BB, did you have to tell me that? I'm jealous of Andy's 2. But I fear I would have to do away with the kids play area to fit another in! I've already stolen their 8x4 sandpit!
Gardeners never have enough space. And now I'm really discovering ornamentals through you lot, I'm buggered!
gardenjeannie, I think children's things have such short tenure in gardens that you always have to think about what you're going to do when the sandpit is defunct, or the trampoline will go, or when you will no longer need a pitch. In actual fact, our foster children take as much pleasure in pottering with me in the greenhouse, as they do with playing on stuff in the garden. They will make proper little gardeners one day. Guys, you were all so right. Pottering in the sunshine today has made me deliriously happy, and we have had a lovely 'garden day' together. The greenhouse is half full already. Am beginning to understand why people have two, or three, or four. Don't tell me what ornamentals are - I don't need to know!!
Oh, BB, you haven't discovered plants just for the heck of how they look, then yet? Oh Dear. They are the ones you grow just cos you like them, not for food. Although I have decided that all my plants MUST serve a purpose
So, here's a bunch of reasons to have non-food plants,
1, good for pollinating critters, especially bees, and help wildlife in general as feed, shelter etc etc.
2 help deter the bad critters, by smell, looks or taste (I HATE marigolds, but they are supposed to be good for the garden, and you can make handcream from them, so they can just sneak in this yr!)
3 encourage the good predator critters that eat the critters who eat my food plants.
4 Smell good
5 can be cut for house
6 make a windbreak or give shelter to fruit or veg plants
7 you think you may sell a few to get more funds for more garden stuff. (ha, some excuse. I'm obsessed with trying to grow almost useless standard fuchsias with twisted stems, and they take up huge amounts of time an greenhouse space)
8 They can add structure to your garden and yr round interest to your garden, which, according to the mags and tv I am assured is necessary for a well balanced garden
9 someone you like gave it to you, knowing you like gardening, but have, themselves, not a clue. These tend to get mollycoddled out of all proportion, and this is possibly what usually kills them, just as the person asks how it is doing!
10 they sit in pots or baskets all summer, at your busiest time, needing loads of watering and feeding,and don't even have the decency to come back again next yr, BUT They are pretty and fit at least one of above.
11 they make good compost material
12 You just like 'em. They may be pretty useless for any other reason, but they make you smile. Which maybe should be the No 1 reason to have them
But on no account start to waste hard-earned GH space on them. Do as I say, not as I do, me too
Andy - you were a VERY important influence in my should I/shouldn't I days - in fact I have been inspired by your photo of a greenhouse ready to go after re-furbishment, throughout the whole process. I can't tell you how jealous I was of its pristine readiness!!! I hereby promise to move the pallet.
Where do I find that to see anywhere I went wrong? Didn't have this forum when I put mine up.
Andy - when you say 'my two', greenhouses begin to sound like kids!!
BB, that's 'cos they are! They take at least as much time, routine and attention! But can also give you a wee escape from 'the real world'! They are also like a Tardis. You wonder how it can all fit in, and time seems to alter (disappear), once you step inside. And it is a different world. YES, you can now go out in the horrible weather, be with your plants, Have that glass of wine and feel cocooned from the worst of everything. Just don't put a light and a radio in there, or you may never leave When I got mine up, with a little help from my eldest (10-Y-O at the time), he said 'let me know when you're done, Mum, and I'll give you a hand with your bed'! I can sometimes be found in there beyond midnight, tying in fuchsias and potting stuff on, with a nice glass of something to hand, knowing the kids are safely snoring.
Can plants suffer from second-hand ciggy smoke, does anyone know, by the way? I know they filter all kinds of 'bad' stuff for us, which is one reason I had a job before I moved here, and why plants are used to counter 'sick building syndrome', but I never saw ciggy smoke mentioned in any reports.
I am so excited for you and OL, BB. I know how it feels to finally get a GH. I spend so much more time cleaning that than my house windows! Have a window cleaner for outside the house, but I would never trust anyone to do my GH, even tho' he has offered me a very reasonable price to do same for that. GH work is fun and satisfying. Housework is just a chore. I would sooner cut my and my neighbours' grass than vacuum the house!
I will do gardenjeannie!! You almost had me wanting to take up smoking there, just for the hell of the rebellion. Will just have to stick with the wine. I have been planning to run an armored cable to the greenhouse so that I will have electricity in there - I take the radio to the shed or garage when I'm working in them. I know what you mean about how gardening and housework are soooo different. I hate housework too, and had to do some on Friday, and felt the strong call of the greenhouse, so had to treat myself to some potting on by mid afternoon. I have got ornamentals then!! I thought it was a specialist term, but I have a flower garden and obviously am really thinking about the bees. We planted some marigolds this weekend to keep in there with the tomatoes. And I have planted delphiniums, busy lizzies, cosmos, pinks, agapanthus, rudbekia, and my foster daughter chose some gladioli (which won't see the greenhouse). I am wanting to extend the garden down the paddock in the long term, and do some 'real gardening' because much as I love my raised beds, they have their limitations. I have tended to buy things I like and shove them in there willy-nilly, and now I need to do a bit of design thinking. I don't think I will have any of those plants that people just keep in the greenhouse all the time though, like orchids and amaryllis. I think that's what I thought you meant by 'ornamentals'. Just use it for crops and bringing things on - and cuttings is a whole world that has passed me by thus far! So many possibilities....!
