Garden 2012

The past week has seen the first stages of Garden 2012 come into being.... Does anyone else grow stuff and take pride in their garden?

SOme pictures for people...

Attachment 14062Attachment 14063Attachment 14064

Fencing went up a few weeks ago to stop Boy 1.0 getting access to the shed and greenhouse. Little Tykes play set went up last weekend and tonight the toms got planted.

My spend this year was an automatic watering kit.

I know we don't grow enough to be self-sufficient, but when I retire I will (31 years away?). Got some more veg to get in the raised beds now and I'll be happy. Also need to re-turf the 5x4 square in front of the playset where the rockery was.

So let's discuss gardening.

Oh, forgot to put my Nemetodes in this evening to kill the slugs.

Gareth

We are not allowed to plant much crops in the garden this year after my brother took up 95% of the garden last year. We now have an allotment. Fall and rise of the allotment. - a set on Flickr

Have a look at square foot gardening if you want to maximise yield for space, I’m on year 3 of it and I get a lot more produce from the small 1.5 * 3 meter bed than I thought I would

carrots just starting to come through got lettuce / sweetcorn to put in this weekend and toms to pot on along with a couple of squashes and aubergine’s am also trying to grow pepino plants this year as they sounded cool.

I cannot believe we are the only ones who garden here.

Shall be breaking out the Flymo tonight

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by garethedmondson

I cannot believe we are the only ones who garden here.

---

Not the only ones. I'd not describe myself as a rabidly keen Gardner but I like to potter and bit by bit, I usually end the summer with a garden full of produce and flowers. I moved in January though and while the new garden has a nice big greenhouse (14x10?), a reasonable sized veg patch and some nice planting just outside the back of the house, we are about to embark on building work which will probably be ruinous. SWMBO also wants to move the greenhouse which will probably end in tears (mine!).

Anyhoo ... some dodgy pics ... including some hot chicks!

Attachment 14090
Looking down on front garden.


Attachment 14091
Inside the greenhouse.


Attachment 14092
Down the path to the back


Attachment 14093
Looking across the sort of cottagy bit to the man cave. This bit is destined to become a pond (the cottagy bit not the man cave).


Attachment 14094
Looking down the back garden


Attachment 14095
The Veg Patch.


Attachment 14096
Ze Girls!

That is a gorgeous bit of land there @pcstru... and the size of that greenhouse! Marvellous

The wife is the green fingered one at our house, though I'm picking it up/being roped into it. Sadly all the money this year has been spent/will be spent on the house being renovated and the sproglet due in August, but we have an area set aside for the veg patch already (with lots of black sheeting on to mulch the soil down) and we've got an apple and pear tree already, as well as a monstrous rhubarb plant that came as a surprise in the first year... Moved in at the end of October, chopped down some massive firs, piled the wood everywhere while we sorted through it for the open fire, and when we removed the last pile in the April/May, found an enormous rhubarb plant underneath that, thanks to the covering of dead foliage, had been naturally forced and was delicious.

I love gardening, but we have a tortoise that was my husband's 7th birthday present rather a long time ago and have to garden according to his needs.

That means accepting that some plants get eaten and some get trampled and your garden can only consist of things he leaves alone or are big enough to withstand his attentions!... weeds have to be encouraged as they make good food. I sowed clover into our new turf :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by elsiegee40

I love gardening, but we have a tortoise that was my husband's 7th birthday present rather a long time ago and have to garden according to his needs.

That means accepting that some plants get eaten and some get trampled and your garden can only consist of things he leaves alone or are big enough to withstand his attentions!... weeds have to be encouraged as they make good food. I sowed clover into our new turf :)

---

It took me a while to twig you were talking about the tortoise ... not your husband. :-0

We have a big garden and every year I try hard to grow stuff but usually end up with a few potatoes, peas, raspberries and sweetcorn.
It just gets eaten to bits even if I cover it up. There is a cobnut tree too but the squirrels mean I never get any.
mrwITch not interested in gardening and it is tough to do it all on your own. I have peppers and salad on the patio though

@pcstru - What a lovely garden. I'm dying to get some chickens but am not sure of the logistics of looking after them. Perhaps you can enlighten me.

GJE

@ garethedmonson & @sonofsanta - thanks. I hated moving and when I first got here wondered what the hell I'd done (it was winter, cold and the house, it smelled of wee).

Chickens are easy to please. A box - to hide in at night and somewhere dark with a bit of sawdust to lay eggs. They need to be penned but only really because they will destroy the garden (good at weeding if you need to clear a patch of ... just about anything). Obviously, there's a Haynes manual available should you ... err ... need to change the ... um ... oil or summat. Biggest problem people usually have is infestations of red mites. They can be a pain and persistent but there are effective ways to control them although it's almost impossible to eliminate them completely.

They can be surprisingly entertaining, amusing and ... well, I'm quite fond of ours. The chickens that is, not the red mites.

Meanwhile - what's going on with ... are those tomatoes in grow bags in pots in other pots in your greenhouse?

I have several friends that keep chickens in pretty ordinary suburban gardens and they say it isn't difficult. I do alright though coz I dont have the bother but I get the eggs!

Yes they are tomatoes. I use these Please enable your cookies which protects him a bit.

Gareth

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by garethedmondson

Yes they are tomatoes. I use these Please enable your cookies which protects him a bit.

Gareth

---

Sorry the "please enable your cookies" made me giggle.
I use harrod horticultural too... their spider mite predators are very effective :)