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Hi all!
I'm new to the forum, though I've been lurking and learning for a while. I live in the usually wet and windy but recently hot and sunny west of Ireland (Galway County). I've always been mad for plants and gardens, since I was a little thing growing my first runner beans and cherry tomatoes, but always lived in shared accommodations with very little opportunity to do more than read and daydream about gardens. Now I'm living in a house where the landlady gave me carte blanche and there are no housemates to accommodate. Bliss! Just the other half and doggo, both of whom pretty much let me do whatever I like.
The front garden was just a postage stamp of lawn with some naff-but-endearing ancient lawn ornaments well cemented into the ground. I've made borders along two sides of it and planted it up with a mix of annuals and perennials from seed, working around an old hydrangea and some elderly roses, which after a year of nursing look set to have a bit of a celebration this year. I've planted lots of stuff for bees and some pretty veggies and lots of herbs, and it's finally starting to look like something, even though most of the plants are still wee.
The back garden is solid concrete, hemmed in by high concrete walls and a huge concrete shed where the landlord keeps his boat. At first this made me sad but then I realised I had a lovely little microclimate for my "allpotment". It's actually brilliantly sunny most of the day (when there is sun, lol) and hoards the heat (when there is heat!)
I had permission to put in raised beds back there but the expense was too much this year, especially for a house where I might move in a couple of years. So, in big and small pots and trugs I'm growing beans, pumpkins, courgette, squash, rhubarb (doing great) and many more herbs here, as well as a wall of tomatoes. Not usually a great outdoor crop here, apparently but they're too big for my blowaways. So far so good, but it's all an experiment. I have a hard time resisting buying more seeds to start all the time, but right now am totally out of compost and pots and euros so will just have to mind the ones I already have. I'm also out of space but somehow it seems more of that can always be found.
I'm interested in food, cut flowers, unusual and heirloom varieties, seed saving, miniature suburban permaculture ideas, and just losing myself in the work of the garden. My money work is done from the laptop, at home, which gives me lots of time to spy on my plants and see how they are doing, but also lots of temptation to endlessly read gardening websites instead of bringing home the bacon. Getting out in the garden is my best way of not becoming a pickled brain in a jar and does both my mind and my body untold good.
It's lovely to "meet" you all and I'm grateful for the huge treasure trove of information and friendly banter on this forum.
I'm new to the forum, though I've been lurking and learning for a while. I live in the usually wet and windy but recently hot and sunny west of Ireland (Galway County). I've always been mad for plants and gardens, since I was a little thing growing my first runner beans and cherry tomatoes, but always lived in shared accommodations with very little opportunity to do more than read and daydream about gardens. Now I'm living in a house where the landlady gave me carte blanche and there are no housemates to accommodate. Bliss! Just the other half and doggo, both of whom pretty much let me do whatever I like.
The front garden was just a postage stamp of lawn with some naff-but-endearing ancient lawn ornaments well cemented into the ground. I've made borders along two sides of it and planted it up with a mix of annuals and perennials from seed, working around an old hydrangea and some elderly roses, which after a year of nursing look set to have a bit of a celebration this year. I've planted lots of stuff for bees and some pretty veggies and lots of herbs, and it's finally starting to look like something, even though most of the plants are still wee.
The back garden is solid concrete, hemmed in by high concrete walls and a huge concrete shed where the landlord keeps his boat. At first this made me sad but then I realised I had a lovely little microclimate for my "allpotment". It's actually brilliantly sunny most of the day (when there is sun, lol) and hoards the heat (when there is heat!)
I had permission to put in raised beds back there but the expense was too much this year, especially for a house where I might move in a couple of years. So, in big and small pots and trugs I'm growing beans, pumpkins, courgette, squash, rhubarb (doing great) and many more herbs here, as well as a wall of tomatoes. Not usually a great outdoor crop here, apparently but they're too big for my blowaways. So far so good, but it's all an experiment. I have a hard time resisting buying more seeds to start all the time, but right now am totally out of compost and pots and euros so will just have to mind the ones I already have. I'm also out of space but somehow it seems more of that can always be found.
I'm interested in food, cut flowers, unusual and heirloom varieties, seed saving, miniature suburban permaculture ideas, and just losing myself in the work of the garden. My money work is done from the laptop, at home, which gives me lots of time to spy on my plants and see how they are doing, but also lots of temptation to endlessly read gardening websites instead of bringing home the bacon. Getting out in the garden is my best way of not becoming a pickled brain in a jar and does both my mind and my body untold good.
It's lovely to "meet" you all and I'm grateful for the huge treasure trove of information and friendly banter on this forum.
)
Um, gardening on concrete is also what I've been doing the past couple of years. I do have a lawned area out the back as well as lots of concrete, but also have a landlord who is a professional gardener, so containers seemed like the way to go for me too.
I'll have to look up your posts!
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