Thought I'd say hi and introduce myslf as it's likely I'll be pestering you
with questions for the foreseeable future. I'm Jo, and I'm a new gardener
(feels like admitting to alcoholism!). For some reason, I've never been
interested in plants, much - mainly, I think because I tended to make them
keel over as soon as I bought them - but this year I've suddenly been bitten
by the gardening bug, and I doubt life will ever be the same again! I live
in the west of Ireland (and this is the closest NG I could find, and I'm a
Brit, so it feels like the right place to be!), and have half an acre of
weedy boggy field (nettles, brambles, reeds, gorse and water
mint...arrggh!), plus two rough lawns at the front of the house (rough
thanks to 4 dogs, 3 cats and a chicken!).

One lawn is soon to vanish - we have plans (which are probably all wrong,
please do tell me if you think so!) to cover it with that woven fabric stuff
they sell in garden centers, then to shovel a lorryload of gravel on top,
and build raised beds on top of that! (All fenced in to keep out the
aforementioned animals). I want a veggie bed, and a couple of flower beds -
mostly perennials (and they have to be pretty hardy to survive in our
windswept, heavily rained on area) but with annuals bunged in here and there
to brighten things up during our few days of summer. In anticipation of this
gravel garden, I'm growing everything you can think of in pots - from
'patio' potatoes through alpine strawberries, a little mangetout, a shedload
of fuchsias (they grow wild in the hedgerows here, so seemed like a good
bet), more nasturtiums than anybody could want (4 different types!),
sunflowers ditto, a bit of lettuce, a baby Acer somethingorother, plus a
load more plants that looked interesting (honestly, the Thompson & Morgan
online shop should come with an addiction warning!). These include French
marigolds, some asters, foxgloves for the shady patch round the back, an
astilbe, a peony, some convovulus (free with a gardening mag), a lathyrus
something, some coleus cuttings fom a friend, lilac ditto, and four
begonias, which have yet to show any life at all - bought 'bulbs', buried
them in a pot about 6 weeks ago, and no action as yet! (is this normal?)

I also want a rockery somewhere, but haven't started planning that yet.
Indoors (I lack a greenhouse) I'm growing rat-tail radishes and chilli
peppers from seed - plus a couple of banana plants if the seeds ever arrive!
I'm desperate to get my hands on some Japanese Blood Grass, but I can't find
anywhere that sells it in either plant or seed form. Also on the shopping
list is a walking stick cabbage, which is out of stock at T&M,
unfortunately!

I'm hoping to achieve a very idiosyncratic, quirky garden that's a bit out
of the ordinary - and entirely gnome-free. Basically, what I'm looking for
are 'mad' looking plants that love boggy soil and rain. I bought my first
bag of vermaculite (is that how you spell it?) today, and am beginning to
feel like a 'proper' gardener! Even managed to stuff and hang two hanging
baskets, which haven't blown away yet! (Indian Mint, variegated ivy, lots of
allyssum and a couple of other things I forget...)

So anyway, that's where I am - at the beginning in many ways! Suggestions
for weird plants and sources of them much appreciated, as is general
encouragement and/or advice. Sorry for the length of this post - I'll be
briefer in future!

Jo

Hi Jo

Welcome to urg; long original posts about gardening are always
particularly welcome here :-).

Suggested plants for a boggy garden (you can see pictures and find out
more details via www.google/images) are

gunnera manicata
rodgersia
iris sibirica
skunk cabbage
marsh marigolds


All of which should thrive in your climate. A useful book to read
would be "The damp garden" by Beth Chatto (it's a modern gardening
classic so likely to be available in your library).

HTH

Janet

"Darkginger" wrote in message
...
Thought I'd say hi and introduce myslf as it's likely I'll be pestering
you
with questions for the foreseeable future. I'm Jo, and I'm a new gardener


Hi Joe, Im not sure if I can say welcome as Im rather new to this newsgroup
too, but welcome anyway the people here put up with a lot of questions
from me and very little in the way of advise as Im not quite confident
enough to answer questions with so many knowledgeable people here! However,
their patience is wonderful and the tips are marvellous. I do have one tip
for you however, if your interested in a glasshouse stick an add in the buy
and sell, I took a hint from here and did just that, Im now the proud owner
of a perfect second hand glasshouse, completely free! All I had to do was
dismantle and take away. I've also had three phone calls in the past two
days offering me more.
Good luck with your new venture, sounds like you have a fun summer ahead.

Couple of links that may be of interest.

http://futureforests.net/default.htm

http://www.se-growers.ie/tmleahy/plants.htm

--

Shan (Ireland)
http://ukdiscus.com/main.htm

On Tue, 20 May 2003 18:43:26 +0100, Darkginger wrote:

...I'm a new gardener...

One lawn is soon to vanish - we have plans (which are probably all wrong,
please do tell me if you think so!) to cover it with that woven fabric stuff
they sell in garden centers, then to shovel a lorryload of gravel on top,
and build raised beds on top of that!

Walk before you run. Raised beds of any complexity -- and your
proposed one is on the complex side -- are what you might call
"advanced gardening". I think that in the long run you will be
happier if you spend a few years doing simpler things.

In addition, far, far too often, "landscape fabric" is used in an
attempt to create an "easy-care" garden (sc. "no-care") and the
attempt invariably fails eventually.

If you *must* have a raised bed, mow the lawn quite short, spray
with Roundup (glyphosphate), and then dump the soil directly on
top with no membrane, no drainage, no excavation, no nothing
underneath.

I'm hoping to achieve a very idiosyncratic, quirky garden that's a bit out
of the ordinary - and entirely gnome-free. Basically, what I'm looking for
are 'mad' looking plants that love boggy soil and rain.

If you follow your instincts, you will reach your goal. Pay no
attention to anyone else's opinion, esp. those found on the
internet, with special wariness shown toward those found in
newsgroups.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in
message ...

If you follow your instincts, you will reach your goal. Pay no
attention to anyone else's opinion, esp. those found on the
internet, with special wariness shown toward those found in
newsgroups.


ie ignore the mail which contained this message!

pk

gunnera manicata is about as mad as you can get- even b&Q sell them.Quick
too.
"Darkginger" wrote in message
...
Thought I'd say hi and introduce myslf as it's likely I'll be pestering
you

dave johnson wrote in message
...
gunnera manicata is about as mad as you can get- even b&Q sell them.Quick
too.
"Darkginger" wrote in message
...
Thought I'd say hi and introduce myslf as it's likely I'll be pestering
you

I found one in my local garden centre, and just couldn't resist it! (And I'd
gone in the back way deliberately to avoid temptation, too, but they had it
sitting outside the back door...) It's a baby right now, but I have big
hopes for it. Gunnera grow wild in this area (well, they do about 15 miles
north of here, on Achill Island), and I've always admired them. It's in a
large pot (as is everything!) right now, but should be in the ground in the
next couple of weeks, then I'll sit back and watch it go mad!

I'm dead chuffed with my rat-tail radishes - they're coming on a treat, as
are my normal underground (as opposed to overground, which the rat-tails
are) French Breakfast (do they really eat them for breakfast?) radishes.
Even the chilli plants are doing well (three different types!). Anyone had
any experience growing mimosa indoors? Planted mine about a month ago (could
be three weeks, time seems to move very slowly since I started growing
things) and there's no sign of life as yet...

On the plus side, one of my begonia bulbs has finally sprouted!

Jo