as I'm new and clueless, I've started a blog as an online diary, so I can document what I've planted, where, and what it looks like for when I forget what the ballyhoo it is. I even take pictures of the labels off plants and keep them on there.
As for when to do stuff, I mainly just look at the 'what to do this week' on GW or see someone doing something on the forum and think 'bugger, I haven't done that yet'. And then forget to do it.
i'm a prime sinner for constantly moving plants, i see a space put in a plant then remember i planted loads of summer bulbs or forget how big the plant next to it will get, i always move stuff at the wrong time of year, mostly it's ok. Take today for e'g i was looking for 'jobs' in the garden then started eyeing up a climbing rose i planted last year, i planted three red ones (i don;t know why as my colour scheme is blues & whites and have dug one up and stuck it in a pot to be sold out the front if it doesn't die, if it survives i will pull up the other two and plant white or pale pink ones that i actually like and go with the garden.there's a lot to be said for actually filling in my diary, if only i had the inclination
I used to keep notes many years ago but forgot where I put them so just wing it now. The fact is the longer you garden the more things become almost second nature so I would recommend reading lots of books (almost anything from the RHS is good) and using the internet. You'll soon learn some 'rules of thumb' which enable you to get most things right. Even the most experienced on this forum also sometimes just ask and answers given will often provide more general advice.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Personally I garden for fun, if it works I am ecstatic if it doesn't I move on. Bob is right about time, experience and repetition, I would add patience because mainly you get one shot at it per year. That's what makes it interesting......
When I was in paid employment I wrote reports all the time, now I'm free of all that! Anyway its more interesting to interact with other gardeners I think, otherwise it becomes a very solitary enterprise.
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
I am in total agreement with you herbaceous - gardening is for fun and trial and error - if a plant does well I give myself a pat on the back and if it fails to thrive I learn from that experience and try something different next time. I start a page in my notebook each year but within a week I revert back to instinct and if in doubt look up in books or magazines or use this forum for helpful suggestions.
So it looks like there's mostly organised chaos with a bit of organised organisation going on!
I'm an organiser, so I always have to write stuff down. I ended up a research scientist - so its definitely in my blood! And with the addition of baby brain - there's no way I'm going to make the garden our own without anything written down!
Maybe once I'm a bit further along, it'll be different!
Good on you Guernsey when I was a child learning about plants I had my Grandad, now I have the Internet and all of you. Much better. I have so little to boast about that when I do post a good thing it is doubly rewarding to be acknowledged by people who have so much more experience and savvy.
I truly believe that instinct is nothing more than accumulated wisdom you didn't know you had.
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
Posts
as I'm new and clueless, I've started a blog as an online diary, so I can document what I've planted, where, and what it looks like for when I forget what the ballyhoo it is. I even take pictures of the labels off plants and keep them on there.
As for when to do stuff, I mainly just look at the 'what to do this week' on GW or see someone doing something on the forum and think 'bugger, I haven't done that yet'. And then forget to do it.
i'm a prime sinner for constantly moving plants, i see a space put in a plant then remember i planted loads of summer bulbs or forget how big the plant next to it will get, i always move stuff at the wrong time of year, mostly it's ok. Take today for e'g i was looking for 'jobs' in the garden then started eyeing up a climbing rose i planted last year, i planted three red ones (i don;t know why as my colour scheme is blues & whites and have dug one up and stuck it in a pot to be sold out the front if it doesn't die, if it survives i will pull up the other two and plant white or pale pink ones that i actually like and go with the garden.there's a lot to be said for actually filling in my diary, if only i had the inclination
I'm forever digging up bulbs, sometimes it's those I planted half an hour ago
In the sticks near Peterborough
That's me nut. I'm like a champion pickle forker!
In the sticks near Peterborough
I used to keep notes many years ago but forgot where I put them so just wing it now.
The fact is the longer you garden the more things become almost second nature so I would recommend reading lots of books (almost anything from the RHS is good) and using the internet. You'll soon learn some 'rules of thumb' which enable you to get most things right. Even the most experienced on this forum also sometimes just ask and answers given will often provide more general advice.
Personally I garden for fun, if it works I am ecstatic if it doesn't I move on. Bob is right about time, experience and repetition, I would add patience because mainly you get one shot at it per year. That's what makes it interesting......
When I was in paid employment I wrote reports all the time, now I'm free of all that! Anyway its more interesting to interact with other gardeners I think, otherwise it becomes a very solitary enterprise.
I am in total agreement with you herbaceous - gardening is for fun and trial and error - if a plant does well I give myself a pat on the back and if it fails to thrive I learn from that experience and try something different next time. I start a page in my notebook each year but within a week I revert back to instinct and if in doubt look up in books or magazines or use this forum for helpful suggestions.
So it looks like there's mostly organised chaos with a bit of organised organisation going on!
I'm an organiser, so I always have to write stuff down. I ended up a research scientist - so its definitely in my blood! And with the addition of baby brain - there's no way I'm going to make the garden our own without anything written down!
Maybe once I'm a bit further along, it'll be different!
Good on you Guernsey
when I was a child learning about plants I had my Grandad, now I have the Internet and all of you. Much better. I have so little to boast about that when I do post a good thing it is doubly rewarding to be acknowledged by people who have so much more experience and savvy.
I truly believe that instinct is nothing more than accumulated wisdom you didn't know you had.