How wild are you?

[Holly]

When it comes to keeping up appearances in the vegetable patch, how do you control the forces of nature? Are you a gardener who lets the garden sprawl under its own direction, or do you prefer to keep the patch ordered and managed throughout each season?

Let us know how you control the patch in the poll above, and please explain why you choose to garden the way you do, below.

Thanks very much!



Your comments may be edited and printed in the July issue of GYO

[Snadger]

WILD??????...........I'm flaming furious. (Only joking)

[JamesM]

Apart from a border where i'm specifically just chucking any old seed in that produces a yellow flowering plant (hoping for a good effect) i'm quite accurate with my sowing. It means i know whwre i stand in terms of harvesting, feeding and watering at any given time. Thus nothing gets preferential treatment and nothing is neglected- just the way it should be!

[zazen999]

I let things self seed all the time, parsnips seem to like germinating in the path though [someone should tell them not to get walked on eh?].

I have a nice little collection of self sown Claytonia at the moment, which seems to have tucked themselves in the corners of my paths. Lovely little things. Just flowering - very nice.

I often dig them up and move them to somewhere more suitable, and will have poppies, phaecelia, clover, limanthes all tucked into spare spaces at this time of year [Spring].

[Alison]

Most of my veg beds are pretty ordered so that I know how many and where I'm growing things. The flower beds are more random and things pop up all over the place in them which is really nice. In the veg plot I only let things go to seed if I want to save as otherwise I want the space for something else.

[Two_Sheds]

I have a rough 4 bed rotation plan, but within that are self-seeders: parsnips & chard went made last year, so they came up all over the place

I also have short flowers (viola, limnanthes, nemophila) growing in and amongst all the veg, so from a distance it looks like more of a flower garden than a veggie one

[ladylottie]

I try to keep my vegetable beds more or less in order, and try to rotate crops. I do however slot things in between if I start running out of space!

There are a few flowers growing round the edges of the plot (ice plants, columbine, forget me not and marigolds) as I want them to attract a lot of beneficial insects. And these plants self seed and come up everywhere, so I have to thin then out every now and then.

[Glutton4...]

I like tidiness and order. Mother Nature likes chaos and disorder. However, between us, we somehow manage to keep a happy medium....

[VirginVegGrower]

I have a four year rotational plan within my six beds. Currants, raspberries, loganberry, rhubarb and asparagus stay put.

[binley100]

I do keep to some sort of order on the veg beds , but round the edges and at home I tend to let the pretties self seed and spread , then just remove if I need to.

[gillian62]

I am new at the allotment game so find it important to know where everything is. I keep a plan on my computer which I fill in when I plant/sow etc.

My square bed at home is going to be herbs and salady bit, not quite as organised but I still know what if growing.

My flower borders - I do allow some to self seed etc, but that is probably because I have planted flowers for years, and feel more comfortable with what I am doing.

[jackie j]

Tend to rotate as much as possible, fruit stays put, with two plots its easier as I have more space. Each plot is different as to what is, or will be growing on each one. I have terraced the top plot into three terraces so the bottom terrace is fruit trees and flowers, with some climbing ones. I have planted a vine along the top. I have also planted sweet peas along the other side at the top.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I had a 102 year old gardener in my plot four or five years a go and I was really delighted when she commented that she had never ever seen an allotment in her lifetime without a weed in it until she saw mine. She then proceeded to graze on my gooseberries and then parked her bum on my garden bench to enjoy the view. I'm looking forward to the licence that being old gives.

I had entered my plot in a competition and had done the time to get it in good order but it was such a sweet thing to say. The lady is now unfortunately dead but in her time she had her own nursery and spent a lifetime painting plants. I still get a good feeling thinking about that.

I have my plot laid out with slabbed pathways which gives a certain amount of definition and although I do try to make every weed a prisoner, it can be difficult in a wet spell when using a hoe only seems to move the weeds around.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Growing purely in containers of one sort or another I have to be exercise a certain aomunt of discipline at this time of year.

The right amount of seedlings have to be raised at the right time so that I get a follow on i.e. as one lettuce is harvested another seedling takes its place.

However when the plan is in place I take a much more relaxed view except of course for watering.

As to flowers and all things pretty SWMBO looks after that side of things I would have a problem knowing a buttercup from a cowslip.

Colin

[solway cropper]

I like to quote from the sleeve notes on a Bob Dylan album. I can accept chaos, I'm not sure if it can accept me!

The veg patch is reasonably well ordered but has lots of block planting and funny things next to each other.

I like to leave parts of the garden to themselves and get lots of interesting self-seeded stuff which I pot on just to see what turns out.