elantan's diary

redfaced

Good grief, i'm the world's worst gardener, guaranteed to kill off your plot in 5 mins flat!!! we have a beautiful garden which the previous owners of the house cultivated but luckily it does quite well on it's own! We have 4 apple trees and a plum tree but the majority of the fruit has black marks on it and i don't know why . Due to being utterly rubbish with money as well as gardening i can't afford anyone to come and help us out either, so its a case of bodgit and scarper in our house!! the worst thing is we have frogs in the garden:eek: (there used to be a pond with koi carp in it) and i HATE/am TERRIFIED of them so can't go out unless i'm in full combat gear-wellies, tucked-in trousers etc- if its remotely damp out there. I'm getting really good at predicting when they're likely to be about though so can avoid going outside during peak times!!! but it's still hard to relax enough to go pottering about in the borders to sort them out.(the borders not the frogs)

elantan

now that sounds interesting to me ...frogs ..not a lover of them but dont hate them i think it's the way they jump ..i remember in florida we were in a walmart and came out this woman had a HUGE frog/toad (cant tell the difference) on the bonnet of her car (dont know how it got there) she was petrified i have to say it was HUGE never saw one like it but i remember the incident clearly....we inherited a well looked after garden the guy had a gardener and asked us if we wanted to keep him on (like yeah i could afford it even then) i thanked him but said no...i mustve pulled out (purely by accident) every plant that was decent ...we had 4 damson plum trees (only one left now) and an apple tree but like you i dont have a clue i tired to grow potatoes a few years ago but i think i was the first person since the irish tattie famine to get tattie plight i killed everything ...i did grow strawbs but the grey squirrels ate them all i could see their wee grey tails bobbing up and down and by the time i got out to shoo them away the had b u ggered off with the fruit ...this time i plan on doing it a bit better i love organic fresh food and i love gardening but am fed up with paying the price connected to the food ..i have thought about getting a box delivered but i want to have that sense of pride you get with growing your own (does that sound weird) and i really want to not have to work all the overtime i am so i'm trying to save money and food is our biggest bill.... hubby loves cooking and has went for lessons (to save money) so i want to do my bit ..was thinking of starting a diary on the greenfingered thread but i dont know how that would be taken it is a different forum from here ...i'm waffling again sorry hey maybe we can commiserate with each other on our failings lol...i can tell you what didnt work for me and vice versa

redfaced

I think the only thing that would help me is to either employ a gardener or move to a flat and have a windowbox! I have to say though the dog absolutely loves the garden, with all the rain he's actually made a little track by running around the garden! I must admit i feel a bit like you about venturing onto other forums, i feel comfortable here and though i've only really looked at the forum for a few weeks it kind of feels like home! i do venture over to the os board but it's only really from a money saving point of view. everyone here is so supportive and people do the most remarkable things for others, well strangers really. it's amazing. i think i'm hijacking your thread here, sorry

elantan

hey your not hijacking at all but if you were please feel free i feel as though sometimes it's just me here lol...i still rarely venture into other forums occasionally the os but i went in there one day and got scared so although i do go back it's usually a wee quicky just incase ...i think you get used to what you know i love the fact we have diaries here to chat to catch up and to moan get/give ideas etc i do find it amazing were the only forum that has them really, i wouldve thought more would that's why i'm a bit shy of asking in the green fingered forum but i would love to ask as i know there is such an abundance of people that know what to do etc but i think even if/when i become debt free i will always class this as home i love it here and most of the peeps ...i love the people that lurk as well the advice they can give via pm is unbeatable ...so do you think i should start a diary in the green fingered it would be like this one probably little to do with the actual subject (lol) but more a musing

redfaced

I think it's a great idea, and if it doesn't take off at all you can always slope back here to hide with your real friends lol! Well i've had it for the night... when i'm back at work i'll be going to bed at a reasonable time, i'm feeling a bit rebellious at the moment but these late dfw nights a re doing me in! I've just had ss's email so i've got to be able to concentrate to read it in the morning it's just not sinking in tonight!

Night all, have fun!
red
:wave:

elantan

i just got that one as well gonna need to read it too lol have a good sleep and i have no doubt i will slink back whistling all the while (wasnt me bad boys did it lol) night night sleep well

hypno06

Morning El, I think you should start a diary on the greenfingered forum, hopefully you will get lots of help, and if not, well, just let it sneak down the pages and move on!

I have finally got some courgettes growing on my plant - last year we had them far earlier, but I suppose that is down to the weather. I got a good crop of strawberries and have some butternut squash plants just starting. I will let you know how I get on - my aim for next year is to be organised and grow peppers, tomatoes, more fruit, garlic, courgettes and squash. I can't do much more than that because I have a tiddy garden, and know nothing about gardening, but I need to get my shopping bill down and this seems like a good way of doing so!

hope you have a good day x

The_Dragon

Elantan I was sent two copies of this months Gardener's World magazine (I ordered the 3 for £3.00 offer!) and they said to keep it as it would cost them too much to send it back - so if you want it just PM me and I will send it out at the weekend!

elantan

that would be fantastic dragon thanks ...will send you a pm shortly...hypno how do you have the time your so busy and i will be picking your brains for tips me thinks ..it's kindve my idea as well i dont want to do the overtime so i need to save money i love gardening (although murder at it) so planning on combining the two lol

se999

If you're thinking of good edible plants. Rhubarb is good, it's got nice big glossy leaves (you can't eat the leaves) so it looks OK, and if you pull and cook straight away it tastes so much better than if you buy it.

Other recommendations are perennial herbs like rosemary, thyme and chives. They again look good, and taste so nice.

Another vote for courgettes here. I always make space for a couple of plants.

Last garden was tiny, so had to mix the plants in the 'normal' flower borders.

If you're thinking of fruit bushes etc., they are normally cheapest in the autumn when you can buy them bare rooted.

Good luck with the gardening.

I'm OK with garden plants, it's house plants I kill.