From Jungle to Garden - A (very slow) work in progress!!

Lotus-eater

You can buy small herbs from garden centres, easy, just plant and forget.
Tomatoes, from the same place, buy them now, pot them on and plant out when you have space.
Carrots, best to do that in pots this year, get seeds and those free flower buckets from adsa etc, put multipurpose compost in and sow.
Peppers from GC's again, in those big flower buckets or in the ground if you find a good sheltered spot.
Best to leave cauliflowers till next year tbh.

But winter brassicas (not cauliflowers ) purple sprouting broc, sprouts, kale etc, sow in modules now, plant out when space becomes available.

Are you starting to see a theme here

Buy any sort of MP compost, cheap stuff for plants you are moving into the garden and slightly better stuff if you want to, for those you plan to grow on in pots.

In all honesty, the best way to learn is just to do it, you will make mistakes, but next year you will know so much more.

jo1972

Lotus-eater wrote: »

You can buy small herbs from garden centres, easy, just plant and forget.

For the risk of sounding dim :rolleyes: do the herbs come as seeds or plug type things?

jo1972

Lotus-eater wrote: »

You can buy small herbs from garden centres, easy, just plant and forget.
Tomatoes, from the same place, buy them now, pot them on and plant out when you have space.
Carrots, best to do that in pots this year, get seeds and those free flower buckets from adsa etc, put multipurpose compost in and sow.
Peppers from GC's again, in those big flower buckets or in the ground if you find a good sheltered spot.
Best to leave cauliflowers till next year tbh.

But winter brassicas (not cauliflowers ) purple sprouting broc, sprouts, kale etc, sow in modules now, plant out when space becomes available.

Are you starting to see a theme here

Buy any sort of MP compost, cheap stuff for plants you are moving into the garden and slightly better stuff if you want to, for those you plan to grow on in pots.

So basically what you are saying to me is, grow everything in pots at the moment cos the garden's not ready :rotfl: :rotfl:

God knows where I'm gonna put all these pots with the brambles everywhere, but I obviously have to get it all today as I'm very impatient!!

cheetahthechimp

SEE - your garden looks great now...well done on getting it looking so good.

choille

SEE - your garden looks wonderful - well done you.

A bit about herbs to OP - Beware of planting mint out - you thought the brambles were bad, it'll run amock. I use old chimney pots Or bottom-less buckets in an attempt to contain it.

brownfrog

SEE wrote: »

And what it looks like now.

Looks great. Can't really see from the photo - what are the supports you've got in the bed on the front left? Looks like bent bamboo, then bamboo wigwams, and something else??

angelavdavis

Fantastic blank canvas - how exciting! The work will be worthwhile. I am quite jealous! Good luck with it, will keep posted to see how you get on.

rhiwfield

Lots of good advice given already. Bramble is awkward to get out, I've just cleared a patch of ground and dug out bramble, using a fork as a lever to get the root clump out. Inevitably I will have left some roots in so will be digging out any that regrow. In the meantime there will be no permanent plantings so that new plants' roots dont get mixed up with bramble or other perennial weeds' roots that I've missed.

When you are clearing the bramble as well as thick gloves wear a stout jacket and thick trousers to avoid scratches to arms and legs. Best to cut top growth into smallish (say 2 foot) pieces to avoid it tangling with you!

Why not sow some annuals in pots or a cleared section of ground now to attract bees/butterflies. A wildflower or cottage garden annual mix should give you a real splash of colour for months and attract beneficial insects including hoverflies and butterflies.

Why not draw up a plan of the garden for how it will be planted next year. That way you can plan out paths/beds etc and when a piece of work has been done you can pat yourself on back. Also I've found that winter is a good time to work on major changes to garden as long as it doesnt get waterlogged. As long as you havent put permanent plants in you'll not be damaging anything you want to keep.

BTW, you dont have to rush to get everything done today! The secret is a little and often

jo1972

Thanks Angelavdavis & rhiwfield, yes it is very exciting! I've not been at all well this week, I've got bronchitis and DD1 troubles so my plans of doing half hour to an hours digging after work this week has not materialised, but I have been to B&Q, bought some pots, compost and seeds, I'll buy little plugs of plants and herbs at the weekend and plant straight away. I'm hoping for no rain at the weekend so I can get out there and make a start.

I've bought a couple of packets of mixed seeds that say attracts bugs, bees and butterflies (not sure about the bug bit :eek:), they have to be in by May so that will be done at the weekend.

Thanks for all the advice

Lotus-eater

jo1972 wrote: »

I've bought a couple of packets of mixed seeds that say attracts bugs, bees and butterflies (not sure about the bug bit :eek:),

Don't go all girlie on us, you need bugs for everything to work. It's a part of gardening, learn to be interested in it and you will enjoy it a whole lot more.