Planting Flowers, Fruit & Veg

[Ginlover92]

Thank you for making this thread! I am an avid gardener. This year, I am challenging myself to grow lemon trees. This is the first baby lemon tree

Good luck with the lemon seedlings. You will have to let us know how you get on with them. I grew one from a seed from a supermarket lemon and it grew a bit but then I managed to kill it

Lidl do some great plants. I bought a load of lavender a few years ago and they were great quality and are still going. The bees absolutely love the lavender too . I love seeing the bees on my runner bean plants and sunflowers every year.

 

[Nolongerjustalurker]

Ooooh I’m excited to see this thread!
We got an allotment just before lockdown last spring and it was honestly such a great thing to have to keep us busy during 4 months of furlough!
this year as we have less time we’re growing:
Potatoes
Beetroot
Leeks
French beans
Peas
Courgettes
Butternut squash
Pumpkin
Raspberries
Goji berries

We would usually grow peppers and tomatoes in the garden but we’ve decided to make the bed a herb garden instead - we’ve got 3 types of mint, oregano, sage, lemon balm, chives and dill at the moment.

looking forward to seeing how we all get on this year!

 

[Purrrrrrr]

Ive been replanting my pond. taken out all the baskets that take up so much space and put all plants into old tights filled with soil. large plants in the gusset part others in the legs, you can squash them and bending them into the shape of your pond.

I'm not doing food this year, just herbs and strawberries I'm making water features and having flowers. until my climbers grow up the trellis I have lots of geraniums etc in small coloured pots hung on it.

 

[PumpkinKing]

This week I sowed some forget me not seeds which were given out at my sisters funeral, plus some sunflower seeds which were free from morrisons and they called them seeds of hope. Sunflowers were my sisters favourite flower also sowed some delphiniums, dahlias and coriander. I'd love a veg patch and lots of flowers but the kids take over my garden with football lol. This is the first time I've tried to grow plants from seeds so I hope they're successful

 

[Justwishfulthinking]

Loving this thread so much inspiration x

 

[Purrrrrrr]

I'm thinking next year I'm not doing seeds. so much time spent sowing them, then pricking them out, then planting them, all the room they take up. Its a lot easier to pop to the nursery and buy plug plants or drive around the villages looking for someone selling their spare plants or wait for boot sales or markets.

I'm in the middle of transplanting, geraniums, Bizzy Lizzie, carnations, dahlias, sweetpeas and petunias and its time consuming and bloody boring.

The other day I bought some plug plants from Lidl and they are ready to harden up outside in the daytime. so much simpler

 

[Bobby Chariot]

I got these 2 fruit trees around 6 weeks ago from B&M, they were doing two-for-£10, so took a chance on putting them in large tubs as our soil is poor (clay)
The apple (Golden Delicious) is booming & the Cherry is going well too.

 

[JoJo76]

Love this thread. We only have a small back and front garden so I don't really have the space for growing much veg. I do have a ton of herbs though, rosemary, thyme, mint, parsley, marjoram and a bay tree.

We live on a really social street and we have a what's app group. A few of us are going to start some planting in the front of herbs and bits of vegs that people from the road can help themselves to. I love the idea of someone needing a sprig of something and just taking what they need, rather than buying from the supermarket and having wastage as there is always too much.

 

[Nolongerjustalurker]

Love this thread. We only have a small back and front garden so I don't really have the space for growing much veg. I do have a ton of herbs though, rosemary, thyme, mint, parsley, marjoram and a bay tree.

We live on a really social street and we have a what's app group. A few of us are going to start some planting in the front of herbs and bits of vegs that people from the road can help themselves to. I love the idea of someone needing a sprig of something and just taking what they need, rather than buying from the supermarket and having wastage as there is always too much.

That’s such a good idea! Someone at the top of our road has the most enormous Rosemary bush and I don’t think they ever use it, I’m always tempted just to snip some off as I walk past!

 

[Purrrrrrr]

Love this thread. We only have a small back and front garden so I don't really have the space for growing much veg. I do have a ton of herbs though, rosemary, thyme, mint, parsley, marjoram and a bay tree.

