Spreckly's armchair gardening

Forgot what happened last year - maybe it's here!!
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Spreckly
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Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Spreckly »

Regretably, I am unable to do much gardening nowadays, put it down to age and infirmity. But OH loves gardening. For a year or so, he worked full time as a gardener for a North Yorkshire MP.

We took the garden on seven years ago, having had the house for a couple of years prior to retirement. The elderly lady who lived here had most sensibly got her nephew to return all the flower beds to grass. OH set about creating wonderful beds, while I stood by, telling him that he was making a rod for his own back.

We have moved some flower beds, made new ones, the garden is constantly changing. Our best flower bed in our first year was a cottage garden bed, all from a packet of seeds. It was truly beautiful.

We had bought fruit trees and some shrubs in readiness for our move. Apart from one apple tree, everything survived. The silver leaf poplar grew to such heights, that it had to be cut down, the phone wires were in danger. This year it will be chopped right down, and the root killed off. We have baby poplar seedlings all over the place.

Monty Don't raised beds looked just the job, and we started with three at the bottom of the garden. In the half light, they looked like burial plots, and after a year, we took the boards away, and made one large area. This area has grown each year. We planted box plants to separate the veg plot from the garden, and last year was the first year they stayed put. OH would say "I could just do with a few more feet" - up would come the box. Some of it was from our own cuttings.

We tried a wild flower area in the front garden near the front fence, but it never took off, and after a year of hand wringing, it was mowed back to lawn.

To date, our second earlies and main crop spuds are chitting in the greenhouse. Sweet pea, antirrhinum and tomato seeds are up,

Will update as things progress. All the best with your gardens.
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Stef
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Stef »

That's one busy armchair :-D
1 dumbo rat still without a name; 2 top eared rats Octavia and Ursula
1 Rhode Rock, 1 Sussex Star, 1 Blue Ranger - The New Monochrome Set

My crafty blog, it's Frugal too http://relovedremnants.blogspot.co.uk/
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Spreckly »

Things are progressing. The tomato seedlings are now pricked out, leek seedling are now in a tall pot for the roots to grow down, the veg patch has been fertilised with sulphate of potash, super phosphate and sulphate of amonia.

A new bed has been dug over, after being wrecked by the girls last year, and is snug under a covering of chicken compost.

We are shortly planting one hundred snowdrops in the green in the area we optimistically call the orchard - it contains one pear and four youngish apple trees.

The grass is growing, our lawn is becoming patchy with new growth.
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Spreckly »

The snowdrops went in this afternoon, under the pear and apple trees. Plans are afoot to purchase some aconites, though a neighbour has just told me that his fabulous bed took over five years to establish. I notice that he has a small area of hawthorne hedge in leaf.

My birthday next week, number two son is treating me to a buddleia - however you spell it, I fancy Black Knight, to replace the one I had years ago.

In the greenhouse all is at a standstill.
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Spreckly »

All OH's chrysanth. cuttings have taken. Some are for the greenhouse, and some for outside. The peppers are doing well too, just coming through. We had a successful greenhouse crop last year, but I will never accidentally rub my eye again while preparing one for the pot!
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by p.penn »

My goodness you are doing well! I haven't even started planting seeds yet. :?
Helen xx

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Lillia
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Lillia »

p.penn wrote:My goodness you are doing well! I haven't even started planting seeds yet. :?


Me neither!!!! Tomorrow though, I buy new seeds and bring out what I have stored~~ Glad I'm not the only slow one around here, p.penn! :-D
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

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Spreckly wrote:All OH's chrysanth. cuttings have taken. Some are for the greenhouse, and some for outside. The peppers are doing well too, just coming through. We had a successful greenhouse crop last year, but I will never accidentally rub my eye again while preparing one for the pot!


OUCH!

I really enjoy reading your progress, Spreckly. You can turn anything into an interesting and good read, somehow! :-D
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Spreckly »

p.penn wrote:My goodness you are doing well! I haven't even started planting seeds yet. :?


Oh starts his onions, leeks, and antirrhinums in January, in the greenhouse, as they need a long growing period.

Thank you for your kind words, Lillia.
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Spreckly »

Well, here we go - latest seeds planted this morning:

Broccoli
Lettuce
Beetroot

Viola
Diascia - for hanging baskets
Cosmos
French Marigold
Asters - I love asters
Verbena - for hanging baskets.

For years I saved French Marigold seed after they had finished flowering, had a narrow bed under the bay windows in my old home. One year they didn't germinate, sowed a second batch, nothing happened. Even the seed I had given to a friend did nothing. Don't know what went wrong.

We save as much seed as we can, particularly pansy seed.

OH has several hanging baskets, some on the carport, some on the archway, some on the summerhouse. He has green fingers.
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

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The mini greenhouse has gone up this afternoon. It lives in the garage in the summer and winter, gradually getting more moth or mice eaten, but is still useable. All the pricked out seedlings go into it. OH complains every year that the greenhouse is just not big enough, however big it was, he would do his utmost to fill it.

We bought the buddleia last weekend. Two actually, one for a friend who gave us the corrugated plastic for the hen run roof. Our buddleia is now planted. I can keep a close eye on it from the computer desk. We also got a pink potentilla. An A...on customer has a beauty, and last year she let us take cuttings, which sadly died. OH is now trying to find room for our potentilla, plus five other potentilla cuttings taken last year, courtesy of a neighbour.

We have a fabulous garden centre about fifteen miles from our home. People travel quite a distance to get to it. We were there at 9am en route to Church on Sunday morning, and a lady was waiting to go in, having set off at 7.30 am! All the stock is hardy, grown at the centre, and exposed to the cold northerly winds.

Our aconites have not yet arrived.
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by HappyBob »

Sounds as though your really getting on top of things Spreckly. Although I have to agree with your OH, every greenhouse is too small :-D
Dont ever grow up, its a trap
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

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This late morning I have potted on our five potentilla cuttings, now resting in the mini-greenhouse. Planted up a tub and large pot with pansies, grown from last year's seed. Lastly pricked out sixty plus french marigold seedlings.

OH has given the back lawn a light run over with the mower, the grass has been growing in clumpy areas for the past couple of weeks..

Our bacopa (sp?), cuttings from last year's hanging baskets are doing well, so all is quite satisfactory.
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Lillia
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Lillia »

What a busy bee you are, Spreckly!
I looked up buddleia...wasn't sure what it was til I saw it~I love anything purple!
Same with potentilla~had to search it out....very nice :-D
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Spreckly
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Re: Spreckly's armchair gardening

Post by Spreckly »

Buddleia is also known as butterfly bush, which is why I wanted to plant one, though we do get quite a lot of butterflies in the garden. The potentillas have such pretty little buttercup-shaped flowers, and flower for a long period.

We had a lovely front garden with a flower bed containing flowering currant bushes, and other shrubs, but when we had the bad floods four years since, we lost a lot of plants and shrubs. Our front lawns were severely under water.

I am not as busy as I would like to be nowadays, if I sit too long, I fall asleep.

Gardeners World on tonight. I am a Monty Don fan, just love his voice, and the calm way he presents the programme.
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