gardening....

[captainbovine]

anyone else getting the need to go out in the garden and get mucky? Once spring comes I just love to get out there, tidy up the winter stuff and start to think what annuals I want to use for the summer.....

I have a couple of structual ideas to do this year too...must try and win round OH as he will be doing most of it hahahahaha

[bitsnknots]

We are planning to start on the front garden at the weekend.  It needs tidying up a lot.

Good luck with your OH CB.

[1311rose]

My back garden has a lawn that resembles a swamp at the moment.

I've got seeds ready to start but the weather is not playing ball!

[bitsnknots]

We had our front lawn taken up about five years ago but we still a lawn at the back.  The lawn is full of moss so before I mow it for the first time, I'll get the electric lawn rake on it.  In our front garden, we have an oval shape edged with bricks and in the centre, we have slate chippings.  We still have the border with plants, shrubs and rose bushes.

[kaeptm]

I managed to get out in my front garden at the weekend. It was long overdue. 

2 years ago I stripped off the grass and planted a wild flower garden. The 1st year I was really pleased with it, it looked lovely all summer.

The general advice with this sort of garden is to strim it in the Autumn. Me being a somewhat lazy gardener thought, well a real wild garden wouldn't get strimmed and I just left it.

Last summer it looked quite sad. Some of the flowers grew but it basicly looked like a bit of waste ground 😞

So last weekend I dug it over and pulled everything up. This weekend I intend to dig it over again and rake it, then it's ready for seeding. After that you just leave it and hopefully it grows as pretty as before. But this time I will strim it in the Autumn!

Back garden needs tidying and a grass cut, but that will have to wait a bit. But really can't wait to get out there and do it.

I've tried to add a pic from summer 2012.......

[kaeptm]

Sorry pic is huge. control - will reduce it to a seeable size 🙂 You'll then have to control + to get your text readable again.

[kaeptm]

That's better 

[dairyview123]

Aww that is so pretty, we rehomed our chickens last winter and their run 30ft x 10ft is now going to be turned into a wild flower garden, after seeing yours it is definately going to happen. I have 4 packets of seeds waiting to be scattered so bring it on!

I love the poppies in your picture againt the white daisies.

[lhasa.two]

That wild garden pic looks lovely and good idea dairyview to cover your chicken run with wild flowers, bet they'll do well with all that chicken manure!  

This morning I'm planning on doing a bit of weeding on a long narrow bed where I've planted lots of bulbs which are all coming through now, then covering the ground with some organic manure with a top layer of bark chips which should help them along.

I've got structural stuff to do and beds that need double digging over but the ground's still too wet and with the unreliable weather it's difficult to know when to start. 

[captainbovine]

those wild flowers look so lovely, remind me of my childhood running through the corn field and all the lovely poppies in there.....

I need to get out in the back and weed, but I can't hold onto the garden tools and the crutches!!! so I plan to wait a bit.

the grass is full of moss and grass weeds, but I just leave it, it's too old a lawn to do anything with other than replace it and that's not going to happen!!!

[petitecalicocat]

Lovely pic of  wildflowers , we let part of our garden go for wildflowersone year.    Just sprinkled the seeds & wow the birds & insects love it & are a joy to watch on a lazy summer day 🙂

[ed_blackadder_1]

Would love to cut the front grass but it is like a swamp so I think it will need to wait,  I have gravel at the side, and there is more weed than gravel,  so we are going to order a bag of chippings in a couple of week,  everything looks wild and wooley and needs a bloomin cood tidy up, can't wait, might start this weekend.  Only me to do it as OH isn't in to gardening unless it is building walls or fences, doesn't like the arty stuff, typical engineer.  We need a new shed, more gravel, paint the fence, but up a fence and gate mend the raised bed, put the clothes line back in the ground,  blimey doesn't sound much when you say it quickly.

Lovely wildflowers by the way.

[captainbovine]

we could do with a new summerhouse, news to me why the previous owners put the shed in the full sun and the summerhouse in the deep shade!!!????

we are never buying new shed or s/house again. Everytime we buy one we move!! OH has never enjoyed the new shed or s/house for more than a couple of months....unless we go and live in one that is

[kaeptm]

Thanks for your lovely comments about my wild flower garden. It really was beautiful and changed throughout the summer. As someone mentioned it attracted lots of butterflys, bees and other insects.

It's well worth having a go at growing one, so easy and so much pleasure from it too. Although when I was researching before doing mine, the general advice was to remove as much goodness from the soil as possible. The poorer the soil, the better the wild flowers will do 

Also hope to grow some veg this year, last year the slugs and snails ate everything before it even had a chance to grow 

[leoleoleo123]

I have already been out , trying to remove the buttercups that are taking over my garden,,, its the devils work, and i got a very large and painful blister on my palm... round two will resume within the next few day!

[leoleoleo123]

It was supposed to be a wild garden, but the so called wild garden flower seeds, i think, were all buttercups! Shall keep trying....

[captainbovine]

I've been practising my walking, and I can stand without the crutches, so I'm going out tomorrow and pruning the winter jasmine, and I shall be so happy to be out there!!

[ilove2patch]

Don't overdo it CB. The weekend is supposed to be lovely.

[bitsnknots]

I agree with Maggie.  Don't overdo it CB.  We don't want you making the hoof worse now do we?

We are going to get out into the front garden on Saturday and tidy it up a lot.  We have a lawn at the back which is full of moss.  I'll leave mowing it until the end of the month but I'll get the electric lawn rake on it before I get the lawn mower out.  

[kaeptm]

Lovely day here today, so managed to get out in my back garden. As I said before, I'm a lazy gardener and had left everything in the garden as it was.

So lots of dead annuals to pull up, but a bonus, in all my hanging baskets all the fucsias have over wintered and leaves are budding. Also, the majority of my geraniums have survived, a couple have one flower on (not a whole bunch, but one of the bunch).

Also discovered pansys in flower in one of the baskets.

Gave the grass the first cut of the year and it all looks a whole lot better. Just need to sweep the patio tomorrow and get back out the front and finish off, hope to trim the hedge too if I have time as more light will get onto the wild flower garden and it badly needs doing.

Happy gardening everyone