Whats your plans for the garden this year? - Page 4

I had to pop out and feed the birds in it - some fat balls and remove some snow off my raised bed covers as pulling them down not good, 4" of snow here.  

I did use my wintertrax shoe grippers so not to slide over. poor birds not nice in this weather, all squirrels not out yesterday.

Today maybe watch birds out window as well as a few bits to check outside and knock the snow off not to destroy any plants by breaking them. I think the starling birds out fighting over the food.

Plan for this year:

Mainly an edible garden theme with a focus on growing fruit, vegetables and herbs which will include some companion planting. It will involve container planting and growing vegetables in raised beds. Some of the fruit and herbs which are perennial are already in place.

Garden vegetables will include courgettes, first early potatoes, salad crops and spinach. 

Since the house I moved in wasn't that long ago, the garden is in need of sprucing up! The greenhouse will be full to the brim with seedlings. Can't say the same for my purse haha.

We have lived in our house for ten years. When we arrived, most of it was very badly paved with horrendous raised beds and a semi-derelict drive. On a shoestring, we gradually took up the paving and demolished the raised beds, covered broken paths with membrane and chippings and planted rather haphazardly with cheap plants and cuttings. It looks much better and I've learnt a lot in the process of improving things, but it has dawned on me that the garden is much too bitty and the secret of a successful small garden is strong design and greater simplicity. My aim for this year is to improve the framework and strengthen the basic shape of the garden. I'm a plantaholic and tend to plant one of everything, so that I have room for lots of different herbacious perennials. I hope at least to divide plants and create more repetition and to colour theme different parts of the garden, so that the overall effect is simpler. It is a learning curve, so I expect to succeed in some areas and cotinue to work at it in the coming years, should I be granted them.

 I .  

 This is the back garden last June.

 The front garden.

 These took forever to upload, so I'll stop at that. We have a large pergola and summerhouse. The summehouse is actually an old chicken house with the front removed and clothed with wood cladding and decking, my husband's pride and joy but unoffically known as 'Grumpy's shed.' I've planted roses,clematis and jasmines to climb over it. It all looks great when things are in flower and messy when they are not and the lack of good structure shows.

Some great pictures here. As well as continuing with flowers grown from seed, will be focusing more on biennials and perennials, I have a tiny plot to grow a few veggies in. This will be a first for me.

Lovely plants and design Gardening Grandma

 My first ever veg plot

On my clay soil which is impregnated by roots, as well we have put up 3 raised beds - 30cm high which have a benefit we never considered of being drier than the surrounding quagmire - so - some veg success - 

I am hoping to have another one by March/April as they have been successful

Well done with the veg beds Holliehock, If you used the square foot way you could grow loads.

Thanks to both

We have a large trough beside the drive filled with honeysuckle and other plants, but there is no room for veg. My obsession is herbacious perennials and the beauty of plant colour and form. I'm a muddle-through gardener who knows it is time to learn to be a better one, able to have a picture in my head of how the complete garden should look in every month of the year and able to care for plants properly. There isn't a grerat deal of money to spare for this but I have also realised that it is better to buy one really good acquisiton for the garden each year than to fritter the money on bits and pieces as I love to do. I have an arch at one end of the front garden (meant to create a focal point)  that is made of cheap metal and is rusting and I'd like to replace that with a good one before the plants get too big to be able to get at it.

Verdun you keep telling us  about all these wonderful plants you grow in Cornwall-when   may we expect some pictures?

Just looked up Perhill Nurseries and found it is local to me. May pop along and have a look in next few weeks.

I've asked Verdun for pictures before but no luck  Please.

I have found an incentive for him to get out the box brownie

http://www.igpoty.com/Prizes.asp

I also buy from the net. Little plugs are so much cheaper and grow fairly quickly once potted up. But it is fun taking your own cuttings or growing from seed and these are often free

I am hoping to dig out alot of one of my borders and reshape the straight lawn edge. its quite a large border but is lacking in style. I have cut back and managed it since moving here but have so far concentrated on other areas of the garden.

 As you can see, its filled with St John's Wort, a couple of very overgrown roses (which have now been cut right back over a period of 3 years (just the final cut of the thick old growth at the end of this year), 2 awfull Sycamore's (which have been cut out and killed - aswell as 4 Oak trees which have all been cut, just have to dig out the roots). I will be planting some Pink Pampas, an Everbloom Lilac, Lavatera & Buddleja, along with Lupins, Hollyhocks, Rose campion (thanks Lyn), and some smaller plants.

Got another plan since I wrote the last bit about sorting out around the shed. Going to make a new strawberry bed. Old one is getting tatty. Got a bit of fallow ground in veg garden that was covered with green weed supressant stuff, so ground is a bit compacted. Needs digging and manuring, then building frame around to keep birdies out. They can have the redcurrants as I don't like them.