Follow the Yellow Brick Road 2023

Merlin's_Beard

I can sympathise with how expensive the gardening bug is! To counterpoint though, I bought 4 David Austin roses over winter and they've all got black spot now!

SandyShores

Merlin's_Beard said:

I can sympathise with how expensive the gardening bug is! To counterpoint though, I bought 4 David Austin roses over winter and they've all got black spot now!

Oh no, it apparently is quite contagious, and its only some roses that are resistant.  I've just been reading up on black spot and its important to tackle it:  black spot.  It was rose clear that the garden centre sold me and so far it seems to be doing the trick, but I'm going to be more vigilant now.

savingholmes

Sorry Merlin about the blackspot woes. Good luck Sandy.

I feel you on gardening expense - however it is lovely to transform a space and make it lush, green and multi-coloured too.

SandyShores

When I did the last deadheading of my yellow rose I also took off most of the black spotted leaves.  It was mainly on 2 or 3 stems so I chopped them back quite short.  Interestingly they didn't have many roses anyway, and the rest of the rose now looks really beautiful and has loads of roses.  I've learned a couple of things about curing it and stopping it spreading so I'll put that plan into action.  One of the things is not to water the leaves and flowers but to water it from the bottom, and to mulch so that the water doesn't spray up onto the plant and spread the spores.  Easier said than done.

I was watching Monty Don earlier and he was talking about how you should make a garden full of diverse life so that all creatures benefit, so I definitely need to put the sprays away if at all possible.  I pulled a couple of leaves off a plant earlier as it was covering another smaller plant, and I left the leaves on the ground so that insects could make use of them and. hopefully leave my growing plants alone.

Completely agree @savingholmes - it really is lovely to feel the lushness of the grass and the flowers, and the shrubs and trees.  I did get a bit disheartened at losing trees early on, but I know a lot more now, including not to buy expensive plants.

LadyWithAPlan

 I love roses - they always remind me of my grandmothers garden - full of huge rose bushes 

my favourite place in the summer is Queen Mary’s  Rose Garden in Regents Park - every year I walk through it as much as possible - the 0000s of roses are sublime 

yes I do think gardens are for all and so important for all kinds of wildlife - I look forward to eventually having a garden !

SandyShores

@LadyWithAPlan I used to love my single life garden, it was a bit random, but I had a greenhouse and a veg. patch.  It was heaven.  Then along came MrShores who took down my old greenhouse and lawned / decked everywhere.  It was novel to start with, but to me a garden with very clean lines is a bit too sterile and I lost my area to potter in.  So now, the newish garden is becoming more mine again and MrShores has mellowed and so we are compromising.  Lots of plants growing everywhere, and more planned, and I even have a space planned for veggies when I get time.  I entered a competition today to meet the great Monty Don - gardening woman's pin up

There were tasks to do but I sat and enjoyed tea in the garden this afternoon, beautiful.  

LadyWithAPlan

Fingers crossed on the comp ! 

That single garden sounds great 

SandyShores

LadyWithAPlan said:

Fingers crossed on the comp ! 

That single garden sounds great 

It was lovely, I used to get home from work and go straight out to the greenhouse - it was a good de-stresser.  I'm not sure that I'll get a greenhouse again but I am thinking about raised beds for some veggies.

Woohoo £50 PB win this month.  Returned an item to M&S so had a £10 refund, and had a lovely relaxing couple of evenings.  Feeling positively positive

I had a little window shop at the jewellers in town that sells loads of pre-loved stuff.  There were some rings around £5k - they also put the new price up which was quite a bit more.  If I won a few thousand on the PBs I would definitely treat myself to some gold from there.  Interestingly there was a notice outside saying that gold prices are very good and to bring things in for a valuation.

Dreaming over - I've just updated my signature settings with the mortgage amount, its still a huge amount but for some reason I don't feel so stressed about it.  We ought to get a wiggle on with paying it off, but worrying doesn't do anything towards that.  I have definitely been overspending lately, so will be tackling that from July, along with looking at income including the SE I was thinking about.  'Out of the usual' things are throwing me off course a little e.g. illness - boo, and holidays - yayy.  Time to regroup next month.

savingholmes

I love the sound of your old garden - and your latest rose. I'm definitely more of a naturalistic, cottage garden style gardener. I'm wondering if there's a way I could add an arch or something to lead your eye differently - perhaps you could consider features like that too. I also miss my arched arbour from my last house and am considering getting one for here.

SandyShores

Hi @savingholmes, I'm thinking of getting two raised beds (for veggies) and then putting an arch between the two for runner beans or peas etc.  I also like the latest trend of growing randomly placed veg, rather than the traditional rows.  I think they also grow flowers in between.  Also learning that certain fragrant herbs when planted near other plants help to protect them.  Not sure if its true but it sounds good.

That feeling you get when you look into the garden and see the plants you've lovingly tended growing is priceless.  And we welcome the rain for them too - but just not too much .  I did the trick of splitting a shop bought basil into a few larger pots the other day.  They are already growing well - I need a little herb garden somewhere.  Thinking a barrel full maybe.