Gardening chat

[Procrastatron]

I find some areas of Mumsnet quite stressful at the moment due to strong opinions and covid related doom and gloom. Not the gardening section though.
I spend a lot of time daydreaming about my little, slightly wild, London garden and all the lovely things that are on order with various online nurseries or stashed on the decking for planting out soon. I’m definitely novice gardener and happily so and my criteria for plants are along the lines of hard to kill, colourful and weed suppression.

Right now I’m pondering where I should plant my verbena and how well my rose will respond to the cavalier pruning I have it at the weekend.
I’d love to hear what gardening related things other people are thinking about at the mo.

Thanks OP for starting this thread - have been working like a crazy person for a year (NHS IT - it’s been brutal) and last year my garden was my mental health saviour. I can’t wait to get going again.

@BewareTheBeardedDragon can I ask where you ordered your trees from? Am looking for another sweet cherry (Stella maybe) an apricot, peach and red fleshed apple tree (I saw one called vampira in a garden centre and should have got it then).

I hear you, I am so stressed out with work, and just had a long overdue hospital procedure cancelled because of the situation, so I put in an order with Farmer Gracy. I am getting Dahlias - Preference, Melody Harmony and Totally Tangerine and Anenome Rosa Chiaro.
Roxanne is amazing OP, but will spread out like you wouldn't believe, so give her plenty of space.
I am hoping David Austin will do 15% off again before the end of the barefoot season so I can order Boscobel for my front garden.

I got back into gardening last year after being really ill for a long time. I'm still not that well but lockdown means my dh is available for gardening and has cleared some of the problem areas. I got a greenhouse late last year and a raised bed veg patch so have bought lots of seeds in anticipation. I'm not fussed about flowers generally but do collect hellebores and cranesbill geraniums 😊

Just been out, trying to tidy-up after builders have been in, and noticed a couple of asparagus tips poking through the soil! I doubt if they'll come to much as it's far too early for them, but it's a sign of hope of things to come in a couple of months.

I'm currently studying online for RHS qualifications, which is quite a challenge for someone who hasn't sat exams for many years. It's incredibly interesting though - and together with real gardening outside and daily countryside walks its been a huge godsend over the past year.

Hi everyone! Fairly novice but enthusiastic gardener here! I think I am the same as everyone else in that the garden has been my oasis and my saviour over the last year. It's not a particularly big space but Lockdown would have been a totally different experience without it. Even during winter I've spent countless hours scouring the internet , planning, buying seeds, ordering plants, compost, containers....

I have two smallish raised beds plus various containers for veg and a smallish summer border (about 1m x 3m) , it looked lovely last year when all in flower but i have never really planned it - stuff has just got chucked in willy nilly. Luckily I do like the 'haphazard' look but i would like certain things to be in different places, and have a few new plants coming which i'd like to go in specific positions.... is it feasible to dig up some of the perennials and move them to new positions do you think or is that risky?

I'm already plotting to lose some of the lawn to widen the border so I can fit more stuff in... I always think I'm going to try and be more controlled and then go and buy a billion different type of seeds and plants... Anyone else have this problem????

I have a small shady bed too which has looked lovely all through the winter - shame you can't see it from the house but i enjoy it when I go out with my cup of tea on the mornings it's not raining!

I'm also trying to green up our side return, so it looks nicer from the kitchen window and screen us from the neighbour a bit as the fence isn't quite high enough for my liking... i have put shelves up and pots with ferns and heucheras so far. Also trying a honeysuckle in a container to grow along the fence in the hope it grows quickly to provide a bit more privacy... it has lots of new shoots on it already so I remain hopeful.

Just wish I had room for a potting shed and/or greenhouse! One day!

This afternoon I've planted some chilli seeds to put on the bathroom window sill.
I've been planting veg in containers and my garlic is looking really lush already. I can't wait for spring to get going properly and as I'm in a sheltered part of the SE we tend to have pretty mild weather.

I'm always more interested in growing anything I can eat

Yes Mere I’ve always thought it was pyrenaicum Summer Snow. It flowers all summer. Yes, the wild G pyrenaicum (which has long been naturalised in the UK) comes in both pale lilac and white. I've got both colours in the wild form - they look lovely scrambling through other plants, especially when you have both colours scrambling through the same plant.

G pratense (big clear blue flowers), G sylvaticum (slightly smaller pinky-blue flowers with a white centre), G phaeum (purple flowers) and G sanuineum (medium sized deep pink flowers) are all UK natives with a number of garden forms. G endressii and G oxonium are garden Geraniums (ie not wild here, but introduced to gardens from the countries where they are wild) which are widely naturalised.

is it feasible to dig up some of the perennials and move them to new positions do you think or is that risky? Most perennials can be moved, and the dormant season (ie now) is the time to do it. There's a few things that don't like being moved.

I’ve sown some sweet pea seeds too Chutneymaura. Have sown them in toilet roll tubes to be planted directly into the ground which I haven’t tried before.

We’ve also had a new patio area laid over the winter so I need to decide how to arrange some new borders around that.

I think I’m going to mix veg and flowers in my borders this year. Ideally I’d have a greenhouse and raised beds but the area that I’d like to use is currently a football pitch for my boys so I think I’ll have to leave that for a few years and just grow veg where I can fit it in.

@247SylviaPlath I got my trees from Chris Bowers. They have a great selection and lots of good advice guides as well. I got another apple from them last year which is settling in nicely!

Thank you @BewareTheBeardedDragon - thank you just found a grapevine on there too which I’ve wanted for ages!

Ooh I need to join in! My garden has also become a safe space and a bit of headspace. We moved at the end of last year from a garden I'd done all I could to (that was quite small) to a bigger one with virtually nothing done. Over December I got first coats of paint on most of the fences (another coat needed, but waiting until it's warmer), and dug curvy beds around all of the fences, so they're all waiting to be filled!

