obelixx

Cats

I use mesh grid, bought as a kit to make a compost heap but it was far too holey and airy so I now use each sheet to cover a section of raised bed when I've newly hoed and sowed.   Works a treat and lets the plantlets come up with no worries and is easy to ligt off when they're big enough to cope.

Keeps the dogs off too and they have much bigger feet and grander digging ambitons in the case of the terrier.

Help Please!

It's a bit like cleaning aneglected room.  Do the duting and vaccing and a bit of tidying and it looks so much better.

So, tidy away any rubbish and pull or dig up obvious weeds.   Cut the grass once air temps get to above 8C and it starts to grow.  Treat it to a weed and feed which is a product you can buy at DIY and garden centres.  Read the instructions for when and how to apply it.   Keep the grass cut at least once a week, going to every 4 to 5 days in the peak growing season to keep it neat but don't ever cut it shorter than one inch as it needs the leaves to feed the roots.

While you're shopping, buy a bag of pelleted chicken or cow manure to spread around the base of all your shrubs and work in a generous handful or two with a small hand fork so it gets mixed in to the top layer of soil and feeds the roots.

Sharpen your secateurs and prune any obvious dead or broken stems from your shrubs and then tidy up the general shape if needed.  It's best to wait till after flowering to do any major pruning.

If you decide to dig over any empty or new beds, do it as soon as you can and then add plnety of well rotted manure or soil improver which you can also buy in if needs be.  Then keep an eye on what's on offer at your nearest garden centre and plant some new perennials for colour with annuals to fill the gaps till they mature to full size.

Have fun.  Sit back and admire.

Who pays for Things

It's included in the license fee whether you use it or not.  Simples.

Monty is a presenter paid to do a job by the BBC, plus what he earns from his books and articles in newspapers and magazines.  If he decides he needs raise dbeds or a new greenhouse to do his job better that's fine by me and is really nobody else's business.

Do you ask your doctor who paid for their stethoscope?  or you dentist who paid for his drills?  Or the garage who paid for their tools so they can do their jobs properly? 

No, of course not, so why should a TV gardener be any different?

Who pays for Things

None of our business and not our concern.  I have raised beds cos it's easier to work the soil in a cold, wet garden.  So does Monty now after a disastrous summer and winter for veggies in his soil and he's not alone with such problems so raised beds are a good way for him and many other gardeners to go.  I'd certainly like more.

I have a greenhouse to cos I need one. 

Purples in my garden but what colour for you?

Not the acids but I'm getting there with oranges and reds and have more planned this summer if we ever get warm enough to sow more seeds.  Window sills crammed now and greenhouse not warm enough yet.

I've tried cannas but by the time spring warms up and they get going here it's so late the cannas only come into flower in time for the first frosts.   Gave up.   Got some dahlias on teh go to see if they do better.

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Purples in my garden but what colour for you?

I have a large garden with big borders so always buy perennials in 3s, 5s and 7s but that can be expensive so sometimes I buy just one and try and propagate it or else just go for something cheaper.  generally, the cheaper ones are hardier anyway and I've lost count of how much money has frozen to death in my garden.

As for colours, I dislike acidic yellows so don't have any and I find orange and scarlet hard to work with but am trying them more and more as geums do very well here.  I also get given orange marigold seedlings which I plant in the veggie patch to ward off white fly.  I have a rythm of purple and golden shrubs and trees around the garden with every other colour in patches in between.  Just bought a golden physocarpus which I'm hoping will be as tough as Diabolo and two rich, deep purple hellebores to go in pots with pale, streaky lilac primroses once this perishing wind dies down. 

plugs

Make sure you harden them off slowly by putting them outside for a few hours a day until it's warm enough to plant them out.

what jobs done over easter.

Daily turning of seedlings to keep them straight.   Friday and Saturday spent clearing the barn and bullshed ready for a team of chaps to come and do damp-proofing tomorrow.   They'll be here a week or so drilling holes and injecting product in walls so more clearing of house and garage this week to give them access.  OH has the week off and won't know what's hit him by the time we're done.

Yesterday I did manage to do some garden stuff too.  Tess of the D'urbevilles rose dug up and potted so her trellis can come down and make way for a digger to prepare the ground for a concrete base for the new shed which has just arrived today.   Dug up my long suffering fig and planted it in the greenhouse.   Potted up viola plugs to grow on plus Russel lupins, more toms and some PSB.  More herbs and PSB to do today.

Later I have to get clean for foot physio but am hoping OH will continue trips to the dump with crud and then start hoeing the veggie beds.   Wavre market tomorrow to meet friends and buy some luscious plants.

Lots to do so best crack on tho no outdoor planting yet as it's still perishing so I also have a daily inning and outing of plants hardening off.

The average gardener

I'm definitely exceptional!  

Larger than average garden, colder winters than average Brit winters and more than average interest in plants though learning to go for good doers now rather than waste more money on the rarer ones that can't cope.    Still lots to learn and do and enjoy.

Is it me?

Whilst I have no liking for Joe Swift his design last night was quite nice and I think it's useful for people to see how to sketch up a design before they start plonking plants in a new bed or garden.  You don't need any fancy software or tools, just a pencil and paper.    If you have a plan, you're more likely to have a list of plants rather than buying what takes your fancy and then trying to fit them together.

I'm not convinced Monty has a plan for how each programme is going to run and just does jobs which need doing in his garden so it's just happenstance that his grasses needed cutting.  The way this spring is going I've got another couple of weeks before it's safe to take the winer coat off mine and cut them back to let the new growth through.

Hello Jro - and any other old friends

Mare's tail

Encouraging bats in our gardens

Beechgrove this weekend

Weekend 22 March

Good Morning - 21 March

Choosing chillies

Hanging baskets and window boxes

New shed - any tips?