Sacha writes

On 4/9/05 12:01, in article , "Flower
Bobdew" wrote:

snip While I'm here then...

Fairly new to gardening. Long story short... My 'sporting life' was cut
somewhat dramatically short, and after a good few years of hoping
against hope and generally floundering in my spare time, I suddenly
caught myself watching Gardeners World and... GULP!... Enjoying it!!

So, here I am, about 2 years [or growing seasons] down the line and full
of enthusiasm. I'm hoping that some of you good folk might help with
some of my mistakes and, who knows, I might even have the confidence to
share advice with some of things that have seemingly gone right. Umm,
always assuming I know why they've gone right, of course!

Sorry to hear about whatever it is that curtailed the sport but you've found
yourself a wonderful new interest.

Yeah, don't worry, I'm not going to bore anyone rigid with my tales of
misfortune, it was simply my way of briefly saying how such a positive
effect the discovery of gardening had on me. Something that I really
hadn't expected.

Actually, my first ever visit to a garden centre was also nearly my
last. It was around two years ago, last February... I wandered into a
local garden centre and bumped in to - and bear in mind that they were
also both there independently - my father and his brother! Both were
walking with the aid of stick following recent similar surgery...

It was like some horrific glimpse of my future life arriving too soon. I
almost ran out of there screaming!

The people here are mostly very friendly and the pooled knowledge is
fantastic.

'Mostly'. Uh, noted. Thanks. I'm certainly looking forward to
expanding my knowledge in here. There's only so much you can glean from
reading books. [In fact, as good as some of the books can be, I've often
found they raise just as many questions!]


Dave and I live in South Devon (Torquay and nr Totnes, respectively)
and others live in Bristol and also in Devon.

I'm in [north] Bristol too.

Ask away and don't forget the archives in Google carry a lot of good
info, too. Welcome to urg!

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Sacha. I've actually moved
this follow-up to a new thread, as I thought I might get lost in the
spam-deluge one.

Right, I'm off to post my first urg question.

--
Flower Bobdew
South Facing Garden
South West: UK

On 6/9/05 12:26, in article , "Flower
Bobdew" wrote:


Sacha writes

On 4/9/05 12:01, in article , "Flower
Bobdew" wrote:

snip While I'm here then...

Fairly new to gardening. Long story short... My 'sporting life' was cut
somewhat dramatically short, and after a good few years of hoping
against hope and generally floundering in my spare time, I suddenly
caught myself watching Gardeners World and... GULP!... Enjoying it!!

So, here I am, about 2 years [or growing seasons] down the line and full
of enthusiasm. I'm hoping that some of you good folk might help with
some of my mistakes and, who knows, I might even have the confidence to
share advice with some of things that have seemingly gone right. Umm,
always assuming I know why they've gone right, of course!

Sorry to hear about whatever it is that curtailed the sport but you've found
yourself a wonderful new interest.

Yeah, don't worry, I'm not going to bore anyone rigid with my tales of
misfortune, it was simply my way of briefly saying how such a positive
effect the discovery of gardening had on me. Something that I really
hadn't expected.

Oh, I don't think anyone would be bored though I suppose a few might thud to
the floor in a faint along the way! ;-)

Actually, my first ever visit to a garden centre was also nearly my
last. It was around two years ago, last February... I wandered into a
local garden centre and bumped in to - and bear in mind that they were
also both there independently - my father and his brother! Both were
walking with the aid of stick following recent similar surgery...

It was like some horrific glimpse of my future life arriving too soon. I
almost ran out of there screaming!

The people here are mostly very friendly and the pooled knowledge is
fantastic.

'Mostly'. Uh, noted. Thanks. I'm certainly looking forward to
expanding my knowledge in here. There's only so much you can glean from
reading books. [In fact, as good as some of the books can be, I've often
found they raise just as many questions!]

It's pretty amazing just what is covered in here, really. And being a
newbie to gardening gives the rest of urg a clean slate to work on. ;-)


Dave and I live in South Devon (Torquay and nr Totnes, respectively)
and others live in Bristol and also in Devon.

I'm in [north] Bristol too.

Ask away and don't forget the archives in Google carry a lot of good
info, too. Welcome to urg!

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Sacha. I've actually moved
this follow-up to a new thread, as I thought I might get lost in the
spam-deluge one.

Right, I'm off to post my first urg question.

