I'm so excited!

:D I've got a garden! of my very own! :yho:

For the first time ever! I can't wait to get started. I'm so excited and really looking forward to learning more here, and getting to know people.

I want to fill the front garden with roses and foxgloves, the kind of roses I want are the ones that smell reeeeeallly strongly scented! and lots of that little purple plant (lobelia?) that grows on rockeries and lots of bluebells and something like lily of the valley too. I know just about nothing but I'm really enthusisastic!

In the back garden I want to plants tomatoes, and carrots and potatoes and... *remembers to breathe*

I've got so much to learn!

Nice to meet you guys, hope to get to know you better soon and learn lots! :yho:

 

Congratulations Pink on getting your first garden!! I know how that feels as I was 23 with 2 young children before I ever had a garden. When I was a child i lived in a terraced house and then a flat.Welcome to GC. 02

 

Hi Pink well done on getting a garden of your own, lots of help on here just ask away,visit our pass the parcel and seed bank to help you get started.

 

Hello & welcome Pink.
lots of information available and lots of help available on this site.
very friendly bunch of people here..
I know that I have benefited muchly from all the hits and tips that I have picke dup along the way.

 

Welcome to GC. You'll learn loads on here. If I was to give one tip right now it would be this: Try to restrain your excitement. I learned the expensive way that if you just start chucking all manner of plants in the ground without any planning, you might be in for some disappointment.

I'm glad you want to grow bluebells, as they are a tremendously underrated plant, and sadly in decline in Britain. You will need to be careful where you buy them from, as the native British one is protected to the extent that you need a license to sell it. Some suppliers get round this by selling the Spanish vareity, and some grow it from seed harvested from wild bluebells. Bottom line is you might have to look hard for someone that sells it.

Also keep in mind the soil, moisture and light requirements of your plants when planning. For example, Bluebells grow in shady woodland, but roses won't do so well in shade.

Sketch up a plan, and take some note of which parts of your garden get the most/least sunshine, which parts are more exposed to the elements, which bits dry out quickest etc, and how you want it to look, then you can choose plants that give you the appearance you want matched to the conditions of the part of the ground you intend to put them in.

 

Thank you everyone. I'm really excited about the planning too and I'm grateful for all and every advice! I was up till 3am this morning drawing pictures of what I wanted it to look like and looking online to see what needs to be planted when!

I wonder if this place is ok to buy bluebell seeds from?
http://www.bluebellbulbs.co.uk/bluebellseed.htm

they're the British variety it says?

 

You'll be waiting a while if you grow them from seed. There are some bluebell bulbs on ebay at the moment, which will give you much quicker results.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/100-ENGLISH-w...temQQimsxZ20090202?IMSfp=TL090202119004r25540

Or, this one looks better...

http://www.englishplants.co.uk/store/scripts/prodview.asp?idproduct=98

Incidentally, if you want to grow bluebells, why not grow wild garlic in the same ground? Wild garlic is another underrated British native, that produces an attractive white spherical flower head on lovely green foliage that can be used in the kitchen. Wild garlic and bluebells are happy to share the same ground as they like the same conditions, but the garlic finishes for the year just as the bluebells are starting their shift.

 

Hello Pink,Your excitement is infectious ,you've got me starting my Begonia tubers off to get an early flowering.Happy Gardening---Joyce

 

Thanks again. Yes I called them and they said Autumn! Autumn! She laughed at how disappointed and shocked I was! I can hardly bear to wait for the snow to melt let alone wait till Autumn!:cry:

I took some pictures.

This is the view from my back door (of the shed and garage):


This is the view when I'm standing next to the shed:


and again, slightly to one side:


The other side of the shed:


I'm not at all sure what this is, it seems to be a square of bricks (about 2 bricks high) with an oppening at one end, it seems to have a rose-bush growing in the centre, but it's so overgrown and thick with snow and ice that it's hard to tell what it is. I thought it might be a pond (which I wouldn't keep as I have a 2 year old) but then I saw the rosebush (something with thorns anyway) in the centre. So I guess it can't be a barbeque area either because it's got something growing in it:



I'm not sure what this is either. Some kind of wooden box, attached to the fence and filled with snow and grass and twigs:



And the front garden!



I hope I haven't added too many pictures, and if I have I'm sure a Mod will let me know and I'll happily remove them. I just really wanted to show my garden to you guys!

It's going to be so different soon! these are the 'before' pictures! :yho:

 

Good evening Pink, and welcome to the site. The brick thing is probably an old greenhouse base. And the wooden box looks like a compost bin.:gnthb:

 

Thank you. I'm afraid my budget won't stretch to a greenhouse but when the snow clears I'll see what I can do with it. My husband thinks it is hilarious that I don't want a lawnmower (I'm scared of them) and I'd prefer to get down on my hands and knee's and do it with shears, slowly and carefully!

I was thinking of having a vegetable patch on the left, with tomatoes growing up the trellis and just have the whole of the bottom of the garden filled with vegetables.

Maybe an apple tree in the middle and some conifers around the fence border? I haven't made any firm decisions yet because I don't know enough. I've got a lot of reading to do. To find out what plants prefer what conditions and so on.

I'd love to have the front garden to look like a forest glen, with bluebells and foxgloves and ferns but I've got a lot of studying to do as I literally don't know anything yet.

But it's going to be so much fun! I can't even sleep at night for thinking about it and I keep having to get up in the middle of the night to look online to find out something about a certain plant or where it can grow or where I can buy it or when it needs to be planted... :hehe:

 

Your 'rose bush' in the square thing looks like a bramble bush to me. Most likely of the wild blackberry variety, but it is hard to tell from the pic because of the snow.

As for the conifer hedge, be careful what you choose. Some confers are quite thirsty, and they can grow leggy. Why not go for a mixed hedge? Some holly and box for the winter greenery, and beach is not evergreen but keeps many of its dead leaves on through winter, which turn a deep golden brown. Good old hawthorn is sometimes overlooked because some see it as 'over used', but it makes an excellent low maintenance hedge, and has lovely flowers in spring, and nice red, non-toxic berries in autumn. You can get the likes of beech and hawthorn, along with many other really nice shrubs, for about 50 pence each if you get them as bare root yearlings, and now is the time of year to put them in. Box and holly are a bit more pricey. If you are aiming for the native British approach (I guessed that from your preference of plants mentioned earlier), look at the woodland trust's online shop. They sell mixed hedges at very reasonably prices.

http://www.native-tree-shop.com/
http://www.native-tree-shop.com/hedging
http://www.native-tree-shop.com/tree-mixes

 

Welcome to the forum Pink and the wonderful world of gardening! I'm sure your little one will be able to help mummy out with her new garden and will enjoy digging loads of holes for you.Good luck and happy digging!:wink:Hel.xxx.

 

Hi Pink,

lovely to have you loin us, and pics, so soon-you must know what you`re doing on a pc.


Your garden looks like one of those that explode in summer, we are all more than happy to assist, and the flower that hangs over rockeries and stuff-it could be a lobelia, but I think it sounds like an aubretia myself.


Explore and enjoy