lg cottage garden challenge for single mum help!

singlemum_to_3

well hears my challange , apart from getting rid of my mortgage early on my own , iam going to try and turn my garden from a lot of mud, concreat and weeds/grass into a cottage garden my dream:A
i will try and give a few photos when i can work out how to load them, from photo pucket.....help!

why am i doing this well my OH left me reasently after along long relationship and i need to live and survive:mad: so to keep buisy im going to takle the garden which i love and my perfect dream would be a cottage style garden i have about 1-2 acres to play with a large natural pond together with weeds lots of concreat ditches grass and mud:eek: and NO MONEY!! i did say i like a challange, so any and all help and advice would be welcome, you can also have a good laugh at my spelling and the many cocups that will hapen allong the way, like falling into said pond :rotfl:well must ramble no more will drop back in when ive worked out the photo loading

Lotus-eater

There is that Landshare thing, which may be of use to you with that much space.

Honestly, I was only saying this morning, I don't know how single parents manage, it's so hard. So a big up to you just for keeping everything together, without even starting on the gardening.
So, if you get time (and I don't know how the hell you will get time, but if you do) then start small and work your way up.
Start a load of stuff off in modules, perfect time to be doing that, then you can dig whenever you can and for whatever needs it first.
Best of luck.

singlemum_to_3

have taken photos and they are on my desk top and photo bucket how do i upload them on to here..help please:)

Farway

If your user name is factual singlemum to 3 then given the area you have why not use some of it for fruit / veg?

The traditional cottage garden was mixed flowers / fruit / veg, so for instance runner beans in with the marigolds, tomatoes amongst the love in a mist etc [just examples, not rules]

singlemum_to_3

yes thanks, i have rather elderly goosbery bush in and a loganberry that im transplanting from nexts door, had not thought of love in a mist with tomatoes both of which i love.

2 of my boys are autistic so they have a limited diet in what they will eat but they do like carrots and peas, and my littlest (whos not autistic )loves strawberrys....and we already have some plants from last year but the fruit was small and hard with leaves that just looked horrid....dont know why they where in tubs with good compost, will try and replant them in the ground this year and see if they do better. thanks

lostinrates

singlemum_to_3 wrote: »

2 of my boys are autistic so they have a limited diet in what they will eat but they do like carrots and peas, a

I'm afraid I know little about autism, but is there any chance getting involved with growing might help them expand their tastes?

Rummer

singlemum_to_3 wrote: »

2 of my boys are autistic so they have a limited diet in what they will eat but they do like carrots and peas, and my littlest (whos not autistic )loves strawberrys....

This could be a great opportunity for them to get involved in the garden and to grow their own food and maybe even try new things. What age are they? If they are old enough you could give them both their own plots to cultivate and then they could research what they would like to plant there.

If gardening is not their thing then maybe they could develop wildlife areas in the garden. We have log piles, insect houses, bird feeders and areas of wildflowers (weeds) to encourage insect life into the garden. My daughter has a bug box that she uses in the summer to collect insects and study them.

Take a look at the following seed suppliers as they are affordable and send packets of seeds that contain managable numbers:

http://www.moreveg.co.uk/shop/page/1?shop_param=

http://www.alanromans.com/

Try to break the garden down into different areas and work on one at a time. We have a long term plan for our garden and we develop a new bit each year. It means that we are progressing every year but do not feel overwhelmed.

Also worth talking to neighbours and looking out for gardening groups etc in your area so you can get cuttings/seeds/advice. I have collected bits for the garden from freecycle and gumtree all of which help keep the costs down.

singlemum_to_3

thankyou for all the sugestions , one of the boys 13ys likes to do some gardening:rotfl:my oldest 15yrs will be going to agricultural collage hopefully in the sepember and so we will be getting hens for him:T those are both the autistic boys my youngest is 9yrs and is only into strawberrys so guess what hes growing,

my 13yrold is also realy into wildlife and gardening like me so the sugestions for insects etc sound brill ....how do you make a bug house?:A .
my green house should go up at the end of april so i will be able to grow things for the garden then, i also hope to sell a few bits by the roadside to earn a few extra pennys..what do you think would be good to grow to sell as the year is getting on?:beer:

sorry about all the smilys my 13yr is "helping me" !

RAS

singlemum_to_3 wrote: »

and my littlest (whos not autistic )loves strawberrys....and we already have some plants from last year but the fruit was small and hard with leaves that just looked horrid....dont know why they where in tubs with good compost,

Strawberries like quite a lot of water and it is very hard to keep them well in pots.

You might want to think about lasagne beds? This is a permnaculture idea which uses one cardbord and any sort of vegetation you can get your mitts on (except bind weed). With over an acre you should have plenty of the latter.

Choose an area that gets at sun at least half the day and which is in convenient for you.

Mark out your beds. Lay down some vegetation, water (preferably with some urine/water miix) put a layer of the cardboard on top and then add more vegetation. water again. Leave to rot down. Then plant into the beds. Thsi works best for bigger plants in the first year - or put potatoes directly on the ground, then add the lasagne bed on top. potatoes beds bnedd to be 6 inches deep.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

In the meantime, as you have such a huge area to deal with, why not

a) start with a small area near your back door to get the most reward at first.
b) get loads of wildflower seeds, annual seeds, anything that attracts bees and butterflies or birds (teasel are great for this), pick an area and just cast it about. That way, you get maximum reward for the minimum expense and effort possible. If they grow, they grow. If they don't, well, there's later this season or next year to think about.
c) bughouses - bunches of short sticks of bamboo
d) woodpile/rotting wood - fungus, beetles (including the stag, which is very endangered), birds to feed on insects.


Other things that can be done very cheaply are potatoes (seed spuds are better, but the odd cooking one that's gone over will work too), tomatoes (any seeds from ones you have eaten work well - and learning about determinate and indeterminate plants will help DS even if he doesn't eat them), pumpkin or squashes - just plant what is scraped out or peas - any old box of marrowfats will work, some just do this for peashoot salad, but I actually like the peas themselves, as well as borlotti beans, runner beans or french beans. Just because your sons don't like something doesn't mean you can't have it.


In terms of other flowers, I'd suggest sweetpeas, lavender and roses.

For herbs, rosemary, sage, mint in a pot, camomile in a pot.


Carrots can be grown in pots/tubs if it is too hard to dig a veggie bed this year or fly is a problem.

singlemum_to_3

gosh im going to be buisy!

the only thing that i cant do is anything by the back door as its all concreat , the house is a barn converion and used to be a dairy so round a lot of the front of the house is a lot of concreat... the garden is all to the side..sort of!

i do have lots of logs , do i pile them up or scater them round the gqrden for the beetle etc, would love more butterlys and so have a small budlia growing, but would like to encourage more birds to the house.....it would make more sence to you all if i could up load some photos but still havnt worked out how