the first stake in, but underestimate how tall tomatoes can get. I'm also going to start them off a bit earlier than I normally do as last year my plants were small compared to others. One of the good things about last summer was that the village facebook page became a baby vegetable plant swap shop. I got a couple of nice tomato and squash plants in exchange for a tray of peas. And that's when I realised my tomatoes were way behind others...

@rollinggreenhills I've just discovered a takeaway container full of packets of seeds that must have come with a magazine or something - not flowers I would choose but probably good for a bit of scattering...

I’ve got a whole garden to plan. We’ve been at the house for 3 months and the property had been empty for a year. It’s got two large areas of long slightly sloping grass so it’s abit of a blank canvas.

I usually have tomatoes, beans, onions, chillies, peppers, potatoes, raspberries, gooseberries and pumpkin.
This year will be mainly creating borders, raised beds for the veg and trying to squeeze in a greenhouse somewhere.
I’d love to have some fruit trees too.

Not used to a Scottish (Central) climate either so looking for ideas as to what grows well.

@Finfintytint - how exciting! The year we moved in we planted a hedge and fruit trees, and bought a greenhouse off eBay - getting the longer term things in first.

If you come across tayberries on your wanderings I would highly recommend. They have the growth habit of blackberries (domestic not wild) and we grow them on wires. The fruit are like raspberries but bigger and not as "soggy" if you know what I mean. But best still they have been a late fruit for us at least; I picked the last fruit off them in November so somehow they managed to ripen up nicely in the cooler weather. Might work well in a more northern setting?

Thank you. Will have a go with Tayberries. I’ll try with the wire as we have a sunny wall which should work.

As many bee and insect friendly plants that I can fit in my garden.
Also lettuce, radishes and sunflowers.
I have a South facing garden here and have spent a lot of time putting some shade in as it gets boiling. Now I have somewhere pleasant to sit I want to take advantage of the aspect and plant lots of sunworshipping plants.

@Finfintytint oh wires on a wall would be perfect. Bit jealous to be honest - I'd like to plant another tayberry but I have rather boring fences which don't get a lot of sun. But maybe I can slide another one in somewhere..