My 3 new gardening rules

It is very difficult to get a real gardener. They call themselves gardeners but they don't really know a weed from a plant and only want to cut the lawn and slash away at the shrubs. After a succession of these so called gardeners my help now does my garden under my supervision. She only has a small courtyard garden of her own and enjoys my garden as though it was her own. I have lots of shrubs and perennials and ground cover and don't have bare earth so few weeds.
Re geraniums Ihave a large number right from very small ones to large varieties. Cut hard back after flowering and they will soon come back and flower again.

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I do like flowers by the way. But when the garden is left to its own devices the strong ones choke the more delicate ones. Since having a clearout I have discovered long lost plants underneath the overgrown bushes. Now we can see what we have and hopefully keep a good eye on everything so it doesn't happen again. In our soil things seem to grow like fury or die right off. Also we have lived in this house for 38 years and some of the plants are really old and not even suitable or well loved, so we plan once the autumn comes to dig up what we don't want and put in some fresh in the spring.

LewLew

You are on the right track. We don't need a gardener, at the moment anyway. I can/have done lots of heavy work over the past week or so and DH is more than happy to tackle anything I can't.

Your suggestion of bark is exactly what we have planned after seeing BILs garden they have that.

The edging we already have in the form of blocks which had disappeared in the main but are now out on show again.

I just feel at our age 6 ft shrubs and dense undergrowth are not in keeping with an easy to manage garden.

Shysal

I certainly wouldn't say I hate your garden it looks lovely you have maintained it so that is the difference.

In case you all think I have a barren landscape this is what one side of the garden looks like after all our hard work. The tubs are on the patio

The rules are:

the garden has to be simplified enough (originally by paid landscapers and a lot of gravel) to manage with my staying power, which is 30 minutes on any day I am not otherwise busy.

DH does the lawns

New plants have to start out as Morrisons £1-£2 babies and take their chance from there

This morning I cut back all the geraniums in an island bed (under an apple tree, so not much sun) and it looks a mess now! Had to be done. When I went off on holiday it was looking lovely, came back eight days later and it had gone to pot. All leaves and stems, and very few, tiny, flowers.

Will dig it out and replant in the Autumn. Or before. Def going to include some of these Rozanne ones this time!

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overthehill, you would hate my tiny front garden. There isn't an inch of soil showing. All I have to do is dead-head.
I like profusion!
There is a Rozanne near the door, one of my favourite plants too.

If you like gardens don't have big dogs!

Jalima
'There are two geraniums in my perennial beds, one pink and one purply blue and they flower for all of a week or two then just look a mess for the rest of the time'

You need to cut them right back to few inches high after flowering (can still do now) and will get nice new regrowth and usually lots more flowers. Be ruthless!

1. Weeds can be as pretty as other plants and flowers.
2. If it gets out of hand mow it
3. Find plants that rabbits don't like to eat

My rule is to get someone in to do the garden. Not as extravagant as it sounds. Once everything is in place and to my taste, I get the guy to return fortnightly throughout the summer. I am more than prepared to do without something else to facilitate this.

Snap, Craftycat!

If OTH and her husband both LIKED his brother's garden, then it's possible to have it. Get a gardener in to sort you out with low maintenance plants, lots of shredded bark mulch, and some edging material to control border creep. You might find then it's not such hard work to keep... just the lawnmowing. If that's too much (eg if you have bad backs, etc) then have someone come in once every couple of weeks to keep it tidy. Then you can enjoy.

My bro-in-law's mum is 97 and fading fast, but she's at home and one of her biggest joys still is to look out the patio doors from her downstairs virtual-ward-hospital-bed. When her husband was alive and she was fit, that garden was their pride and joy and a source of hours of pleasure. She's happy to have the memories of it as it was when they did it together. ALSO, when the time soon comes that the house will be sold, the garden will be an asset.

My DH has always hated gardening but I used to enjoy it especially growing veg. However I now find it is getting too much for me alone & I have recently got someone in to help occasionally so my 3 rules would be
Get a gardener
Get a gardener
Get a gardener
Best thing I have done for ages!!

There is a weed killer that you paint on the leaves Of weeds like bindweed, thereby avoiding any chemical straying onto the plants. DD uses it. She has patience. I just rip, as it appears.

I have a metal flower ornament that has bindweed growing up it. It looks nice.

If you want gardening advice look at the Gardeners World live forum. Lots of keen gardeners some with years of experience and lots of newcomers. All posters are very keen on helping others, you can get plants identified.

(It's almost as friendly as Gransnet. Certainly less rows. )
www.gardenersworld.com/forum/

jamila to get rid if bindweed let it grow up a cane and then spray with weed killer. Weed killer for bindweed too, both weeds can regenerate themselves from the smallest bit of root. Saw a small garden at Chelsea which was just beautifully arranged weeds it looked lovely but they were arranged and not rampant.

gillybob you sound like you are going to have some fun on your 'gardening adventure*! I think all gardeners would love to be more knowledgable, that's what keeps us going. There's always something new to learn and plants continue to do the unexpected!

Oh how I would love a large garden florentina51
Ours is one of the biggest on our estate but still very small. It slopes away from the house quite a bit so we have created tiers . The bottom tier has the crammed full look with all tall plants so we can see them from the top tier. The top tier is mainly lawn ( for the children to play) with a small patio for my outdoor furniture. DH made me a dresser from oddments of wood that I have painted cream. It's what you would call rustic, but I love it . I would love to be more knowledgeable about gardening as I tend to learn as I go along making lots of mistakes along the way . I have recently ordered a tiny lean-to greenhouse ( have been waiting for one for years and years) so I am looking forward to growing from seed and taking cuttings next year. I'm so excited I can'wait.

We have large garden, which is unfortunate as neither I no DH are keen gardeners. We have lived here for 43 years, since we built the house and I recall a visit by my husband's grandfather, who looked around the jungle that surrounded our nice new home and told us it would take 20 years to sort it out. He was wrong. We are still trying to tame it and failing miserably!
On the upside, we have an abundance of wildlife who share our garden, or maybe I should say, we share THEIR garden. ?

I second Rozanne, it is a hard working beautiful geranium. I could never agree with your three rules though Overthehill. It would be lovely if you could enjoy the natural growth of plants, but you say you are not a gardener, so maybe not.

I can picture you walking up and down the garden, Army Major style, whacking all misbehaving plants into submission .

Deadhead, weed, and care. The garden will repay you with more than you can ever imagine.

Thanks Nelliemoser, I will take a look.
I notice that ivy and bindweed seem to have taken off under some of the plants too although I do weed regularly, it's difficult to get in amongst it all. Time for drastic action.

I don't mind the public park look of flower displays as long as they stay in parks.

Jalima Geranium Rozanne. It is hardy but dies back in winter but flowers for ages once it gets going . A lot of Garden centres seem to be selling plants off now it is well worth looking around for bargains.

Looking at the mess I think regimented beds sound quite appealing at the moment

I must look out for these geraniums that keep on flowering. There are two geraniums in my perennial beds, one pink and one purply blue and they flower for all of a week or two then just look a mess for the rest of the time.
I am going to dig up the perennial border and re-jig it in the autumn, get rid of a lot of stuff and try to replace the soil as some things just don't do well at all and others which are not so inspiring take over.

That sounds just like my kind of garden, * nelliemoser*

Avoiding what I call "the municipal look" at all costs, ie the regimented beds planted by some local councils!