We live on a really social street and we have a what's app group. A few of us are going to start some planting in the front of herbs and bits of vegs that people from the road can help themselves to. I love the idea of someone needing a sprig of something and just taking what they need, rather than buying from the supermarket and having wastage as there is always too much.

I used to grow loads in hanging baskets and buckets anything that had space be it the ground, a wall or a fence had some food growing.

 

[cushtybert]

I’m growing lots of veg this year, have just planted some outside and popped the rest in my greenhouse. First time growing courgette and cucumber, any one got any tips for these please?

 

[Nolongerjustalurker]

I’m growing lots of veg this year, have just planted some outside and popped the rest in my greenhouse. First time growing courgette and cucumber, any one got any tips for these please?

You never need as many courgette plants as you think!

 

[Onthehop]

You never need as many courgette plants as you think!

Yes they grow huge. I find 2 plants to be plenty. Also avoid watering the leaves.

 

[Sally1993]

I’m growing lots of veg this year, have just planted some outside and popped the rest in my greenhouse. First time growing courgette and cucumber, any one got any tips for these please?

Give them something to climb up. A trellis or similar.

 

[Meh]

We’ve got a tree gate situation going on with our neighbours. Us (council house) have a tree in a garden that came with the property. It’s a goat willow tree and drops pussy-willow buds in Spring. They get everywhere and we sweep them up etc. Next door have lived here for 4 years and she’s told us she’s buying her house. She wants the tree cutting down completely as she doesn’t like the buds dropping in her garden - understandable. She’s being quite sly about it though, whenever we’re in the garden, it’s as though she comes out and starts saying ‘oh I hate this tree’. She’s never done it before, it’s as though she’s buying her house and wants the tree gone. It isn’t going over her property boundary. What do we do?

We’ve paid a tree surgeon before to cut it down but obviously, it’s grown back and it’s expensive to do that. We don’t really want the tree cutting down either.

Ahh this makes me so sad!

Why do people get so upset and uptight about trees and want to cut them down? We need more trees and greenery in this country, not less!!

Also, who are all these people who get so uptight about fences?! We paid to install a higher fence, we didn’t ask our neighbour for money towards it as we wanted it. We spoke to him about it and he was fine. Technically this is “our fence” but do I care that he’s painted his side a different colour? Not at all. It’s his garden and I would feel very awkward if he asked me permission. Imagine saying no Surely a little bit of give and take to have a friendly, harmonious neighbour situation.

I badly want to improve my garden. We’re North facing so sunlight can be an issue although we do get great sun along one half of the garden until about 4/5ish. We’ve got some plants that flower planted already although I need to find out what they are. Is there any apps/websites that can help a novice identify plants/flowers?

Also, any recommendations of easy flowers/plants that grow well in shadier areas and are not bad for cats? Have two and one loves digging and nibbling the plants

Great thread btw. I’m envious of peoples gardening abilities and knowledge. I often feel quite intimidated when trying to talk gardening as I’m very very very inexperienced.

 

[Bobby Chariot]

Ahh this makes me so sad!

Why do people get so upset and uptight about trees and want to cut them down? We need more trees and greenery in this country, not less!!

Also, who are all these people who get so uptight about fences?! We paid to install a higher fence, we didn’t ask our neighbour for money towards it as we wanted it. We spoke to him about it and he was fine. Technically this is “our fence” but do I care that he’s painted his side a different colour? Not at all. It’s his garden and I would feel very awkward if he asked me permission. Imagine saying no Surely a little bit of give and take to have a friendly, harmonious neighbour situation.

I badly want to improve my garden. We’re North facing so sunlight can be an issue although we do get great sun along one half of the garden until about 4/5ish. We’ve got some plants that flower planted already although I need to find out what they are. Is there any apps/websites that can help a novice identify plants/flowers?

Also, any recommendations of easy flowers/plants that grow well in shadier areas and are not bad for cats? Have two and one loves digging and nibbling the plants

Great thread btw. I’m envious of peoples gardening abilities and knowledge. I often feel quite intimidated when trying to talk gardening as I’m very very very inexperienced.

