Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.
I've already counted five different species of birds in my garden this year(morning):
woodpigeon, blackbird, robin, sparrow, and magpie - plus the ever-present jackdaws who nest in the trees nearby.
My son gave me a beautiful pair of Felco 7 secateurs for Christmas. He and I both have recently started gardening - first by volunteering at our local community garden + meadow, which we followed into doing a course in practical horticulture at the Glasgow Botanics.
I have to admit I know almost nothing about gardening! But I am very excited to learn and do more of it in 2026.
We have just moved into our new house - building work is still ongoing by the time it's done it's likely the garden (about 1/3 acre minus building footprint) will still be pretty much sandy tabula rasa. We're hoping to seed with some no-mow low-mow lawn substitutes and once that's established start thinking about raised beds, cold frames, and such other garden accoutrements as we can summon the energy for.
I know very little about gardening too and for years have tried to catch the enthusiasm as I love a pretty garden. We may be on the move this year and the people who own the property we're planning to buy are gardeners; I'm hoping they've given me a good start and I'll be able to build on that.
Have ordered my vegatabke seeds for the year, although I've tried saving more of my own this year - two varieities of tomatoes, as well as runner beans.
This morning I took advantage of the dry but not frosty weather to morning to search for Jerusalem artichokes left behind after pulling up the stems. Found three good tubers. Will have to wait to ee if more grow this summer to find out if I got them all.
Gardening is one of those processes of discovery, @JLB, If you've missed some of the good tubers, can you mark them and pick them up next winter?
Fortunately here in my part of Oz there has been a good drop of rain and some cooler days. We went to our local garden centre last weekend and I got some new petunias and marigolds and have potted them up. I also picked up a couple of punnets of apricot snapdragons so have planted those and am looking forward to seeing whether I like them or not. Cheery husband got rid of weeds in his new planter on Tuesday, so they have gone in the green bin yesterday. Mr Cheery has lots of jobs on the go at present, but I don't know if he'll get to my most unfavourite chopping the suckers from the Manchurian Pears, which are prolific at this time of year. If it's not too hot, I might have to do some tomorrow.
@Nenya, I'm very grateful for the boost we have had with the garden work done prior to our purchase. We are really just tinkering around the edges with seasonal plantings and filling gaps. I don't know if I would have the energy to do a garden from scratch, so do admire @Arethosemyfeet with all the jobs they have on their to do list.
I have to admit I know almost nothing about gardening! But I am very excited to learn and do more of it in 2026.
I can say the same or could have when I first started making my garden 36 years ago. But maintaining garden making as a field in which I can cultivate beginner's mind remains high in my priorities. Who better to partner with than nature herself?
Obviously it is the ambiance which appeals to me better than any bowl of fruit or edible. I also like to see the birds, butterflies and other life using the place we are making here. Well admittedly I am not too fond of the rodents that disagree with what I put in pots or dig up raised bed to sample exotic roots.
As I continue to slow down my garden looks more and more too large for me and I am finding compromises. I am most dedicated to the oldest part of the garden out back and would like to repurpose most of the side garden for utilitarian use or perhaps even alternative living space for future caretakers. I'd also like to keep up the border out front and the hell strip between the sidewalk and street since this is the bit in which I get to talk to other garden lovers who tell me what they are liking and about what they are doing on their own plots.
Your garden is lovely @MarkD and I love your turquoise coloured table and chairs. Having somewhere nice to take a break or just to sit and ponder is essential in a garden, I think.
We are having a heatwave from Wednesday on for four days, so I don't think I'll be doing much gardening this week. It was cool on Saturday morning, so Cheery husband and I got outside and dealt with some suckers which were taking over the garden bed between us and next door. They were even coming up in the gravel driveway, so I'm feeling good to have those cleaned up. Without the help of Mr Cheery, I think it would have been about a week's work to do it all by myself. Very grateful for him being on holidays this week. In the process we left a couple of the suckers which were growing in good positions hoping they will eventually grow into replacement trees for the one which died a year or so ago. Being ornamental pears, I love the flowers, but I would like them to grow in their spot and behave themselves.
Cheery husband has also done some work on the automatic watering system and that appears to have been successful after a couple of attempts. We are really glad of this in the hot weather, otherwise I would be doing manual watering outside for hours of an evening. I don't mind doing half an hour pondering and pottering among my potplants, but hours, no thanks!
Your garden is lovely @MarkD and I love your turquoise coloured table and chairs. Having somewhere nice to take a break or just to sit and ponder is essential in a garden, I think.
We are having a heatwave from Wednesday on for four days, so I don't think I'll be doing much gardening this week. It was cool on Saturday morning, so Cheery husband and I got outside and dealt with some suckers which were taking over the garden bed between us and next door. They were even coming up in the gravel driveway, so I'm feeling good to have those cleaned up. Without the help of Mr Cheery, I think it would have been about a week's work to do it all by myself. Very grateful for him being on holidays this week. In the process we left a couple of the suckers which were growing in good positions hoping they will eventually grow into replacement trees for the one which died a year or so ago. Being ornamental pears, I love the flowers, but I would like them to grow in their spot and behave themselves.
