How Does Your Garden Grow ?

[mirry]

Hello Friends, Ive been trying to make an effort today to get myself out of this dark cloud , so decided to think about my garden (which is horrible)
I have sown some mixed lettace leaves in a tub, they are the cut and come again ones (really easy) and am thinking about sowing some tomato plants next week. Have any of you started making garden plans ?

[Piglet]

Well I started by mowing the lawn last week for Karens visit - grass was getting scarily long.

I love sitting in the garden with a brew and watching the squirrels - it's a nice safe place to be

If its nice this weekend then I may get into some serious weeding!

Piglet x

[rosebud]

I think gardening is very therapeutic.
Haven't done any lately but i love to get out there when the weathers nice and i always sleep like a log after a good days gardening ! All that fresh air.

Traceyxxx

[jodie]

hi mirry

i like doing the garden this time of the year i dont like it when it is hot and i dont like wasps lol i have started to tidy arond from all the winter weather and winds .

jodie x

[Piglet]

I wonder if any of you watched Monty Don's prog on BBC2 tonight about people and their allotments!!

Every single one of them said how theraputic it was to work on them. Also a film is coming out later in the year with allotments as its background theme.

Piglet xx

[kazzie]

Hi Mirry

Well I took the cowards way out and had my entire garden slabbed over 3 yrs ago!!!

That said i had sown 3 lawns that my labrador wrecked......

So now I do all my gardening in pots!!!

At present I have loads of spring bulbs coming up!!!

I have fairy lights strung round a tree outdoor lighting and a chimnea and an otter water feature!!!!

I grow tomatoes and mini cucumbers and lillies mostly!!!!

Ahh roll on the hot lazy days of summer..........

Luv Kaz x x x

[Karen]

Well I started by mowing the lawn last week for Karens visit - grass was getting scarily long.

And how lovely it looked too

Does anyone know if you can grow strawberry plants in pots indoors - I live in a flat so don't have a garden? And when you can get the plants?

Karen xx

[kazzie]

Hi Karen

You could grow them indoors but not that well they need bees to pollinate them

How about a window box or balcony

You can get the plants from april in garden centres!!!!

Or a sunny windowsill and leave the window open sometimes maybe????

Hope this helps??

Luv Kaz x x x

[Karen]

Thanks Kazzie

I have a balcony they could sit on at the moment but then I am looking to move to somewhere cheaper so might not have outside space then.

Maybe I'll have to make do with going to the local farm and picking strawberries instead

Karen xx

[Evie]

We used to live in a rented farmhouse with an acre of garden, half of which was rough paddock. The snowdrops and wild daffodils were wonderful but what a lot of work. What the rabbits couldn't reach the hares could, and what the hares couldn't reach the deer could. I only wish they'd preferred the grass as goodness knows there was too much to keep mown, even when we just mowed paths through the padddock.

Now I have a teensy weensy garden with a small, diamond of slabs surrounded by triangular corner beds and a tiny area set off to one side for tomatoes. I too grow a lot in tubs. I have a Rhododendron Fragrantissima - huge white heavily scented flowers - in a pot next to my chair, and a white jasmine, a heavily scented rose and a wisteria also in pots close by. Everything has to smell exquisite to earn it's keep here as the area's so small. Lots of David Austin roses, a Clematis Armandii along the trellis atop the wall will provide early scent, to be followed by Rosa Albertine and Rosa Heritage, and a Passion Flower twined amongst them for later in the summer. I tied in all the roses last weekend and got scratched to ribbons but I like to tie them in as low and as flat as possible as it encourages the sideshoots and I get masses of flowers as a result. I have a double Lilac, a semi-dwarf apple tree (Tydeman's Early Worcester) at the top right, and a dwarf Victoria Plum top right. Rosa Gertrude Jekyll bottom left with a lavander (pretty battered, needs replacing) and lots of ferns in the shady bits. On the right, in front of Rosa Albertine are Rosa Queen of Denmark and Rosa Mundi. I have a few self-seeded foxgloves and evening primrose, and forget-me-nots and alpine strawberries between the flags and stones which line the beds. Iris at the back, where they get most sun, and Dame's Violet (Hesperis Matronalis, also known as Sweet Rocket). The garden's south-facing and has excellent soil so I'm very lucky. I had great luck with a tomato called Sungold last summer - I will buy two plants from the local garden centre a little later in the season when the frost risk has passed. I have a large strawberry pot with normal strawberries but prefer the little alpine ones - much tastier! Slugs got my snowdrops (toads still hibernating) but daffy and narcissi bulbs coming through and my wild primroses are out. I have also got some "wanda hybrid" primulas to plant out today - oh, and I bought a lovely double-pink Camellia for only £6.99! Spot the girl who loves gardening. Better get that Camellia into its pot (lime-free soil, of course!) H :-)