And don't forget to give us a description of your garden and what's in it
now, which way it faces, any particular pros or cons it has etc., whether
you want to grow veg, have a pond, attract wildlife etc. etc.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Sacha writes

"Flower Bobdew" wrote:


Sacha writes

On 4/9/05 12:01, in article , "Flower
Bobdew" wrote:

Yeah, don't worry, I'm not going to bore anyone rigid with my tales of
misfortune, it was simply my way of briefly saying how such a positive
effect the discovery of gardening had on me. Something that I really
hadn't expected.

Oh, I don't think anyone would be bored though I suppose a few might thud to
the floor in a faint along the way! ;-)

Ahhh... A few hip operations in here, too, eh?

I'm certainly looking forward to expanding my knowledge in here.
There's only so much you can glean from reading books. [In fact, as
good as some of the books can be, I've often found they raise just as
many questions!]

It's pretty amazing just what is covered in here, really. And being a
newbie to gardening gives the rest of urg a clean slate to work on. ;-)

[Glances out of window]

Ummm, well, its not exactly a clean slate out there now. It may've only
been a couple of years, but I've been, ahem, a bit enthusiastic!

Right, I'm off to post my first urg question.

And don't forget to give us a description of your garden and what's in it
now

Blimey! All of it?! % }

Actually, that's one thing I'm really annoyed about. Having started with
that proverbial clean slate - aside from two established fir trees, a
rampant grape vine and a lawn that would otherwise disgrace the name - I
wish I'd done some before/during/after piccies. [Not that it would do a
lot of good here, as I don't actually have anywhere to display them for
folk to see.]

Briefly...

which way it faces

Enclosed rear garden faces a very sunny south... Now a third patio and
two thirds garden: 30 ft long by 20 ft wide.

any particular pros or cons it has etc.

Hmmmm... Pros and cons; I guess that's quite difficult to nail down...

Being surrounded by high fences/walls, despite being south facing, there
are some *very* shady areas - particularly the west facing fence [as one
of the big fir trees is to the south of it and swallows up a lot of
light!] - so that has been a challenge. Pieris failed there [wrong soil!
But they've recovered well since being put in pots with ericaceous
compost. ], and now I have some slow growing Skimmia [yeah, I know,
but they're surviving! , Euonymous, Pratia and a dwarf bamboo in a
small gravel area.

Generally... I was keen to get some structure in the garden, which
means, quite a few shrubs and evergreens went in first. Oh, and quite a
few pots on the patio - shady side/sunny side. The lawn is now a
meandering curved shape [I actually turned one of the fir trees into a
standard, shaped the lawn in an arc and underplanted - that has worked
surprisingly well.]

Favourite plants, so far, and established well in the garden: Choisya
ternata 'Sundance, Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' coupled with Cornus
stolonifera 'Falviramea' [red/green stems looked great last winter],
Carex Buchanaii and Carex dipsacea either side of a Phormium Flamingo,
with Parthenocissus henryana climbing up and through the two
pyrancanthas [one orange, one yellow] on the back wall. Oh, and a
tremendous Lavender x sawyers [a gorgeous colour silver, and has grown
huge in its sunny spot]. And the best Pittosporum tenufolium 'Tresederi'
I've seen!

Favourite pot plants: 4 Acers [love 'em! ], Pennisetum alpoecuroides
'Hameln', Robinia pseudoacacia 'Lacy Lady' [looks great in leaf and even
better without, with its twisted stems], and something I was told might
be temperamental but has looked wonderful this summer; Myrtus tarantina
grown as a mini standard.

That'll do, for now... Have you nodded off yet? I told I was keen! : P

whether you want to grow veg

Don't really have the room or inclination. [Although, having seen them
on Gardeners' World, I'm tempted to try potatoes in bags next year.]

have a pond

No. However, I'm possibly leaning toward a water feature of some sort.

attract wildlife

Being just off the Frome Valley we're quite lucky in the bird
department. I didn't think there were too many birds in the area until I
put up some feeders. Wow! And we've even had a family of Wood Mice
raised in one of our pots. Not all good news, though... Two cats moved
in next door a couple of months ago; bird numbers are definitely down
and *all* the Wood Mice have been despatched. I actually found the two
adults on our lawn on consecutive mornings a couple of weeks ago. Not
happy. : 7

etc. etc.

Oh, enough already!

BTW... Visited your web site Sacha. Stunning. Do you live on site?

