The gardening thread

[RubyToogood]

Well it’s been a month now dealing with the new/old garden. I have cleared all the shite.

Mowed the lawn a zillion times and pressure washed the shed, fences and patio.

Cleared the vegetable garden after weedkillering the lot a month ago.

Most surfaces were covered in a green mould. It all came up nice though bar the lawn. Pressure washers are cool.

I got a raker/scarifier (£53 screw fix) today and put it to work on rake, I’m trying to get the straw like thatch out. I got eight large bin bags of moss, dead grass and weeds.
It’s quite impressive. I fed the lawn and now it’s beer o clock.

I have my Azeda now, I’m pleased with this fact. I will dig the vegetable garden soon, sweep up and wash the paths, before painting the veg garden ashes tomorrow.

I’m making some flower beds. Break up the rectangle. Bulbs and stuff I guess.

Anyway I’m pleased with progress. I feel I am getting back my strength finally. Then I think again to how I was only two years ago and I feel blessed. View attachment 283578

You've got a practically blank canvas there really haven't you? If it was me, I would look to break up the straight line going straight to the back of the garden. So for instance, rather than putting in straight borders at the side I might well make them undulating and have a bit of an island coming out with something tallish in it to break up the vista.

Or break it up into two separate areas with a visual barrier halfway down. my own garden is very much a game of two halves. You sort of want to feel like there's more than you can see in one go.

 

[two sheds]

Loads of spring bulbs can go in - I've just bought lots

 

[smmudge]

My east facing border is very happy right now



Includes the statice I planted from seed in Feb

 

[gentlegreen]

I risked life and limb paying an unplanned visit to Aldi to rescue a chrysanthemum and a pink - not only incurring potential exposure to disease, but I inevitably ended up with recreational calories...
I usually refuse to buy chrysanths because they're old lady flowers and also hint at autumn, but these were pink

 

[TopCat]

I’m going to buy loads of bulbs for flower beds.

What to plant in the vegetable garden? I’m more of a spring planter. I will get garlic in but what else?

 

[andysays]

I’m going to buy loads of bulbs for flower beds.

What to plant in the vegetable garden? I’m more of a spring planter. I will get garlic in but what else?

Still time to sow winter lettuce, rocket, pak choi, radishes and parsley now.

I normally plant garlic and winter onion sets in about October, along with broad beans and peas for an early picking in about May if you're lucky.

 

[heinous seamus]

I have shitloads of cucumbers and kale. Thinking of putting an honesty box outside the allotment!

 

[wayward bob]

first tarte tatin of the year was rubbishly cooked, but it looks like i'll be getting plenty more practice in

 

[iona]

Got permission and a bit of funding now to do some gardening at the station in my mum's village. Already been planting up the containers on the platforms but there's a strip of land we can use too. There's been chat about sowing wildflowers and stuff but I've got plans for a row of fruit cordons and all sorts

 

[TopCat]

Still time to sow winter lettuce, rocket, pak choi, radishes and parsley now.

I normally plant garlic and winter onion sets in about October, along with broad beans and peas for an early picking in about May if you're lucky.

Ta for suggestions. I will order some stuff now.

The grass is starting to regrow. I’m watering daily. Going to dig curving flower beds too but not today.

 

[RubyToogood]

I’m going to buy loads of bulbs for flower beds.

What to plant in the vegetable garden? I’m more of a spring planter. I will get garlic in but what else?

I'm not sure exactly of the timescales for purple sprouting broccoli but I got some plugs from the garden centre in the autumn, they overwintered and gave me a good crop in the spring. So I guess you'd be sowing them shortly.

Actually I'm in something of the same boat as what with one thing and another I didn't get the veg established really this year. I've got one wigwam of runner beans and I might get the odd courgette, but I'd definitely have space to get stuff going now if the snails don't demolish it.

 

[TopCat]

On a lighter note my cat killed a sparrow yesterday morning and ate it’s head, leaving it by the back door. A huge slug emerged from the drain area and headed to it at high slug speed whereupon it started eating it.
I put both in a compost bag and into the compost bin.

 

[two sheds]

I'm a great one for ground cover. I loved one place I rented which had an established bed of (shortish) phlox surrounded by geraniums. Don't remember ever having to weed it and it looked gorgeous all summer.

I do love geraniums - my current favourite is Johnson's Blue which is lovely colour. Apart from them the flower beds are currently being taken over by Sweet Williams, ox-eye daisy and japanese anemones. Also a very sweet little ground cover plant which I put in a couple of years ago and is going mental but have forgotten what it's called

 

[two sheds]

These are (I think) the Sweet Williams. Doesn't show the whole flower bed but I'm particularly pleased because I dug out the whole area last year which was completely covered with ivy, put in a bit of a stone retaining wall and seeded it. It's only now just going over and has been gorgeous all summer.

