The garden catalogue from Dobies came today.It has vegetables and fruit, flower seeds, and flower plants ready grown.The colours are magnificent, old favourites and new ones i have not heard of.It is inspiring stuff.
What are the best colours for each border?What could grow well in pots?Which will the enemy pests devour the most?
What veg's can i try to grow?I have no experience.The slugs decimated my veg crop last time and only pellets saved the little gem lettuces.
I want to try to grow strawberries and tomatoes, maybe potatoes too.Watch this space.Im going back to the catalogue with all its photos.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Old man of the Andes
The original old man of the andes, with his bristley grey beard.He collapsed before under the weight of new growth. This is the repotted top section.The base (his old legs) have two baby cactus growing at the top.
african violet
My african violet.It new crown has some flower buds which is the first time ever that an african violet has reflowered.Normally bought from a shop in full bloom they fade eventually.This one has purple flowers, and believe it or not it flowered continuously from last april to december.As i picked off dead flowers it rebloomed.Photos if it flowers again....
garden invaders
well today i discovered a hole in our front garden hedge.Some scraggy kids have pulled the branches off and flattened the wire fencing.I was annoyed at them, so a new garden job is to repair the damage.There are too many dogs wandering around for our garden to be exposed.The grandkids play in the garden so we have to repair the hedge.
Its mindless and stupid.I half wanted to go to their gardens and rip their hedge apart or pull the fence down.
My garden of solitude has been desecrated.I guess i will fix it,and move on.The garden is part of all our lives.
I repotted a bakers dozen little aloe vera plants.The parent plant was a leaving gift from Gloucester two and half years ago.Despite changing colour and looking dead it has revived.
I am growing an amarylis in the kitchen.Some photos to follow.When its too cold outside i can nuture my houseplants.....
Its mindless and stupid.I half wanted to go to their gardens and rip their hedge apart or pull the fence down.
My garden of solitude has been desecrated.I guess i will fix it,and move on.The garden is part of all our lives.
I repotted a bakers dozen little aloe vera plants.The parent plant was a leaving gift from Gloucester two and half years ago.Despite changing colour and looking dead it has revived.
I am growing an amarylis in the kitchen.Some photos to follow.When its too cold outside i can nuture my houseplants.....
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
winter muse
what do you think i should grow from the spring onwards?Last year i tried to grow tomatos and started with seedlings but they all died mysteriously.I grew little gem lettuces but got too tired to pick them and they turned into tall plants.The carrots were demolished by hordes of slugs, and the spring onions were decimated.
Im thinking of grow bags for salad leaves, pots for tomatoe plants and strawberries.I think i will not plant fruit and veg in the ground.
My neighbours have little time for gardening.One side is under attack from every weed that grows across.Bindweed, crows feet, brambles,nettles...
Im more of a flower person.The old favourites are geraniums, busy lizzies, roses, french marigolds.
I grew some beautiful evening primroses which have been killed by the frosts...
I want some new rose bushes for the border besides the coal bunker.Maybe some climbers on the back fence.I think some chain link fence will be support for growing climbing plants.I will look up companian planting to keep away bugs, and encourage lady birds etc.
I want to start feeding the birds again.I dont know hows best to put the food out.I have been using the birch tree, and the concrete post with a metal bolt stuck out of it.
The grass needs trimming.I could do with a lawn mower with wheels.The garden slopes from top to bottom but can be cut along the slopes.The hover mower needs physically pushing.It was twenty pounds two years ago...
Im waiting for some seeds catalogue to come so i can design the garden borders in my head.Winter is about tidying, and sitting indoors planning with a hot drink and colour pictures from glossy brochures.
Im thinking of grow bags for salad leaves, pots for tomatoe plants and strawberries.I think i will not plant fruit and veg in the ground.
My neighbours have little time for gardening.One side is under attack from every weed that grows across.Bindweed, crows feet, brambles,nettles...
Im more of a flower person.The old favourites are geraniums, busy lizzies, roses, french marigolds.
I grew some beautiful evening primroses which have been killed by the frosts...
