Gardening

[mjmooney]

[Xann]

Very nice.

Is there a bar in the shed?

[TheAuthority]

Growing up my grandma had a fantastic garden. Long lawn and at the end there was a raised paved area with a rose garden. It was the center of family life during spring and summer weekends.

Years after she died my uncle (a painter) went to the people who had bought the house and they let him paint pictures of the garden from his old bedroom window.

My father also loved his lawns, grew runner beans in our garden and when he retired created a raised paved area with a rose garden similar to the one his mom had.

I always imagined having a garden "when I was older" and it's something that makes me sad about living in a city apartment. I've been having this strange strong urge to grow lots plants and vegetables these past few years!

Edited May 23, 2018 by TheAuthority

[Rob182]

Thanks @Xela & @TheAuthority, it really is a nice garden. Credit to the people who lived here before me, as a lot of time, money and effort has been put into it. It’s got so many different plants and trees bulging out of every crevice (go on, I’ve tee’d that up for someone). My dad knows his plants and was walking down my garden a few days ago pointing out the different things.. aqualisa.. hazel.. magnolia.. a fig tree (apparently).. lilac.. etc etc.

 

I haven’t got a clue. My wife enjoys gardening, and did a good job on the previous one. Whereas my best attempt at gardening is doing the striped lines when mowing the grass.

[TheAuthority]

 

I'm in LA this week and this is the garden where I'm staying. 

[TheAuthority]

7 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

 bulging out of every crevice

 

Couldn't help myself.

[MickeyC_UTV]

56 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

my grandma had a fantastic garden.

 

[chrisp65]

Thought I'd join in the garden photos but add in some home made rock cakes. I burnt them myself!

[bickster]

I may post a photo of the atrocity exhibition that is my lawn when I've finally finished killing it this weekend

[Dante_Lockhart]

Relaxing after hosting a party for my 4 year old.

[Dante_Lockhart]

Gonna put some stepping stones in the bottom archway this weekend probably. Save the grass.

[bickster]

The Atrocity Exhibition

One totally killed lawn. Now reseeded

First pic shows a patch of what it used to grow like. Second pic shows it mown to within an inch of it's life and raked and raked and raked and raked and cut again

[blandy]

1 hour ago, bickster said:

The Atrocity Exhibition

One totally killed lawn. Now reseeded 

First pic shows a patch of what it used to grow like. Second pic shows it mown to within an inch of it's life and raked and raked and raked and raked and cut again...

Looks like you put your heart and soul into it, though it could take decades to recover - certainly more than twenty four hours.

[chrisp65]

[bickster]

38 minutes ago, blandy said:

Looks like you put your heart and soul into it, though it could take decades to recover - certainly more than twenty four hours.

Well I'm hoping it continue growing, I'll have a ceremony in two weeks

[Ingram85]

So my Nan went into a dementia home this time last year as she had got to the point where the gradual decline turned into a catastrophic flick of the mental switch. I won’t go anymore into that but in March my dad asked if I wanted to move into her house and pay him some rent that goes towards my Nans care and so that the house stays in the family instead of being sold off. Im now the 5th generation of my dads side to live in the house. I’m enjoying it and it is definitely weird but I’ll get used to it.

Anyway, both gardens hadn’t been taken care of for what I think is about 7-9 months, the front garden was like a mix of a UNESCO world heritage site and Jurassic Park. The back garden wasn’t so bad apart from some giant triffid like plants growing at the top half between the crazy paving, loads of pots and a load of mucky buckets, bin bags and tubs full of rain water and funk and whatnot. The hedges had started to close in as well.

Its taken me the best part of a week and a half but I’m now nearly there. I just need to redefine the edging around the front lawn and cut out a load of plants inbetween bushes and whatnot and then let the grass heal itself as it hasn’t seen sunlight for a long time much like Bicks lawn above. The photos really don’t do justice to the work I’ve done but **** me it’s a transformation and a half. I can’t describe how bad and how long the grass at the front was, the hedges were wild and the back concrete paving was full of moss and weeds and then loads of flower pots with dead/dying plants along the front bottom wall which have been chucked and I’ve kept the nice/alive ones. Where the steps are in the bottom photo you couldn’t even see them before . 

Still a bit of work left but I’ve got it to a state now where it’s a blank canvas and I can relax.

Edited June 10, 2018 by Ingram85

[mjmooney]

Good work, sir. That'll be a nice place to sit out with a beer. 

[TheAuthority]

Echoing Mike's sentiments.

That back garden is a lovely place to sit out and have a tea/beer and a chill.

