New Year's Gardening Plans Resolutions?

[PritiPatelsMaker]

After the garden being seriously neglected this year due to a myriad my main plan is:

to give the garden a really good tidy up

Do little things when I can like planting seeds and bulbs. Spring bulbs already planted

Lurk around in here more for inspiration

Make the garden and gardening a bit of an escape/haven

Happy New Year,@PritiPatelsMaker

That sounds like you have a great plan. What strikes me is that everything you've listed is really achievable and not going to overwhelm you or make you feel like giving up. I totally agree with the garden being a sanctuary. Just an hour or two outdoors every few days depending on other commitment this time of year is such a tonic. It lifts the spirit in the dark winter days.

my New Year resolution has been in planning for a while - it's to get my seeds planted earlier to give them a head start. Last year I was lucky enough to get a greenhouse as a present from a much loved relative but unfortunately it didn't arrive until June so the limits of my growing season were confined to tomato and chilli plants bought from the garden centre as that bought me back some time.

My DH bought me a propagator for Christmas so I've been pottering around getting it ready with the right compost and some individual Eco friendly 'cells' to plant up my seeds, which I will start doing tomorrow. I can keep the propagator indoors for January and then it can go out in the greenhouse with bubble wrap round it to keep those 🌱 warm and cosy.

My other goal is to increase our eco diversity in the garden to encourage bees and insects. We used to have a bug hotel but had to dismantle it as it was where the greenhouse is 😊 so that's something for the spring.

Ive got loads of bulbs that I must get into pots as they've started to show green shoots. May do that next weekend!

Gardening keeps us out of mischief, doesn't it!

Propagator and seeds!

To be frank, I used to buy lots of plants, bulbs and seeds all the time for decades until the past two years or so, but I had lost the thrill of seeing new varieties that you read about either in mags/online or in catalogues. A lot of these purchases were futile as they weren't being planted out as I never had any room in my beds or pots, and they would die in the end, especially by the heat of summer. I can't imagine how much I've wasted over the years of buying so many dozens of plants (online nurseries are to blame and specialist plant fairs).

I'd start off enthusiastically itching to start after January when all is quiet on the garden front with starting seeds for tomato and chillies. I'd sow way more that I needed and also have about 6 or 8 varieties as well when my garden would only accommodate upto 6 plants of tomatoes and about 4 of chillies. Then the flower seeds would commence with trays and trays of about 30 different plants. By the time they've germinated, they'd need to be pricked out into individual cells and then kept under heat and light till planting out time when that they would strong enough to go out in May time or so. But most of the time, I would put that off and wait till it was absolutely desperate. They would go into the unheated plastic greenhouse and with the constant watering on a daily basis, it was getting too much for me with not having an outdoor tap, so the hose came from the window of the downstairs bathroom. As it was a faff to sort this out, the garden wasn't watered as much as they needed and come the high summer when the heat would get too hot, I wouldn't go out in it (I don't tolerate heat very well).

With this in hindsight, I think I will start very small so that it's manageable. I got my outdoor tap fitted a few months back which will make watering a breeze, so I shall endeavour to water the garden at least twice a week.

I've got windowboxes/troughs edging my front wall that are filled with spring bulbs and have added another two the other day. Hopefully, they won't be too attractive for them to be stolen from me. (I don't live in a particularly "good area" and have had pots and homemade wreath before but that a long time ago). The raised beds have been cleared of overwintered tomato and other plants and put in the last of the Farmer Gracey Black Friday Sale bulbs (they arrived when we had the cold spell so couldn't plant them out till last week) in the raised beds. I hope the blooming cats don't do their business on there. I'll have to find some prickly stems to cover the soil.

Anybody doing anything in their gardens atm?

For the last year I have been planting and transplanting dozens of plants in order to make my 2 acre garden easier to manage. Sounds mad but I’ve made about 6 extra beds too to make it more of a haven. I’ve tried to stick to plants like shrubs with little maintenance. So this year my aim is to enjoy just maintaining what I have and stop the heavy digging and planting up work.

Nachtvlinder

I'm sitting here with my morning cuppa having a real chuckle about your description, omg that's exactly what I've done in years gone by! But my reality is that I'm a gardening addict- so much so I make oodles of mistakes but have learned from my horticultural disasters (as you've clearly done) - esp how to reign in planting of too many seeds. It's hard to judge how many is the right amount, so I only have a few good strong plants (toms and chilli). That's probably where the garden centres make their money - all the time, effort and expertise tending to those little seedlings and sell each one for a handsome profit. I enjoy experimenting and hopefully have become a better gardener over the years.

