What's Growing in Your Garden?

[PiP]

Any gardeners out there? What's growing (or not) in your garden or terrace? What challenges do you need to overcome in terms of weather, pests and diseases or gardening in general? Please share your pictures of plants dead or alive and work in progress! Any useful tips?

Over the last week I've been knee deep in mud, weeds and manure preparing my humble raised veg garden and planters for this year's crop.



I've neglected my garden over the last few months and now I am paying the price. The roots of the mint and raspberry plants, which will only grow where they want to grow, had invaded planters and my raised veg plot. I had to bribe Mr. PiP to turn the soil so I could remove all the roots. A backbreaking job that took hours... Yes, even Mr. PiP gets the pointy stick treatment.

I also have eight recycled containers where I grow strawberries. They were in dire need of an overhaul so I removed all the strawberry plants, removed the dead leaves, washed the roots, changed the earth and added manure then replanted.



This container has since been replanted. Anyone else use recycled crates as planters?

If I manage the pots I can expect strawberries twelve months of the year.


What fruit or veg are you growing and where?

[Ultraroel]

Nothing I wish I had a garden. I live in an apartment in the Capital. I had two plants on the balconies, but my dog shoved them off the side..

[Kevin]

I have fruit trees (that I planted) and squirrels. Pineapple Guava, fuju persimmon, loquat, and pomegranate. Almost forgot: 1 apricot, and a dwarf cumquat . As I said, I have squirrels, both tree and ground varieties, so you might guess the rest. They are pretty trees though.

I also have native cherries (which are not really edible unless you're a coyote) and about twenty small pots with grown-from-found/harvested, wild-seed natives: cherry, walnut, and bay leaf. And there's some cuttings of native snowberry.

One year I bought a whole bunch of wild flower seed but the slugs ate all of them as little sprouts. The wife got so tired of my blubbering she banned me from the garden. I'm all better now.

[JustRob]

Nothing I wish I had a garden. I live in an apartment in the Capital. I had two plants on the balconies, but my dog shoved them off the side..

Aren't there any community gardens there? Here in England people will plant flowers and vegetables anywhere that's allowed. Local people may plant flowers on a traffic roundabout or in a shopping precinct, for example, just as a sign of local pride. In the suburbs of London where I was a child I recently saw that the locals had created a small community garden with flowers and vegetables on a tiny patch of unused land alongside the booking office of the railway station.

My angel dug flowerbeds out of the lawn in front of a local charity's offices and planted shrubs and flowers there. She regularly looked after them for many years, but now the office has closed and the site will soon be redeveloped. Some of the things that she planted came from a previous garden that she'd maintained in the tiny hidden yard of the gatehouse to the local castle when the charity had had its offices in that building. There were special events at the charity with the town mayor and local member of parliament there and people had had drinks and conversations in that tiny garden, as they did in the other one in later years.

Our councils are finding it hard to find the money to pay people to maintain the urban landscape in this way, but local volunteers help to make an environment which looks as though people care about it.

We have holidayed on St. Mary's, the "largest" island in the Isles of Scilly, twenty miles out in the Atlantic to the west of southern England. "Large" is relative there as we easily strolled around the entire coastline of the island in one day. They have a community garden there and leave tools around in it with signs inviting visitors to help with weeding or whatever they think needs doing, so the garden just "happens".

[BlondeAverageReader]

It always amazes me that such fragile little flowers bloom in mid winter here, and look this good after a sharp frost. This clematis and the winter jasmine are the only bright splashes of colour in an otherwise sleeping plot.
Must admit that I wouldn't want it any other way, a garden without seasonal changes would be boring.

[Bloggsworth]

Weeds mostly.

[Sleepwriter]

We usually have tomatoes, peppers ( sweet and hot varieties ) and kale. Not quite time to get it going for the year here yet. We are working on two avocado trees that are close to two feet tall now. Have various herbs growing most of the time.

[Ariel]

Gardening is . . . odd in the US. Public land requires a permit to walk on if it isn't open to the public much less to garden. Plus, most businesses won't allow locals to do anything with the land surrounding their property. On top of that private gardens require permission from homeowners associations (if you have a nice enough house) and they will rule even what kind of things you can plant.

I have room for a garden and no homeowners association but I still have to contend with poor soil, walnut trees, and not enough sunlight. Last time we planted a garden the neighbor's boys pulled out all of our sprouts while we were at work. The year before that they smashed all of our pots.

[Ultraroel]

Aren't there any community gardens there? Here in England people will plant flowers and vegetables anywhere that's allowed. Local people may plant flowers on a traffic roundabout or in a shopping precinct, for example, just as a sign of local pride. In the suburbs of London where I was a child I recently saw that the locals had created a small community garden with flowers and vegetables on a tiny patch of unused land alongside the booking office of the railway station.

Probably we can. Buy Bulgaria is full of people who will steal anything that they think can make them some money. I understand that, I mean, living with 200 euro a month is nothing, but it prevents me and others from even trying anything of the like. Unfortunately. I grew up in the Netherlands with a big garden and I always loved it, but for now.. its out of the question. Maybe if I ever get so far from buying a house in a village.

[BlondeAverageReader]

Kevin, if you just adjust your view on the garden a bit. Might l suggest nature reserve. Then sit back, look out of the window and enjoy all those amazing animals. Much less stress.