I want some new rose bushes for the border besides the coal bunker.Maybe some climbers on the back fence.I think some chain link fence will be support for growing climbing plants.I will look up companian planting to keep away bugs, and encourage lady birds etc.
I want to start feeding the birds again.I dont know hows best to put the food out.I have been using the birch tree, and the concrete post with a metal bolt stuck out of it.
The grass needs trimming.I could do with a lawn mower with wheels.The garden slopes from top to bottom but can be cut along the slopes.The hover mower needs physically pushing.It was twenty pounds two years ago...
Im waiting for some seeds catalogue to come so i can design the garden borders in my head.Winter is about tidying, and sitting indoors planning with a hot drink and colour pictures from glossy brochures.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
our babies
Tia, and Cara asleep in the take away box with my tea towels for blankets.They are so cute....
front window border
View of front window border, some heather and ravaged geraniums are all that remains...
backyard view
here is the back garden side view.Notice the snail night light, and freshly added compost layer on top of soil.The grass is thick and still wet from winter rain.
what kind of flower are you?
You are a Rose:
You are creative, sensual, passionate, and bold.
You pour your heart into everything that you
do. Alluring and gifted with strong sex appeal,
you very easily draw people in with your animal
magnetism.
Symbolsim: The rose has always been a flower
heavily loaded with symbolism. In general it
symbolizes desire, passion, beauty, and
enchantment.
Which Flower are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
How does your garden grow?
I wanted to explain an anology earlier.As I tidied the flotsam and jetsom of last years garden I likened it to a canvas.
When an artist paints the canvas is fitted to the board, stretched, and sits pristine.Waiting to be painted, full of colour, and life.
I have dug borders, a square, two rectangles, and the backyard one which is like a three sided shape following either the fence or house red bricks.
With all the summer bedding plants gone, and new compost laid down it looks bare.My imagination furnishes it out.
New seeds, new plants bought, repaired from transit,rearranged on the soil in eye pleasing patterns.Then holes dug, plants bedded down, and watered.
I envisioned.....
Busy lizzies, geraniums, rows of lavender, rosemary, fresh herbs in a wheel.A new rose garden with trellising at the back with climbers like ivy or nasturtium.
Who can resisit sunflowers?I have only managed to grow two.The hillside weather and slugs kill most of them before they can get strong.
My hostas are chilling beneath the soil waiting to spring back up for a third year.I read a swedish ladys garden blog and she talked about why we want to garden.
Darwinism/religeon were the two she mentioned, but then talked about her father and his rhodadendrums, and a nursery man who gave her her first plant.
I got the gardening bug from my mother i think.She loved to go outside after work and tidy the garden.We started sharing that interest when i was at uni.
I started an obscession with houseplants, and that grew to include gardens.I watched lots of TV, bought magasines, and helped tidy hers.Soon my green fingers worked wanders, and it was like i had always done it.
Maybe its genetic, my family on mums side were from rural gloucestershire.Farming country.I think the gardening genes were passed down.I get deja vu doing gardening jobs like digging, cutting grass then raking the dead grass and thatch.
The garden is my canvas.Through trial and error I will work out what best grows on a hillside garden with clay heavy soil.The plants, shrubs, and trees are my paints.The sky above my muse and witness.The photo and blog are an exploration of my art, good and bad.
There was an original garden in the bible beginning (The garden of Eden).People must have wanted to grow things for food first, then commerce, but then they wanted more aesthetic things.Flowers with bright colours, sweet scents on breezy summery days.
The artist orchestrates, arranges, mixes, and hopefully makes a masterpiece.But unlike old painting in national museums the garden has a limited life.Photos can capture that wander and magic, and hold it.
I got nostalgic looking at my fireworks of french marigolds, and orange tea roses.Busy lizzies with white stars on pink petals.
She also mentioned the idea that every year you plan for next years garden, but enjoy this years and that is very true.Keep on growing blogosphere!!!
When an artist paints the canvas is fitted to the board, stretched, and sits pristine.Waiting to be painted, full of colour, and life.