Last year was difficult as I got the greenhouse in summer which lost me the year, but thanks to the extremely mild autumn we were still picking toms in Oct-Nov. My worst failure pre-greenhouse was during lockdown 2020, when I bought far too many trays of tiny seedlings and didn't have enough pots for them - they only looked tiny when I bought them mail order 😂 lol. I was overrun with plants as they grew like triffids in the larger trays I transplanted them into during the long hot summer of 2020 - it was a nightmare. Eventually they ended up filling all the borders which gave us a nice splash of colour. I probably spent about £60 in total but I justify it when I think the garden saved my sanity in that weird time!

The game changer is having the greenhouse aka The Girl- Cave as DH now calls it. Hopefully this year I'll grow just enough and we'll be eating tomatoes and chilli every day 😊

@Cuppa2sugars i only have one rule in my garden and that's no digging! Just a bit of turning of the compost heap twice a year and that's my lot. I let the worms do the hard work. I pile all the deciduous leaves straight onto the borders and the worms absolutely love them, by Feb they've worked their magic.

sounds like you've invested well with your borders so this year you can enjoy seeing the fruits of your labour with all the bees, butterflies and insects enjoying the diversity.

I spent all day in the garden yesterday and it was fantastic (even though it pissed down for half of it)! Swept up leaves, pruned the roses and lightly trimmed the hedge. Pulled out all the late summer bedding I’d done — cosmos, lavatera, nicotiana — and binned the stuff I’d stupidly lost in the frosts. My poor aeonium 😩 I don’t have a greenhouse because my garden is tiny but my plan for this year is to at least build a cold frame… I want my windowsills back 😄

It can be overwhelming to look at a garden that needs an overhaul, so I break mine down and maybe just weed one side at a time. Then do the pruning another day.

I came across this y'day and thought it might be useful for anyone with a real tree.

I spent yesterday in the greenhouse planting the first seeds of 2023.

it doesn't look a lot, but it took me nearly 2 hours, some of which was faffing around trying to pick the seeds recommended for early sowing. I've used reformed recycled paper seedling pods, which can be planted straight into the ground once I've pricked out the strongest seedlings in around Feb-Mar or however long they take to germinate and build some secondary leaves.

the chilli look particularly interesting, varying from mild to "blow your head off" . They were big enough seeds to only plant 2 per pod.

the lettuce were a lot more tricky as they're tiny, so we'll have to see how strong they grow.

I'll plant a second "crop" in March, for a later yield in Jun-Jul, as these Jan ones could well be ready to harvest by April-May all being well and a mild warm Spring.

The propagator is by the side patio doors in the hope that any tiny bit of sunshine may warm them and start the germination process 👍 today, zero chance, the weather outside is MISERABLE 😩

@daisychain01 It's hard habit to beat tis gardening marlarkey - it's only taken me 32 years of plant buying that I've come to my senses (I've spent £££s). Last year, I've invested in a heat and light grow system, but it wasn't that great and wasted £250 on lights, unit and trays. I'm still using it for the new season and it'll still work, but it's hassle trying to bring the lights up and down when your seedlings come up and grow taller.

Chillis need a bit of heat to get them to germinate, so maybe put on on the radiator (or a warm room) if possible. It'll take around a week or 10 days to get them to come up.

What flowers have you sown?

I've not started on mine yet. I'm happy to swap with you if you're interested.

Hello @Nachtvlinder gosh you have a good few years on me in the garden wisdom department Let's face all knowledge is 👍 good. I've made more cockups than successes, but on balance I have at least one triumph per year to celebrate and huge amounts of experiments.

Thank you for the tip about germinating chilli - I will take that on board. I have a rail in the kitchen over the radiator so I can rest the seed 'pods' on that on a few days time and give it a blast of warmth.

Plant-wise, I've grown lots of the easy stuff from seed, normally those packets you get on the front of magazines, like pansy, viola, petunia, lupin, lavender, and herbs galore which I put in a large south facing stone trough so you get a beautiful evening waft of aromatic thyme, coriander, basil etc. How about you?

This year plant the lawn with flowers. There is barely any point in the grass.

Also, mulch and learn to trim the yew correctly. My topiary is messy.

Like you, I use to use the free seed packets off mags, then it proceeded to be buying selected varieties over the years after reading such mags with the plants that are fashionable at the time. I've made loads of mistakes over those years, and still do, as seeds/plants are quite particular in where they are happy to grow and thrive. In the wild, you'll see plants thrive and that's because the conditions are perfect for them, but then later on, unpredictable weather happens and it dies as it got either too hot or cold for them or too little water or too much water. So, you either mollycoddle them to keep them alive, or you leave it to nature's ways (or my way - neglect!)

Atm, what's flowering is the last dreds of Bowles Mauve wallflower (flower practically all-year round if you like this kind of thing - good for pollinators). This month, I'll have:

viburnam Dawn
daphne Jaqueline Postil
Hellebore - though mainly in early Feb. long lasting to end of March
Crocus
Narcissi - some early varieties, maybe

As the year turns, more and more plants/shrubs and trees come through.

