Gardening newbie - cheap plants?

walkers-crisps_are_evil

Pyracantha is best burglar deterrent, I would say it grows at a fair rate. It lends itself to pruning into a box so you can keep the front from coming out too much and let it grow up to desired height.
Sow cosmos seeds now, really cheap way to get a load of lovely flowers to fill out areas until you gather plants over time to fill out garden.
http://www.jparkers.co.uk/ is reliable and you can get a lot for not too much. Bear in mind you are buying plugs in perennial section but give them a year in ground and they will fill out. Country garden look> rudbeckia goldsturm (long flowering season), echinacea, Phlox Paniculata, penstemon, echinops, eryngium, hollyhocks (back of border), delphiniums, lupins, digitalis are some good choices.
Plan out where things are going with a little research on what soil/drainage and sun/shade, final height each plant likes.
Don't scrimp on compost on planting! Use a little sprinkling of bonemeal on planting for root development.
Shady areas- ferns, shady damp-ferns and hostas, tricyrtis, primulas (scatter seed after flowering by flicking seed heads and loads of babies will grow-they look like little weeds initially so dont give them up, let them develop to a reasonable size and transplant around garden. I love this plant and their our lots of different types. Around 50p buy several types and plant front of borders in different areas.
Have fun, take your time and take a look in your local botanic garden for inspiration. Go throughout year and see plants in flower.

greensalad

Pyracantha looks lovely! Definitely like the idea of that.

If growing from seeds, do you plant them in those little biodegradable pots indoors until they are strong enough? Then put them in pots outdoors to grow them into a bigger bushy plant?

I'm pleased I have just won 10 weathered terracotta pots in small through to medium size for £20 on eBay, collecting them tomorrow.

Can I use topsoil in pots or do I really need to buy proper compost? Cheapest places to get compost? Are the Homebase type bags worth it or can I get it cheaper at a small nursery?

My garden is entirely shady. I'm trying to work out whether it will get full sun once the sun comes higher in the summer, but even if it does I expect it'll only be about 4hrs a day.

bouicca21

I've begged plants from friends. I have taken cuttings myself with various levels of success, and I have discovered a wholesale nursery where plants are cheaper than the local garden centres - and they would be cheaper still if I could get hold of a trade card.

greensalad

bouicca21 wrote: »

I've begged plants from friends. I have taken cuttings myself with various levels of success, and I have discovered a wholesale nursery where plants are cheaper than the local garden centres - and they would be cheaper still if I could get hold of a trade card.

I've just had a look for wholesale places. I am a company director, so I can get deals and such at Costco. But the garden wholesalers I'm finding obviously want gardening-specific businesses and my business is obviously not!

wrightk

Have you had a look at seeds and bulbs? they are the cheapest way to fill out a garden although require a little bit of pre-planning.

Most garden centres (i know my local does) will be more than happy to give away used plant trays (used to deliver small individual pots of plants). These are ideal for planting seeds.

There are some really lovely bulbs out there too and for the price of a pack (around £1-£2), you can have colour all year round with a bit of planning.

I never bother with small shop bought plants anymore. If im interested in a particular plant i normally go to my local nursery and find one that is well established. Yes the price is at least double but the plant is far more resistant to disease, is better established and takes up twice the space of a younger one filling out the area quicker

andymandy

I use empty margarine tubs with holes in bottom then stood on the lids to catch any water to grow all my seedlings. You can get some good plants on local garden open days if you have them near where you live.
Do you have friends who buy seeds that you could swap with. Where I live we are forever swapping cuttings or seedlings from each others plants. Good luck with your gardening.

REEN

Well done on getting those terracotta pots! They suit all sorts of plants. I love them, they look better as they age. The smaller ones do dry out quickly in hot weather though, keep an eye on them.

To save on compost you can put polystyrene pieces in the bottom of pots. It makes them lighter to shift around the garden too. Fine for plants that don't have deep roots.

Some of my favourite plants came from cuttings from friends. When I look at them I remember some of my lovely gardening friends that I see all too rarely these days.

thriftychick

http://www.gardenersworld.com/

I signed up to this email newsletter and they send me all the offers that are in the magazine. This month we got 48 perennials for just the price of postage (usually around £5). They are always good quality plants in plugs which you can grow on. A couple of years ago, I subscribed to the magazine for a year (free with Tesco clubcard vouchers) and filled the garden with the offers each month.

MrsShazbat

Gardening takes up most of my money in the spring/summer months!! We also came from a flat but all we did in the first year we were here, was mow the lawn. I had problems with joint pains and couldn't handle the tools or dig, so it's only in the last couple of years that I've got it look nice. We have a long one, about 15ft wide, with a fairly wild section and then the 'neat' part with the grass and hedges. It's a council property so reluctant to throw money at expensive fencing because the previous tenant torched it and they won't replace it. Anyhow, I tend to rescue the end-of-line/season plants from Homebase, B&Q, The Range, or wherever. I've been very successful. A couple of years ago, I got a couple of Clematis (climbers) from Homebase for £2.99 and £3.99 each and they are gorgeous now. Morrisons plants are fine, I usually grab some at some point - I like the mixed selections where you get one of each plant; I also had a couple of sets of pollenators last year from B&Q although success with them has been mixed. Pansies are my go-to favourite for endless flowering, although the slugs had a field day with mine last year so I only have a couple planted at the moment. The soil in my garden varies from place to place. Quite muddy near the house, sandy at the bottom end, full of roots at the front. I have a lot of Alpines in the front because they can be planted quite shallow and don't need a lot of water (which is useful as I'm often too lazy to drag the hose right round the front and they're in the shade of a privet and a tree). They took a while to establish but are growing and flowering well this year. Also phlox - you barely have to dig a hole for them and they're ground-spreaders and have delicate, pretty flowers. My front garden has a lot of evergreen plants in it as well, and I'm about to lay a lot of slate chippings as the neighbourhood cats like to use my bark chippings as a litter tray :mad: I have bulbs planted everywhere (to the point I forget where they all are till they flower) so I have an abundance of snowdrops, daffs and bluebells (the bluebells were here when we moved in and keep spreading).

The only thing I struggle with, is seeds. I never manage to get the garden fully weeded so seeds for wildflowers rarely take. This will be my 3rd year of trying - but this time I've planted them in pots which when they grow I will transplant out into the garden. I have a wild section which surrounds a large tree (so the tree prevents much more than weeds growing) which I'm trying to make pretty but it's hard work. That said, I have a huge bed of forget-me-nots which grow everywhere and I was surprised to learn, aren't actually a weed!! They also come out really easily if they're growing where you don't want them.

But as with clothes/shoes, I rarely pay full price for my plants.

greensalad

I had a little go yesterday and am getting somewhere!

I picked up the pots and they are fantastic. I've also gathered up the nice terracotta ones that were left behind but binned all the plastic ones.

We went to the garden centre and I ended up spending £70 on plants! Eeek! But I opted for little ones that were £1.99-£2.99 each. I got strawberries which were quite expensive but I've always wanted to grow them.

We are now trying to get the grass in good condition. We strimmed and then I raked over and got rid of most of the horrid moss that was growing. We've aerated and put down shady seed plus lots of watering. Going to continue with that over the next two weeks though I think I will need to till the ground a lot more to get them covered.

We're going to try and build a garden path (just brings in a herringbone fashion) so I'm trying to get bricks on freecycle!