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???

A reasonable number of seeds
At a reasonable time - not too early
Using a heated propagator for the first time for a better success rate
A few small plants as well as seeds
No carrots or potatoes

@rollinggreenhills

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When I was clearing out the cupboard under the stairs the other day I came across a load of packets of out-of-date wild flower seeds.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.

I've done this all round the place. We now have loads of poppies and other wildflowers growing in the patch of land that's beside my house and a garden behind mine that's been a dumping ground for various neighbour's rubble as the flat it belongs to has been left empty for at least 5 years, with the lawn being mowed by the housing association. We covered the rubble in the corner with some soil and it's now a wildflower patch. Looks a lot nicer now.

Hard landscaping:
Replace shitty concrete tiled patio at the back of the house with nice sandstone slabs.
Relay brick path at the front of the house so it is no longer uneven and weedy.
Finish installing proper metal edging between borders, paths and lawn.

Planting:
Replace box blighted balls and cones with Ilex crenata .
Victoria plum
Raspberries
Asparagus
Albizia julibrissin
More daffodils and tulips. You can never have too many!

I desperately want an Amalanchier tree but can't find anywhere that wouldn't disrupt DHs immaculate (if tiny) lawn

Lots of fruit and flowers on the allotment: I've just put in 10x raspberry canes and I've got another tayberry (two in already), 2x black jewel raspberries and another blackcurrant (two in already) coming from blackmoor nurseries.

I've got some new dahlias to go in as well: cafe au lit, rembrandt and daisy duke.

We loved the fresh sweetcorn and tomatoes this year as well - lots more planned for next year.

@HerdyGerdy have you grown black jewel raspberries before? I've got a patch of autumn raspberries which aren't great but at least crop every year.

Do you know which sweetcorn you grew? I've tried them before, growing them in blocks but never had any heads of corn off them.

A huge veg bed, this year we sorted the house. This year it's time for the garden. Its a good size for the area so planning to make the most of it. I am going to try and get the kids involved, so far they have chosen rainbow carrots, Radishes strawberries. I'm going to add in a bit of chard and some funky courgettes you can't buy in Sainsbury's. Normal toms and cucumber in the greenhouse, I cannot wait to get going. Seed order going in this week. If anyone has any ideas of veg kids love to grow I'm all ears.

@Slightlydustcovered my kids still love peas in a pod so we always grow some, every though I can never get a big enough crop to compete with Birds Eye frozen peas. But there's something about popping a pod...

@Slightlydustcovered and I always grow radish as an indicator crop: the seed is cheap and plentiful so it's the first crop I sow and once it starts to germinate I know the soil is warm enough for other seeds to get going

I totally relate to this:

Half a dozen tomato seeds and not the entire packet

... eyes bigger than garden

I'm determined to stake my tomatoes (and everything else) better this year.

I've also planted bare root roses in an attempt to further "cottagify" my borders.

@Poppins2016 oooh which roses did you get? I was lusting one (generous gardener I think) last year and in one of the weekends before the lockdown we went to a garden centre. They didn't have that one so I bought a couple of others (I need to stop impulse purchases) and then last month I almost bought it as a bare root but managed to curtail my spend....

@didireallysaythat

Here's my list so far:

X 2 "Mortimer Sackler" (David Austin) climbers for an arch

X 1 Night Owl climber

X 1 Mum in a Million

I already have "unknown" pink and white rose bushes. Earlier in the year I bought a Darcey Bussell (D.A.) and a Gregoire Staechelin (climber) I'd like a Falstaff (D.A. - can you tell I'm a fan...) but will have to wait until it's back in stock. I really love the look of red/crimson roses with nepeta or lavender weaving through... divided loads of my perennials this autumn and have dotted nepeta (six hills giant) and blue cranesbill geraniums next to the roses as companions. Sadly lavender has to be treated as a long life annual in my soil, if it lasts past 2 years I've been lucky, so I tend not.to bother with it (but can't resist the urge to give it a go "just in case this one works"...).

I'd love recommendations for crimson roses if anyone has any... colours similar to Darcey Bussell and Falstaff. So hard not to see them in bloom before buying! There's an independent rose nursery near me that I might try visiting in the spring...

As an aside to all this (and to hold myself accountable/for the record) I made the decision to steer clear of white flowers (for the most part) last year. If it's already there (e.g. gaura) I'll leave it but I'm not adding any more. I also went mad on pink annuals last year (cosmos were amazing but grew huge and really dominated). I'm going to aim to focus on adding blues and purples in 2021. Nigella and cornflower seeds at the ready, for a quick fix... .

