Grows on You : Gardening blogs

Never enough room!

Fri, 09 May 2008 22:02:38 +0000

When we lived in Kent, our garden was quite a good size – the plot was 40’ X 200’ and I had a 6’ x 8’ greenhouse. This was fine: I enjoyed growing plants from seeds and plug plants, and tomatoes too. Then we moved to two-thirds of an acre in Somerset and, of course, I wanted (and needed ) a greenhouse!

So we went out and chose one – fine, you might think. First mistake – with a much bigger garden, I should have thought ahead and stretched the budget to buy a bigger greenhouse! We decided that a storage shed might help, somewhere to store pots and trays and other paraphenalia.

That did help a bit, admittedly, but I had plants overflowing from the greenhouse all the time… I called this ‘my Nursery’ and still do… read on…

Then when the greenhouse was bursting at the seams and some of the plants in the ‘Nursery’ needed more protection, I persuaded my husband that a cold frame was needed. So we went and bought one!

Was that the end of the story? No, no. Soon the cold frame was also full up. More seedlings were ready to be pricked out and more plug plants were on their way. What could we do? I looked around the work area – what if we moved the piles of slabs, sacks of ballast and lumps of blue lias stone left over from the building of the Garden room? Would a ‘wall garden’ fit against the back wall of the garage?

Hooray! It would – and shopping around really helped the depleted savings…the difference in price of the same model from different places was considerable! So what next? A bit of luck. FREECYCLE! A local factory was being stripped out and wood was there for the fetching, free of course. When my husband went to get what he thought would be firewood, he found that the factory benches were still more or less intact – so the trailer brought one home!

It was minus a top, but that was soon sorted. A potting bench was bought and shelves fitted, and it’s just GREAT! (Unless it’s raining…)

Yet more luck – another posting on Freecycle of an electric propagator no longer needed. And I was lucky enough to be chosen to receive this bounty! So there I am. all set up, with a full greenhouse, a full cold frame, a full wall garden and a full propagator.

I can’t fit any more equipment in. What am I going to do with all the Rudbeckias that need pricking out? Should I try to stop growing anything else? I can’t see that happening, can you? And yes, I am well aware how lucky I am to be so well equipped.

my garden

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:49:24 +0000

hi i just thought i’d right my first ever blog.
gardening is my passion. it is aslo my work.
i run corseside nursery in angle pembrokeshire wales.
today i have been franticaly tiding up my garden ready for an open day on suday the 1st of june.
it will hopefully raise much needed funds for the local hospital.
in three weeks my garden will hopefully have lots of visitors looking at my garden.but today i have been looking at weeds!
in may the garden is growing fast and furiously. but the weeds are winning in places.!
but its not all doom and gloom .
this year is the first time geranium maderense has flowered for me.
http://www.growsonyou.com/photos/photo/image/15311/main/geranium_maderense__3_.jpg!
it’s only two years since a neigbour gave it to me.
it’s planted in semi shade in well drained soil.
it also shows promise of more next year fingers crossed!

battlefield

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:07:54 +0000

i am writing this to all the snails and slugs out there. stay out of my garden pleaseeeeeeeeee. loads of your comrades were killed today, you may have seen their bodies on the roof of my shed and in my wheelie bin. stay away unless you want to join them.
To all the GOY bloggers, i waged war today on the snails and slugs, i put down pellets, first time i have ever used this stuff. i made sure though that it was safe for animals and other wildlife before i put it down. i honestly have never seen so many of them before , its like a plague lol.. i will check again later under the rims of the plant pots and again in the morning i will do my rounds, look in the usual places for them .

naughty piggies

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:35:02 +0000

this is not really a garden blog but i thought it would amuse you anyway… my pigs have a very annoying habit of playing lets knock over the water barrells when i’m trying to fill them… as quick as i try and fill them they are toppled over to make a wallow!! so me in my wisdom thought i’d spray the pigs with the hose pipe to deter them… big mistake!!!... once wet they shook in unision (all 9 of them) and covered me from head to toe in speckles of mud!! not funny as i broke the shower this morning, had just changed into my nice clothes and then 3 people turned up to look at chickens they must have thought i was barmy! good thing i can see the funny side! :)

Potatoes in bins.

Fri, 09 May 2008 13:55:35 +0000

Since my garden isn’t ready yet I can’t grow any vegetables in it this year, so I thought I’d grow some in containers instead. I don’t know how they will turn out but I’ve got some seed potatoes today which I’m going to grow in an old bin.
I brought 3 bins with me when I moved, that are full of compost which I made myself from peelings, leaves etc. The compost must be ready now so I’m going to tip it out on my new topsoil, and use one of the bins for growing the potatoes.
I ‘ve been to our local farmers market you see, and I got the seed potatoes there, and a Tomato – Gardener’s delight which can be grown outside ( my greenhouse isn’t up yet ), and some Bizzylizzies (sorry for spelling ! ) and some begonias. and I have carrot radish and spring onion seeds.
I must appologise to all members for not looking at many of your photos. It was only since yesterday that I realised you can see all the most recent ones together ! I’ll be able to see them all now.

Finished digging the bed around the rock!

