New Year gardening plans.

* acers not acres.

Happy New year to you, Gabriella.
I have a half formed idea of making a lovely tub (i haven't got a garden) full of pretty flowers in memory of my daughter.
Forget me nots, bleeding hearts.. that kind of thing.
That's as far as my plan has got, so far.

My garden changes itself every year so much comes up that I ve never planted that I have a fantastic time quessing how they got there Last year I had cowslips pop up all over the place This year I have a tub full of mystery bulbs to thin out and hopefully get a surprise as I ve no idea what they are
So each year my mystery unfolds itself

We are gradually rethinking our garden, which is tiny. We have planted two beds of shrubs and have now cleared the border under the kitchen window and plan to replant that with flowering perennials. I shall start a thread asking for advice soon.

We intend to open our garden again this year as we did 2 years ago. It was a great experience and, as a result, the village donated thousands to the local children's hospice.

Gabriella I like the sound of your colour choice for the coming year.
My garden goes along the lines of I’ll put that here, move that to there, cut that down a bit.......

BlueBelle my garden sounds a bit like yours. I
love it when unexpected things appear, and anyway, I am sure it is better left mainly to it's own devices, rather than me poking about and losing things.
Just keep on gently tidying, that's me.

My garden has mature shrubs that I don’t have the strength to remove so it basically stays the same and I just keep them in check, plant a few bulbs and plant up as many pots as I can manage. I’d love to change the whole thing as it’s boring but it’s beyond me I’m afraid.

I intend, if possible, to extend the area at the back of the retaining wall which is currently a rockery. I love rock garden plants and alpines and have run out of space. Also ripe for enlarging is the flower bed at the back of the garden. We moved around a lot of plants in the Autumn to try and make it look more cohesive this year, but I need room for others I have in mind. That’s the plan! .

Happy New Year Gabriella ( I liked the acres, you should have kept that in.)
Planning a new shrub and perennial bed at the front of the garden to incorporate an existing tree, and will plant more ground hugging things in general to keep the weeding low,
As our backs aren’t great ( every little helps.)

I think we are going to try to make room for more roses we have a lot of shrubs which are easy but after flowering a lot of green in the garden. Also going to shell out for a new patio - even if DH faints at the cost.

oops sorry should have started with Happy New Year GabriellaG54 thank you for your good wishes.

We have builders in at the moment building a kitchen/diner extension so our garden will go from a rectangle to a square when they finish so we expect to have to replant a bit of it this year. The lawn is under building materials at the moment so may have to be reseeded or returfed after the work is done.
When we bought this house the front garden was just concrete slabs and one border of leylandii . We took out the leylandii and want to remove some more of the concrete to give us another border.
Looking round the neighbouring gardens gives us an idea of the plants and shrubs that do well here, magnolias, camellias, hydrangeas , bindweed, dandelions etc.

Happy New Year to all the gardeners!

Last summer I bought an antique Etagere, a 4 ft circular 3 tiered plant stand. It was too late in the season to do much with it, so this year I plan to have pots of training plants such as Begonias on it.
Also to improve the lawn. That was last year’s plan, but the hot dry weather put paid to the idea.

I have a tiny garden which was a my haven. Lots of shrubs, Acers and Roses. I am overlooked on all sides so I allowed the garden to grow up tall to provide a secluded secret place in which to hide.

I loved planning what to plant and poured over the garden catalogues. Then 3 years ago it all got too much for me and I had it ripped out and an easy to maintain garden planted.

I spend a lot of time looking at photos from the first 40 years of it but I don’t miss it. The garden can now be enjoyed all year round with very little work. Lots of Acers trees, and grasse provide colour and movement all year. I love to watch the tiny buds appear, swell, flower, form berries and then die back. The sense of peace and renewal is just what I need at my time of life.

This is my favourite plant, the leaves have fallen now and it has Scarlet stems through the winter. I would love to see photos of your gardens.

