my garden progress thread

Hi mgn, looks like you have a lot to do.

At least you have a good start, I inherited a jungle when i moved house 2 years ago!

 

hi dancing queen, haha i know, i think i found a fellow nocternal soul. I think imay have seen your garden, not sure still finding my way around here, but i am going to hunt it out

hi oktarine, you inherited a jungle and i inherited a lot of concrete and dirt - which is worse haha. The man who owned here before hated gardening so set about concreting all that he could. Everyone else has masses of lawn and a path if they are lucky, i would have loved that.


Anyhooo, today I planted out half my lavender cuttings to see which works best, in water to get roots or will they just grow in soil.
And spotted grass growing on lawn number 2 today yippee! Might need to buy more grass seed though.

And planned what I am going to do to my hut - going to paint it cream, with black edging, country diary curtains and paint window boxes cream with floral stenciling - don't know when this will be but that's the plan. Was reading my country diary book and making note of what plants were mentioned, as want an olde worldie feel to the place (maybe)
just really having ideas running through my brain today, nothing set in stone.

 

Do you want me to link to your site from my blog ?

 

Hi oktarine, yes if you like thanks, and and i'll do the same for yours, although I dont think anyone reads mine haha.

Anyhooo, have decided on a theme, now dont know if it'll be this way this year but when I am planting for 'real' I am going to have a theme ranging from oranges to golds - to peaches - to creams. I think when I get my fence stained dark that will go good and will paint pots to match and i think grasses will go good with that colour scheme too (not that i've got any yet!)I've decided to tackle the 'look' like i would a room.

Now going to go through my gardening books and write down the names of all plants flowers in those colours.

(This year will just take what I can get)

Also read a great tip: When you plan your garden plan it for winter - if it looks good in winter it'll look good all year round.

I thought that was a good tip.

And today put pots all around the patio bit, and put a step up to the water trough for my cats to get a drink as I've surrounded it with pots.
Have started keeping a gardening log book too, writing down everything I've done that day - like 'spotted 4 dandelions today' .. yes riveting stuff Have asked b/f to uplift slabs from garden no.2 so will need more grass seed.
I'm definitely going to have a meadow thing down the sides and border that with flowers so it doesnt look odd on the lawn.

i've done nothing but think about this all day! If it ends up as good as in my head i'll be entering the garden competitions

Can't wait for saturday so I can get my freeby plants!

 

oktarine i was just complaining about my lack of water in the water butt too, not that i want it to rain (we get enough) but amazing how quick it goes down.
If you dont have a tap in your garden and you drink fizzy pop, then the plastic bottles are good to just keep filled and ready and then take them out in a bag as a stand by.

 

lol dancing queen,

highly recommend gardening websites for insomniacs!!!

better than watching jeremy kyle.

TO

 

i dont mind jeremy kyle at 4am it's the rubbish quiz shows before hand that do my head in. who's idea where they? thank goodness for the internet i say!!

Well, (and you might realise I do this alot over time!) I changed my mind on the theme as i realised doh! my caterpillar tree and bush both have pink flowers -- and today planted my free poppy seeds from amateur gardening which are red (ladybird ones, really nice looking) so colour theme now is to be reds, through pinks to lilacs.
And I didnt know cream flowers didnt exist!! Nope, looked through my royal horticultural book and definitly no creams. :eek:
Anyway, today it was totally scortching hot so just pottered about rearranging pots and scattered my poppy seeds. Planted out remainder cuttings.
Mating Flies and spiders where everywhere, and the midges came out in full force. Those white cabbage butterflies were after me as well. Garden seemed to be alive with insects. I found it all quite fascinating, it's like another universe going on that we never think about (well at least i didnt)

I really must be making a start on getting the 'mountain' sorted but waiting for the cooler weather and it is due to be hotter agin tomorrow so looking at next week now.

 

Sorry but when Jeremy reveals that during the "i slept with 14 people but I know this one is the father not my cousin" episode that she was caught going into the cousins room again on cctv in the hotel Jeremy provided, oh who cares!
Anyway, if you like cream what about jasmine, honeysuckle, roses, rhododendrons who all have variations of cream?
I'm tempted to get some creamy misteloe berries to squash into a tree too so myself and the birds can enjoy the lovely white berries.

TO

 

jasmine, honeysuckle, roses etc all sound like what I want!!! - you know old timers? I'll need to research more into them. Next year hopefully will have money to actually spend on garden, but I realise it's important to plan early on. I know I want some peonies, I used to have a deep red one in my last house, and i loved that.

Mistletoe sounds fab, my neighbour has a holly bush, I was thinking of pinching some of that.
He also has a purple hebe that i have my eye on too.
the thing with doing my garden is i dont want to be encouraging birds if i can help it too much - theyll get eaten :(

 

Hey there again,

thing is if you have certain trees and shrubs around the birds have protection. I have 3.5 cats at the moment (0.5 is a stray who is thankfully getting more confident)and yet I would still encourage birds. If figure out the digi camera I will send you a photo of my patio which is seperate from the main mess I have yet to tackle!
I've got the plants you like in pots and the bees and butterflies are coming to enjoy them.
Peonies I'm not really familiar with, are they the ones that have big heads on a single stem like marigolds but with longer petals?