[VILLAMARV]

Not much of a gardener for the first 40 years, but over the last few years and having a ground floor flat with a bit of garden I've had to do the basics and cut back things n that. Other than sorting out a proper compost heap we've never really done a lot and as we rent the idea of investing too much energy into somewhere you might leave has always been a bit off putting to get really invested. Luckily someone who lived here years ago really loved their garden so after clearing it up after years of neglect there's not really a lot to do other than cut back the bushes, dead head the roses and mow the lawn. Never really one for growing pretty flowers and such (MrsVM gets hayfever) or worrying about the state of the lawn however me and MrsVM always fancied growing a bit of food and at least seeing how easy it would be to plant stuff, do very little or preferably no maintenance and end up with stuff you can eat.

Last year I found some really cheap big plastic tubs in a closing down sale and thought I'd try growing a bit of really low maintenance stuff. The basil never really worked. The Dill grew well. All the salad leaves came up and the ones that survived the slug and snail onslaught kept us in salad leaves through last summer. In fact there was more than we could eat (were not on the salad every day!) and some of it just went to seed. But buoyed on by the relative success I thought I'd take a bit more time with it this year although with the influence on walking round the garden half an hour in the morning putting water on stuff (unless its raining!) and half an hour an evening getting slugs off stuff!

I'm going to chuck a spoiler box in just to make it easy to scroll past if you dont want a long ramble about my containers

Spoiler

Didn't really get on with anything outside till May this year but was pretty chuffed to find the Wild Rocket had survived the late frost and was bolting already. Cut it back, eat the leaves obviously and now it's leading the charge out there in my back garden. 4 solitary lettuce leaf thingys also survived so I repotted them after the rest of the tubs got a makeover and freshening up as nothing else seemed to be growing apart from weeds. The strawberries I put in some smallish tubs last year also survived the winter but there's 3 plants in 3 tubs and if I get to eat a strawberry all summer I'll be amazed if I manage to beat the birds/molluscs to them.

The lovely old couple next door were getting rid of some old fairly nice sized plastic tubs and asked if I wanted them so I gladly accepted. I also found when I was clearing out the shed a load of seeds I'd bought about 8 years ago, so obviously past their dates on the packets.A pack of 5 different Mixed salad leaves, Lettuce, Rocket, Spinach, Tomatoes, Spring Onions, Peppers, Coriander and Chard. You can see where this bit is going. Some of the leaves have started to appear, some of them haven't, the lettuce have all come up. About half the spinach seeds sprouted and the Chard is a bit sparse at the moment but nice and coulourful where it's come up. The 8 years past its date Rocket is thriving. In normal little pots I chucked some of the other stuff. There were 2 different types of Tomato seed both 8 years old. The 'moneymakers' have sprouted and I was separating the seedlings into their own little pots yesterday, The cherry variety I only got one sprout from the whole pack, but on the upside I don't have to re-pot it yet . None of the packet of spring onion seeds has been seen yet. I'm not sure if the sprout in the Pepper tub is a weed or a pepper yet. I think it's a weed

I also had some Kale, Basil, Dill, Rocket, Rosso lettuce leaves and Spinach seeds left over from last year (And therefore still in date). The Kale and Spinach I never bothered with last year but both are coming through nicely. Spinach took a bit of a bttering from the slugs and snails but I tried some of the older ones in a seed tray so the ones that got got have been replenished in nice little rows! Lettuce leaves going well. The in date Rocket leaves are a bit sparse at the moment and I'm 100% sure I didn't mix the packets/tubs up either!

Herb wise the Dill is easy to grow. After the failure last year with growing Basil I'm chuffed to see the sprouts coming up. It's my gardening ambition to be self sufficient in coriander! Along with Basil it's my favourite herb and I've tried at times half heartedly to grow it with no success at all. This year someone told me to crush/split the seeds in half before planting and it seems to have done the trick although the slugs seem to be heading for the coriander over everything and they were about 10 years old these ones! but I'd say about 60% came up, even if a fair few of them have been gobbled up by the molluscs. The few that have hung on are starting to look like coriander which is feeling like a bit of a win for me due to past failures! I also have some garlic chives which my auntie gave me in a pot a couple of years ago that didn't die on my windowsill and they have a bit more space and some new soil now so herb wise Chives and Dill seem to be tricky to kill, Basil and Coriander seems to be growing this year for the first time for me. Alongside the Rosemary bush outside the back door (Which came with the flat lol not my doing!) we're kinda getting there herb wise.

I've also chucked some old potatos (I've done the bag thing once before but with a small crop at the end), Shallots and Garlic that were sprouting in the cupboard in bags and tubs respectively. The little supermarket taters already need more soil and the old compost bags rolling up. The rest of the stuff is all organic stuff the better half got from some farm shop so I expected it would grow but never done anything bulby like that before so it's all an experiment for me. The two organic spuds only went in last week. The shallots and garlic went in about 5/6 weeks ago and have all sprouted and the tops are growing well. We also had a cherry tomato and a handful of blueberries also left over from MrsVM's trip to the farm shop so instead of chucking them in the compost heap I sliced them up and stuck them in some little pots about a week or two ago and covered them with a bit of soil. I now have 3/4 seedlings off the tomatoes and expecting more and nothing has been seen of the blueberries as of yet. And she said I was mad! (She may be right about that). I've used pretty much everything to hand now - broken tubs - empty compost bags - plastic tubs you buy mushrooms in and I'm feeling like I need to get a few more big tubs to put stuff in..... and more compost! Planting food 'going off' in the cupboard to grow more food is proving to be fun though.