I grow mainly for pollinators and scent. My faves are:

Roses; salvias, sweet peas, cherry blossom (I have Prunus beni-chidori - 2nd time bought, so hopefully, it'll last another year and bloom well for me); hellebores; cyclamen (scented); violas (not big, blowsy pansies); stocks... So many to choose from really.

I try to grow perennials from seed, but I struggle with them as they're a bit harder to germinate, plus some need cold stratisfying or heat and/or take a lot longer to come up. I don't have trouble usually growing annuals, though.

Yesterday, I started a grey oyster mushroom kit for indoors and have bought these as presents for family, so we're charting our progress as we go along. (Met the farmer who's lovely and gave me a tour of his small business and an in-depth talk about his work). This'll keep me going for a bit.

@daisychain01 For small, fine seed, it doesn't matter if you sow too thickly in each cell or strip; you can use small scissors and cut away the seedlings that you don't want.

Yes, lawns are nice to look at but do nothing for nature; best to either plant up spring bulbs or like my friend with primroses that spread year on year. Or dig it up and have a meadow, but it can look a bit tatty after everything's flowered. I have a small garden so I don't have a lawn as the flower bed is the main star of the show and it's planted to the rafters where there's no space for anything else - pity my annuals that go in later in the year for them.

👍

You've reminded me of a few lovelies that I'd forgotten about:

hellebore - I bought a special offer in the Sunday paper, 6 different varieties and they have been fabulous. I love their antique look, so delicate but they're actually as tough as old boots.

wallflower - I bought some sweet little dwarf wallflower and they survived all through the drought, into the winter and out the other side, snowed on, frozen and still flowering - they definitely get the "tough as old boots" accolade. They were from Sarah Raven's catalogue.

Tulips - I don't normally like them that much, but I bought some Parrot tulip bulbs last year and they were stunning and have multiplied (each bulb had 3 or 4 babies).

Allium - big purple blue and white varieties - the bees love them and they lasted about a year - I even like when the haw frost turns them into beautiful white frozen lollipops.

I can't propagate perennial cuttings to save my life. I've be trying to grow hydrangea cuttings for 2 years and they just go mouldy and collapse on me

FINISH THE BLOODY POND is my resolution. I got stuck on knocking down some breeze block. The job has become smashing some breeze blocks. Lots of ideas for other parts of the garden.

How big is it going to be? I had a wildlife pond (no pump/fountain) specifically for frogs to habitate which they did for a number of years, until we had a drought and the pondliner was already cracked and the water level quite low. I didn't repair it at the time and made do with a shallower water depth. The following year, the frogs didn't spawn in it again, despite repairing it that winter. It's quite hard to maintain by keeping all the weeds out - frogbit is a nightmare when the weather's sunny. The subsequent year, the pond still didn't have spawn so I gave up and dug it out. Now I have more space to grow more plants!

@daisychain01 hellebores are divine, aren't they?! I love that they flower for weeks and weeks and they also last so well indoors too. Yes, the antique look is very much what I'm taken by too; same goes for viola cornuta with their darling small faces. Tulips also a elegant. I had bought from Sarah Raven too (rather pricey) and they age beautifully too. Alliums, I love the fact that the bees goes bonkers for them. Do you have comfrey? (another bee magnet).

It's a 500 litre pre-formed liner. It'll be in a fairly shady corner, which is not what they recommend but hopefully it won't dry out. It's about 50cm deep.

I'm planning many hellebores as well.

viola cornuta with their darling small faces

a lovely description, and so apposite- they really do have smiley little faces, as do pansy, when all else fails, pansy are there being bright and blousy, cheerful and telling jokes . I like them when they're still young and compact with plenty of new flowers. Once they go "bang" and leggy it's hard to come back from that.

hellebore do last a long time indoors. I have a couple of small vases and through the year even in winter they are often brimming.

Sarah Raven = you need a mortgage but her catalogue is too daaaang tempting

@Namechangeforthis88 good luck with the pond, that's quite a project! We inherited a pond in our last house. It was full of frogs and dragonfly which was very pleasing, but the downside was that it wasn't hedgehog friendly. We had to build several escape points including chicken wire, wooden grippy slope etc as they definitely aren't built to swim 😢

@daisychain01 thanks for reminding me about escape routes for creatures that get into the water.

Also I lost loads of new plants to slugs last year. Really frustrating. I need to find a method that works this year or else it's pointless. Thinking of trying nematodes.

We've moved into a house that was unoccupied for a couple of years so the garden has good foundations but does have a lot of work to do.

If anyone is looking for winter colour in the garden, I can recommend a witch hazel. They are expensive sadly (as they are slow growing) but if you wait until they've finished flowering, you can usually pick them up half price or less in garden centres.

An elderly relative saves her egg shells and bakes them when she has the oven on for 15-20 mins. When they've gone cold, crush them up and put round plants to help deter slugs. I started doing this recently.