 

[TopCat]

One of the wilowherbs - epilobium hirsutum, heinous seamus . A bit weedy but I kinda like them. You might want to be vigilant with topping them before they run to seed thoughand they are a but thuggish. Sometimes called codlins and cream.
O TopCat - sympathies. Racing right ahead to positives, this is the best time to renovate a garden. No pressure to do much except the nice bits - planning, seed sowing, general faffing around for next year. My garden is also running amok and I have no excuse whatsoever...but a good reason to look forward to the next gardening season...which will, as always, be much better than this year. Gardeners rule of thumb, innit.
Cutting the grass is brilliant. (I get my strimmer out too). If you squint, it all looks uniformly velvety green and you get that comforting illusion of being in control. Also good for a broken heart.
Spring bulbs are on sale. Have a look at the cheapest place on the planet (not Parkers!) - Gedneys Bulb Co. Where else can 100 tulips be bought for £7? And 500 narcissus for a measly £25. Deferred, but 100% reliable pleasure.
Anyway, hugs (or at least a firm handshake) to you

I’m finding putting together an order at Gedney bulbs hard. I’m good at tidying but envisaging bulb displays is not working. I’m going to dig the new flower beds and get them ready for planting then think again.

 

[two sheds]

You'll doubtless know but snowdrops, crocuses and daffs (love the miniature ones) are pure joy when they come up to announce spring's here.

 

[TopCat]

You'll doubtless know but snowdrops, crocuses and daffs (love the miniature ones) are pure joy when they come up to announce spring's here.

I know little apart from weed and vegetables. So no idea on amount of bulbs, planting space. I will read the book I got twenty years ago from my mum. Finally.

 

[two sheds]

campanula recommended Peter Nijssen and, since my sis and I exchange garden tokens for christmas and birthdays, I've just put an order in . They're very nice people to deal with.

Most of them seem to be in multiples of 25 so I've gone with those - I generally plant in clumps of 3 or 5 since I think they breed amongst themselves.

I've put in some bluebells but there's so many spanish ones around that I don't generally bother now since I assume they'll just interbreed.

 

[Leafster]

I know little apart from weed and vegetables. So no idea on amount of bulbs, planting space. I will read the book I got twenty years ago from my mum. Finally.

Don't be taken in by beautiful photos of massive double daffodils. If they are anything like the ones I bought, the flowers are too heavy for the stems so any wind and rain results in them snapping off or flopping over where the slugs eat them.

Anything else is a joy and certainly brighten up the start of the year.

 

[two sheds]

yes I love simple flowers most of all

 

[two sheds]

One thing I've never quite got to grips with.

If you look at lovely gardens they often have banks of colour - lots of plants of the same kind grouped together. I've sort of done that in places but I've also got japanese anemones mixed in with geraniums for no apparent reason, and there's also always something that self seeds in the middle of it. For example loads of evening primroses are scattered around the flower bed along with loads of vetch.

I hate pulling out flowers and tend to let them flower and then dig them up and let them seed where I'd prefer them to be. What do people do?

 

[Callie]

yes I love simple flowers most of all

Simple flowers tend to be better for wildlife too although not sure daffodils are much use to anyone

I think I want some snowdrops and maybe some fritillaries for next year. I also want to look at jazzing up some containers for the front garden - hyacinths and cyclamen seem to do ok for an early show in baskets

 

[TopCat]

campanula recommended Peter Nijssen and, since my sis and I exchange garden tokens for christmas and birthdays, I've just put an order in . They're very nice people to deal with.

Most of them seem to be in multiples of 25 so I've gone with those - I generally plant in clumps of 3 or 5 since I think they breed amongst themselves.

I've put in some bluebells but there's so many spanish ones around that I don't generally bother now since I assume they'll just interbreed.

I can’t seem to get a UK delivery from them. Shame that.

 

[Calamity1971]

I can’t seem to get a UK delivery from them. Shame that.

Just says ' it is not possible'. The only country on that list. Shakes fist at Brexit.

 

[campanula]

I grow bulbs like tulips because I want to pick them (and they are great to give as gifts because you can be really generous), so I don't really place them in a border or as such bed but I do grow them as edgers or topping and tailing my raised beds, as a sort of crop. I don't get irritated by dying foliage...which can be really unsightly - narcissus worse than tulips, but are great for growing in grass (along with crocus).
Last year, I planted 25 or so anemone coronaria, which did well in my (rubbish) soil, so these are on my list for 250 or so (because they are also great for cutting). In a garden which relies on pots (mine) - bulbs are sovereign, especially many summer bulbs (and corms and tubers). If I have remembered to sow wallflowers or other early biennials, I might also have a couple of spring beds which are the first really energetic sources of colour and can be thrown in the compost after flowering, leaving a space for summer vegetable planting (tomatoes, courgettes, French beans etc).