Basically I haven't got a clue what I'm doing when it comes to spacing, yield, feeding (I don't really know if i'm supposed to water a little or a lot and all that). I'm never going to devote the time to an allotment and I don't own a garden or plot of land to get stuck into. I haven't got loads of space and I'm watching a few youtube vids for pointers. But paying a quid a time for a packet of salad leaves or rocket and then throwing half of it away and doing it all again next time it's a sunny day and you fancy a bit of salad gets a bit tiresome and I have some paths which get a lot of light around my flat and enough tubs now to probably fill the back of a transit van. Which might be handy if we want to move! Also herbs make food taste nice but 70/80p a time starts to add up and growing the odd stem of basil in a glass on the windowsill isn't going to cut it.

The hope with all the leafy stuff is that in a few weeks we should have a choice of stuff to accompany our main thing at tea time like a bit of meat or fish or whatever and grow one item that we eat a day basically. And see how long we can keep that up for. Even if we're still going down the supermarket for spring onions, cucumber and tomatos on salad days. And spuds, onions and other veggies and all that.

My opinion on the tomatos is they'll be more fuss than they are worth but I was in 'plant all the out of date seed' mode so I may as well give it a go this year. I have an old tomato grow bag down the bottom of the garden that has probably sat there for 5/6 years untouched with their name on it. The rest I was going to get some more big tubs and just see how they go.

Any gardeners out there got any tips/suggestions? Anyone think there's something really easy to grow without much maintenance that I could grow in tubs? Radishes aren't really high on my list of favourites but someone was saying they are good for the soil? Something about being in Wales makes me think I should be giving Leeks a go. Not a fan of sprouts or beetroot when it comes to tea time but we like pretty much everything else. Anyone ever tried growing Kohl Rabi for instance? How easy is that? Someone with an allotment gave me some once years ago and that was pretty nice I seem to remember. And quite small!

Still have a fair bit of out of date lettuce and salad leaf seeds to go in somewhere and I'm going to need somewhere to plant my tomatos and the rest of the stuff if it starts popping out of the soil. The way the garlic and shallots have grown so quickly is encouraging me to plant more of both. Shallots over onions in my mind due to the lack of space in a tub. Don't really want a whole tub for just one thing like a broccoli or a whole cabbage or whatnot. Seems a lot of time for not a lot of return when you're pushed for space to my mind. Cut and come again is the key really and or stuff with a pretty short growing time. But hopefully be the last load of seeds I'll plant this year and start to actually eat some of it. (Staggered my planting ftw this year lol!)

If anyone out there like me wondering now the sun is shining whether to give any of this a whirl I would totally recommend it. I couldn't care less from a financial pov if the tub and the soil and the seed and the water and the time equate to cheaper or more expensive than the shops. Anywhere that gets some sun and some rain could be growing something. If I had a balcony I'd be growing some salad leaves and a few herbs for sure (they really are easy). If like me you have a bit of space outside your flat / house / Caravan then get a few tubs and see where the novices enthusiasm or lack of it gets you. Still time to plant stuff now and be eating it by the end of the World Cup! And all in a tidy little container with no brambles, hardly any weeding and no need for a spade or anything more backbreaking than lifting a bag of compost or pouring out the tub of soil etc. bit of a trowelling and you're good to go!

[snowychap]

1 hour ago, VILLAMARV said:

Any gardeners out there got any tips/suggestions?

I'm not. I do have a garden on the go and I am growing stuff but I really don't know what I'm doing.

I've had a fair amount of success over the past few years and also a lot of failures (tomatoes mainly).

A suggestion for a relatively cheap option on herbs is to get the living herb things from supermarkets and repot them in proper conditions with more space - so split them up in to two or three if it's basil/thyme/parsley.

Also, courgettes are a piece of piss to grow and cucumbers aren't that difficult. If you're having to use pots and are tight on space then get some canes and make a wigwam for them to grow up but just make sure it's strong as the fruits will be quite weighty. Worth having a look in your local B&Q/Homebase/Garden Centre as they may be selling off these things for a reduced price in the next few weeks and there's still plenty of tim for them. I only planted mine outside this weekend.

Might not be an easy thing to find but I'd recommend some tree spinach if you can find it.

I bought a small plant a month ago for £1.20 and it's a couple of feet tall (can get to about 6 foot). Use the young leaves in salads or cook the bigger leaves as you would normal spinach. Also looks excellent.

Good luck with it all!

Edited June 11, 2018 by snowychap