The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: escapedtothecountry on August 27, 2012, 10:44:54 pm
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I sometimes feel a bit of a fraud as whilst we have our two acres I wouldn't classify us as proper smallholders. As much as I would love to be able to do it full-time we both have to earn a crust at the moment with our day jobs, and that means we don't have livestock or indeed use our 2 acres enough to get closer to growing as much of our own produce as I'd like.
To be fair we have made real progress.... we have raised beds made up of about 40 full sized railway sleepers (to give you an idea of how many we have done) which we will grow veg in, and have really improved our outbuilding and the land which was in a real state. I have planted willow for wood fuel, and native hedging. I've already got through 800 rabbit guards to give you an idea of whats gone in.
What is my passion is gardening. Over the next few years I want to create a wonderful garden that we and others can enjoy and we can just relax in. That is one of the main reasons we have escaped to the country - moving little over 10 miles from where we use to live, to the village and street where my father-in-law lived for around 20 years, so not total newcomers.
I've had some great comments about my Dahlias, but I wondered how much interest would there be if I wrote as regularly as I could about my travails in the garden department?
It's probably not important to many when I read about how hard you are all working with your land and livestock, but though it may create a bit of light relief when things get hard for all of us?
BTW..... 125kg of daffodil bulbs just arrived, so think of me when I start thinking about planting them.... Apparently thats around 2,500 bulbs!
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i landscape for a living (love gardens) but am not a plants man i am learning as fast as i can...
thats a lot of daffodils just think how stunning they will look in the spring!!!
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Would love to change my career to be a landscaper.... but probably best to concentrate putting my gardening enthusiasm into where we live. Big lover of bulbs/ tubers etc etc as anything that brings colour to your garden each year is a good investment in my book. Monty Don eat you heart out! ;)
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for that many daffodils just dig trenches and throw them in loosely to create random effects in given areas
i love bulbs too, snowdrops and crocuses are my favourites!!!
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Already done a plan of where I will be putting them all.... it's just getting down to doing the digging. As you say... it should look great next year.
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I've been into veggie gardening all my life, but we have now had our flower garden made into somewhere we can sit and enjoy, so suddenly I have to learn about flowers, including water plants.
Yes. I would love to read about what you are doing in the flower garden and when :garden:
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I like a garden, one of my real pleasures is having the time to spend cutting lawns and tidying the garden. I dont do twee gardens but prefer the more natural, wild look with trees,shrubs and perennials.
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I started out as a gardener and then became an accidental smallholder when we bought our present spot. My first garden was old belfast sinks in a back yard, then i progressed to raised veg beds, a greenhouse and flowers in pots. Here at present the garden is a work in progress fitted in when we have time out from our forth road bridge painting(neverending) small holding maintenance. Our big garden problem is rabbits but i planted 42 foxgloves last weekend and they've not touched them so fingers crossed for a good display of flowers next year, my only other success this year had been my hanging baskets and pots which are looking quite nice, i grow all my own petunias, sweetpeas, lobelias. I also have a bit of a passion for fuschias and have a lovely bush one growing in a pot by the garage door. At the weekend i planted pansy seeds for my winter/spring displays and sweet peas to overwinter in the cold frame (an old bookcase on its back!) Like you're going to we planted a zillion daffs last autumn and have had mixed success with the ones that the rabbits didn't dig out. The veg garden meanwhile has been a disaster this year plan to rethink it for next year. I find gardening quite very ferraputic and i like nothing better than standing in the greenhouse planting and pottin whilst listening to the cricket or radio2. Ahhhhhhh.
Mandy :pig:
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I too LOVE my flower bit of garden but I do try to fill it with minimal outlay My OH is fed up of me buying the everso cheap leftover plants at the DIY store as they ALWAYS cause problems at the checkout. I often nip off small bits as cuttings from friends houses too
Im still working out what does well here. We have much colder but drier winters than the UK and its taking quite a bit of trial and ERROR!
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Funny you should mention belfast sinks - just bought a couple of old ones to use as planters. Rabbits and we have loads haven't seemed to bothered by our bulbs... probably have plenty of other food to munch on like every onion I planted last year when I didn't realise how many of them there were.
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Love gardening too, but we are mostly doing it with 14ton diggers, stones the size of a car, levelling out, tree felling and re-planting etc, so more landscaping I expect. I do stop and say a hello to the wee-est of flowers around though, popping their little heads up through allsorts. We are lucky enough to have lots of beautiful wild flowers and a previous occupier of our holding was a plantswoman (runs a plant nursery now) and her input still exists which we are most grateful for. I like our holding in winter best when its frosty and you can see the structure of everything. But let's not speak about that yet . :unwell:
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I like gardening but I have no idea about borders, plant placement, colour co-ordination and all that landscaping malarkey.
I want to get started on our garden proper once the house is built and al the earth is moved to its final place and I know where I am with it. I really want an old fashioned cottage garden if I can..... but veg does take priority.
But a lovely garden is such a treasure - I really want to have one eventually
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I love gardening ( or at least trying to garden) OH has a thing about building from pallets. We now have a free supply and have started fencing veg beds from kids and dogs. Large run for hens and soon starting a second large enclosure and coop for more hens. The perimeter is in progress of a new fence too ::)
Just given a polytunnel for birthday in June (21years and a bit :roflanim: ) so learning a new stage to gardening. Bit disastrous but I suppose we all learn from our mistakes :dunce: the hot chillie plants and couple of cucumber plants are doing great in there :thumbsup:
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I've been a gardener for over 40 years and worked in a number of private gardens in the UK and abroad.