In the wood, I have had some very mixed results since everything likes to eat bulbs apart from narcissus. I planted 3-4000 which, after 10 years or so, look really good, although I have been fairly conscientious at deadheading. Camassias looked really promising but proved to be irresistible to deer and have dwindled away over a few years,. Others, such as alliums and crocus were snapped up immediately and totally. and never flowered at all. Otoh, Summer snowflakes (leucojum aestivum) have been much more tenacious and look perfectly at home amongst the poplars. They flower at the same time as bluebells.

Peter Nyssen always had a Manchester office, but I guess a lot of their stuff was grown in NL. There are still a few British bulb merchants though (and we need to keep this industry if we can) . I buy wild bulbs (such as species tulips) from Riverside bulbs. However, this year might be a no bulb year because I planned to spend my garden budget on a misting unit (although I am still going to have a teeny order from Gedneys for my 'meadow' area, after seeing some really lovely planting on my estate. The council hired one of those bulb planting machines and planted up a selection of bulbs which were a triumph (to my mind) and one I intend to copy myself. Along with small early narcissus and crocus, there were chionodoxa forbesii 'Pink Giant' and a handful of species tulips including t.batalinii, t.clusiana and t.pulchella. Growing in a densely planted swathe, they were just gorgeous. The council (which has been heading my 'complaining' file for years) has slightly redeemed itself.

 

[Calamity1971]

Taming a pyracantha today and got stabbed in the thumb. It's still bloody throbbing and itching 10hrs on
On a different note, after cutting a customer's lawn I noticed Tufts of grass with wiry white tips as tough as nylon! Meant to get a pic, anyone have any ideas. Lawn is very mossy.

 

[campanula]

O sympathy, Calamity1971 Pyracantha, while not actively toxic, does seem to cause some allergic reactions for some people. I once jumped on a heap of it, to crush it in the back of the truck...when a thorn went right through my shoes and into my foot...which also swelled up painfully for several days. Do monitor this and get thyself to the doctors if it is still painful after a few days. There are a few thorns which can trigger reactions for people with various forms of arthritis: rose-picker's thumb is a definite thing for flower collectors working in the fragrance industry (attar of roses and that sort of thing).

A particularly tough and drought resistant lawn grass has been finding it's way into UK gardens. The horrid scutch grass, cynodon dactylon, aka Bermuda grass, has been used in grass mixes which need robust roots. (sometimes on golf courses and the like)..but would be unusual to see as far north as you. Having said that, it is certainly within hardiness bounds. Not unlike couch, tbh. Needs a lot of sun. Would be interested in other people's insights.

 

[Calamity1971]

O sympathy, Calamity1971 Pyracantha, while not actively toxic, does seem to cause some allergic reactions for some people. I once jumped on a heap of it, to crush it in the back of the truck...when a thorn went right through my shoes and into my foot...which also swelled up painfully for several days. Do monitor this and get thyself to the doctors if it is still painful after a few days. There are a few thorns which can trigger reactions for people with various forms of arthritis: rose-picker's thumb is a definite thing for flower collectors working in the fragrance industry (attar of roses and that sort of thing).

A particularly tough and drought resistant lawn grass has been finding it's way into UK gardens. The horrid scutch grass, cynodon dactylon, aka Bermuda grass, has been used in grass mixes which need robust roots. (sometimes on golf courses and the like)..but would be unusual to see as far north as you. Having said that, it is certainly within hardiness bounds. Not unlike couch, tbh. Needs a lot of sun. Would be interested in other people's insights.

I'm back on Tuesday and will get pics. Never came across it before. I swear you could stitch with it!
I read up on the pyracantha arthritis thing and got a bit panicky as I have arthritis. That thing is evil, my mate got stabbed in the back of his hand after I warned him to be careful. Chuckle brothers gardening services

 

[TopCat]

My grass is starting to appear. This cheers me this morning. I had no get up and go yesterday, felt meh, to be expected but hey.

I hope to dig the flower beds today and buy some vegetable seeds.

As for fucking pyrocantha I have a hedge of it abutting my fence. I can’t repair or replace the fence panels. It’s evil. Goes through my Kevlar gloves.

It has fostered a huge colony of sparrows though. They breed unhindered in its spiky hollows. Must be thirty plus all buzzing about my garden and eating all the grass seed.

 

[two sheds]

I vowed I'd not have anything spikey in the garden but didn't want to uproot the hawthorns or roses and then bought a couple of pyracantha for berries for the birds but they don't seem to produce any.