Cheery husband has also done some work on the automatic watering system and that appears to have been successful after a couple of attempts. We are really glad of this in the hot weather, otherwise I would be doing manual watering outside for hours of an evening. I don't mind doing half an hour pondering and pottering among my potplants, but hours, no thanks!
Cheery, I agree about places to sit. I find those even give our eyes a place to gravitate in a photo. I developed my garden over the 25 years I taught school by taking on projects which would occur to me while looking at the garden in between. So at summer and winter breaks and holidays I'd be happily busy.
If it is warm now where you are I expect you must be in the southern hemisphere. It has been colder than usual this winter and blessedly wetter too. I'm in a Mediterranean climate in coastal California so I'm familiar with many of the plants that grow in Australia, South Africa and Chile. I grow some local natives too but love the abundance of variety in the plant kingdom.
As a septugenarian now I am limiting the portions of the garden I aim to keep up. The 100 x 40 foot far back garden is what I shared in the last photo and it is where my gardening here started. The 60 x 80 foot side garden I'm aiming to turn into utilitarian uses such as lodging for caretakers as that becomes necessary. The strip of garden out front I hope to keep up with too as it is where I get to meet other gardeners near me. So far I've removed the large deck just above ground level. In its place I've put an outdoor accessible bathroom.
I've been looking at your videos and your garden is gorgeous. I now have an acute case of garden envy! Thank God, with my new knee I might be able to actually do stuff in ours now.
I've been looking at your videos and your garden is gorgeous. I now have an acute case of garden envy! Thank God, with my new knee I might be able to actually do stuff in ours now.
That is wonderful Lambypie (wasn't that the nick name for the Lamb Chop puppet). My wife just got a knee replaced this past October and is so much more mobile now. She has signed up to do the other one this spring. I got my bad knee done in 2020. Hard to find the scar anymore.
They say you should never put kneel after getting TKR but I find with good pads I can move around on all fours some. Happy gardening!
@Lamb Chopped I forgot to say how much you would not envy me the task of keeping up this garden. Took a long time to plant it all out but now I don't have the energy to maintain it any more. I'm letting that middle part go.
My doc says I can kneel, but probably ought to wait 2 more months for any hard surfaces. There are studies showing most people can. I think they just forget about it in physical therapy or something.
As an alternative to kneeling - which I can't do - I have this sort of thing. You can do a lot of gardening sitting down.
I believe I have one of those too. Looking to see which brand on Amazon I find it is sold as Aimerla, though it might have had a different name when I got mine. I use it mainly to sit on as a stool. One could knee on it but I find it too narrow to sit on in the lower position. It is stable and durable (except for those cheap tool holders which are to go on the sides; they never last.
But the handles do help with getting vertical again.
Anyone else find fasciated plants fascinating to look at? I suppose it is a kind of disease born deformity but the results are surprising and at the same time draw attention to just how much goes right most of the time. This is the best one I've had, an Echium cross.
Anyone else find fasciated plants fascinating to look at? I suppose it is a kind of disease born deformity but the results are surprising and at the same time draw attention to just how much goes right most of the time. This is the best one I've had, an Echium cross.
I'm just listening to our Saturday morning gardening radio program and the presenter is talking about the soil being dust after about an inch of depth. Bler, things are dry here! No wonder my daphne are looking a bit wilty after a couple of windy days. I've been around and done all the watering this morning. I did notice this week that my crepe myrtle has now come into flower and very pretty it is too, though I suspect it does need pruning (another job for Mr Cheery).
I can tick a job off the list this morning, I've cut back the lavender that is not officially mine, but has snuck through the fence from next door and is doing splendidly! It looks nice now that it's had a bit of a haircut. Cheery husband has indicated he will trim those in the front bed and I've already spoken crossly about not cutting into the old wood, but I suppose I should not be looking a gift horse in the mouth.
We have been promised a showery week, and I am hoping so as the ground does need a bit of softening up to make the weeding a bit easier.
We had some people round this afternoon and one of them brought a 3 litre jar of juice with fruit floating about in it. I am very excited about this because I have gained a Big Jar that I can turn into a bottle garden. Has anyone had any success with them? What plants work well?
Comments
woodpigeon, blackbird, robin, sparrow, and magpie - plus the ever-present jackdaws who nest in the trees nearby.
I have to admit I know almost nothing about gardening! But I am very excited to learn and do more of it in 2026.
This morning I took advantage of the dry but not frosty weather to morning to search for Jerusalem artichokes left behind after pulling up the stems. Found three good tubers. Will have to wait to ee if more grow this summer to find out if I got them all.
