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[littleminnie]

Spent £70 in the garden centre. 
Bought 2 new hanging baskets and the plants to fill them.
A box of white violas and 6 purple pansies

[CLKD]

That will look lovely - I can't grow pansies here  and I love their little faces and their faint perfume.

[CLKD]

I have stood for an hour with the hose in a part of the garden where plants are dying due to lack of water, the earth has dried in the high winds of last week.  Hopefully they will revive ..........

[CLKD]

They did. Revive.  Drying winds 

First thing to build is a double compost: one for building, the next for turning into.  We make good compost, it takes about 2-3 years as we have deep bins with lots of air rather than a closed hot system.

2nd thing: consider water collection as many plants require lots of drink.

DH will be taking down the very old raised beds: those are planks fixed 12-15" higher than the ground which gives plants deeper root runs. 

We grow: carrots, peas, all types of beans though the runners didn't get away this year  ....... spuds are as cheap to buy.  Leeks sometimes; always parsnips, red beets and Welsh onions.  Asparagus bed will remain intact and requires regular weeding.

Peas and beans need quite a lot of space which is sheltered from wind but gets plenty of sunshine.  Bamboo poles make good wigwams for legumes to run up.

We have apple and plum trees, the squirrel gets the walnuts and cob nuts    . 

We have tried various types of squash: corgettes soon grow into marrows  and we had a squash that rambled around the garden a few years ago - followed closely by slugs  .  Our garden is too over-hung by trees to be successfully with tomoatoes, that doesn't stop DH trying each year  .    Squash etc. keep well in a cool place once cut. 

I moved the chilly plants inside this afternoon in case of frosts, they need a Very Good feed of baby-bio.  Job for tomorrow.

Never grow what you won't eat.  Grow what you use a lot of.  Make a list and check either on-line or on seed packets or catalogues when to plant etc.; I have a specific calendar for gardening.  Lots of plants can be grown in layers, i.e. staggered in age in order to get repeated pickings [clear as mud?].   Garden centre often have education evenings/afternoons for beginners.  Some villages have gardening clubs to join. 

If things don't grow we buy plants from garden centres, I don't have the energy to pick out seedlings any more.  Once you get going and find out what grows well then experiment: for example if you like beans, try a different type along with what you know will survive.  Make sure you have plenty of space in the freezer for good years ;-)

I do remember Grandad digging a trench in the Autumn into which all the peelings from the kitchen went covered by newspaper/cardboard to make a base for the next years' beans or peas. 

[Foxylady]

Spent 5hrs on Sat (beautiful day ) gardening, weeding, planting, in agony with back since!! Too much at once this is the problem in Scotland you end up doing crazy amount cause you never know when the next dry day will be

[CLKD]

GP Surgeries are usually full on Monday mornings due to excessive gardening exploits 

Get some gentle exercise, it will relate those muscles!

Have spent hours at Mum's - cutting back a budlea almost to the ground, shredding, pruning roses .....

[Two hoots]

My next door neighbours are not gardeners, they pay some people to come and tidy up, they prune everything and I mean everything including a lovely little conifer which was a pretty shape with a huge petrol powered hedge cutter 

[CLKD]

Did they pay that person or where they, like a friend, conned ........... the bloke concerned took a chain saw to all her new shrubs without asking, then demanded money  .  'If you don't pay me I'll ....... ' she was tamping.

My shrubs are WET 

[Foxylady]

Thanks CLKD, back much better after a week of co codamol, ibuprofen weaned to paracetamol instead of co codamol and today just one dose of ibuprofen (after bike ride). Back much better. I don't do anywhere near as much gardening and growing veggies as I used to since changing job (working mon - fri, 9-5pm) not as much opportunity to be in the garden giving the west of scotland climate!! x

[CLKD]

Compost shouldn't smell if it's made correctly.  People don't layer therefore anything wet goes rancid.  The idea is to grow a compost onto bare earth with a frame around: wire, wood slats etc. but always allowing air to circulate to aid rotting.  Some used a hot bed closed system but as 1 has to store the compost and build it all at once, we can't be bothered.  A layer of newspaper or cardboard on top of bare earth then load.  Veg peelings, card, paper, kitchen roll - our bin is 4 foot deep and 5 foot across.  It takes a year to build then we turn it into the spare bin until we reach the rotted soil, full of worms.  If one has mowings from a lawn always put a layer of newspaper down first and again on top.  We don't have rats either.  My family has been growing home made compost for 150 years thus far ;-)

Your plot sounds lovely McKay - Open Day soon?

[CLKD]

No hedgehogs on night film 

[CLKD]

DH has pulled all the tomatoes and is boiling them gently with home grown chilly peppers 

Lots of roses still.  Soft fruits to pick.  Autumn colours lovely. 

[CLKD]

7 pink roses, high up
Spindle in full colour with lots more berries every year  - it needs moving in the Spring
I have an orange blossom to move, it was planted 25+ years ago  .  I may take half down to see if it 'takes'
A winter flowering shrub - name escapes me but daphnia springs to mind - has it's first flowers on
An anemone had put a flower stalk up  - they usually flower in May.  All pots have new foliage, the first time I've ever got them through!  Do I need to bring them into the porch?
Lots of duck weed needs clearing .......

The tomatoes mix [above] is tasty with a hint of home grown chilly   

[CLKD]

Any 1 grow figs ?  Advice please 

[littleminnie]

Bought some Asters in the summer.  They have stopped flowering but haven't died down. Do I leave them as they are, cut them back or compost them?