Ked, I did get a giggle about your hooligan of a yellow labrador pup. I have got bullmastiffs, and you sure see if they run over the borders, by the BIG paw marks left behind!!!!!!!!!! I am in NZ and today it is 28 celseus outside. Too hot to garden actually so I have got a fan going beside me and sitting enjoying reading Gardeners World. Hopefully we are going to get rain on Sunday and Monday, which will be great as the garden is drying out, and it is so tedious, each evening, standing watering with the hose - even with a cold glass of wine in the other hand !! One advantage is though, that you do notice heaps of things in the garden when you are having to water regularly as you are observing your garden each evening. Hope spring bursts forth for you all over in the UK real soon.
My seed potatoes have arrived and are now standing like soldiers in trays in the conservatory(unheated) to chit. Now all I have to do is dig in the green manure plants in readiness for planting them. Yesterday in the Botanic garden where I am a volunteer, the phormiums were very droopy but we only cleared away the weeds under them. They recovered last year after the bad winter and will do so again - as long as the leaves have colour they are photosynthesising so I would not cut them off. The snowdrops have been joined by the most magnificent display of crocuses. A bad winter has meant that the spring flowers will all be flowering together - some tete-a-tete daffodils are already flowering, as well as pulmonaria and aconites and what a season it is for bloom and no blind bulbs.
Hi Ive been making lists of what id like to change in my garden, its a bit of a blank canvas with open views of fields which i dont want to lose, can anyone recommend any garden design/ideas books to help me incorporate my blank canvas into the views???? Longshot this i know, i just dont know where to start .
bunnysgarden - John Brooks is the guru of garden design so look out for his books at the library. Why not copy the shape of your design in miniature to echo the shapes you see in your view?
Great to read your dog/garden comments! Two bull mastives!! Heavens! Labrador paws are half the size. I agree about training him of course but it's hard when he goes out in the dark and I can't see what he's doing. I knew he'd bitten off some of the jasmine I have (had!!) growing up my pergola but, when we went out today (the first sunny day for ages) I found the blighter has bitten off EVERY STEM from about 3 inches from the ground! I have to catch him at it to make it clear it's NOT OK! We'll get there though and hopefully the jasmine will reshoot.
Do I cut all grasses back to ground level? I don,t know the names of all of them, but I think I have some Zebra grass, at the moment it is very tall with fluffy seed heads. Others are green and red and still look quite green.
My daughter bought a strawberry plant "red gauntlet" over the weekend. I have a small garden thats gravelled. Does anyone know if its ok to put this sort into a hanging basket.
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I have got bullmastiffs, and you sure see if they run over the borders, by the BIG paw marks left behind!!!!!!!!!!
I am in NZ and today it is 28 celseus outside. Too hot to garden actually so I have got a fan going beside me and sitting enjoying reading Gardeners World.
Hopefully we are going to get rain on Sunday and Monday, which will be great as the garden is drying out, and it is so tedious, each evening, standing watering with the hose - even with a
cold glass of wine in the other hand !!
One advantage is though, that you do notice heaps of things in the garden when you are having to water regularly as you are observing your garden each evening. Hope spring bursts forth for you all over in the UK real soon.
Ive been making lists of what id like to change in my garden, its a bit of a blank canvas with open views of fields which i dont want to lose, can anyone recommend any garden design/ideas books to help me incorporate my blank canvas into the views???? Longshot this i know, i just dont know where to start .