Chat here about Gardens

Do you have a garden? Do you like gardening? Do you grow anything?

We have a lawn garden and love having a garden. Always sit out when we can and eat meals outside when we can? I do basic things such as lawnmowing, weeding, trimming etc. We dont have a free garden waste collection which is annoying but hey ho we get by. Like also having a garden to hang laundry out.

Garden furniture we have chairs, a table, and a barbeque also a sunbed type lounger.

We have a garden for the first time ever!

And I haven't done a tap in it. We have lawn at the front, lawn, patio area and lots of huge overgrown bushes at the back. Dan and my dad relaid the patio area a little while ago and he mows the lawn but everything else is just as it was. It's very nicely planted so we have the basics in place. I think next year will be the year we get it sorted. My dad is a gardener so he'll help us somewhat but I want to make sure it's how we want it and not a big play area for my dad to design it as he wants

We're going to get a compost bin for next year and we're toying with growing some stuff but I'm not fully convinced we've got the concentration to give things the love and care that would involve. At the very least I'm going to grow some herbs and make an alpine area.

I am in a flat so no garden sadly. I would love to have somewhere to sit outside and relax.

We have grass at the front and grass and bushes at the back.At the side of the house is a drive.
I have a greenhouse we were given by one of our neighbours and last year i tried to grow stuff, i also dug up some of the grass and planted veg,OH was not a happy bunny . Unfortunately plants dont like me so we didnt get much of anything but i am not giving up and am going to start planning in Jan what i am going to do next year. If pure force of will can make stuff grow we will have lots!

With the weather being lovely here, and so hot! the littlest one and I are going to resue our new strawberry plants that have rooted in the lawn and set them away in some pots. I might even dig a circle out in the middle of the lawn for a little patch.

Other than that we have weeds everywhere. I just can't keep on top of them and don't want to spend a whole load of money getting rid of them when the landlord isn't bothered. It's just the fact that it reflects badly on me having the drive and borders the way they are. Roll on winter when they die off!

Ikwym froogs. Our street has mixed housing but the ones in the same style as ours all have open front gardens, everyone else has lived here for years so have tended their lawns to perfection. Ours is covered with dandelions! Personally, I love them but as soon as the lawn starts to grow it looks really bad

I love my garden. I wish I could do more with the front as it actually has grass. the back is annoyingly paved
I grow a lot of stuff. I have a 25-30 year old rosemary which came with the house too.

thyme oregano, parsley, coriandar, chives, wild garlic, rhubarb, one bed is given over to the cultivation of peppermint and dandelions specifically for peppermint tea and dandelion coffee. dandelions are a bonus plant! I get the roots, pigglie gets the leaves, sophie gets the flowers. it's win win win. also got white currants and logonberries out the back. also poppies in may and daffs in march ish. one side of the garden gets very little sunlight so we often get daffs on that side in july lol!

out the front I have lavendar; well established and planted 4 years ago. purple sprouting brocolli, brussels, sorrel, lemon mint, and some odd looking, unidentified but pretty plants given to me by my mum in law.

my favorite place is sitting on my £17 ebay bargain swinging bench and watching the sky float past.

Now that £17 pounds sounds like a £17 well spent. Envious. I would like a swing of somesort but I don't fancy a tubular malarky with chintz cushions.

If only I completely trusted DH's DIY skills to make me something of the swinging variety

how do all, hope everyones having a good day

my rear garden is paved, planted and styled as a mediterranean garden as its so flipping hot, the sun bounces off fence, wall and paving, I have a vine growing over a pergola (just a 9' x 9' wooden frame attached to the side of the house) which covers a sunken dining area which sounds grand but it isnt, herb bed which I am going to redo as its grown a bit shaggy, a wildlife pond (no fishes), bird nesting boxes, various shrubs a couple of metal benches and a summerhouse. I will grow some salady stuff next spring onwards but OH is not overly keen on salads.

Down the side of the house, the garden is cooler and this is planted with woodland plants and we have a small area there for eating.

The front has gravel paths, benches which are placed so that we can see people walking past (not that there are many) but they can't see us and we can also watch the wildlife, trees, slow growing ornamental conifers, evergreens, different types of fuschias, various bird feeders and a bird box and we sit out here most at night to watch the birds, bats, etc., again herbs, rhubarb, onions, garlic and chard. Have tried not to have straight lines and different areas.

thats about it.

The garden here was one of the big attractions, along with the kitchen. It's a rental so can't really rip everything out but have been able to create a good sized veg bed and the rest of the veg are just tucked in and amongst the established plants! There is a paved/decked area at the bottom where we have a table and I am the proud possessor of not one but two sheds!

I have had a reasonable summer crop to say it was a bit neglected for a couple of months while I was in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy and when DS was first born although I was to be found earthing up potatoes at 38 weeks! I have just put a load of winter plugs in that came off ebay and they seem to be settling in nicely so hopefully will get some good brassicas and cabbage in the new year.

We are in a flat but we are on the ground floor and have a massive front garden, it's on the corner and has a huge slope down to the hedge, which makes cutting the grass (weeds) very difficult! We've never had a garden before so since we've moved in all we have really done is trim the hedge and cut the grass, I've planted a few things which have mostly died I would love to have a nice garden with more grass than weeds, a little area for veggies and some flowers, the problem is I just don't know where to start.
Hoping next year I can make a start on improving it, not like I won't have enough time to do the research on what to do!!

froogs wrote:Now that £17 pounds sounds like a £17 well spent. Envious. I would like a swing of somesort but I don't fancy a tubular malarky with chintz cushions.

If only I completely trusted DH's DIY skills to make me something of the swinging variety

mine's wooden, and came with really minging cushions with a sort of tartan pattern and mould on them and a fabric sun cover thing which got binned immediately. next door was chucking out his hazel matting he'd had over the 3ft council wire fence until the council decided that he house next door to him actually needed a decent fence and put one in. as he was rolling his hazel and putting it out for the bin men, I peeped over our fence and asked if I could have a bit lol.
I now have a thatched bench.

2boysmum, a great place to start would be getting the selfsufficientish bible out of the library. it's great. also beginning by growing a few things in pots. keep an eye on your sunlight, sometimes in flats you're so built up that the poor little plants cant get enough light to thrive. if this is the case, look for plants that don't need much light like ferns.

stiltwalker, we're renting too but the gardens were in such a bad state when we moved in that the landlord gave us free reign... so long as we didn't remove the shrubs or the rosemary. I had no intention of doing either, but the shrubs ended up with a wierd fungal root infection three years ago and had to come out. sad cos they were pretty but hey, gave me more growing room.

We have got a nice archway in our garden. I realised the local cat was using the post as a scratching post so had to try and protect it.