Piff Poff

My immediate plans are cut the grass and start a wild flower patch (a bit less to mow and look after). We'll not have time for much else this year.

Here is a glimpse of our project - the gypo wagons should be collected by the scrappy now the snow has gone

snowcandy

I have a tiny "living" basil plant on my windowsill bought in Coop last night. It looks dead already

Planted some daffs in a pot and have kept in the basement for the last few weeks. Now starting to see a few shoots after putting out in the sun for a couple of hours a day, they may actually be flowering by August

bandrui

Now that the broken arm and tendon surgery are healing, I am spending time in my yard. Sooo much to do. I did manage to get the Broad beans in a while ago, the garlic is looking good and raspberry canes growing like weeds.
Yesterday I put the spinach, peas, potatoes in, moved a couple of things around. The chard and sorrel are about ready for picking. Strawberry plants and perennials growing well, tulips and daffs in bloom, roses looking promising.

Two years ago I started a new veggie area by layering cardboard, comfrey, nettles, newspapers with a little horse manure. This year I have beautiful dark loam with tons of big fat worms.

My living room looks like a greenhouse with lots of seeds growing. I started 11 different kinds of tomatoes . Lots more seeds I would like to start this year.

And the cherry tree is about to burst into bloom. My yard is always a little later than others because the sun is behind the ridge until late February.
Can you tell this is my favourite topic? (One of my paying jobs too.)

Today I went to the beach and gathered 3 buckets of seaweed for the garden. Just the best. And the slugs hate it.

fletcher m

This sounds like a very nice garden, you and i know, you get out what you put in. If you like, you reapwhat you sow.

We had chickens until very recently, we used wood/bark chips as the floor covering to stop it getting too muddy in the wet weather, once it is pretty smelly, we compost this and that was dug in yesterday, we are expecting some very good veg this year.

i think that our choice of VI for our future home has much to do with what we can do in garden through the year. Snow and Ice is Ok for a few days, but I think it would drive me slowly gaga.

I shall use that seaweed idea when we arrive. fletch

Piff Poff

Sounds really lovely, glad your all mended and fighting fit

Piff Poff

Our next door neighbour (at the house we are selling) is an avid gardener and from late winter onwards he has his garden lamps on growing his seedlings (looks like a grow up) and now the snow has virtually all gone he will start digging, the man lives to dig. The only problem is he doesn't confine his digging to the back yard, he digs the front as well. Then when the grass is long enough - he only cuts it a few times a year, he smothers the veggies in grass cuttings to help keep the moisture in, this results in a big smelly untidy mess

Hmm, I wonder why our house is lingering on the market....

fletcher m

Have any of you considered building raised beds? I built double brick raised beds 4M x 1M, 5 bricks high and capped to stop the weather ruining them. You would be surprised how easy they are to keep weed free, the weeds seeds don't seem to make it into the beds, i suppose it is because the wind just blows the seeds around the bases and not into the beds? the also act as pretty good seats when you have friends around for drinks and the obligatory burnt food off the BBQ.

They also seem to keep the soil just that little bit warmer so I can get started a little sooner. All the bricks are recycled, i'm starting another collection to make a summer house, it doesn't take long, you would be surprised what folk throw out.

The victorians once built them much higher and kept compost and rotting manure at the bottom of them and them would cover with a top layer of soil for growing the veg in all year round. Central heating for veg! Just an idea.

ann m

Jeez, that's gonna keep you guys busy - but how bloody exciting?! You HAVE to keep us posted on progress. I think I'm too genetically lazy to work on a project like that.

ann m

Glad to hear you are feeling better.

The jealousy around your garden is sticking in my throat, just a little bit you understand.

christmasoompa

We've just built some raised beds for this year's veggie patch, not sown anything in them yet though! And also planted 10 fruit trees, although they're only about 6-7ft tall at the moment so it'll be a while before they become the orchard I've envisaged.

They are our first steps towards a garden though, as it didn't have anything in it when we bought it, not even a single flowerbed!

Atlantic Xpat

Last year we had a veggie patch for the first time - approx 18ft x 10ft. The weather being what it is in this part of the world means that planting is really a late May/early June experience. (In fact last June was bloody freezing so nothing really started growing to July). Nevertheless we had success with root vegetables, some lettuce & brocolli. Not so much with tomatoes.

For a brief period of a month we had an aluminium and plastic 8x5 greenhouse donated from a neighbour. It was a brief period one Fall as having moved it from next door. I failed to secure it to the ground strongly enough and it blew away in the first gale.

Having learned from that experience I started the construction of a wood and poly leantoo greenhouse next to the garage. Made from 2x4's and bolted to railway sleepers, it 'aint going anywhere no matter how windy. I ordered some super-duper poly from these people: http://www.northerngreenhouse.com/ but with one thing and the other, didn't get the poly fitted to the frame before summer so it wasn't worth completing. As soon as we get a nice weekend, I'll fit the poly to the wooden frame and we should be able to get an early(ier) start to our veggies this year. In a climate like ours where it doesn't get massively hot and is always windy, a greenhouse or cold frame is essential IMHO.

Anyway, the Mrs is in charge of the gardening, I'm merely in charge of construction! Which is why it's taken so long...

R I C H

I've half a dozen fruit trees (cherry, pear, peach and apple) which all do really well, but they're a bear magnet in the fall.

Veggies aren't worth bothering with due to the local deer population. We planted a dozen trees last year and most have ended up as winter sustenance for them despite anti-deer this that and the other that they've been sprayed or painted with.

bandrui

You should have a great garden with that composted chicken manure. I know I said seaweed is the best but really chicken manure is the best.

Where are you moving from? and to?

bandrui

Lots of it is a big mess. Not to mention my gatepost that fell down and took a section of fence with it!
I haven't even done my fall clean-up yet. But I'm hopeful I'll get to it soon.
It's been so darn rainy that noone has felt like being in the garden and it's raining again today. Oh well, it will water the seeds in.

bandrui

What kind of fruit trees?
It will be lovely.