I live in sheltered housing where there is a small communal garden. one of the residents took it upon himself to do the gardening because he enjoys it, and he does keep it tidy, however he seems to think of it is HIS garden and just plants what he wants, despite asking if we could have plants we like, the scheme manager has had a quiet word to him saying the garden is not his but belongs to everyone, but he gets quite angry and shouts that he will not remove such and such a plant and he WILL put what he wants in. Over the last 3 years he has filled the centre circular bed with geraniums, not one of my favourite plants, plus they are all the same colour, I respectfully asked please could we have something different this year, no response up to now, so will wait and see.. Many of us, like me are unable to do anything in the garden at all, due to health issues. I really do appreciate that this man does the garden which he enjoys too, we do have 'outside' gardeners hired to cut the grass, trim the bushes and do weeding, but even then this guy tells them what they can and can't do. Maybe needs another word in his ear from the Manager

Happy New year to all the gardeners too! Didn't realise that there was a gardening forum!! Have lots of plans but not a lot of money!! Going to plant some shrubs for Autumn interest this month. Love spring bulbs especially grits and aliums. Planted lots of crocus bulbs but the squirrel ate them!

Happy New Year, gardeners.

I don't intend to change much this year as I re-designed quite a lot of the garden last year so hopefully it will evolve naturally now which in a fenland garden means weeding, weeding and more weeding!

I will be putting more time, effort (and no doubt money) into the veg garden though as we are gradually changing our eating habits - more veg, less meat.

I've missed gardening and can't wait to get back out there.

Am afraid that although I would love a plan, I often see a plant or some bulbs and MUST have it or them! Am trying to stick with pink, white and blue, but am easily tempted away from my plans. ?

Lily of the valley a must this year, in a tub rather than randomly planted. I like strong-smelling fragrant plants and shrubs.

I tend to nurture what I've got but in future I'd really like to get rid of the lawn and replace it with nice cobbles and trellis with climbing plants and low growing cover for much of the rest - things which look nice but don't need to much fussing over. This will have to wait though as it's not a priority just yet.

We downsized (house and garden) a few years ago. Smallish garden now - but we’re right on the edge of town, so “borrow the landscape”. I love the cottage garden effect. Hope to find good replacements this year for 2 plants that have died off - a Photinia and a Ceonothus.
Happy New Year to all

Thanks for sharing your plans
I planted a large wooden tub with dozens of lillies last year and only one bulb flowered. Unfortunately it got waterlogged as, although I filled it with new compost, I forgot to raise it on bricks so that it could drain and it became a swimming pool after all the rain we had
I have a small 'greenhouse' (4 deep shelves with a plastic cover in which my herbs and mini orange and lemon 'trees' have sheltered and ideally, I'd like to grow cherry tomatoes and a small number of veg, carrots, pots and onions. I have no real idea what I'm doing and rely on Google and YouTube regarding the when to buy and plant.
J52
The étagère sounds very Downtown Abbey. I hope you post a photo of the cascading begonias later in the year.
lemongrove
Lucky you having a tree.
Acres? I wish. It's small, no lawn, only gravel, a couple of beds and lots of tubs. Easy to maintain and, as it's a rented property, the gravel is maintained at a good depth and exterior paintwork and lighting was renewed last year was was the guttering.
Niobe
Camellias and Magnolia sound lovely...er..bindweed and dandelions...not so much.
MissAdventure
What a beautiful idea. What colours did your daughter like? Perhaps you could have a little statuette or tiny water bowl for birds in the middle surrounded by whatever plants you choose. Aldi and Lidl sell reasonably priced garden ornaments, it depends on your taste and size of tub. Let me know how you get on. It will be a year round reminder of the love you shared.
Greyduster
Rock gardens. My mum had one and spent many happy hours tending the plants in and around it. I can still see it in my minds eye from where I used to sit under the veranda...now that's not something you see many of nowadays, a metal and glass veranda.
That's a fine objective kittylester
I do attend as many open garden days as I possibly can, even travelling some distance if it's possible to marry it up with an afternoon tea.
To the ladies who are moving pots about and waiting to see what surprises bloom this spring, that's the beauty of nature. The wind carries seeds, birds drop seeds and bees pollinate flowers so a few surprises can be a good thing.
It's a warm day here in SWSurrey. Blue skies, sunshine, just the ticket for getting out n about...after another coffee and maybe a biscuit.

Happy New Year to you GabriellaG and all other Gransnetters, hope you all have good year. Looking forward to lighter nights, the arrival of Spring, and the promise of plenty to do in the garden.

We've a brand-new home with a (small) brand-new garden, all around it. Our aim is to create an easy-maintenance and wildlife-friendly garden. There's turf, and we've just had mixed hedging planted (hawthorn/holly) plus some shrubs and two small Rowan trees. Plus a couple of raised beds: one for herbs and the other for bee/butterfly friendly flowers. Roll on spring!