The Political Asylum

Vintage Girl · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 12:48 pm Post subject: Gardening

After a busy weekend on the garden I have decided that gerdening is one of the best therapies there is.

Good physical exercise, a sense of achievement and afterwards you can sit and relax and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Very Happy

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ukus · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 72

Gardening can be very therapeutic if you enjoy it ... otherwise it's a real pain the 'you know where'

Our soil here, where I am in Texas is awful. They call it Gumbo cos it"s basically thick clay with a topping of builders sand and a small dusting of soil (just enough to make the grass and weeds grow.)

You need arm's like a wrestler to dig in that stuff but to compensate you can make raised beds.

Only being in this house for a year I have got a nice selection of herbs growing..... if only I could grow English runner beans, but the Texas heat doesn't do a good job. I get 'em up, get 'em flowering ... then nothing but battling the mexican bean beetle .... pah !!!

kitchenwitch · Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 4:05 pm Post subject:

I went to the nursery yesterday and bought a whole bunch of flowers and veggies to put into my planters and raised beds. I have crappy soil here too, although it 's pretty much gravel. You can't dig 6 inches before hitting rocks of various sizes. We have a decorative boulder (5 feet x 3 feet) in our front yard that we found burried in the back yard. I'm just hoping I'm not jumping the gun and planting things a bit too early. We've been having weird weather and just the time that things are blooming seems to be off somehow. Anyway, I'm planting this weekend, we'll see what happens.

Jen · Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 64

I'd love a nice garden, I have a garden but at the moment it is covered in black plastic and gravel to supress the weeds. It was only a temporary measure we did last year. The plan is to take it all up this year, lay a patio and some decking and turn and plant borders...well it was until I broke my leg.

wakeyboy · Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 9:07 pm Post subject:

I quite enjoy gardening. Me and my Mum have planted some pansies, some honey suckle, some red currant, and some california poppy seeds.

I've planted some more nasturcions even though they get covered in caterpillars or aphids (whichever species is lucky that year).
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kitchenwitch · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject:

I've never had any luck with poppies, I don't know why that is.

I did manage to get most of my flowers in yesterday. I need to get my vegetables in soon, but it won't be today since it's raining. I also need a break since I feel like an old, old woman today. While I love having a big yard keeping up with it is a lot of work.

Jen · Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 64

SilverMiniCooperS · Inmate of the Asylum Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 195

I know what you mean Karen. I found that gardening in this area is more than a challenge, it's next to impossible!

Vintage Girl · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 9:47 pm Post subject:

I managed to get the main part of the garden into some sort of shape last year. The people who were here before had some beautiful plants but absolutely no sense of where to plant them. I tried moving some but most of them didn't survive the move. So last year I decided to bite the bullet and scrap most of what they did and start from scratch. This year we are beginning to reap the benefits as my newly planted shrubbery last year is looking more established now.

We also scrapped their badly designed fish pond last year. It was a very ugly 12ft square brick built pond which took up a huge amount of space but didn't have enough room around it to actually sit and watch the fish. We completely demolished it, replaced it with a smaller freeform pond, decked the surrounding area and constructed a sunburst design pergola over the whole thing. It now has a couple of swing seats plus a table and chairs and a barbecue area. It is lovely to sit there on a hot summer day in the dappled shade just contemplating the fish and listening to the trickle of water.

This years project is the area at the bottom of the garden under the willow tree. It will be a bit of a challenge as it is very shaded.
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Girls are like phones. We love to be held and talked to, but if you press the wrong button you'll be disconnected!

kitchenwitch · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 3:25 am Post subject:

Your yard sounds lovely VG, like something out of Ground Force. I suspect you didn't have Alan, Charlie and Tommy helping you out though. That's always been a fantasy of mine having someone come in and make the yard fabulous in two days.

How much area are you landscaping? It sounds like what you have done is quite extensive. I saw your pictures and what I could see looked lovely, you need to show us the pond and the pergola.

Has the willow tree given you any problems? They're notorious for growing their roots into the water pipes and/or septic tanks, and of course they can be messy. I think they're a pretty tree, but mostly in someone else's yard.

SilverMiniCooperS · Inmate of the Asylum Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 195

Jen · Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 64

I've got a postage stamped size front garden, laid to turf with flowering tubs under the windows, my neighbour is making me two hanging baskets up, I'll put pics up when they are in full bloom.

Tha back garden is quite big for a suburban garden, we have a lot of work to do in it. A pond has been put in by hubby, it needs finishing off though. The plan is to deck around it and to have decking area leading to it where we can sit of an evening. We also plan to put a flagstone patio in fromt of the patio doors and under the family room window. and turf the rest, with flower borders. I want a swing seat put in too, eventually.

Vintage Girl · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm Post subject:

poppycock · Inmate of the Asylum Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 533

I admire your green thumb, VG, and it's obvious you enjoy being out in the garden. My enthusiasm for gardening lasts about a week in early Spring and then dissipates almost overnight. We've been on watering restrictions for well over a month and we'll be down to zero before too long. I've put in more drought-resistant plants but even they struggle in the hot summer. Perversely, the weeds thrive.

Has anyone been to the gardens at Sissinghurst? I'd love to see the white garden one day.

wakeyboy · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:22 pm Post subject:

Why is it that plants given love and attention nearly always die whereas weeds that are pulled up, poisoned, damaged, destroyed and covered over with plastic always do really well?!!?!? Mad

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kitchenwitch · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject:

It's just one of those mysteries of gardening Wakey.

SilverMiniCooperS · Inmate of the Asylum Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 195