Feeling Overwhelmed (and despondent)

Ok, so, I'm desperately trying to develop and fill my garden on the cheap (who isn't!)

Each time I see some plants with a terrific sale price, I buy them - even though I do not know their aspect/habitats/needs. My theory is: it will thrive or die and because it didn't cost a fortune, ultimately, I'll still be quids in.

I've garned some sale plants (mainy shrubs; and mainly for their purchase "bargain") but, I'm now thinking I may have bought in error.

I do have a 1/4 acre of land to fill/landscape and that is hard because my "man" doesn't have "manly" skills and I am limited by my lack of muscle and knowledge; I've bought some plants today (bargains!) but, the only response I have (so far!) suggests that two of the plants I have bought will grow to a "massive" level (gunnera).

I *think* I have the ground space to accommadate them; but, have I bitten off more than my allotted space can chew?

Maybe my philosphy of: "it will either thrive or not" is way too amateurish? And that means, that my bargain plants will become a curse rather than a blessing?

Just feeling overwhelmed with it all :( :( :(

And, if that wasn't a kick in the side, my other "folly" today was to buy a bag of cobble stones for my pebble fountain (previous fillers were random stones) based on the idea that: hey! Grab a bag and they'll look far superior!!! Wrong! I removed my mish-mash stones, replaced with the new "cobbles" - which all looked the same colour! - but, the "colour" was not the stones per se; the "colour" comes from the detrious they are coated in!!! So, an "assortment" of cobble colours; not the uniform one I anticipated!

On top of that, I finally found the veb/herb planted I've been hankering after, at a very good price. Mr Mum went full speed ahead to erect it and when I looked ... there were massive gaps!!! Now, I know this is a man who puts coal on the fire upside down; his heart is willing, but his manual dexterity is sadly lacking :( The silly blighter, despite his best efforts, had mis-read the instructions and put the core base plate UPSIDE DOWN!!!! Dismantle, dismantle, dismantle! But (and here's the nub of it), he has already screwed it in the *wrong* way, so, the holes are already set, (in some places the wood has been split!) and to re-assemble it means, new holes, new splits!! How can I reconcile that???

This gardening malarky is not a straight forward affair and is becoming very overwhelming.

It is *supposed* to be ... enjoyable? Rewarding? Escapism??

All I know is: today, I've gone from to in a space of a few hours.

 

Hi mum , ,
I thing you need to slow down with your buying at this time of the year unless you have a greenhouse , even hardy plants can dye in winter if they still in pot or not established , you can loose plant even if they are indoor with overwatering or too dry.

Grow from seeds , ask friends or peoples from the forum for plants or cutting look around in other peoples garden just to know what plants are growing well in your area.

before you start , plan what you want to do and make sure that you got the right plants for the right position.

I grown lots of plants from pips and still doing , it fun and you will have free plants , you can even swap them .

Remember that gardening is fun , shouldn`t be stress.

 

I've come to the conclusion that gardens are stubborn. Furthermore they are the boss. We are just care takers. We can nudge them along in a particular direction but ultimately the land itself decides whether to accept or reject your latest effort.

Don't be put off though. I used to use your plant buying strategy. I think its a useful tool but it's not the ultimate solution. If you buy potted plants, even on the cheap, you will find that hundreds of quids worth of plants don't stretch very far once you get them into the open. This year I grew a lot more stuff from seed than usual. I don't regret it. I filled quite a lot of space for very little cost.

Bare root season is almost upon us too. That's when you can get your deciduous shrubs much, much cheaper than normal. You buy them in bulk batches (usually minimum batch size of 20 or 25) and them all turn up as dead looking twigs in a box. You plant them up while they're still asleep, and then next spring a high percentage of them (close to 100% in my experience) comes along and grows nicely.

If you're looking to fill space on the cheap, how about nasturtium? One packet of seeds will produce enough ground cover by late summer to cover maybe 10m2, with no maintenance required.

 

Sal, I don't have a greenhouse, just one of those 4 tier plastic efforts (which is going in my shed over winter) so that will need to be used for any of the plants I can't get in over the next couple of weeks.

Clueless, thank you for the bare root suggestion; I'll do some searches online and see what's on offer.

I've been a bit wary of seeds, but this Spring I'll give them a go.

Thank you, both.

 

Thank you, woo.

car boot sales! I'd forgotten about those Guess where I'll be off to, tomorrow

 

Hi Mum,

I too in the past have gone out and bought plants on a wim because they were in the sale section and I like the look of the flowers etc, only to find that they are totally inappropriate for my garden and they have either died or I have had to dig them up as they got to big. So what I did was sat down with a cuppa and made a rough plan of what I wanted where. As mentioned by someone else seeds are really worth thinking about, I grew from seed for the first time this year and it is very rewarding. You can grow both annuals and perrenials at a fraction of the price that you pay at the garden centre. And at this time of year a lot of garden centres have the seeds on sale.

Rusty

 

One of mam's neighbours has a front garden full of really tall, bold yellow daisy like flowers. I told my mam I liked them, that was about a week ago. I was round my mam's yesterday evening and I'd forgotten about these flowers until my mam told me she'd asked the neighbour what they were because I liked them, and the neighbour replied that I needn't bother buying any, she'll just dig me a clump up when they've finished flowering

So yes, I think the neighbourly trick is a good one

Mum, if you don't have the confidence or the space to raise a load of plants from seed, how about getting someone else to start them for you? I've been known in the past to ask various relatives to start plants off for me.

 

Thank you all, I'm in a calmer frame of mind today and, having read the advice, I've just spent the morning going over all the plants I've accumilated in my plant "holding" tray. I went off to my shed with a flask, looked up all that I can in numerous books, made notes of everything I need to know: aspect, soil requirements, how to adjust soil properties, size, flowering times, companion suggestions.

Then, after information overload, I wandered around the copse end, frightened a squirrel (unintentionally) laughed at loud at his startled face and how mine probably mirrored it. Went back into the shed, picked up my notebook and ... I am feeling much more confident that some of the plants will go well together, in a small border under my front lounge window; some more will be great on a bit of "nothing" land (18'x9') between the drive and the boundary fence. (I've even considered the "colour coding" and prolonged seasonal interest ).

All will have to wait until the ground softens enough to dig it over; so, in the meantime I'm going to get on with plagerising Bilbo's wildlife hotel. And continue to "plan" planting schemes with the remainder of the plant hotel tray.

Great idea, shiney and clueless about asking neighbours; I can always "repay" their kindness with half a dozen fresh laid eggs. I did something similar earlier in the year when I saw a ladder shape in someone's skip; I asked if I could "recycle" it and in return I gave them some of my eggs Never occured to me to knock on doors about plants though!

 

Only yesterday there was an offer of dig your own plants for free on my local freecycle. Might be worth joining your local group & putting up a "wanted" these get more response than just waiting for an offer, as you are apealling direct to people.

I've had (and given) hundreds of pounds worth of stuff on there.

 

Great tip, Zigs. I already belong to a freecycle group, but, after three years at Uni, I'd forgotten all about Freecycle, Boot Fairs, cuttings from the neighbourhood. Think I must have passed my degree in ... forgetfulness