Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Adventures in Gardening

If my energy levels are up to it, the next few days are going to be all about the garden.

I spend about an hour yesterday fighting with the bindweed and just about filled my brown bin. I can't tell you how satisfying it was creating havoc all by myself. I'm sure the neighbours think I'm bonkers, talking to the weeds as I pulled them off and out of the garden beds. Over the weekend I made a list of the plants I want to have in there, and designing the shape of the garden. It's not going to be a neat, manicured affair. It's going to be wild and bushy, with lots of colours. I want it to smell absolutely amazing and it hopefully will attract lots of butterflies and bees.

Today, I spent a stupid amount of money in Homebase getting some decent tools. I also took the opportunity to look at the lovely bedding plants and bulbs. Come next spring, there will be such colour; I love spring bulbs so much. Tulips, daffodils, crocus, snow drops and iris. They will be growing through winter pansies, violas and wall flowers.

It will look amazing. All wild and bushy.

I'm going to make the beds bigger, so I can get more plants in. I'm not keen on grass. When I first moved in I thought I'd get rid of the lawn, just plant it all up, with a garden path meandering round. Now, having spent most of my time lying out on it, I know I need enough grass to enjoy the sunshine.

I don't want any pots. I'm crap at watering them, even with a hose. There is absolutely no point in spending good money on plants, just to watch them die. I want plants that will self-seed everywhere, be hardy, smell fabulous, attract the birds and bees, have herbs growing next to roses. I just shiver with the pleasure of it. I wonder if it will look as wonderful as I imagine it. I suspect I don't have the space for all the plants I want to put in there, but I still have more lawn to dig into if necessary.

32 comments:

  1. I'm not a very keen gardener you understand...but just one suggestion - if you're really interested in attracting bees and butterflies into the garden, do consider a Buddleia tucked away somewhere.

    They come in a variety of sizes ranging from small bush to tree, and the blue flowering clusters not only look good - they're a positive magnet for butterflies and bees...

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  2. cogidubnus ~ that's already on my list. I'd like a shorter, more compact variety, preferably with burgundy flowers. I'll check out the type I want, after I've got the dull stuff done. I like buddleia because you can hack it down in the spring and it grows even more fabulous than the last year.

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  3. Plant some lambs tongue Roses, its filled my garden with happy bees and is a must for all sorts of reasons (it also happens to be a gem for a girls night in)..
    New bedding, body lotion and a few leaves of this stuff...
    Alot of people talk to plants im sure, but this is known to get women singing... honest! hehe (i tried it and grew a huge pot full) oops

    oh! not forgetting the delighful Jasmine, it smells beautiful and would be perfect for that scented summer night aroma..

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  4. Sounds just ike my garden (I did dig up my entire lawn last year, when I moved here, 8 miles S of Norwich).

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  5. b*e*g ~ I'll have a look for some. Thanks for the idea. I already have some jasmine in my garden...I think some more is needed.

    dave ~ how did your garden turn out? Are you happy with it? Does it look as you imagined? Come along, details!

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  6. Sorry, I've been posting pictures of my garden on my blog, as it's developed over the year. Cottage garden style, loads of plants, packed in with loads of colour, and butterflies and bees. Will be even better next year, as it matures.

    Greenhouse turning out pounds and pounds of tomatoes too.

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  7. (Look at my blog post 27/7 for a bit of a view of the garden, and 24/7 for some of the butterlies that came).

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  8. Ive been having a peek at Daves garden Roses.. Wow! you must pay his place a visit, its really beautiful..

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  9. dave ~ your garden is amazing. I shall pop in again for some more inspiration. I've been told by a gardener to wait before planting anything. It's too dry. Anything I plant now will die.

    b*e*g ~ what can I say? Between dave and you, I have garden envy. Yes, it's true...I'm green.

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  10. You're welcome. I moved 200 plants here last August, when I moved to L**g S******n - I kept them in pots over winter, while I dug the lawn up and prepared the beds, and didn't plant anything until the spring.

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  11. Grrr. Everybody is doing their gardens now. I've been looking at several sites and they're all gardening!

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  12. dave ~ I used to work down there in the Council. Nice place to live. I just don't dare buy anything until the ground is ready...I have enough self-knowledge to know, the plants will sit in their pots and die for lack of water. Also, I don't have enough space for a greenhouse (which is just as well).

    ginro ~ hire a gardener, buy a lounger and a cooler. Once the gardener has finished in the garden, you have everything you need to enjoy the garden.

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  13. I do have a greenhouse. Next spring I may well have plenty of suplus plants for swaps, or friends.

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  14. dave ~ you do realise Norwich isn't that far from you...and I'm sure I could find time to run down your way and swap a nice bottle of red (or two) for some pretties?

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  15. Pop in mine on the way back if you get time, ill be happy to add a lambs tongue plant to the collection Roses..
    You should throw a 'bring a plant party' how unique would that be?

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  16. Delighted to swap something in the spring (but I'm teetotal).

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  17. b*e*g ~ I will hold you to that, Lamb's Tongue looks fantastic. I'll just have to remember to water it...

    dave ~ I can swap you a neurotic cat or a teenager boy for some pretties...heck, I'll give them to you...

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  18. dave ~ I just don't understand why not...

    :-)

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  19. Roses - I'm jealous of your gardening plans. I am limited to pots with our current garden sadly. I can recommend Californian Poppies which are really easy to grow from seed i.e. I've managed it! The beautiful yellow and orange shades and are so cheerful and would work with that semi-wild look you want.

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  20. sanddancer ~ what a brilliant idea! I know already I want some oriental poppies, and californian poppies will compliment them.

    What I've found amusing about this blog post is that most of the suggestions for plants, I've got on my list! We obviously have similar tastes in wild and wonderful plants.

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  21. I may still have some oriental poppy seeds (I have large purple ones in my garden).

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  22. dave ~ we've established you don't want my first born. Do you like incense? I make loose incense.

    Big purple poppies...*covet*

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  23. I'll pop out now and see if there are any seeds left in the heads (I've left them to naturalise). Will put them in a bag for you. Don't need to trade. You can have them as a gift.

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  24. OK. There were some left. Have now got an envelope ready for you with several hundred poppy seeds in, ready to scatter around your garden in the spring.

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  25. You can see some in this blog post:

    http://dave-east.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-all-in-soil.html

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  26. dave ~ you are a complete star. The poppies look amazing! Shall we meet undercover of darkness, you wear a red carnation, I'll have a rolled up copy of The Grauniad? Or would you trust Royal Mail to do it's worst?

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  27. I could post them, or we can have a blog-meet if you like (I've met 17 or 18 bloggers on my roll so far, and haven't murdered any of them yet).

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  28. Am going away tomorrow for a couple of weeks. Will have to sort out getting you the seeds when I get back.

    e-mail me if you like [reveast(at)hotmail(dot)com]

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  29. dave ~ sorry, I didn't get back to you. Let's meet up when you get back, I should be fighting fit by then. I will e-mail you anon.

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  30. OK. That's soemthing to which I can look forward (if you check my blog you'll see I didn't have a fun day yesterday).

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