I've started painting the raised beds, so I'm hoping I might be able to get them ready to put in next week. I took loads of cuttings from the old garden but lots of the labels fell out in the move, so other than roughly what kind of plant they are I'm a little clueless! They're just beginning to show signs of life which is very exciting. We've put a few bareroot trees in and a few we'd been growing in big containers in the old garden, but I'm looking forward to throwing lots at the borders (cottage garden style!) this year.

Plotting and planning and examining garden websites seems to be one of the things keeping me sane while work, homeschool and life just seem too mad.

Eventually I hope to have a grapevine sylvia - lucky you!!

I was working in the garden this afternoon, clearing dead stems which I've left so far but as new growth is beginning I needed to clear them before the new got too big so it'd be damaged by the clearing (made the mistake of leaving it too late last year. I discovered lots of snowdrops poking up under the dead stuff, and was really happy to see new growth starting on my newly planted, earlier in the winter, David Austin rose (Madame Zephirine I think), and the bulbs I chucked in and around the planting hole with it, too late so I was worried they might not come up but there's lots of them poking through.

So nice.

This evening I am planning a brick path around my veg beds - for which I have had the bricks piled in my side passage for over a year waiting...

I ventured out yesterday to inspect things but it’s sooo waterlogged right now. I guess that puts any weekend plan on hold. Although thinking about what @BewareTheBeardedDragon said I should probably go out and tidy up what’s left of my Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' that I put in last year. I have a lot of brown collapsing stems left. I assume I just either gently comb them out or lop them off near the base. Any ideas?

I ordered some trailing lobelia seeds from Amazon yesterday. Hoping I can get the kids interested in a bit of indoor cultivation. Planning to use any plants to get to under plant (right term?) my clematis that’s in a massive pot on the decking. The base looks a bit stark otherwise.

That's what I did @Procrastatron - I tried pulling first and did that for any that came easily, then chopped the rest near the base. Very satisfying!

I have just come in from spreading 1 ton of vegetable soil in the front and back garden and moving 12 40l bags of manure to next to where they need to go. Bit knackered and having a coffee. Next to rake the veggie soil, then apply the manure, ready for the fun stuff to start next month!

Procastatron, last year under my potted clematis obelisk, self sown Cosmos grew. They were very pretty and a completely different style.
I’m hoping they self seed again, or I might sow some.

Hi all. I am planning to grow fruit trees in containers this year but I will need about 300 litres of John Innes no3 compost for planting.
Does anybody have any recommendations for bulk buying online? Thanks

The soil I spread today was from topsoil.co.uk and it looks really good. I think I will order some more from them.

Oh sorry - not sure if they do John innes no.3 specifically but they have lots of specific mixes, and composts/manures etc.

Thanks beware. I'll take a look

Anyone gardening today? We've managed a trip out to the garden centre to get some seed trays and a couple of raised planters. I was going to finish planting the last few hedging plants and hang the bird houses, but it's snowing now so am planning spring planting from the sofa instead.

Hi lightningstrikes, I’m new to the thread but have enjoyed reading through it. Good to hear you got out and about today. I love a garden centre browse!

I’ve done a bit of gardening today - pruning my flowering quince. I’ve cut it back and taken out some of the crossing branches, though it grows in such a tangle that there are plenty more. There’s a rose growing through it, which I’ve also cut back. I’d guess it’s Iceberg, though I’m not certain as it’s not one I planted.

How do you all feel about plants in your garden that were planted by the previous owners of your house? Mine seem to have been rather random in their approach, and planted a lot of big shrubby things in a small garden. I’d like to take it back to a blank canvas and start afresh, but it’s too much work for me alone and I can’t really spare the money to have it done for me.

Can I join?
We're starting to sort out the previous owner's mess of outbuildings and concrete and so far have demolished the shed. I've planned the planting for the bed we now have, and ordered various bits and pieces to get the basics looking OK. Plants will have to wait as we need to repair patio etc.
However I did order some seed trays and other bits from Wilko, and have a list of annual plants to order . I'm going to buy some actual plants this year. Usually I stick to seeds and cuttings but our garden is so sparse (and quite large) we just need volume and colour. Going to invest in some evergreen shrubs to have in pots too.

And spent the day cleaning out the conservatory (which doubles as a greenhouse in spring!) and checking over tools and supplies. Can't wait for warmer weather.

Been quietly watching. Only really got into gardening due to last year's lockdown. Grew potatoes, lettuce leaves, Toms, peppers and chillis. Can I use last year's seeds again this year? As in the ones still in the packets?

I would also like to plant some trees. I planted a couple of bare root silver birch last winter and I don't think they are doing too well. In fact I think one may have had it but waiting to see if it springs into life. They didn't really grow much? One more than the other and had a few leaves on. I've cleared an old she'd at bottom of the garden and now it's left an issue with privacy. I'd love to plant a tree and some very quick growing shrubs. Any ideas? What size tree can a successfully grow that means I get some height from the off? I'd love a multi stem I think? Also a couple of apple trees in the middle of my 130ft garden. Again, I'd like a bit of height but nothing over powering. Finally something like an amelanchier nearer the house to gain privacy from nosy nextdoor. Have I left it too late to plant trees? To order them? I'm a single woman with weedy muscles. Is this going to be one those things I regret ?

Oh. And I have inherited a very old and knackered mini greenhouse. The side and half the roof have blown off (plastic panels) but the glass half and rest of the panels and wooden structure seem ok.. I've tried googling...what am I searching for to replace the missing panels? I'm assuming I can attach by screwing them on? I know I'm clueless. I've learnt a lot after last year though. Hoping for another successful year.