Fortunately here in my part of Oz there has been a good drop of rain and some cooler days. We went to our local garden centre last weekend and I got some new petunias and marigolds and have potted them up. I also picked up a couple of punnets of apricot snapdragons so have planted those and am looking forward to seeing whether I like them or not. Cheery husband got rid of weeds in his new planter on Tuesday, so they have gone in the green bin yesterday. Mr Cheery has lots of jobs on the go at present, but I don't know if he'll get to my most unfavourite chopping the suckers from the Manchurian Pears, which are prolific at this time of year. If it's not too hot, I might have to do some tomorrow.
@Nenya, I'm very grateful for the boost we have had with the garden work done prior to our purchase. We are really just tinkering around the edges with seasonal plantings and filling gaps. I don't know if I would have the energy to do a garden from scratch, so do admire @Arethosemyfeet with all the jobs they have on their to do list.
https://flic.kr/p/2rQ6F61
I can say the same or could have when I first started making my garden 36 years ago. But maintaining garden making as a field in which I can cultivate beginner's mind remains high in my priorities. Who better to partner with than nature herself?
Obviously it is the ambiance which appeals to me better than any bowl of fruit or edible. I also like to see the birds, butterflies and other life using the place we are making here. Well admittedly I am not too fond of the rodents that disagree with what I put in pots or dig up raised bed to sample exotic roots.
As I continue to slow down my garden looks more and more too large for me and I am finding compromises. I am most dedicated to the oldest part of the garden out back and would like to repurpose most of the side garden for utilitarian use or perhaps even alternative living space for future caretakers. I'd also like to keep up the border out front and the hell strip between the sidewalk and street since this is the bit in which I get to talk to other garden lovers who tell me what they are liking and about what they are doing on their own plots.
Wow - that's glorious!
We are having a heatwave from Wednesday on for four days, so I don't think I'll be doing much gardening this week. It was cool on Saturday morning, so Cheery husband and I got outside and dealt with some suckers which were taking over the garden bed between us and next door. They were even coming up in the gravel driveway, so I'm feeling good to have those cleaned up. Without the help of Mr Cheery, I think it would have been about a week's work to do it all by myself. Very grateful for him being on holidays this week. In the process we left a couple of the suckers which were growing in good positions hoping they will eventually grow into replacement trees for the one which died a year or so ago. Being ornamental pears, I love the flowers, but I would like them to grow in their spot and behave themselves.
Cheery husband has also done some work on the automatic watering system and that appears to have been successful after a couple of attempts. We are really glad of this in the hot weather, otherwise I would be doing manual watering outside for hours of an evening. I don't mind doing half an hour pondering and pottering among my potplants, but hours, no thanks!
Thank you @Cheery Gardener, @Graven Image and @Boogie. I look forward to seeing and reading about what you all are up to in your gardens too.
Cheery, I agree about places to sit. I find those even give our eyes a place to gravitate in a photo. I developed my garden over the 25 years I taught school by taking on projects which would occur to me while looking at the garden in between. So at summer and winter breaks and holidays I'd be happily busy.
If it is warm now where you are I expect you must be in the southern hemisphere. It has been colder than usual this winter and blessedly wetter too. I'm in a Mediterranean climate in coastal California so I'm familiar with many of the plants that grow in Australia, South Africa and Chile. I grow some local natives too but love the abundance of variety in the plant kingdom.
As a septugenarian now I am limiting the portions of the garden I aim to keep up. The 100 x 40 foot far back garden is what I shared in the last photo and it is where my gardening here started. The 60 x 80 foot side garden I'm aiming to turn into utilitarian uses such as lodging for caretakers as that becomes necessary. The strip of garden out front I hope to keep up with too as it is where I get to meet other gardeners near me. So far I've removed the large deck just above ground level. In its place I've put an outdoor accessible bathroom.
https://youtu.be/bJwC3GTx2i8?si=LpzJkUMqBeVETBR1
That is wonderful Lambypie (wasn't that the nick name for the Lamb Chop puppet). My wife just got a knee replaced this past October and is so much more mobile now. She has signed up to do the other one this spring. I got my bad knee done in 2020. Hard to find the scar anymore.
They say you should never put kneel after getting TKR but I find with good pads I can move around on all fours some. Happy gardening!
I also have one and use it both inside and out. My problem is not the kneeling, it is the getting back up, so the side handles are most useful.
I believe I have one of those too. Looking to see which brand on Amazon I find it is sold as Aimerla, though it might have had a different name when I got mine. I use it mainly to sit on as a stool. One could knee on it but I find it too narrow to sit on in the lower position. It is stable and durable (except for those cheap tool holders which are to go on the sides; they never last.
But the handles do help with getting vertical again.
https://flic.kr/p/2kTBxn1
No it bloody isn't, it's a Triffid! Run!
I can tick a job off the list this morning, I've cut back the lavender that is not officially mine, but has snuck through the fence from next door and is doing splendidly! It looks nice now that it's had a bit of a haircut. Cheery husband has indicated he will trim those in the front bed and I've already spoken crossly about not cutting into the old wood, but I suppose I should not be looking a gift horse in the mouth.
We have been promised a showery week, and I am hoping so as the ground does need a bit of softening up to make the weeding a bit easier.