My garden in summer – before the transformation
I’ve just moved back to this area after 20 years down south having decided to adopt a calmer, quieter life with lots of time outdoors. Now that the house is nearly sorted I thought it would be a good time to start on the garden so I got in touch with the PLANT group. The only problem is that I know very little, if anything, about gardening. However, PLANT think that I should look on this is as a challenge rather than a drawback.
I have successfully grown tomatoes and a few skinny carrots and leeks in the past so I’m not a complete novice but the extent of my gardening skills is pretty rudimentary. I don’t know anything about types of soil or the gardening ‘what to do when’ calendar and I can’t pronounce any Latin plant names but I do have a picture in my mind of my wild, messy garden full of lovely flowers and vegetables. A bird and insect friendly haven with buckets full of tatties and leeks. I think my three wee dogs have a slightly different picture of what the garden should be but I’m hoping that they too will be convinced once the transformation begins.
So, how hard can it be? This year I plan to get stuck in and see what happens and hopefully learn a few things along the way.
The first step is to identify what I have already got in the garden and what I need; for novice gardeners like me this is not as easy as it sounds but I have a few good books and neighbours so I’m fairly confident I can sort it out. I also plan to put wee labels on everything so I don’t forget what’s there. Then I’m going to check out what’s good to grow for insects and birds and throw that in. For the veggie bit, I plan to start with leeks, onions, potatoes and carrots and see how they go…or grow. I’m pretty sure anybody can grow tatties in Scotland and hopefully I’m not going to be the exception.
If you are new to gardening then this may be the blog for you, as at the moment, I have no idea what I’m talking about – but watch this space!
My gardening helpers – Snowy, Maisy and Baxter.
I found this really interesting and love the garden.
Looking forward to following your progress and learning some stuff along the way.
Jenny you are a brave woman and I will follow your progress with interest, maybe you’ll inspire others to give it a go!
Pete
Good luck with the transformation (although your garden looks lovely already). With a fallow plot you should be able to grow brilliant vegetables this year. Lucky neighbours!
Thanks Cathy