Busy-Lizzie

Fork Handles

Dogs are sweet, funny, friendly and revolting! One of my past Border Collies used to wear perfume round his neck every day. It was called "Cow Pat".

Fork Handles

Couldn't think what you were talking about, now I know. I don't think one should kill small children and pets.

my pictures

Hurray, at last, Verdun's garden - and well worth waiting for. I was beginning to wonder whether he'd read all that great advice, but no it's all for real. Superb. Why were you so shy?

First time grower and in need of advice!

Will you be lifting any paving to make the raised bed? How had you planned  to build it? It will have to be deep enough and have drainage, preferably that doesn't run out all over the paving. Hard to advise on size without knowing how much space you have to play with. You can grow carrots, spuds, tomatoes, French beans, dwarf runner beans like Hestia in big pots. Tomatoes can be started in the windowsill propagater soon, so long as you can keep them warm enough when small plants. Or buy small plants in May, pot up and put in greenhouse thingy until frosts are over. Spuds plant outside around Easter or a bit later (it's early this year). Sow bean seeds in May, or plant out after frosts are over if you sow them in the greenhouse thingy. Carrots sow direct in earth when it says so on the packet, thin them out when young plants. Chillis, don't know, not a fan.

Rented property - new to gardening

I would be inclined to get rid of the yuccas, they take up a lot of room and have very sharp tips. Does it get much sun? Or is it shady? You could keep a jungly theme, hostas for shade, canna lily for sun. Perhaps a non invasive bamboo and a fatsia japonica. Could the yucca in the last picture be a cordyline? It looks softer and less prickly. And, of course, climbers. Some herbs along the front of the beds and a pot of tumbling tom tomatoes.

Newly laid sedum roof

I wouldn't water it while the weather is so cold. Sedum can manage some drought anyway.

Fork Handles

What do you mean, Deano, "bedtime", it's too early!

Fork Handles

Had good lunch out, bloated and stuffed and overdrunk!

Geoff, I could have sworn Kipling wrote "IF".   Your chickens look so comfy in their pots.

Hope Bjay gets to see her friends from NZ.

Hope Dan's bruised coccyx recovers quickly. My sister broke hers when heavily pregnant. Leave the rest to your imaginations!

My daughter swallowed a little Lego man's head when she was 2, guess where I found it!

Becks is getting the bug! Thought she didn't do gardening, only computers! Sweetcorn does very well here, but we have hor summers. I grow it because the French think it's cattle and chicken food, so you can't get edible sweetcorn.

Talkback: Top 10 plants for a dream garden

I have 8 of those in your list. I would have to have daffodils in spring and roses in the summer. I love gardens full of the scent of roses. Also hostas for foliage (blast the slugs!), dahlias for colour and rudbeckias and michaelmas daisies for autumn. If there is a good selection of flowers then there is always something for the bees. I have a patch of stinging nettles at the edge of the woods for butterflies, but I really don't want them in the cultivated bits! 

Ideas for new rented property

If it's rented then I think the first thing to do would be to ask the landlord's permission, then there can't be any trouble later, unless you have done that already. It still belongs to him and he may not want the concrete washing line post dug up etc. If he doesn't, you may be able to grow a climber up it. If you want to dig the grass up to level the area it would then need rotovating, raking, treading, raking again then the cheapest method is to sow seed, but that takes longer than turfing. You could put down bark chips instead of grass on some of it to have as a base for a child's play area. Put down a weed supressant permeable membrane first and cover thickly with bark chippings then outdoor toys can go on it. You could put chippings on the rather ugly concrete bit, instead, for a play area and have beds for flowers at the end.

If you want some flowers you will have to dig some beds and add compost. Seeds or plug plants are the cheapest. Hardy annual seeds you just scatter on the earth according to what the packet says. Or you could put pots of flowers and some garden furniture on the concrete bit, hard to tell how big it is. If the budget runs to it it would be nice to have some trellis on the fence with some climbers. Whose fence is it?

Or, you could grow veg at the end when you've dug up the lumpy bumpy bit. Does it get sun?

Gardens we have visited 2013

no emails as well as small text

Cleaning greenhouses

Rose pruning and frost

reviews

Why did you all start gardening?

uploading photos