General Chat

Tracy - "Leave some weeds" ... you haven't seen my garden ! There are plenty, believe me. I've only got a small fraction of the garden under control so far. I make the minimum use of chemicals - just on the drive and path really. (I have two small children - so I don't use anything that would be unsafe for them). For the most part I rely on good old digging, weeding and the wonderful fabric membranes together with bark or slate mulches. This technique has been very successful. I've almost beaten the ground elder which had been rampant in one corner. (Or at least I think so - it may of course pop up somewhere else this spring). But there are plenty of others to contend with, including willowherbs, thistles, nettles, redshanks, groundsel, chickweed, creeping buttercup etc etc. My aim is to use mulches etc to protect those areas of the garden I want to grow my plants in and so gradually reduce the areas I need to weed. Other places, such as a wilder area around the apples, weeds will be left mostly to their own devices (I might still pull the willowherb though). As for the thing I call a lawn - the least said about that the better. Being surrounded by fields on two sides and a wood on the 3rd, we're not short of wildlife either. Rabbits, mice and other rodents are frequent visitors. (Mice even get into the loft, unfortunately). Deer and cows pop over the fence and walls occasionally. I'm pretty sure there are a couple of foxes about although I've not seen them. There's a fairly good range of birds around too, tits, robins, crows, thrushes, owls and even a hawk (at least we think that's what it is). Interestingly we don't get the sparrows and starlings which dominated my parents garden in Kent when I was a child. No this is gardening in the middle of the country. Apart from anything else, there is not much point relying on chemicals longterm as no one is killing the weeds on the other side of the wall. I'm aiming for prevention......... or at least discouragement. Ann

Nudge !!

If anyone needs any help - just ask!!!

Tracy I love my garden and cannot wait until the ground warms up a wee bit to get to grips with things. This year we have to revamp the front garden, starting with the front boundary and working out way back to the bungalow. It's a wonderful opportunity to put our stamp on the place, and I have loads of ideas - trouble is that I have to dig up all the lovely things in it at the moment ready for transplanting later on. I'm afraid that come Easter G/C will have to take a back seat for a while, but hey, what could be lovelier than working in a garden? Jacqui

Come on guys - their should be time for gc and gardening - Ann leave some weeds and natural habitat in the garden as this will become a wildlife haven - You will find that eventually no chemical control will be needed.

Genealogy will definately take a back seat when I can get back out in the garden. Of course given Canadian weather that could be end of March, April or even June. We average only 100 days of frost free weather, so gardening is sure a challenge. Add to that the fact that Calgary is classed as semi-desert and it's lots of fun. I love roses, have about 2 dozen varieties. We also have a pond and small waterfall feature that is my husbands only contribution to gardening. I have always said that I would love to live somewhere for one full year where I could garden everyday. I might have to move to Vancouver where Di is. Couldn't stand the rain though.

I used to spend a lot of time gardening and had things looking quite nice but for some reason things started to go wrong early last year. Oh yes, I remember now, I found a website called Genes Connected.........................

I love to garden too. Unfortunately, don't get to indulge this until after 8pm, when the children go to bed or on the occasional stolen hour at the weekend. We have a fairly large garden, surrounded on three sides by fields and woodland so that is a plentiful supply of new weeds. It was in a pretty neglected state when we first moved in and I didn't get started on it properly until 2 years ago. I'm gradually working around trying to improve/weed proof it, but it is slow progress. I love to watch the growth of my new border and the apple trees I put in eighteen months ago. The children get so excited about picking the strawberries and veg. When the clocks change - I'm afraid GC will take a back seat as I'll be out in the garden most nights. Ann

I love doing gardening with the kids,my dads a gardener so has given me lots of cuttings which i have planted in my garden.When I moved into my new house,the garden was just mud with loads of builders rubble in it and the bottom of it flooded whenever it rained. It took over a year to sort it out but now I have half the garden for the kids and half for me to grow plants and herbs. I love flowers and plants but cant have them in the house as the cat tends to eat them! Anna

Hello Tracey, There must be loads of us, but probably most are waiting for warmer weather before venturing out to do the first grass cut etc. I love gardening and am never happier than when pottering around seeing to this and that. My husband and I sit having a cuppa in the arbour he built, but he moans because I only have a couple of mouthfuls and then I spot something that needs doing, and get up to do it - just can't wait!!! Spring is just around the corner Norah in Hampshire

hi tracy, i love my garden its my place when everything gets on top of me i just go and sit,although ive still got a lot of work to do in it,it'll get done in the end :0) tinaxx

How many more share the passion for the garden