--
Flower Bobdew
South Facing Garden
South West: UK

On 6/9/05 20:36, in article , "Flower
Bobdew" wrote:

Sacha writes
snip of good and lengthy description


which way it faces

Favourite pot plants: 4 Acers [love 'em! ], Pennisetum alpoecuroides
'Hameln', Robinia pseudoacacia 'Lacy Lady' [looks great in leaf and even
better without, with its twisted stems], and something I was told might
be temperamental but has looked wonderful this summer; Myrtus tarantina
grown as a mini standard.

That'll do, for now... Have you nodded off yet? I told I was keen! : P

Strikes me that you're not that much of a newbie after that litany!

whether you want to grow veg

Don't really have the room or inclination. [Although, having seen them
on Gardeners' World, I'm tempted to try potatoes in bags next year.]

We do tomatoes that way every year, inside one of our glass houses. It's
well worth it and we enjoy them enormously.

have a pond

No. However, I'm possibly leaning toward a water feature of some sort.

I'm biased because my answer to every gardening problem is 'dig a pond'.
But I do think that water makes an enormous difference to a garden and
somehow it *always* draws people towards it.

attract wildlife

Being just off the Frome Valley we're quite lucky in the bird
department. I didn't think there were too many birds in the area until I
put up some feeders. Wow! And we've even had a family of Wood Mice
raised in one of our pots. Not all good news, though... Two cats moved
in next door a couple of months ago; bird numbers are definitely down
and *all* the Wood Mice have been despatched. I actually found the two
adults on our lawn on consecutive mornings a couple of weeks ago. Not
happy. : 7

Keep feeding the birds - they'll repay you by eating insects you don't want
in the garden and if you put in a pond and get some toadspawn for it next
year, your frogs and toads will (after some time) start to eat ground-based
nasties, too.

etc. etc.

Oh, enough already!

BTW... Visited your web site Sacha. Stunning. Do you live on site?

Yes. This is home. It takes my husband and stepson about 5 seconds to get
to work each morning! The site was designed by David Poole and then
refreshed by a past member of this group (greatly missed but too busy right
now) called Cormaic, when Dave was too busy!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Sacha writes

"Flower Bobdew" wrote:

Sacha writes

snip of good and lengthy description

That'll do, for now... Have you nodded off yet? I told I was keen! : P

Strikes me that you're not that much of a newbie after that litany!

I am, honest. [Admittedly it might now look a bit like the proverbial
golfer with the alleged 28 handicap winning a tournament by 10 strokes!
] Mowing the lawn was the extent of my gardening interest [and I
invariably did that under duress!] until a few years ago, but I've only
really caught the gardening bug during the last couple of years. I think
I'm reasonably fortunate to have quite a good eye for design, though,
being a photographer...which means things have taken shape relatively
quickly. [Albeit the vast majority of the design/layout was an arbitrary
unravelling program in my head, as opposed to a clear plan]. Ahem... but
that 'lengthy description' [and plant names] was helped enormously by
all the plant labels being on the table here!

have a pond

No. However, I'm possibly leaning toward a water feature of some sort.

I'm biased because my answer to every gardening problem is 'dig a pond'.
But I do think that water makes an enormous difference to a garden and
somehow it *always* draws people towards it.

It's so true. We have friends who have a pond/water feature, and when
you walk into the garden it draws you in like a magnet.

BTW... Visited your web site Sacha. Stunning. Do you live on site?

Yes. This is home.

Ohhhh, envy envy.

It takes my husband and stepson about 5 seconds to get to work each
morning!

What takes them so long? You will let me know if any job
vacancies for keen assistants come up in the future, eh?

The site was designed by David Poole and then refreshed by a past
member of this group (greatly missed but too busy right now) called
Cormaic, when Dave was too busy!

Congrats to both, then. It's a wonderfully simple site to navigate and
shows off your 'home' perfectly.

--
Flower Bobdew
South Facing Garden
South West: UK

On 8/9/05 15:53, in article , "Flower
Bobdew" wrote:

Sacha writes
snip
BTW... Visited your web site Sacha. Stunning. Do you live on site?

Yes. This is home.

Ohhhh, envy envy.

It takes my husband and stepson about 5 seconds to get to work each
morning!

What takes them so long? You will let me know if any job
vacancies for keen assistants come up in the future, eh?

The site was designed by David Poole and then refreshed by a past
member of this group (greatly missed but too busy right now) called
Cormaic, when Dave was too busy!

Congrats to both, then. It's a wonderfully simple site to navigate and
shows off your 'home' perfectly.

Glad you like it/them!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)