Gardens throughout the year

When I said that I have nettles!!....I didn't necessarily mean that in a bad way as I have a large patch in the field on the other side of the hedge at the bottom of the garden. I just leave these to do their own thing especially for the "flutterbies" The ones I can't stand are the little seedlings which spring up in amongst the flowers purley to 'get you' when weeding if you know what I mean.

I was lucky with the beds as I had loads of wood left over from building my decking so cut it on a chop saw and screwed it all together!....as simple as that, have to see how long they last now!

Glad you got the compost sorted Stoat, Dandy's certainly work out well don't they? As I said above the delivery driver was faultless and a great help getting everything on the drive despite the slight slope.

Kezsmum,

You get the wood and I'll bring my tools down.....but you'll have to ply me with tea and cakes!!?

higgy50 said:

.I didn't necessarily mean that in a bad way as I have a large patch in the field on the other side of the hedge at the bottom of the garden. I just leave these to do their own thing especially for the "flutterbies" The ones I can't stand are the little seedlings which spring up in amongst the flowers purley to 'get you' when weeding if you know what I mean.

The perfect place for your nettles! Not cluttering up your garden but near enough to supply the all important grub for flutterby larvae and thus the insects themselves, feeding happily in your garden- perfect - apart from those little 'uns that sting your fingers when you're weeding - the little fresh ones are the most potent too somehow - little blighters - know exactly what you mean. I'm not sure where there are nettles here, I haven't seen any - the people beside our garden are heavily into neat - so they haven't got any. I just hope the scruffy woodland will provide, but they're not woodland weeds. It's a worry - I do so love flutterbies.

higgy50 said:

You get the wood and I'll bring my tools down.....but you'll have to ply me with tea and cakes!!?

higgy50 said:

You get the wood and I'll bring my tools down.....but you'll have to ply me with tea and cakes!!?

Glad we got that sorted....will need to pick a nice sunny day though.....

The snakes head fritalaries have made it out!  sorry about the spelling!

Unknown said:

The snakes head fritalaries have made it out!  sorry about the spelling!

Well done Stoat this is my absolute favourite flower but I just can't get it to grow at all. I've tried planting from the little bulb/corm and flowering plants but they never seem to survive or get going. As said before our garden is low lying so we are fairly wet which they should like but I'm wondering if our soil (clay) is too heavy or dense for them?

Any advice on growing these little beauties would be appreciated???

What a beauty Stoat, and if you don't mind me saying, they obviously don't mind competing with the odd weed either.

A B said:

What a beauty Stoat, and if you don't mind me saying, they obviously don't mind competing with the odd weed either.

Don't mind at all.  Thats meant to be a bit of wild lawn but the nettles etc from the hedge keep intruding. 

Not sure about tips on growing them I am afraid Higgy.  I bought a cheap bag of around 30 bulbs that i just plugged into the lawn and a few have grown each year.  Our soil is very heavy too.  I do like them though so hopefully they will keep coming.

Hello All,

What a great time of year this is for all us gardeners isn't it?

I have sown so many seeds that I'm struggling to find space for all the pots that I have now that I've started potting on! Should have a great supply of cheap plants this summer though, can't wait to get planting out now!

Mrs Higgy's raised beds are now finished and have been painted, lined with polythene and filled with my 'massive' compost delivery and some topsoil which I got from someone at work (more recycling!)......she has also now planted out her peas and sown some other veg seed in it  also....

Another friend gave me some old planks so as I was already sorting the veg raised beds out I got a bit carried away and built this planter which has now been planted with honeysuckle and clematis which in time will cover the trellis and be the start of my walk way/pagoda up the side of our house.....Thanks Granpaddy for the idea.....said I would fit it in somewhere didn't I.....

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How's everyone else's gardens coming along now? 

We have made a modest stumpery, thanks for the idea Higgy:-) Although we got masses of enormous stumps, we didn't have room for an enormous stumpery in the best spot for it. I'm allergic to moulds, so we couldn't have it in our 'glade' as we first thought, because I tend to like to sit there and I'd be wheezing like an old traction engine. So the only other shady spot is beside something we call 'the bunker'. As it's sunny I'll get Himself to photograph it and post it if I can. The Hart's Tongue fern is only a baby at present, but it'll get more impressive with time:-)

Some of the other stumps have gone to block off the main route next door's cats use to get through the wire fence and it looks very well and seems to be working, touch wood (sorry, unintentional, v. poor pun). The other cat route is behind a bench on the wood side of the garden, masses of prunings have gone there to form a sort of dry thicket. Of course, there's no way to completely cat proof if they put their furry minds to it, but they seem to be lazy thinkers - used to these two routes. We still have plenty of wood left to add to the wildlife stack and a wood pile we plan. I think we've gathered enough 'bits' for the stack now and we plan to make it this afternoon after lunch.

Meanwhile I have masses of seedlings to go in. And I must make a barrier of twigs to stop Phil the pheasant digging up my rocket seedlings in the veg bed, the ungrateful wretch:-( The pond is beginning to look a bit more 'settled in'.

Higgy you have done a great job there! I like the green/blue colour you have used to paint with. They look lovely and I wish I had some in my garden but it is a bit small so I have to use growbags for any veg I grow.

I have put all my sweetpeas in [grown from seed successfully this year!] so I am proud of that. I have also spent ages planting tiny plug plants [bizzy lizzie and geraniums] into single pots. I really enjoy it though.

OH got a free packet of carrot seeds with his paper so will have to find something to plant them in.