Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

COOLTRIKERCHICK

DawnW .... choille... it is a good idea, when I was living at home many moons ago, we had out hedge laid and it looked fab... but our hedges are a mixture of old privite stuff, which has grown so tall and thick trunked, and some trees, which has no foliage etc around the lower part.. will take pics of thee too on the weekend to show what I mean..


Must admit I do like the fence LIR put a link too, but it might look too twee and sickly.. and will prob look crap within weeks lol..


Absolutely ideally if I had loads of Wonga I would build back the old original stone walls around the garden etc and re-do the old stone pig pen that started collapsing into the stream...( which we have now used some of the stone for repair work on the house)




I have been trying to work out how veg we would have to plant to be totally self sufficient in veg etc..


the main veg would be
potatoes
carrots
onions
garlic
parsnips
peas
runner beans
tomatoes
cucumber
lettuce


then veg used now and again
swede
turnips
leeks
the odd few cabbage
broccoli
radish
beetroot




as you can see we only eat the traditional stuff lol..


we would freeze stuff to use during the winter..


any suggestions??? It would mainly be for the 2 of us, with the 2 boys eating now and again... as and when they decide they are staying in, and not going out lol

Rummer

CTC do you have the space to grow enough potatoes and carrots? It might be better to focus on the other crops as they take up a lot of space and are cheap to buy in bulk.

I really should be getting the peas and beans started off however my days seem to vanish and before I know it it is bed time!

Rummer

I have a couple of the WWII growing books and they are good at helping you get the highest yield of traditional crops in a compact area, may be worth having a look at and combining the knowledge with modern?? approaches.

Remember to plant fruit bushes etc as well. They are expensive to buy fresh and you could sell your surplus.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Rummer wrote: »

CTC do you have the space to grow enough potatoes and carrots? It might be better to focus on the other crops as they take up a lot of space and are cheap to buy in bulk.

I really should be getting the peas and beans started off however my days seem to vanish and before I know it it is bed time!

yes loads of space... its just a matter of getting it sorted, the trees lopped down to get the sun on the ground ( as the trees are shading a lot of it).


I have bought 2 summer fruiting raspberry canes and 2 gooseberry canes from the £ shop.... been meaning to get some strawberry runners for the last few weeks, so think I will buy some today of the bay...


I love the WWII books/leaflets I have a cooking one.... will check out the growing one...

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

Delighted that what looked like dead twigs have rooted on the windowcill - a rambling rose thing I snapped off in someone's plot we were surveying & a wonderful Buddlieh [sp?] that when flowering should be a dark red, not purple - most unusual one - another, 'Oh, dear, it just snapped off! 'one. Always gives me a thrill that, getting things to grow for free!

Totally agree, free is best......although I've just spent £115 on trees! :rotfl::o

At the moment I've a self-seeded buddleia growing away nicely in a pot. Normally I'd destroy these, but this one is short-jointed and looks the business, so I'm eager to see how it flowers.

Indoors, I have alyogyne seedlings coming up, which will replace the old plant they came from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyogyne_huegelii

Then, since a certain famous garden couldn't sell me a decent white osteospermum, I had to borrow a few seeds from one of theirs, and they're germinating down in the poly....

It's all good.

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

DawnW .... choille... it is a good idea, when I was living at home many moons ago, we had out hedge laid and it looked fab... but our hedges are a mixture of old privite stuff, which has grown so tall and thick trunked, and some trees, which has no foliage etc around the lower part.. will take pics of thee too on the weekend to show what I mean..

Privet can be laid, all the better if it's thick, and many trees will also respond, given time. Something like hawthorn certainly will.

Following on from my last post, I'd also look around your site to see if you have naturally sown tree seedlings and get those out before they break dormancy. I've used a lot of plants 'stolen' from around our land like that.

About 2 months ago I went out and collected all the small hollies I could find, so that I could put them in useful places after growing them on for a year. I agree with others that holly takes a bit of time and doesn't do much for the first few years.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

About 2 months ago I went out and collected all the small hollies I could find, so that I could put them in useful places after growing them on for a year. I agree with others that holly takes a bit of time and doesn't do much for the first few years.

Some of mine are still hanging on.

I wish you were closer to come and advice dave. . I don't know what to do for the best.

I am in a bit of a funk with other stuff right now and the garden, the thing I most wanted to get into is actually quite stressing me. So much that I even keep sulking on to garden designers websites. In some they say how much they charge for just the initial advice or drawings and I go away tail between legs and reminding myself its what I wanted to do here, so I don't want to get someone else to do it really, I just want to get it right myself.

After getting good advice here Ithink I'm pretty happy with plans for the herb garden. I cannot think how I am going to lay out the veg garden, its such an odd shape, with the cake to consider, gates at odd angles, and the back garden is still just ......I have shapes, but not enough to move on

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Some of mine are still hanging on.

I wish you were closer to come and advice dave. . I don't know what to do for the best.

I'm no garden designer. I leave all that to DW!

Like laurel, hollies are so successful around here, if I didn't have my own, I'd know where to find dozens of free ones. I can only think it's the free draining soil.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

I'm no garden designer. I leave all that to DW!

Like laurel, hollies are so successful around here, if I didn't have my own, I'd know where to find dozens of free ones. I can only think it's the free draining soil.

It's my poor plants I need advice on. I think the soil is just too heavy. You saw the clay in that pic above. Yet there are hollies locally.



So, spring is springing and my soil is hungry. There can be little doubt that we need to fertilise with something this year ( something I am woeful at). We do always top dress with muck at the end of the year. This year you'd hardly know any one had been there at all with muck!


Any good brands to look for? I want growth for my yews and hollies and flowers for every thing else really.

lostinrates

Just had a chat to Alfie on the phone.....she wants me to send her love to everyone!


CTC..I'll PM you later....