Newbie - Help pls!!

Hi all

I am new to both this site and gardening in general. I have finally inherited a garden of sorts, although most of the back is taken up with a courtyard (great for the children but boring for me!). There have been two raised beds installed by the previous owners, with 2 strange looking trees in one and the remains of a herb garden in the other. There are various other straggly looking plants here and there, and my question is if they look past their best now are they likely to spring into life in the next couple of months or can i just assume they will stay much the same and pull them out. I have tried to identify them with the books i have purchased but of course with no blooms or even foliage on most it's impossible for a newbie!! Am desparate to get going but don't want to kill off something wonderful. :confused:

 

hi, are there any new shoots coming up in the soil around them?could be theyre just anuals from last year. maybe just wait awhile longer to be sure.maybe sprinkle bonemeal on soil(not on plants)and water and rake in.

 

oh and use gloves for bonemeal and dont let the bairns touch it.

 

wait and see what you have in the beds, they may look sad now but you may be surprised later. You'll never know if you dispose of them. If you still think they are not worth keeping by, say june you could put some annual bedding in for the summer and think about planting new shrubs/trees in the autumn.

 

Thanks for your advice. I have another question...is it possible to incorporate a few herbs and vegetables into a normal flowerbed? The children and i would love to give growing our own a go, but as my soil space is so limited i don't want to restrict myself to row after row of potatoes and beans, i want it to look nice too so we can hold summer bbq's where i can show off my new obsession!

 

Absolutely! It's one of the in things with Titchmarsh and co. I wouldn't put in potatoes or rhubarb, though, as the leaves are poisonous. Things like rosemary look and smell great, as well things like runner beans, which you can pop in a pot and train up a wigwam of bamboo canes. Anything goes! AFter all, it's your garden - do what you want with it!

 

Yes it is!!!! You can train runner and climbing beans up netting put against walls and fences at the back of borders, plant some lettuces, radishes, spring onions,parsley, etc along the front of the borders as edging. Also you can plant loads of veg in containers too (peppers, chillies, carrots,peas on a wigwam....). In one of my kiddies book, they plant potatoes in colouful buckets (B&Q do orange builders buckets for about 97p), you can get tumbling cherry tomatoes for hanging baskets, and don't forget the strawberry tower. You don't have to get expensive pots, we have a large pot with around 6 plants around the edge, then a medium size pot in the middle with around 4 plants around the edge topped off with a small pot in the middle with 1 to 2 plant in that!!). If you have a small bit of spare wall, why not get a mini lean-to greenhouse for some cucumbers and tomatoes, they cost around �£30). We found our kiddies couldn't wait to eat what they grew!!!
Hope this helps!!

 

Thanx so much, I'm all fired up now and want to get going! The children will be thrilled to be able to get muddy and get away with it! I'm definatly off to the garden centre as soon as the boys have gone to school tomorrow! Does anyone know a good trustworthy web-site for buying seeds? I'd like to grow organic veg if it isn't too much harder so want to start off with good quality seeds to give them the best chance.

 

I use Mr Fothergills and Thompson and Morgan....
If you have room, try and put in a small bubble fountain (ponds are dangerous with young kiddies), with lots of shade and undergrowth around it, as you will probably get some frogs!!! Something my two boys were just blown away with when we got frogs last year!!! And they eat all those yeuckky slugs!! :D (the frogs - not the kiddies!! )

 

What a lovely idea, I'm so glad we have this new opportunity. You don't realise what you're missing until you get a garden of your own. I've already instructed hubby to get some bbq tips from the guys at work, told all family to get garden toys for birthdays - mine included - and informed my 4 children that beach trips and the zoo are out this summer - we're gardening!

 

if they're still doing the offer, you can get free organic tomato seeds from the HDRA site - I think it's now called Garden Organic
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/index.php

 

4 childern!!!!!! Blimey, will you have time for gardening???!!!! (or is that 3 + hubby!!!!! ) :eek: :D

 

No, hubby is no.5 some days!! I'm hoping to get the children involved during the holidays and use it to get a bit of 'me-time' at the weekends when daddy can do the childcare. I'm just so impatient to get out there, but it keeps snowing! We never get snow in Devon!!! I keep reading all the posts and trying to use this time to learn what i can before i start. I was so excited to see snowdrops have appeared, it's great to see a flower even when they are surrounded by dead-looking woody mess!

 

HI Supermum10,
I have planted leeks at the back of the borders, lettuces, raddishes, beetroot, carrots, rocket, any where else dotted between other plants, fills up space, and TUMMIES when they are ready to pick....

 

Snowdrops are always welcome at this time of year. A tip for you - if you want to move them to another part of the garden, then move them when they have stopped flowering, but still have green leaves. They are one bulb that is better planted "in the green".

Spring is not far off now - so make use of these cold weeks, to think what you want you want your garden to look like. Cos you can start preparing beds and soil ready for your new planting - whilst you wait and see what's going to come up in those raised beds.