Love this thread, joining for some inspiration - I'm a total novice but have a lovely south west facing garden that's crying out for better planting.
Just ordered a couple of seed catalogues - didn't even know they existed so thank you!

@didireallysaythat
I've not grown black jewel before. Are they tough?

My sweetcorn is Earliking F1 from kings seeds.

@meecrowahvay - a seed catalogue virgin! How exciting! Let us all led you astray.

In terms of gardening porn, my favourites are

www.sarahraven.com/ but I'll admit that I often find a plant I'm interested here and then see if I can source seeds/plants elsewhere to keep the price down (I've always found their stuff high quality so if money isn't a concern they are good)

www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/ for roses - I have spent hours drolling (but not bought!)

www.classicroses.co.uk/ another great roses site

[[https://www.seedaholic.com/] for no fuss seeds. Again I'll find seeds in others catalogues (Marshalls, Thompsons etc) and then look to see if seedaholic sell them.

But I'm always look for other sites/catalogues to while away hours dreaming about what I could grow, so would love to know of others.

@Poppins2016 I have a similar experience with lavender - I usually buy the 24-48 plugs when Thompson-Morgan have them on offer, and then I don't feel too bad when some don't survive. I bought a lot of cat nip as plug plants on eBay this summer (I'm lucky in that I've got a green house for potting on small things) and those that I planted out have really taken off. The few extras which I left in pots look very unhappy..

Sort my colour scheme out!! The corals turned my head but they don't go so well with everything else that's shades of purple and pink so I need to rein it in.

I've got a LOT of coral dahlia tubers though. Penhill Watermelon and Labyrinth. Going to need to find them new homes and will buy some better coordinated ones.

I planted 150 bulbs in autumn, looking forward to them appearing.

Need to move some of my perennials.

@dreadingseason2020sfinale
Call Orange Pippin apple trees - incredibly knowledgeable

@GuyFawkesDay if you love your apricots, could you group your plants into coordinating colours/different areas? Or even plant into pots so that you can move them around? I actually think corals can go very well with shades of purple, though... Sarah Raven has a "plum and apricot" cut flower collection that you could take inspiration from. Maybe if you add a few plums and other blending colours to your existing planting scheme you could make it work? www.sarahraven.com/flowers/seeds/new-seeds/plum-and-apricot-cut-flower-collection.htm

Yeah if it was plum and apricot it would work but there's more pinks in there too. It doesn't quite tie in together somehow

I'm going to have a think and a move

Plum and apricot is my favourite planting combo. I did a whole border in those colours, together with some blue to tie it in with the neighbouring border which is jewel colours - blues, purples and pinks.

I have just added six new bare root roses to the plum and apricot border; 3 x Julia’s Rose and 3 x Summer Song. Both quite striking and unusual colours, I can’t wait for them to bloom. I’ve already got Lady of Shalott, Hot Chocolate, Lady Emma Hamilton and Warm Welcome in there, so they should blend beautifully. I hope!

@VenusClapTrap I just looked up some of your choices as I hadn't heard of them, Julia's rose is gorgeous, not my usual colour palette but I appreciate the beauty!

@didireallysaythat I tend to have mixed success with plugs via the post, but I suppose the same could be said of seeds... so many variables!

I do the same as you with websites like Sarah Raven. Gorgeous plants, but I can't justify the prices, I source from elsewhere! Currently eyeing up sunflower "procut plum" (www.sarahraven.com/helianthus-annuus-procut-plum.htm?trackterm=Procut+plum) and hoping I can make it blend with my usual colour schemes... might get round the issue by sticking it into the veg bed like I did with my sunflowers last year! But then my veg bed was taken over with cut flowers (could have worse issues, I suppose...)!

@VenusClapTrap I meant to draw your attention to this in my previous post... www.sarahraven.com/helianthus-annuus-procut-plum.htm?trackterm=Procut+plum
Colour seems to vary between dusky apricot and plummy pink if you do an image search.

That’s absolutely gorgeous.

@Poppins2016 I know what you mean about plugs via the post - bit of a Russian Roulette event. However I've bought several times from one or two sellers on eBay and they have bee a lot better (and larger plants) than those from the big companies - I suspect some of it is down to reduced time from packing to dispatch. I can dig out the sellers names if you're interested (it's probably not the time of year to be looking for plug plants!)

@didireallysaythat that would be great, thank you, but no rush (as you say, not the right time of year to order)!