Head gardener at 3 places and part time senior gardener to Lord M at the moment.
Getting a bit old now to do what I used to, but supervise the rest of the team.
It's been a good life, but as in all jobs theres good and bad employers, some have been bloody awful to work for and some have become long term friends.
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I want a garden full of dahlias and tall colourful plants and a big cottage garden thing going on.......
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I want a garden full of dahlias and tall colourful plants and a big cottage garden thing going on.......
Grow some Lupins and Foxgloves - a great addition for any cottage garden.
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Yes - once I finally get a garden that doesn't get moved every year I'm going to really go to town.
My "aunt-in-law" is a landscape gardener and she's offered to help us plan our garden for us once the house is built and all the soil is in its final resting place
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THe builders we had filled fours raised beds made out of a total of 24 full sized railway sleepers full of topsoil. I have shifted hundreds of barrow loads of soil around and haven't touched the surface of what needs to be done. Its all good fun!
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Gardening is great! We're in the process of developing a forest garden I'm focusing on edible herbs and scented plants as in the central clearing we've got our BBQ/campfire cooking area. They'll also be room for lots of flowering plants including a (hopefully) giant wisteria. My problem is I want to grow everything and find it really difficult to pick and choose. ;D
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We're in the process of developing a forest garden ... My problem is I want to geow everything and find it really difficult to pick and choose. ;D
Ooo ooo ooo me too! And me too!
I went to a stately home the other week, got inspired, and realised that it really wouldn't work with the plants I have. Never mind!
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I have ended up planting trees and shrubs as my chickens were killing of any new flowers that i tried to grow.I now plant flowers around the edge of the veg garden. Helps with the butterflies and loos pretty. We have planted over 100 trees, willow , fir, rowan. As we get a lot of wind the trees make good shelter. I spent this morning clearing up in my pollytunnel this morning getting ready for some new plants.
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What is gardening? ;D I grow veg for the house, pigs, rabbits and ducks. I try different veg, use this forum and read books but would never call myself a gardner. As some of the above posts demonstrate - growing plants and flowers and landscaping is expensive. We did buy a packet of wild flower seed last spring and we were given a rose but otherwise we have no flowers. "Gardening" for me is just hard work that I have to do so as to yield crops for the table and livestock. The end result makes is pleasurable but when its too hot or too cold it is just another chore.
Oh - lots of flowers next year as we have gathered loads of seeds !! :thumbsup:
Maybe if I got myself a job then I would have spare money to grow flowers and build things but otherwise I will keep up the slog of growing veg. ;D
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MAK you are a gardener that is plain. Gardening like this is the bedrock of smallholding in my view, the flowers and shrubs and lawns (HAHA!)are the icing on the cake - but there is no doubt as you say it is hard work, not easy to get good crops as we found again this year. As I keep trying to tell myself a garden is a journey not a destination. This is no doubt a contentious statement :- you cannot be a smallholder if you are not a gardenener! (but you can be a gardener and not a small-holder)
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Hi
I run a company that design and build some of the most amazing gardens in London and beyond (well i would say that ) i also grow all our fruit and veg so i guess that would qualify me as a Gardener LOL
WORK
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l59/rory45/july28058_zpsc05aece6.jpg)(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l59/rory45/876154_zps54f1fd7a.jpg)(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l59/rory45/876078_zps9507f6ed.jpg)
pLEASURE ?!
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l59/rory45/june2012170_zpsc6fe96df.jpg)
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Pleasure looks fun!! Work looks amazing!! Got any spare plants! LOL ;D Stunning gardens.
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Ive always prefered weeding a flowerbed to cleaning a room as it seemed to last longer when the kids werte around.
Room was back where it was within the day....the flowerbed within the week
Now that there are no kids around, (and my standards have dropped ) its the plants that shout the loudest to be weeded....MUST GO and clear some more veg patch, and mow the paths.
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Hi,
I would love to read about your progress as a diary or a blog and some of the less experienced gareners might find a note on " what you should be doing now" very helpful. I have always been a gardener for as long as I can remember and made extra income by offering planting and garden design services a few years ago.
I have a 7 acre small holding and after spending the first 2 years renovating the house ( while working full time) and then replacing all the fencing, refurbishing the buildings, building field shelters and chicken coops etc. This summer was a chance to finally takle the garden.
I love lawns and evergreen shrub borders as well as cottage garden plants but I have 9 overgrown borders here so this years work has been clearing and dividing up existing plants. We have a very sandy soil which is a joy to work with but is always hungry and thirsty. As I dont have the money to buy new plants I grow my own plants from seed and try to get surplus plants from neighbours gardens when they are thinning out. This is not only cheaper but the plants tend to thrive better than thise from the garden centre.
I have just been collecting seeds from my flowering plants and bagging them up for next year and to sell at the charity coffee morning next month. I would love to start a plant exchange in the area and hope to do so next year.
I also buy plants from some supermarkets if they are in good condition as they are often good value. But growing my own is much more rewarding.
I look forward to reading about your progress and before and after pics would be great.
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Lots of damage after this weeks weather. Trees hanging over, they are young rowans about 5 years old so wondering about moving them. Roots very loose. Veg garden just wrecked and I am wondering if its worth all the work to bother again next year. Maybe I will just grow in the pollytunnel and put fruit bushes in the veg plot.