I'm far from an expert in gardens, most of gardening is common sense I think.
Keep it simple.
I don't buy seeds (no greenhouse) and it's a bit of a faff.
Usually try and pick up some bulbs, small grown-on plugs or shrubs on a weekend when out for the groceries, there's tons of bargains out there.
The likes of Home Bargains, B&M, Aldi, Lidl etc are always worth checking out, right now Home Bargains are selling decent sized plastic tubs/pots from 79p , we've picked up a few of these, they're decent & look ok on the patio when filled.
For your shadier areas the likes of Hostas & Ferns grow well, nice shades of greenery, even in large pots.

 

[ClockworkDolly]

We took on a well establish garden 3 years ago and have made lots of progress. I have found if you catch Aldi’s plants just as then come in they are great. I got some lovely climbers for £1.69 each last week.

I planted my seeds up a few weeks ago in the green house and with the unexpected snow I may have killed some of them off. A few are starting to sprout.

Buy some horticultural fleece. You can get it cheaply off of Amazon. I fleece up my seedlings at night in my greenhouse and they’ve benefitted from this enormously.

Ahh this makes me so sad!

Why do people get so upset and uptight about trees and want to cut them down? We need more trees and greenery in this country, not less!!

Also, who are all these people who get so uptight about fences?! We paid to install a higher fence, we didn’t ask our neighbour for money towards it as we wanted it. We spoke to him about it and he was fine. Technically this is “our fence” but do I care that he’s painted his side a different colour? Not at all. It’s his garden and I would feel very awkward if he asked me permission. Imagine saying no Surely a little bit of give and take to have a friendly, harmonious neighbour situation.

I badly want to improve my garden. We’re North facing so sunlight can be an issue although we do get great sun along one half of the garden until about 4/5ish. We’ve got some plants that flower planted already although I need to find out what they are. Is there any apps/websites that can help a novice identify plants/flowers?

Also, any recommendations of easy flowers/plants that grow well in shadier areas and are not bad for cats? Have two and one loves digging and nibbling the plants

Great thread btw. I’m envious of peoples gardening abilities and knowledge. I often feel quite intimidated when trying to talk gardening as I’m very very very inexperienced.

I have had North-facing gardens for the past 10 years and growing herbacious perennials and climbers has never been an issue. Growing exotics might be a different story, as they do need higher temperatures for most of the year.

Good luck with the lemon seedlings. You will have to let us know how you get on with them. I grew one from a seed from a supermarket lemon and it grew a bit but then I managed to kill it

Lidl do some great plants. I bought a load of lavender a few years ago and they were great quality and are still going. The bees absolutely love the lavender too . I love seeing the bees on my runner bean plants and sunflowers every year.

I bought a fantastic young Apple tree from Lidl a few years ago. Sadly, I had to leave it behind when I moved house last year. That happened to be the year in which it was smothered in apple blossom and the fruit yield was fab. I hope the new owners enjoy their tree.

 

[Bobby Chariot]

Some of our recent plantings seem to be surviving this unseasonably cold spell.
Made some makeshift tripods for the Sweet Pea plugs to climb up, out of some bbq skewer sticks

Also put a Geranium, an Alpine, a Sea Lavender & a n other (can't recall the name) into a large tub.

Removed 5 Dogwoods which had got out of hand & actually burst through parts of the back fence, tidied fence up, collected some large stones from the local riverbank & stuck down bark chips & some shrubs in pots, maybe pick up another couple of pots to fill more space.
Just need to stop our dog piddling on every new plant pot

 

[Saddlesoap]

This was a few days ago, bigger now.
Tomato, courgette and kohlrabi.

I planted my runner bean plants out last week and I think only one has survived my sweet peas seem to have halted as well.

 

[Ginlover92]

View attachment 571221
This was a few days ago, bigger now.
Tomato, courgette and kohlrabi.

I planted my runner bean plants out last week and I think only one has survived my sweet peas seem to have halted as well.

I planted my beans out because i got fed up with them being in my porch and they were getting tall, I think out of 8 I have 2 that are still alive bloody late frost! I covered them up but I think the first had already got to them. I have four still in the porch so will plant them out when the weather isn't so wet! I can't wait til the weather improves and I can get planting everything out!