All Things Gardening 🌹

[janeababe]

I’ve only been interested in gardening in the last prob 8 yrs, so, by all means, I’m still learning and I have had many plants die despite me *nursing* them, sometimes, even lovingly 😂…. But such is the life of a plant I guess. 

I’m hoping that on this board, we can share our plant pics, what works, what doesn’t, give some handy hints and some solutions for those hard to grow plants.

I confess, I prefer my plants in pots, and now that I actually have a sort of greenhouse area, I’m loving it immensely.

And to top it all off, I’ve just right now purchased 3 x pink princess philodendrons 💋

Oh Lordy lord….. I’m so excited about these babies. These ones will stay inside with me until they grow a bit stronger. 

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[janeababe]

I call this my *newbies* spot. It’s a sunny built in verandah and all my new plants come here for some TLC.

(mostly, succulents ). But also some older, harder to grow and fussy plants.  
I also only use demineralised water for these guys. Woolworths sell the bottles for $1.90 😊

[countessalmirena]

What an excellent thread idea!

I'm a veritable newcomer to gardening. It's only in the last 2 years that I've picked up a long-abandoned interest which was squashed, I'll admit, in my youth by...

• the local cats digging up my bulbs (including our cat, no denying it - I spotted her doing it)
• a certain family member mowing right over the plants that had emerged from the seeds and bulbs, apparently unaware that they were not weeds
• getting the "don't dig up the garden" instruction (when - good lord - I was only trying to turn over BARE EARTH!), and
• I can hardly bring myself to say this - but... someone urinated on my herb plants!

So at the age of about 8, I gave up. I took all of the above discouragement as a sign. NOW... I am doing my best to remedy the situation.

I've been planting some comfrey to enrich the soil, and I want to plant a variety of honey-scented plants so that the aroma of honey will emanate from that corner all year round. (Non-invasive plants, though.)

I'm having to be ruthless in getting rid of weeds. I don't know if I can tackle the entire back lawn to get rid of the weeds there and have a beautifully green soft smooth lawn, but that's the plan. (Complicated by something of a slope.) I need my lavender corner as well - beautifully scented French lavender sending wafting waves of its sweet innocence through the air.

Then - in a year or two, after I have decided what to do with the sloping - either a mediæval or a Roman herb garden is the plan. Circular, with the herbs and other plants complementing each other and protecting each other, and a sundial in the middle, and a gorgeous garden bench nearby.

The front of the garden is looking wonderful. (Just ... still.. some weeds that I've assaulted in the last five days... and I've got to rethink the front steps going up next to the driveway. The two rose bushes planted in honour of the much-loved and always-remembered family member are gloriously in bloom.)

I'm thinking... perhaps... Roman mosaics running along the back fence line? Weeds and grass close to the fence are impossible to mow.

[janeababe]

I absolutely love the smell of lavender flowers, but alas…. The plants hate me. I just CANNOT grow them. I’ve failed, upon failed, upon failed! 😞

I also, dare I admit it, hate rose bushes with a passion 😁, actually dug 3 out of the yard today. Straight into the green bin. 😉

We’re on an acre block now, so it’s a blank canvas for me, so I’m excited to get going into turning it into a little bit of zen space for me to sit and drink wine and fight off the mozzies 😁

[domino-710]

[domino-710]

You definitely need a red whipper snipper.

[nicnacs_4u]

Great thread janebabe I do love my garden but it`s getting hard to maintain it.

Lavender grow well in Melbourne although even trimming back every year they still get woody after a few years I end up replacing them.

Love roses but not the thorns. Harley(our boxer dog)had a thorn embedded in his paw lucky my daughter got it out.Stupid dog also loves pruning them too by chewing on them!

[imastawka]

I'm pretty hopeless at ornamental plants.  If it can't survive without a drink for a while then it won't survive at my house

I don't like to plant anything I can't eat.

And even that's become a problem these days.

Age has wearied me, and my fingers and back are no longer supple and strong enough to do weeding, so my vegie/herb garden has become overgrown.

I feel like The Little Red Hen most of the time.  No-one wants to do the hard yards, but they all love and want the produce.

But, I'll be good for some helpful organic tips on keeping bugs and snails away from your edible plants.

[janeababe]

Stawks, I have a double composter, and compost all my scraps, but since we plan to get chooks, I guess the scraps will go to them 😊

Im not much of a veggie grower, I’ve even failed with tomatoes but I’ve been reading up about growing from food scraps, so I’m going to get hubby to make me some raised garden beds and I’ll give it a go.  

[imastawka]

Good for you.

Grow your own food, it's the way to go.

The chooks will be ideal....they'll poop your fertiliser and eat all your grubs.

Just keep them away from your seedlings till they're big enough, or they'll gobble them up.

And save all the eggshells too.  Eggshells when smashed into bits do 3 things for your garden.

First, they keep cabbage moths away (they think there's too many moths there already)

Second, snails don't like to crawl over them, and

Thirdly, they put calcium back into the soil