Don't know where to begin with garden - calender?

Men8ifri, because we are all from different parts of the country, not forgetting our friends from sunnier climes. The weather can have a great effect on how well our gardens do. Shiney for example had a fantastic summer with plenty of sunshine, While we northerners had very little, can make the difference between your garden thriving and the likes of mine this year, very disappointing.
Anyway your one of us and thats what GC is for, to help eachother out, never feel awkard about asking questions no matter what they are. Wanting to know how, makes you a true gardener. There is always someone here to give advice. :gnthb: 02

 

Hear Hear.

 

Lots of really good advice here. What you really need to learn about gardening is patience. It takes time. Yes you will have failures but it is all part of the learning process. Don't worry. You'll get there. We all do. The first thing I ever planted was a couple of packets of seeds. Night scented stock and Virginia stock in a very small garden. It was such a success I just kept going. I now have half an acre which is probably not everyone's idea of a garden but it's mine and I have toiled for twenty years to make it so. Just enjoy the process and don't rush it.

 

Plants are amazing! You can move them, split them. take cuttings and seeds to propagate. A garden is a continuous experiment; what will grow well in YOUR soil, where to plant(re. sun), what to plant, colour schemes etc. And if you don't like it you can change it slowly and it will only take a couple of years to grow up again, apart from the bigger shrubs and trees of course!
It's so easy to spend a fortune at the garden centre but you can get bits from friends' gardens, plant sales, summer fairs etc. (you'd be amazed at the selection at our local Scout fairs!) and sowing seed is cheap if you've got the room to grow seedlings (and you can swop your spares)
Perennials are brilliant because as long as they're happy (give them some muck!) they last for years. Throw in some annual seeds in spring, dot about a few shrubs (think about all year interest and go for different heights, leaf shapes, flower/leaf colour etc.) put in bits of fruit and veg. and grow herbs in boxes. Spring flowering bulbs are usually planted about October but there's still time!!! You can have hours and hours of joy planning your beds. The hard work is digging and preparing the soil, fighting off the pests and WEEDING! And you must make sure you get time to enjoy your hard work.....Good luck!

 

:thumb:Isn't gardening brilliant :thumb:

 

And occasionally heartbreaking

 

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OK where can I buy some patience from, I need it quick


LOL

 

Thanks for the info I think I'll go down to Wilko's soon and look for 1/2 price bulbs - are they normally planted in clumps of 3?

And the depth to plant them?

Any pictures of some to get an idea where and how many to plant?

 

wow tuplis look nice - OK to plant some of these (if done soon?)

 

Yes, you can plant them now. Clumps of three? Not necessarily-that is the bit that is up to you

 

For the hanging baskets I deliberately got a lot they kind of hide the 6ft fence a bit, I like them anyway. The question is what can I plant in them - any ideas. (other than pansies which i will put some in) Also please bear the cost as I have about 6-7 of them. Also for winter do I still want to line them with plastic as they would drain better without or would they be too dry and/or the soil would fall on the floor? And can I re-use the compost that is in there now or put new stuff in? And If I put new compost in should I put the old stuff on my borders? Any pictures would be more than welcome as well (if not list the plants and I will look them up some-where else)

 

Sorry men8ifr, I don`t have hanging baskets so can`t advise on them. But are you looking for winter flowerers and colours?

 

I grow tubs for the winter with things like Standard Holly (with berries) and some Topiary thingies - evergreen of course. I don't try very much in the Spring, and then I put some tubs out in the summer with Petunia, trailing Loblia and Fuschias. So please keep in mind that I defintiely don't know the answers to Winter hanging baskets

"Also for winter do I still want to line them with plastic as they would drain better without or would they be too dry and/or the soil would fall on the floor?"

You could line with some sort of matting - traditionally sphagnum moss I think, but more recently matting from coconut fibre

" And can I re-use the compost that is in there now or put new stuff in?"

I personally would use new compost. It will be sterilised, so have no disease, and have nutrients correctly balanced etc.

"And If I put new compost in should I put the old stuff on my borders?"

Yup, borders or compost heap. I see the annual cost of compost for containers as, in part, a budget for compost to put on my borders, one season later :thumb:

"Any pictures would be more than welcome as well"

Here's one of my summer tubs. No help at all, but then I already said I didn't know about Winter basket plants I can;t find any pictures from mid summer, so I've just got one early one, and a couple of late ones, so they don't look their Summer-Best


June


End September


Mid October

 

P.S. If you are planting Tulips I would recommend dwarf ones - otherwise the flower stems will get knocked over the the wind etc.