Gardening

[supergran71]

Nici if you feed the garden birds you dont have to buy sunflower seeds separately. The ones they drop from the feeders all over the garden come up great. We have had wonderful sunflowers every year since starting to feed them.

 

I worked hard in the garden on Monday afternoon, it looked so drab and dreary apart from one gallant daffodil which popped up its lovely head in January and is still going!!!

[Nici]

Oh thanks Supergran I never knew that! I should have loads then!

[muggle not]

The harder you prune, the less flowers you get, but they are larger and of better quality. I usually prune quite lightly so I get lots of flowers.

Y'all should ask poppy to post some photos of her roses as they are beautiful and many of them.

[poppy]

If you go back to Pg 4, Post 40, you'll find some there.

 

(Muggle I can't remember how to compress photos once I've scanned and saved them. I've tried putting them through Image Resizer, but I think they are just too big for it to handle. These are not digital photos.)

[muggle not]

A few photos of some beautiful roses and surrounding country by poppy.

 

Oh Muggle I grow old-fashioned roses, here's a few photos.

 

[poppy]

You should see this local rose nursery we have. They have rose gardens spread over several acres, mostly the old-fashioned variety and you can just wander around for hours. The smell is almost overwhelming. The majority of my roses came from there, everytime I go I can't resist buying another one or two or ........

[Kylie]

Wow Poppy, they're lovely! Looks like you live in a beautiful spot (Why am I not surprised? Is there a part of NZ that's not breathtakingly beautiful?)

[poppy]

Thank you Kylie. That's kind of you to say. I was pretty impressed with Sydney when we were over. The harbour was pristine clear and all round a very nice city. I would have loved to have taken a trip to the Blue Mountains.

[JudyB]

In the garden today . . .

 

. . . frogspawn

 

 

. . . and lots of frogs in the pond.

[Nici]

Oh Judy how lovely!

 

I have had lots of birds in the garden this week including two doves which are always together - a really lovely site!

[JudyB]

Yes I've noticed the birds singing in the morning and the evening - I love this time of year.

 

I'm sure our frogspawn is a month earlier than usual - my mum usually gets some in her pond ages before us.

[muggle not]

I got a load of manure last week and am going to roto-till it in the garden either tomorrow or early next week. It is getting very near time for planting the spring crops, spinach, radishes, lettuce, etc.

[supergran71]

I planted up a lovely Galliarda today, its been hanging around for a couple of weeks poor thing. I also potted up a new Hibiscus for the patio, but I must remember to put it in the greenhouse tonight, in case there is a frost. I have 2 other new shrubs to plant up this week, because OH he of the bad back, is unable to do any of it for quite a while I suspect. I am slowly getting the garden sorted out ready for spring and summer. As for the vegetable patch, he was in the middle of extending that when he hurt his back, so dont know what will happen about that. I can just about manage the runner beans and the tomatoes. Sorry for rambling on and being boring.

[poppy]

I got a load of manure last week and am going to roto-till it in the garden either tomorrow or early next week. It is getting very near time for planting the spring crops, spinach, radishes, lettuce, etc.

 

Will we get to see some photos later of the garden at your new place? I loved the ones of your woodland garden, the bears, the deer and the flowers at your old house.

[muggle not]

Will we get to see some photos later of the garden at your new place? I loved the ones of your woodland garden, the bears, the deer and the flowers at your old house.

I don't think the flowers will be very impressive this year. We have only been in the new house for a little over a year and it takes quite a while to get flower beds established. I will take a few pictures though.

[muggle not]

Does anyone like Coral Bells. I love them and so do the Hummingbirds. Here are a few photos of my Coral Bells.

 

 

 

This Coral Bell is called Peach Melba. The photo doesn't do it justice.

 

We only planted this Bleeding heart last year and it has grown like crazy. It was loaded with flowers and in this photo is taking a breather between flowering full again.

[supergran71]

Those flowers look lovely Muggle. I have bleeding hearts too, only mine are white. I absolutely love them and plan to get some more. They spread each year so you get more and more of the little hearts all spread along each stem. I do like coral bells, but havent got any and I dont think we would get hummingbirds here in the UK

[madcow]

Lovely pics muggle.

Well I finally managed to finish weeding the back veg patch and planted my cauliflowers, sprouts, courgettes and carrots, the potatoes are coming on a treat. Suffering with a bad back today but it was worth it. Going to do a bit of tidying up in the front later whilst it is still sunny.

[poppy]

Lovely Muggle. Your garden is starting to look quite established even after such a short time. Another plant I can imagine amongst those is the Cranesbill Geranium. Do you like those?

[Nici]

Great photos Muggles!

[Kylie]

I'm hoping to start up a vege garden when I move out. I've never had one before and I haven't had great success with growing other plants, so time will tell how it'll go.

 

Maybe I can pick the brains of those of you who have a bit more expertise?

[madcow]

I'm still a novice at it Kylie but in the last couple of years I've managed to grow a couple of pumpkins, potatoes and courgettes oh and some onions. The only real failure has been carrots, from the surface they looked great and I thought they would be huge but when I pulled them up they were stunted hopefully this year will be better

[muggle not]

Lovely Muggle. Your garden is starting to look quite established even after such a short time. Another plant I can imagine amongst those is the Cranesbill Geranium. Do you like those?

poppy, yes I do love them but don't have any planted yet. I will have to do some more shopping around at the nursery. Last weekend I bought a Fringe tree, which happens to be one of my favorite trees, but they are expensive. Anyhow, there is a little story to go with my purchase, later.

Click here for a photo of a fringe Tree.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1356508563044373436giMbil

 

I'm hoping to start up a vege garden when I move out. I've never had one before and I haven't had great success with growing other plants, so time will tell how it'll go.

 

Maybe I can pick the brains of those of you who have a bit more expertise?

The secret to most gardens whether it be vegetable or flowers is having good soil preparation. My vegetable garden is starting to show a little promise. I have a few wee bitty tomatoes on a couple of mt plants and a bell pepper that is starting to approach pickin' time.

Edited May 28, 2008 by muggle not

[Kylie]

Thanks for the tip Muggles!

[poppy]

The Fringe Tree is very pretty Muggle. I don't think I've seen one of those before. Does it have a scent?

 

Good luck with the gardening Kylie, just pick a sunny site for veges (probably not a problem in Aussie ) and don't forget to water them. You'll be fine.

Edited May 30, 2008 by poppy