GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
...and why?
Is any one a keen gardener...
- Thread starter GrumpyGregry
- Start date
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Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
Me!
I have a big garden that needs looking after, I love plants, I love ecology, I love fruit and vegetables especially runner beans (the shop-bought ones are never any good), I love learning about things and my garden provides seemingly infinite learning possibilities. I'm looking to create a big new bee-friendly bed to improve my neighbour's honey production. I love it when people visit and appreciate the garden, too, so it must be partly showing off (what me?).
I have a big garden that needs looking after, I love plants, I love ecology, I love fruit and vegetables especially runner beans (the shop-bought ones are never any good), I love learning about things and my garden provides seemingly infinite learning possibilities. I'm looking to create a big new bee-friendly bed to improve my neighbour's honey production. I love it when people visit and appreciate the garden, too, so it must be partly showing off (what me?).
vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
Spasmodically. At my peak enthusiasm I was growing perfect vegetable but only seemed to manage to havest one meal's worth of any given vegetable with the exception of onions - Robinson Mammoth strain.
I was particularly proud of the onions, their average weight was 3.5 lbs. A fellow allomenteer deflated me though when he walked past my ploy, looked at the onions and said 'My family would regard those as pickling onions' I liked the challenge of getting things just right for the onions obviously things weren't right enough.
He had a point - he took onion growing very seriously with a minimum weight of 7 lbs and he put in the hours and had dug an onion trench, filled it with well rotted manure and covered the trench with its own bespoke poly tunnel with automatic ventilation.
I've recently sorted out the garden borders for the first time in 15 years. I enjoyed the physical graft an I'm looking forward to germinating seeds of less popular but showy perennials like Mecanopsis Betonifolica:
I was particularly proud of the onions, their average weight was 3.5 lbs. A fellow allomenteer deflated me though when he walked past my ploy, looked at the onions and said 'My family would regard those as pickling onions' I liked the challenge of getting things just right for the onions obviously things weren't right enough.
He had a point - he took onion growing very seriously with a minimum weight of 7 lbs and he put in the hours and had dug an onion trench, filled it with well rotted manure and covered the trench with its own bespoke poly tunnel with automatic ventilation.
I've recently sorted out the garden borders for the first time in 15 years. I enjoyed the physical graft an I'm looking forward to germinating seeds of less popular but showy perennials like Mecanopsis Betonifolica:
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
Lovely meconopsis Vernon! I want some of those as I believe they are ok in shade. I have a lot of shade so my knowledge of shade-loving and woodland plants has become a growth area of its own. However, I have big extremes of temperature and drought/waterlogging so it is a tough situation.Spasmodically. At my peak enthusiasm I was growing perfect vegetable but only seemed to manage to havest one meal's worth of any given vegetable with the exception of onions - Robinson Mammoth strain.
I was particularly proud of the onions, their average weight was 3.5 lbs. A fellow allomenteer deflated me though when he walked past my ploy, looked at the onions and said 'My family would regard those as pickling onions' I liked the challenge of getting things just right for the onions obviously things weren't right enough.
He had a point - he took onion growing very seriously with a minimum weight of 7 lbs and he put in the hours and had dug an onion trench, filled it with well rotted manure and covered the trench with its own bespoke poly tunnel with automatic ventilation.
I've recently sorted out the garden borders for the first time in 15 years. I enjoyed the physical graft an I'm looking forward to germinating seeds of less popular but showy perennials like Mecanopsis Betonifolica:
vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
The picture isn't of any that I've grown I've yet to sow the seeds. They benefit from winter stratification and need a wet acidic soil and I'm in the process of creating the perfect spot for them next to a small pond.
jazzkat
Fixed wheel fanatic.
- Location
- The Cumbrian Riviera
I like a nice garden, but I tend to go for low maintenance. No lawns now, just a gravel path and flower beds with bark chippings.
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
Interesting. My trouble with Himalayan species is (I think) the fluctuation I get in wet to dry. Very wet winter soil (heavy clay over an impermeable layer known hereabouts as "clunch") which dries out hard and cracks in summer. Organic matter is the answer I know, or perhaps a lot of fine grit. I make a lot of leaf mould.
D
Deleted member 1258
Guest
I like to potter round the garden, I get a lot of satisfaction from growing plants, especially if from seed
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
Yes and from cuttings too - very pleasing when you realise they've "taken". I've recently done some sage and some penstemons.
Dave 123
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire alps
It pays my mortgage!
But also, I love my job. I love the creativity, the planning and the anticipation. I also like the fact that I am really good at what I do, but sometimes it doesn't turn out as I envisaged, you can't fight against nature!
But also, I love my job. I love the creativity, the planning and the anticipation. I also like the fact that I am really good at what I do, but sometimes it doesn't turn out as I envisaged, you can't fight against nature!
twentysix by twentyfive
Clinging on tightly
- Location
- Over the Hill
I've always been a keen gardener. Great to grow Veg, Fruit and stuff. I've been encouraging wild plants for some time and have had two wild orchid species turn up in my "lawn". Last two seasons I've spent too much time cycling. The garden has suffered. Time was I could do both.
Davos87
Guru
- Location
- North Yorkshire
I don't mind gardening and the one I have is ok however, It has the potential to be much better but I seem to lack he creativity/ideas to make it so.
D
Deleted member 1258
Guest
Its also very disapointing when something doesn't take, I had a major disaster with Penstemons recently, lost most of the plug plants I brought, Last year I had a go at growing perennial Sunflowers from seed, disappointing at first but after a couple of attempts I got some to take and got them in the garden, it was lovely to see them in flower during the Autumn and even better to see them growing back after the winter.
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
I love gardening, even if I'm not brilliant at it (but better than @Crackle 
), and my pond I put in last year is starting to be more successful, though no plants colonised it naturally as the books suggested would happen! However some frogs have taken up residence and we had a clutch of waterboatmen who eat all the mozzie larvae and are my new best friend. I still need to do some more work to hide the plastic but I can see one of the frogs in his normal hiding place beside the irises.
), and my pond I put in last year is starting to be more successful, though no plants colonised it naturally as the books suggested would happen! However some frogs have taken up residence and we had a clutch of waterboatmen who eat all the mozzie larvae and are my new best friend. I still need to do some more work to hide the plastic but I can see one of the frogs in his normal hiding place beside the irises.