TO

 

Hi, poenies are beautiful, big flowers with close together petals and the leaves are very dark green, impossible to kill off too! They are a bush. Glad I'm not the only one who has a 'main mess' btw

I havn't done much since I was last here but I got my freebie plants (more to come later) as well as some plant feed and grass seed, so didn't do too bad! I am good at 'frugal'!

I got catnip (which is in my bathroom out the way for now), Asters, Sweet William (which I believe need support? so will probably have to move them in a while) and Irish Bog Plants, that had been attacked and bits eaten off it before I got them.
The snails today were busy moving around the 'pond', they seemed happy, and i put plenty stones in incase any frogs should turn up so they can get out. Going to look out for some nice posh stones to put in for 'show'.
It's been a dull day so I brightened up the pics, but here's what I've done so far.


If you use your imagination and see the plants in flower I don't think it's going to look too bad.
And here's 3 along the fence into the garden.


I think these are the sweet williams.

Also today put more grass seed down saying as it was raining.
I got some wood stain free too but not enough to do the back garden but enough to do the driveway side so next sunny day will be doing that - it's all coming along nicely now, I feel quite proud although along way to go yet!!

 

I really like how the pond is coming along, bet you get vistors soon.

Is it in full sun?

TO

 

hi tiggs and oscar! - i have visitors!!! i think they are tadpoles, they must have come with the plants - I watch them most days and every time there seems to be more of them! I am dreading how the cats will react when they turn into frogs though - i'll have to watch them like a hawk.
My whole garden is in full sun bar the left hand side for maybe a foot down the fence - means it gets all the wind too, very little shelter at all.

I had to move the plants away from the water as well, they were getting badly eaten, i think because there are lots of snails hang around the waters edge. i'll come up with a new plan for there soon. I am thinking of some sort of low wooden seating area

Sorry not been on this site much, I plan to be here more later on just been so busy lately - i have my finger in a lot of fires at the moment,
anyway as to my progress:

Bought 2 bags of wood mulch and covered the part path into the garden, i put black bags underneathe and so far so good!
I even bought 2 china plant pots too!
(So much for not spending anything haha.)
i also aquired a free wheelbarrow too which is going to be painted and filled with flowers (one day) and will stand infront of the garage doors as its on a slope and i cant have pots there.

Also been buying up the herbs in tesco when reduced and got quite a few for 12p each.
Made some curtains for the garage.

Other than that havnt done too much more as the weather has been miserable and i dont feel like going out.
Oh and my lawn number 2 has taken off good and proper!
over all I'm pleased with the changes - small changes soon add up!

heres a few latest pics where you enter the garden, you can see my wood mulch path - it was a struggle carrying those bags home though - was a workout and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!



did you start sorting your 'mountain' pile yet tiggs? or are you like me and keep putting it off lol. I swear i keep finding jobs - anything but actually get on with the most important bit!

 

Well done MGN on your new resident's!

Could well be the local frog population has sought you out but life in the pond is a great sign and I am very envious!
With regards to the snails I have heard of snails being encouraged in the water as they munch and help keep the water clean. Maybe it's a specific type though.
Your garden is coming along well by the sounds of it, me - hmmm! Until I can afford to get a digger or something in to uproot the concrete foundations of an old shed there isn't much point in doing anything else. On the plus side the "lawn" is now refered to as my wildlife reserve and I was delighted to find a hedgehog in there the other day. Very chuffed at that as my plan was always to have a wildlife friendly garden.
I will post a photo soon of my mess. It will give you a laugh!

:D TO

 

oh needing a digger - nightmare! i dont envy that much work at all. you'll no doubt need a skip unless you build a rockery with the concrete! looking forward to you posting your 'mess' - you with a 'mess' and me with a 'nightmare' ... but one day US with our idylic havens

Hedgehogs are great arent they? I havn't seen one for a while now but I know they stop by. Great idea with your wildlife garden - I am planning the same and have kept some long grass - i have some buttercups growing at present, i am hopeful for daisies and want to have poppies in too. I just hope the 'impression' isnt going to be that it looks like it needs cutting.
Be careful of your cats mixing with the headgehog though, they can pass on ringworm if your cat snuggles it. this happened to one of mine years ago and it took ages to go away.

The snails may indeed be clearing the water as it is clear now after a murky start. Seriously though these snails are like everywhere around the garden! And I can't kill them, or slugs, but I read that garlic deters them so going to make up a garlic spray and rub garlic cloves over my pots.

I need to buy more salt for the weeding - next non wet day i shall be out weeding then salting the cracks. I think the salt method is fabulous as I dont like to use chemicals if I can help it.
And i bought 3 big gardening books from a charity shop - one is a year planner and easy to follow and I think this will be a big help to me

till next time happy gardening folks!