Hi Im new and not sure what to do, i am an amiture gardener but im in the prosses of giving my garden a make over. Anyone with any tips for me they would be appreciated. thankyou.
Evening, mef750. Welcome to GC. We're a mixed bag of cookies here, some veg, some flowers, some both. You have to tell us what you are interested in or want to do then, perhaps, we can help. Enjoy whatever!
Welcome, mef750! As LoL says - give us a few ideas about what you like and don't like, what sort of soil and conditions you have, like which way your garden faces, whether you get lots of sun, or just in the evening - that kind of thing. Then we can give you some ideas, maybe! :D
Hi All and thankyou for your warm welcome! As a said i'm amiture! soil? well its black lol. Sun, i get it in the morning down 1 side, moving round to the back at lunch time. Part of my garden dosnt get much sun at all, only in mid summer in the evening. I love coulor, never sure what to plant with what! Its all been hit and miss with me. I have an area where i can sit and enjoy my garden, i am in the process of doing some decking near my door! the rest i have made a s shape in garden with the middle bit done in gravel, that bit is almost finished now just a dumpster to take away the rubble. I planted some daffs last year and they was looking good until the frost hit them Crocus too. I planted snowdrops but no sign of those so far. I love fusha but i dont have much sucsess! clemitis i have done well with, I have about 5 of those in diffrent coulors. Mulch i have put about 6 bags of the stuff on the soil last year. Advice on the easy stuff to grow would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading this. mef750.
Sounds to me like you'ev done quite a lot! :D If you have daffs and crocus in, clematis doing well, that's a great start. You've also got your gravel area, decking to come, so you're well on the way to your garden being full of colour, and a place to enjoy it from. Reason I was asking about the soil, is that if it's water-logged when it's wet, and rock hard when it's hot in summer, then it would be a good idea to dig in some compost, to open it up, and make the drainage better, as the vast majority of plants prefer those conditions. What I did last year when planning my blank canvas of a garden, was to draw out the shape of it all, note where the sunny bits, the extra boggy bits, the paths we tended to make, which we could see quite well from an upstairs window, then laid out areas to plant up according to that. You said you had an s shape - so you're already doing the right things to make the garden wider and more interesting. Shrubs and flowering plants, and grasses all have approx heights and spreads, which you can find by looking them up on line, e.g. if you fancied having a few grasses or bamboos to give you a bit of privacy, but didn't know what sort of height they'd get to, or how much space they'd take up, if you google "grasses uk" , you could find this... http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_grasses.shtml This is very handy, and means you don't have to spend ALL your time in the garden centres! What I'd do is to choose a few shrubs, grasses, etc, even a small tree if you space for it, to put into places where a bit of height would be good, then sow seed for annuals in the rest of the areas you want to plant up, as these aren't permanent. Again, the seed packets will give you an approx height and spread. I've used these quite a bit http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/v3/seeds-seed-collections-c-776_891_1188.html The useful thing is that it gives you colour for the summer, flls the borders well, and gives you time to think about what you want as a more permanent style of planting. We did this, and had loads of annuals last year, while planting quite a few perennials too, to gradually take over the job the annuals were doing - but they take a couple of years to get started, and most don't flower in their first year. Hope all this helps you get going! And remember - Rome wasn't built in a day, and, despite all these TV makeover programmes, neither are most gardens! Edited - this offer was sitting in my mail box just now - that's the sort of thing you could think of to give some height, in the flowering shrub line.... http://www.suttons.co.uk/pd_702519_Hardy_Shrub_Collection.htm The only reservation I'd ahve is that they're not evergreen - I prefer the leaves to stay on, to give some al year round interest, but I do have some flowering shrubs like these.and spiraeas are rather nice! [ 13. February 2007, 05:52 PM: Message edited by: dendrobium ]
I thank you for your advice! I dont get any waterlogging at all, and the part of the garden that seems to get hard in summer is now graveld or the decking is going to go there. My neighbour gave me some bamboo grass last year, Im hoping that it will flurish this next year. My only worry was a small piece that i didnt know weather to gravel or not is at the back of my garage, it stays wet but not water logged, i have been advised to put some Astilbe thereas they like moist soil so i think im going to have a go.
Welcome mef750. This is a great site. Its helped me loads. Loads of light today for my seedlings. It a fabbie day here in Dalmeny. Going out to do some weeding.
Hi I have just joined this site; I enjoy gardening, and grow most my plants from seeds for my flowerbeds. This year I would like to start growing Veg and would like to grow Potatoes, Carrots Leeks, Onions, Swede, Beetroot, and Cauliflowers. I have made 3 Raised beds and prepared the soil, covered the plots ready for planting time. Any tips and Advice welcome: Helping me get started to a healthy growing veg Plot. Thankyou Roxy P.S I am probably going to really annoy all you experienced gardeners by asking loads of questions.. (Please be patient with me).
