For overwintering I would think east facing is better than nothing. You would need to put to rings in the wall or fence so you can put a rope right round it, they have a habit of taking off on a windy day.
I think periwinke has already flowered? Maybe someone else knows that.
Cut the sweet peas and bring indoors, they will keep growing. On the fence that is!
Dicentra just leave about two inches, it will come up again.
At the end of the season, I would cut the turf, fill in those little squares, its making the garden look smaller, then make the borders wider and curving. Do away with the square corners you have now and make them curved. You an use a hose pipe or a bit of rope to mark the shape.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Sounds like a good plan, they have walk in plastic greenhouses for £14 or the small 3 shelfved ones for £10, walk in would be far too big, wish i could get one of them.
Do i cut sweet pea now as i onlly have 1 flowered one, or do i wait until flowers come out?
So fill in the squares with grass seed and make the borders bigger and curvier around the edges
If you need height christine - take a look at the bulb suppliers online. Alliums are a good way to fill gaps at this time of year as they have height but not too much spread and they aren't expensive. For a few pounds you can get 50 or 100 bulbs and they take little attention. You'll get them in autumn -plant them where you want them to go and wait for them to come up next year.
You mentioned hostas - they can be propagated by division. You can do that later in the year or in spring. Lift the plant and split it with a spade or knife into decent sized pieces. You can replant them if conditions are good, or pot them on to plant later.
It's worth taking a bit of time to look up the conditions and propagation techniques for the plants you have. Plenty of info online or in libraries if you don't want to buy books. I'd also agree with Lyn about removing those two little beds and making more of the corners of your plot.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I also find that late season flowering plants are a bit difficult since they become overwhelmed by the earlier flowering plants during June/July. What I try to use are dahlias which are robust enough to keep growing between the earlier plants and generally put on a great show in late summer. Growing from seed needs quite some patience if you want 'clumps' of flowers but some, like Lupins and Delphiniums can be quite rewarding.
Christine, sow in trays or pots outside, as for some saying they won't survive the winter that's not strictly true. If they are potted on as soon as you get the first set of true leaves and into 9cm pots, fed and cared for they do survive in a cold frame or even covered with fleece outside. As long as you don't neglect them you'll keep 90% of what you sow now. If we get a long summer and a good September it's surprising how many will establish in the ground let alone in pots and cossetted and if your'e raising quite few as I do, to loose a few is no big deal, and hugely cheaper than buying them commercially.
Ok Thanks Dave, i have a tray with tiny wee leaves popping up on bathroom sill, they are foxgloves, when do i put them out? Or do i leave them indoors? Think i am meant to put them in ground once they have leaves i can get hold of, but the winter worried me?
Hello again Christine - just a thought, it's about the time of the year when some of the garden centres sell off their early stuff, I often pick up the odd bargain at this time, they also often sell off the earl flowering shrubs as well.
Hello again Christine - just a thought, it's about the time of the year when some of the garden centres sell off their early stuff, I often pick up the odd bargain at this time, they also often sell off the earl flowering shrubs as well.
Oh like the sound of that, do you just buy the things on sale that come back each year? For example you wouldnt buy dying pansies no? Just shrubs and things that come back following year?
Hi Christine, before I had a green house I planted small stuff into the ground and cover them with plastic drink bottles with the bottom cut off and the screw lid off on mild days and then moved them into final place in spring. One bit of the garden looked a bit strange in the winter but ...... might be worth a try
Posts
For overwintering I would think east facing is better than nothing. You would need to put to rings in the wall or fence so you can put a rope right round it, they have a habit of taking off on a windy day.
I think periwinke has already flowered? Maybe someone else knows that.
Cut the sweet peas and bring indoors, they will keep growing. On the fence that is!
Dicentra just leave about two inches, it will come up again.
At the end of the season, I would cut the turf, fill in those little squares, its making the garden look smaller, then make the borders wider and curving. Do away with the square corners you have now and make them curved. You an use a hose pipe or a bit of rope to mark the shape.
Sounds like a good plan, they have walk in plastic greenhouses for £14 or the small 3 shelfved ones for £10, walk in would be far too big, wish i could get one of them.
Do i cut sweet pea now as i onlly have 1 flowered one, or do i wait until flowers come out?
So fill in the squares with grass seed and make the borders bigger and curvier around the edges
If you need height christine - take a look at the bulb suppliers online. Alliums are a good way to fill gaps at this time of year as they have height but not too much spread and they aren't expensive. For a few pounds you can get 50 or 100 bulbs and they take little attention. You'll get them in autumn -plant them where you want them to go and wait for them to come up next year.
You mentioned hostas - they can be propagated by division. You can do that later in the year or in spring. Lift the plant and split it with a spade or knife into decent sized pieces. You can replant them if conditions are good, or pot them on to plant later.
It's worth taking a bit of time to look up the conditions and propagation techniques for the plants you have. Plenty of info online or in libraries if you don't want to buy books. I'd also agree with Lyn about removing those two little beds and making more of the corners of your plot.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I also find that late season flowering plants are a bit difficult since they become overwhelmed by the earlier flowering plants during June/July. What I try to use are dahlias which are robust enough to keep growing between the earlier plants and generally put on a great show in late summer. Growing from seed needs quite some patience if you want 'clumps' of flowers but some, like Lupins and Delphiniums can be quite rewarding.
Thanks guys, chobfinart i was planning on buying dahilias but never got round to it.
fairygirl i have tons of gardening books i picked up from 2nd hand shops lol have read a few.
Christine, sow in trays or pots outside, as for some saying they won't survive the winter that's not strictly true. If they are potted on as soon as you get the first set of true leaves and into 9cm pots, fed and cared for they do survive in a cold frame or even covered with fleece outside. As long as you don't neglect them you'll keep 90% of what you sow now. If we get a long summer and a good September it's surprising how many will establish in the ground let alone in pots and cossetted and if your'e raising quite few as I do, to loose a few is no big deal, and hugely cheaper than buying them commercially.
Ok Thanks Dave, i have a tray with tiny wee leaves popping up on bathroom sill, they are foxgloves, when do i put them out? Or do i leave them indoors? Think i am meant to put them in ground once they have leaves i can get hold of, but the winter worried me?
Hello again Christine - just a thought, it's about the time of the year when some of the garden centres sell off their early stuff, I often pick up the odd bargain at this time, they also often sell off the earl flowering shrubs as well.
Oh like the sound of that, do you just buy the things on sale that come back each year? For example you wouldnt buy dying pansies no? Just shrubs and things that come back following year?
Hi Christine, before I had a green house I planted small stuff into the ground and cover them with plastic drink bottles with the bottom cut off and the screw lid off on mild days and then moved them into final place in spring. One bit of the garden looked a bit strange in the winter but ...... might be worth a try