I have dug borders, a square, two rectangles, and the backyard one which is like a three sided shape following either the fence or house red bricks.
With all the summer bedding plants gone, and new compost laid down it looks bare.My imagination furnishes it out.
New seeds, new plants bought, repaired from transit,rearranged on the soil in eye pleasing patterns.Then holes dug, plants bedded down, and watered.
I envisioned.....
Busy lizzies, geraniums, rows of lavender, rosemary, fresh herbs in a wheel.A new rose garden with trellising at the back with climbers like ivy or nasturtium.
Who can resisit sunflowers?I have only managed to grow two.The hillside weather and slugs kill most of them before they can get strong.
My hostas are chilling beneath the soil waiting to spring back up for a third year.I read a swedish ladys garden blog and she talked about why we want to garden.
Darwinism/religeon were the two she mentioned, but then talked about her father and his rhodadendrums, and a nursery man who gave her her first plant.
I got the gardening bug from my mother i think.She loved to go outside after work and tidy the garden.We started sharing that interest when i was at uni.
I started an obscession with houseplants, and that grew to include gardens.I watched lots of TV, bought magasines, and helped tidy hers.Soon my green fingers worked wanders, and it was like i had always done it.
Maybe its genetic, my family on mums side were from rural gloucestershire.Farming country.I think the gardening genes were passed down.I get deja vu doing gardening jobs like digging, cutting grass then raking the dead grass and thatch.
The garden is my canvas.Through trial and error I will work out what best grows on a hillside garden with clay heavy soil.The plants, shrubs, and trees are my paints.The sky above my muse and witness.The photo and blog are an exploration of my art, good and bad.
There was an original garden in the bible beginning (The garden of Eden).People must have wanted to grow things for food first, then commerce, but then they wanted more aesthetic things.Flowers with bright colours, sweet scents on breezy summery days.
The artist orchestrates, arranges, mixes, and hopefully makes a masterpiece.But unlike old painting in national museums the garden has a limited life.Photos can capture that wander and magic, and hold it.
I got nostalgic looking at my fireworks of french marigolds, and orange tea roses.Busy lizzies with white stars on pink petals.
She also mentioned the idea that every year you plan for next years garden, but enjoy this years and that is very true.Keep on growing blogosphere!!!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
cleaning the canvas
well i finally braved the outside weather today.I cleaned up the winter debris of dead plants, leaves, and frost bitten casualties..I took my compost out of the bin and put it onto the borders.It has an extra few inches to insulate the soil and suppress the weeds.
I trimmed the lavender and rosemary, reclaimed some bulbs (gladiolus which i now know need staking to stay upright..drunken sailors), took out some weeds, nettles, and baby brambles.
My white birch is bare, but looks ghostly with white/tan bark stripping from the trunk.The grass is sleepy but thick, and wet underfoot.My trainers got soaked.
Some survivors from winter are the geraniums, heather, lavender, rosemary, and the silver senecio cinnereria (dusty miller) which look leggy but add structure to the borders.
i need to go to the plant shop to buy some more plants.I have visions now of this summers garden.Will take photos tomorrow.I run out of light today.....
I trimmed the lavender and rosemary, reclaimed some bulbs (gladiolus which i now know need staking to stay upright..drunken sailors), took out some weeds, nettles, and baby brambles.
My white birch is bare, but looks ghostly with white/tan bark stripping from the trunk.The grass is sleepy but thick, and wet underfoot.My trainers got soaked.
Some survivors from winter are the geraniums, heather, lavender, rosemary, and the silver senecio cinnereria (dusty miller) which look leggy but add structure to the borders.
i need to go to the plant shop to buy some more plants.I have visions now of this summers garden.Will take photos tomorrow.I run out of light today.....
winter plans
here is a few pics from the garden with a light dusting of snow.Now sadly melted but these record the beautiful white snow.Need to take more pics on Sallyannes new digital camera and plan the new year garden.
Remembering the successes and failures of last year...keep on growing!!
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