Posts
Andy - when you say 'my two', greenhouses begin to sound like kids!!
LOL Busy, you would have been more than welcome
Thanks OL!
BB, did you have to tell me that? I'm jealous of Andy's 2. But I fear I would have to do away with the kids play area to fit another in! I've already stolen their 8x4 sandpit!
Gardeners never have enough space. And now I'm really discovering ornamentals through you lot, I'm buggered!
gardenjeannie, I think children's things have such short tenure in gardens that you always have to think about what you're going to do when the sandpit is defunct, or the trampoline will go, or when you will no longer need a pitch. In actual fact, our foster children take as much pleasure in pottering with me in the greenhouse, as they do with playing on stuff in the garden. They will make proper little gardeners one day. Guys, you were all so right. Pottering in the sunshine today has made me deliriously happy, and we have had a lovely 'garden day' together. The greenhouse is half full already. Am beginning to understand why people have two, or three, or four. Don't tell me what ornamentals are - I don't need to know!!
Oh, BB, you haven't discovered plants just for the heck of how they look, then yet? Oh Dear. They are the ones you grow just cos you like them, not for food. Although I have decided that all my plants MUST serve a purpose
So, here's a bunch of reasons to have non-food plants,
1, good for pollinating critters, especially bees, and help wildlife in general as feed, shelter etc etc.
2 help deter the bad critters, by smell, looks or taste (I HATE marigolds, but they are supposed to be good for the garden, and you can make handcream from them, so they can just sneak in this yr!)
3 encourage the good predator critters that eat the critters who eat my food plants.
4 Smell good
5 can be cut for house
6 make a windbreak or give shelter to fruit or veg plants
7 you think you may sell a few to get more funds for more garden stuff. (ha, some excuse. I'm obsessed with trying to grow almost useless standard fuchsias with twisted stems, and they take up huge amounts of time an greenhouse space)
8 They can add structure to your garden and yr round interest to your garden, which, according to the mags and tv I am assured is necessary for a well balanced garden
9 someone you like gave it to you, knowing you like gardening, but have, themselves, not a clue. These tend to get mollycoddled out of all proportion, and this is possibly what usually kills them, just as the person asks how it is doing!
10 they sit in pots or baskets all summer, at your busiest time, needing loads of watering and feeding,and don't even have the decency to come back again next yr, BUT They are pretty and fit at least one of above.
11 they make good compost material
12 You just like 'em. They may be pretty useless for any other reason, but they make you smile. Which maybe should be the No 1 reason to have them
But on no account start to waste hard-earned GH space on them. Do as I say, not as I do
, me too
BB, that's 'cos they are! They take at least as much time, routine and attention! But can also give you a wee escape from 'the real world'! They are also like a Tardis. You wonder how it can all fit in, and time seems to alter (disappear), once you step inside. And it is a different world. YES, you can now go out in the horrible weather, be with your plants, Have that glass of wine and feel cocooned from the worst of everything. Just don't put a light and a radio in there, or you may never leave
When I got mine up, with a little help from my eldest (10-Y-O at the time), he said 'let me know when you're done, Mum, and I'll give you a hand with your bed'! I can sometimes be found in there beyond midnight, tying in fuchsias and potting stuff on, with a nice glass of something to hand, knowing the kids are safely snoring.
Can plants suffer from second-hand ciggy smoke, does anyone know, by the way? I know they filter all kinds of 'bad' stuff for us, which is one reason I had a job before I moved here, and why plants are used to counter 'sick building syndrome', but I never saw ciggy smoke mentioned in any reports.
I am so excited for you and OL, BB. I know how it feels to finally get a GH. I spend so much more time cleaning that than my house windows! Have a window cleaner for outside the house, but I would never trust anyone to do my GH, even tho' he has offered me a very reasonable price to do same for that. GH work is fun and satisfying. Housework is just a chore. I would sooner cut my and my neighbours' grass than vacuum the house!
ENJOY, both of you, but please post pics. Often!!
I will do gardenjeannie!! You almost had me wanting to take up smoking there, just for the hell of the rebellion. Will just have to stick with the wine. I have been planning to run an armored cable to the greenhouse so that I will have electricity in there - I take the radio to the shed or garage when I'm working in them. I know what you mean about how gardening and housework are soooo different. I hate housework too, and had to do some on Friday, and felt the strong call of the greenhouse, so had to treat myself to some potting on by mid afternoon. I have got ornamentals then!! I thought it was a specialist term, but I have a flower garden and obviously am really thinking about the bees. We planted some marigolds this weekend to keep in there with the tomatoes. And I have planted delphiniums, busy lizzies, cosmos, pinks, agapanthus, rudbekia, and my foster daughter chose some gladioli (which won't see the greenhouse). I am wanting to extend the garden down the paddock in the long term, and do some 'real gardening' because much as I love my raised beds, they have their limitations. I have tended to buy things I like and shove them in there willy-nilly, and now I need to do a bit of design thinking. I don't think I will have any of those plants that people just keep in the greenhouse all the time though, like orchids and amaryllis. I think that's what I thought you meant by 'ornamentals'. Just use it for crops and bringing things on - and cuttings is a whole world that has passed me by thus far! So many possibilities....!
Thanks Chicky!! Am wondering what to do with it this morning - like a kid with a new toy. Best clean the kitchen first though