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:32:59 +0000

Finally, after much hard work, aches and pains, the bed around the rock is dug out! I’ll have to keep checking it to pull up weeds and grass I missed but the grunt work is done.
I kept finding random rocks as I was digging or just around the garden so the back will eventually be more of a rockery, hopefully the rocks will help to keep soil in place too. I have already planted some of the plants I brought with me from the last house, day lilies, shasta daisies, yellow centaurea, various sedums, various lamium, and creeping phlox, to join the dwarf Alberta spruce.
Even found a home for my Green Man rock, it formed a little “cave” so I added a fairy there.
At the weekend I hope to start digging on the other side of the garden. I have a cypress and a dogwood that need planting so digging continues….
I’m also growing pots of different seeds that a friend shared with me, so they will soon need a home too.
The patio needs weeding quite badly and the grass has many thistles and dandelions to pull out, but I thought the digging should be done before it gets much warmer and the ground gets harder. All the rain we’ve had recently has been very helpful!

Bonkersbon's

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:41:06 +0000

No the lakes are on the right side of the penines, what part of yorkshire are you from. Im from derbyshire, but came to live in blackpool with my mum & dad when i was very small, thats many moons ago, but i was born in chesterfield. some times i still go over there. I know sheffield is only about 7 miles from there. I have to be honest both derbyshire & yorkshire have some stunning views to look at.

Clearing The Area 4 My Green House :)

Fri, 09 May 2008 08:43:32 +0000

Been waiting long time for this MOMENT so i want where its being put ready & nice 4 it dont i ,Hard work its going 2 be just look @ all That :(
So 1st things 1st i took away the old tin Pruned back the Conifer ect& gave the soil a leveling out 2
Grass was just to long here now as i needed it 2 be short so out came Mr Mower :)
MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm Much Much Better,Ann nex door wanted me to put her some Reed Screen up to match mine Isnt she a GEM ? It looks Great Dont u think? & i did this all myself2:D
Now all it needs is the GREEN HOUSE ect ( Watch This Space)

slugs ahhhhhhhhhh

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:57:29 +0000

after a couple of days of beautiful weather everything in the garden was flourishing. we had heavy rain during the night last night and when i checked the veg this morning all i could see were loads of slugs,,, i had planted marigolds at the front of the vegs and they had eaten these first, then moved onto the spinach.so today i am declaring all out war on them.

No 'English' roses please or why I prefer the jungle!

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:44:29 +0000

The blogs and comments I’ve read about people buying ‘English’ roses and other plants and wanting an English Cottage Garden really make me think about the obsession we often have with replicating things that we admire from elsewhere. Having grown up on the East Coast, I’ve observed there is a bit of an obsession with all things English, not that that is bad, but to me, personally, it gets a bit tiring. I can admire the image of an English garden, but I don’t want one. It seems to me to be too rigid.
Now that I live in Texas, I find that there is still that fascination with the English, but also a desire to copy the Mediterranean or Mexican – maybe it’s better to say, Spanish style colonial houses and gardens.
Having been born in El Salvador, and going back often, I can tell you we are a bit obsessed with American style plants and gardens (notice my mother’s stubborness in planting azaleas in a sub tropical climate!). It’s not as bad as trying to grow tulips in Houston, but still!
Of course in El Salvador gardens often seem rather “messy” by comparison. Take my grandfather’s farm. It has fruit trees, and coffee plants, and banana plants and now my father has planted noni, and God knows what else, and the plants have their own place yet at the same time, when you see them from afar, the whole thing appears chaotic, and in some ways it is. The coffee plants, after all, have to have shade, so they’re planted among taller trees, the fruit trees are mixed hapzardly, a mango tree next to an orange tree next to two ‘naranja lima’ trees, all planted about 38 years ago when we were born – because my grandfather wanted us, his grandchildren, to have fresh fruit. When I first saw an American farm in Virginia I was amazed at the orderliness of it. The same when I see pictures of garden estates in European countries, not only the UK but also France, Spain etc. It amazes me how the plants are put in orderly rows, in little squares and walkways etc. I admire it, yet something in me rebels against it.
Yet it is easy to feel that – especially when you come from the supposed “third world” – you must also be that neat and orderly in the garden. I was puzzled at the ‘messiness’ of my grandpa’s farm (even though I delighted in it, we used to walk around the farm and think it was always an adventure, you weren’t quite sure what you’d come across) until I read about the Native American tradition of “replicating” the jungle in their cultivated areas. The messiness was done on purpose!! aha!! There was a point to it, and it was to keep it as close to the natural jungle as possible but with the ability to harvest and to manipulate the plants to suit their needs. It all made sense. What’s trying for me is understanding why we do things because so much (especially in El Salvador) of the Native American culture has been lost – or rather not lost but modified and the reason for it has been left shrouded in mystery. We do things and we don’t know why.
When I first spoke of my container garden there was someone who wrote and said something to the effect of going from ‘concrete to jungle’ and that has stuck with me. I like the idea of an urban jungle. =)
Since I try to buy my plants as cheaply as possible, I’ve never bought an ‘English’ anything! My roses, cute ans they are, and as much of a headache as they give me, are ‘mutts’ – hybrids of who knows what parentage, and miniatures at that!
It’s too bad that nurseries and garden centers and catalogs are trying to cash in on the obsession a lot of people have with all things English.