How does your garden grow?

[Bored Of Education]

How does your garden grow?

I have brown thumbs so luckily I have someone that does mine. Equally, luckily, I am married to her.

Here is the garden's current status.



It always amazes me every year how the flowers come up all colour co-ordinated, even though I have requested certain flowers.

[Sits]

How does your garden grow?

Tell Mrs. Bored I admire her buddleia from afar.

[Amor de Cosmos]

How does your garden grow?

Front:



Back:

[Sits]

How does your garden grow?

Is it you with the rogue raccoon Amor? In which case we've now seen the deck in question.

And if those are hostas it's the best selection I've seen.

[Amor de Cosmos]

How does your garden grow?

It is, and you have.

The previous owner planted them a bit like lines of soldiers which I'm going to rectify but yes, hostas tend to do well in these parts.

[EIM]

How does your garden grow?

Look at you with your gardens, you lah-di-dah posh bastards.

[Sam]

How does your garden grow?

I've got a couple of potted plants, which are sitting just inside the living room window at present as they need warmth, and it's winter at the moment. When the warmer weather starts to come they'll be moved the other side of the glass onto the shallow balcony we have outside the living room (south facing; they don't like direct sunlight, I'm told). One's a begonia rex and the other's a dieffenbacchia tropix. The begonia in particular is gorgeous, big leaves that are black or dark green in the middle and fade out to a lovely purple at the edges.

At some point soon I'm going to get a few other plants that can take direct sunlight, and put them out on the bedroom balcony - one of these will probably be a chilli plant of some sort.

My girlfriend doesn't so much as touch them, because if she did they would wilt and die on the spot (or so she claims).

[Bored Of Education]

How does your garden grow?

Sits wrote: Tell Mrs. Bored I admire her buddleia from afar.

I was going to punch you out for that but then she told me what they were.

Of course, I jest. They are actually one of my requests. I always come back and see something that I have seen growing wild along the road or railway track and Mrs Bored occasionally accedes to my request. Pink Lavatera is another one. Most of the time, she tells me that they are weeds but I can't understand why one pink flower is a weed and another is a flower. Indeed, I can't understand why road- or railway-side flowers always seem to be pink.

I took another photo from another angle to show the buddleia better.



However, it is nowhere near full bloom yet. All the bushes that are growing in the massive amounts of land around here that Tesco bought up and can't now afford to develop are well ahead.

[Amor de Cosmos]

How does your garden grow?

I got a dwarf Budleia because I was told a full sized one would take over the world and I didn't have the space for that to happen.

[Bored Of Education]

How does your garden grow?

Indeed.

[Sits]

How does your garden grow?

Very nice Bored. Of course AdC they can be cut back viciously in the winter and come back really well.

If the buddleia have taken over the sides of the railways, is there still room for the rosebay willowherb AKA Fireweed? Thus named as it's the first thing to grow where a fire has been, but clearly enough ash etc. for a railway to be fine. Pretty similar, but officially a weed:

[Bored Of Education]

How does your garden grow?

I think that those are exactly the flowers I have been asking to be put in.

By the way, can I have your house, AdC?

[treibeis]

How does your garden grow?

Although The Lady I Walked To The Registry Office With's flat doesn't have a garden, this is what you can see from her bedroom window:

[blameless]

How does your garden grow?

No garden, and my flat doesn't have a balcony either.

Mind you, this is probably for the best: the spider plant which lives in my lounge seems determined to take over the world, so extra space would only encourage the blighter.

[Amor de Cosmos]

How does your garden grow?

Bored of Education wrote: I think that those are exactly the flowers I have been asking to be put in.

By the way, can I have your house, AdC?

Always open to offers but probably not for a few years. It took quite some time to find — given mobility/accessibility requirements. Honestly it's a bit big for two people, but I figure down the line we can move into the cottage (seen in back garden pic.) Then, maybe, AdeC Jr and partner can have the house itself. If they're not interested, I'll get back to you.

[WOM]

How does your garden grow?

That's not a front lawn, Amor. It's a par 3.

[Amor de Cosmos]

How does your garden grow?

Nah. Look at the clover in the foreground, and the dry spots (due mainly to water regs.)

TBH I'm not big on lawns. I mow it, aerate once a year, and fertilize when it's not looking healthy, but I'd be just as happy to do something else with the space.

I kinda fancy a chamomile lawn but suspect it takes a lot of upkeep to look halfway decent.

[gjw100]

How does your garden grow?

Amor de Cosmos wrote:
I kinda fancy a chamomile lawn but suspect it takes a lot of upkeep to look halfway decent.

I had a small chamomile lawn for a few years but gave up on it. As you suspect Amor, it took an awful lot of weeding and moss removal to keep it looking halfway nice. I just have chamomile growing in the gaps between the slabs and cobbles of my patio now.

[Amor de Cosmos]

How does your garden grow?

Ah, that's what I suspected. Do you suppose clover would be as difficult? It seems to invade the present lawn quite successfully, and of course the bees love it which is a good thing. Metro Vancouver has just upped the water restrictions, so no more watering lawns at all this Summer. They will be dead in a week or two, so it seems to be a good time to prepare a new lawn for next year.

[Sits]

How does your garden grow?

In June Sits wrote: Close to the bottom of the garden we now have six raised veggie beds, bought as flat packs for $50. They are at various stages of cycles but we've had a lot of tomatoes, masses of salad veg and spinach. Two have mesh lids (anti possum/bandicoot) and the tall-growth beds have frames I've nade with nets over them. Now the critters are learning to chew holes in the nets so I am commencing improving the frames. The first is done, and here's a photo as requested:

Well it's not really panned out as expected. Either possums or bandicoots can wriggle through chicken wire, or something smaller is doing it (mice?). We've also invested in an ultrasonic animal deterrent from the US called Yard Sentinel which is meant to deter deer and armadillos. But something's still chewing the capsicum/pepper and tomatoes. And tomato plants.

I've spent much of the Christmas break removing about 300 staples and the chicken wire, and replacing with a finer mesh. Finished today.


I'm knackered.

[Stumpy Pepys]

How does your garden grow?

I'm usually Dr Death in terms of houseplants; usually because I inevitably forget whether I've watered them or not.

However, this has changed since buying a soil-moisture meter for €8.

I now have the opposite problem — a yucca plant that's now two-metres high. Anyone any ideas on how to stop something growing?

[Sean of the Shed]

How does your garden grow?

This site explains in simple terms. It seems extreme, but plants have an amazing ability to recover.

[Stumpy Pepys]

How does your garden grow?

Sean of the Shed wrote: This site explains in simple terms. It seems extreme, but plants have an amazing ability to recover.

That's the kind of straightforward gardening advice I like: saw it in half and stick it in a pot.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

How does your garden grow?


This is what I did on my holidays a couple of weeks ago. As part of the deal that took me to Ireland for the 6 Nations, I promised Mrs. VT to sort out the garden. I took out the paving slabs that made up the path down to the bottom of the garden (they were put in by my dad without us knowing - and were never loved) and replaced it with turf from a 10x8 rectangle dug out to create a base for a greenhouse (donated by our next-door neighbours' daughter's garden). I then had to level off the base with half a ton of sand and lay the slabs to create the base. Mrs. VT and Baz from next door are fitting the glass this or next weekend, so we're getting greenhouse for the cost of the sand - £30 including delivery. It's in completely the wrong place, as it will be in the shade from the high hedge, but it will do.

[Andy C]

How does your garden grow?

I'll start my potatoes chitting one day soon, honest.