Post by tigerlily on Mar 11, 2009 17:10:38 GMT
Peculiar, not hilarious, before anyone starts!
It's a little unusual in that for the most part it gets fairly good sunlight. It is shaded at one end by a trellised fence, and overlooked at the back by another fence and trellis, and in front by a thirty-foot conifer of some kind. Despite this, our back garden gets a fair amount of sunlight, and three-quarters of this patch is in sunlight for several hours during the day.
I've just spent 45 minutes ripping out ivy that was running rampant all over this plot, and all through the big planters along the back and at the far left (fence) side of the plot. Amazingly, some plants had survived under the blanket of ivy and are showing promising signs - no idea what they are as yet but looking forward to finding out!
Anyway, in the planter to the left hand side has been placed one honeysuckle - not yet in leaf and looks to be honest like a bundle of twigs in a pot.
About half way along in one of the pots at the back, which also contains a clematis, has gone a rose bush. Not far forward of that in the plot itself is another rose, and to the left again in front of and round the side of the planter over there are three dahlias - it seemed a little early to me to be starting off dahlias, but I figured it can't hurt...can it? Thinking on it, it seems to me that the ex's father used to dig up his dahlia corms each year once the blooms had faded and store them in the dark in the shed, and brought them out about Easter time to repot.
I have loads of seeds to plant yet. Most of them need putting in seed trays and bringing along for six to eight weeks before planting them outside. Luckily for me, the living room is in the back of the house and has floor to ceiling windows all along the back of it looking over the garden, so gets plenty of light and is more than warm enough for the seedlings to be happy.
This plot is in heavy clay, which has had a good deal of sand dug into it so it is lovely and crumbly. I dug in some compost I bought from the DIY store for the things I planted today.
I plan on growing tomatoes, some summer squash, peppers and carrots. May pick up some more seeds or possibly plants later in the year, about Easter time. I did successfully grow broad beans, peas and tomatoes last year. I may well grow most of those on the balcony, however, as that is also at the back of the house and growing things in pots up there is probably going to be preferable to the plot out the back.
We have plenty of plastic troughs and big tubs for things to go into, and I can easily sort out drainage so that nothing gets waterlogged. I also wondered whether things might be less susceptible to slugs and snails on the balcony, as many of my tomatoes last year fell prey to those (not to mention the landlady's six year old).
Any advice, comments or suggestions as to what/when/where/how to deal with all of this, please?
I did have the excellent BBC Gardener's World book, but the ex lent it out to one of his colleagues and I never got it back!
It's a little unusual in that for the most part it gets fairly good sunlight. It is shaded at one end by a trellised fence, and overlooked at the back by another fence and trellis, and in front by a thirty-foot conifer of some kind. Despite this, our back garden gets a fair amount of sunlight, and three-quarters of this patch is in sunlight for several hours during the day.
I've just spent 45 minutes ripping out ivy that was running rampant all over this plot, and all through the big planters along the back and at the far left (fence) side of the plot. Amazingly, some plants had survived under the blanket of ivy and are showing promising signs - no idea what they are as yet but looking forward to finding out!
Anyway, in the planter to the left hand side has been placed one honeysuckle - not yet in leaf and looks to be honest like a bundle of twigs in a pot.
About half way along in one of the pots at the back, which also contains a clematis, has gone a rose bush. Not far forward of that in the plot itself is another rose, and to the left again in front of and round the side of the planter over there are three dahlias - it seemed a little early to me to be starting off dahlias, but I figured it can't hurt...can it? Thinking on it, it seems to me that the ex's father used to dig up his dahlia corms each year once the blooms had faded and store them in the dark in the shed, and brought them out about Easter time to repot.
I have loads of seeds to plant yet. Most of them need putting in seed trays and bringing along for six to eight weeks before planting them outside. Luckily for me, the living room is in the back of the house and has floor to ceiling windows all along the back of it looking over the garden, so gets plenty of light and is more than warm enough for the seedlings to be happy.
This plot is in heavy clay, which has had a good deal of sand dug into it so it is lovely and crumbly. I dug in some compost I bought from the DIY store for the things I planted today.
I plan on growing tomatoes, some summer squash, peppers and carrots. May pick up some more seeds or possibly plants later in the year, about Easter time. I did successfully grow broad beans, peas and tomatoes last year. I may well grow most of those on the balcony, however, as that is also at the back of the house and growing things in pots up there is probably going to be preferable to the plot out the back.
We have plenty of plastic troughs and big tubs for things to go into, and I can easily sort out drainage so that nothing gets waterlogged. I also wondered whether things might be less susceptible to slugs and snails on the balcony, as many of my tomatoes last year fell prey to those (not to mention the landlady's six year old).
Any advice, comments or suggestions as to what/when/where/how to deal with all of this, please?
I did have the excellent BBC Gardener's World book, but the ex lent it out to one of his colleagues and I never got it back!