Its reassuring to read so many of you don't have the 'neat & tidy gene' - I don't have it either. Annoyingly, OH does. In respects of the garden if a plant isn't looking its best he wants to remove it and doesn't have an appreciation of why there are so many plants in pots on the patio, or the shed is cluttered with tools, pots & compost placed for 'easy access'. Have been able to play for time on a clear up by telling him it will be tidier when the greenhouse is installed and I can move it out of the way. Who wants to waste time clearing a shed when they could be gardening?! As for a tidy garden, I do like the grass cut and edges trimmed and I prefer full borders with the plants close together. Very much a 'work in progress' for our garden.
Victoria, it will mature and as you shape it it will become nearer to your ideal, but still with natures angle on it! as gardeners we can tend to get frustrated with certain aspects which aren't yet as we would like. Take a step back, sigh, enjoy. Appreciate the now-ness of it. And especially lovely comments from precious young ones. Enjoy.
wow clari, ironing is against my religion!David i love your garden, i like neat and tidy indoors but not really in the garden, i love abundance, no straight lines, exuberance, pots arranged not too tidily, is this naturally what i like or is this what i have time to manage? i do like wildness actually, nature to be in control in the main, i love to see flowers rambling all over, wish i could upload pics off camera, i am so technologically illiterate
I was just thinking though - a gardener who likes neatness isn't the same a person who likes a neat garden...
I know people who would rather chop every plant down to the ground than have a flower doing its own thing in the garden.
My sister likes certain flowers for example, but also likes to have a garden swept and mopped and the mop put away. When getting my late mothers house ready for the market, I once caught her digging out a large hollyhock that she thought was making the garden look a mess, and another time she chopped down a lilac that had 'an excess' of stag beetles in the wood... Even her super neat gardening neighbour told her off...
Hope that doesn't seem disloyal...we all like our gardens to be different...
What's an iron? I think I may have one in a cupboard somewhere but it hasn't seen the light of day for a while.
In the garden though I do tend to be a bit of a control freak and like everything to stay in its place. In theory I like my borders colour coded but in practice they don't take long to stray from my initial ideas as I move things around or fill up a space with something that doesn't really belong. I also run into the problem of buying things on impulse and then have to find somewhere to put them.
I also like the lawn mown and the edges cut but it is my least favourite job of all and I hanker after a robot lawnmower that will do it all unsupervised.
..for some of us, I think it might depend on a few things...what type of weeds you're having to deal with...the scope of your garden and whether you're an impulse buyer...
...front garden - few weeds...planned and orderly...open to view...
..back garden - horsetail weed...overcrowded and rambling... it has to be if I want a quiet life from this...as one thing that stymies it's vigour is being shaded out with ground cover...I cannot afford to leave gaps.... so, not always a choice...
Salino, my front garden is the opposite, hardly ever lift a trowel to it. Weeds in the drive, low maintenance and still overgrown shrubs in the border, no grass. My neighbours probably think the back garden is a real mess as well (I dont care) and will wonder why I'm always bringing plants home!
Balance is the most important thing for me. In everything. I'll tolerate some things but not others. I like grass, hedges and boundaries in general, to be neat. I like geometry and symmetry, but I also like a sharply outlined bed with some softer planting in it. I like giving plants the room to grow to their full potential, but if it means lots of bare ground round them, I'll fill temporarily or mulch well. When you're busy you have to prioritise.
I spent many years producing horses and ponies for the show ring so that's where it comes from. The Devil's in the detail.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
..Mrs Garden...lol...but I'm a little surprised at that...I do like to see people make the effort with their front gardens...it's the entrance to one's home...and I just think it adds so much...so....get the trowel out !!...lol...
...I might also add...that I should think neighbour and boundary issues would also mean adaptations to our gardening habits for a lot of people...you cannot always do just as you would like...sometimes I don't blame people for putting in Laurel or Leylandii...depending who's next door...
Posts
Its reassuring to read so many of you don't have the 'neat & tidy gene' - I don't have it either. Annoyingly, OH does. In respects of the garden if a plant isn't looking its best he wants to remove it and doesn't have an appreciation of why there are so many plants in pots on the patio, or the shed is cluttered with tools, pots & compost placed for 'easy access'. Have been able to play for time on a clear up by telling him it will be tidier when the greenhouse is installed and I can move it out of the way. Who wants to waste time clearing a shed when they could be gardening?! As for a tidy garden, I do like the grass cut and edges trimmed and I prefer full borders with the plants close together. Very much a 'work in progress' for our garden.
wow clari, ironing is against my religion!David i love your garden, i like neat and tidy indoors but not really in the garden, i love abundance, no straight lines, exuberance, pots arranged not too tidily, is this naturally what i like or is this what i have time to manage? i do like wildness actually, nature to be in control in the main, i love to see flowers rambling all over, wish i could upload pics off camera, i am so technologically illiterate
I was just thinking though - a gardener who likes neatness isn't the same a person who likes a neat garden...
I know people who would rather chop every plant down to the ground than have a flower doing its own thing in the garden.
My sister likes certain flowers for example, but also likes to have a garden swept and mopped and the mop put away. When getting my late mothers house ready for the market, I once caught her digging out a large hollyhock that she thought was making the garden look a mess, and another time she chopped down a lilac that had 'an excess' of stag beetles in the wood...
Even her super neat gardening neighbour told her off...
Hope that doesn't seem disloyal...we all like our gardens to be different...
Clari, ironing socks so they are neat in the drawer!!!
I just chuck 'em in. No one will see the socks in the drawer or on your feet.
I only like straight lines in moderation, prefer curves. I do like the lawn mown (OH's job) and the edges cut.
What's an iron? I think I may have one in a cupboard somewhere but it hasn't seen the light of day for a while.
In the garden though I do tend to be a bit of a control freak and like everything to stay in its place. In theory I like my borders colour coded but in practice they don't take long to stray from my initial ideas as I move things around or fill up a space with something that doesn't really belong. I also run into the problem of buying things on impulse and then have to find somewhere to put them.
I also like the lawn mown and the edges cut but it is my least favourite job of all and I hanker after a robot lawnmower that will do it all unsupervised.
..for some of us, I think it might depend on a few things...what type of weeds you're having to deal with...the scope of your garden and whether you're an impulse buyer...
...front garden - few weeds...planned and orderly...open to view...
..back garden - horsetail weed...overcrowded and rambling... it has to be if I want a quiet life from this...as one thing that stymies it's vigour is being shaded out with ground cover...I cannot afford to leave gaps.... so, not always a choice...
Salino, my front garden is the opposite, hardly ever lift a trowel to it. Weeds in the drive, low maintenance and still overgrown shrubs in the border, no grass. My neighbours probably think the back garden is a real mess as well (I dont care) and will wonder why I'm always bringing plants home!
Balance is the most important thing for me. In everything. I'll tolerate some things but not others. I like grass, hedges and boundaries in general, to be neat. I like geometry and symmetry, but I also like a sharply outlined bed with some softer planting in it. I like giving plants the room to grow to their full potential, but if it means lots of bare ground round them, I'll fill temporarily or mulch well. When you're busy you have to prioritise.
I spent many years producing horses and ponies for the show ring so that's where it comes from. The Devil's in the detail.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
..Mrs Garden...lol...but I'm a little surprised at that...I do like to see people make the effort with their front gardens...it's the entrance to one's home...and I just think it adds so much...so....get the trowel out !!...lol...
...I might also add...that I should think neighbour and boundary issues would also mean adaptations to our gardening habits for a lot of people...you cannot always do just as you would like...sometimes I don't blame people for putting in Laurel or Leylandii...depending who's next door...