Things I have learnt about gardening this year.

What a lovely post! I moved from a huge suburban garden to a city flat. For four years I've not missed a garden as we have lovely leafy parks and it's a quick cycle ride out of the city to green spaces. We just decided we would like a garden again and had an offer accepted on a house with a big garden last week. OP, your lovely positive post has really got me thinking about priorities and what to do if the move goes ahead, fingers crossed! Good luck with your gardening.

Thank you Beauregard
My concern is that the potatoes that grow from one of this type could be poisonous am I being neurotic, is it to late for seed potatoes.
I have a lovely garden but no greenhouse and would like to try
to grow some vegetables/salad.
Just feel a bit nervous as I think my garden is lovely without much help from me.

Check out the reduced section in the garden centre for herbaceous plants, they will reward you next year.
Don't let your husband loose with anything electric, eg a hedge trimmer without supervision, he likes to experiment with topiary and it doesn't always work.
That old adage of 'build a pond and they will come' referring to frogs, it hasn't worked for us yet ?
And sometimes weeds can have pretty flowers so give them a chance as long as they don't get out of control!

Beauregard
I keep them in a bag with a black lining for potatoes from a very well known shop but they just don’t last.
Years ago I could buy a bag of potatoes and they would last all week now it’s a few days, which is why I have begun to think I should grow my own then will only need to pick what I want when I want.
I do feel rightly or wrongly that shop bought potatoes sold in plastic bags are going off because of the plastic.How I wish we still had our lovely veg shop in the village now we are forced to buy what the supermarket decides to sell us ugh ?

I’ve got 10 tubs in the garden at the minute. The cost of proper garden tubs was shocking so I discovered flexi tubs. I got some from Argos but they were a little small and flimsy, then I discovered an online British company. They were 5 for £25 and take a full 60 litre bag of compost. They are sturdy but you can still make holes in the bottom with a pair of scissors, and the handles are useful for moving them round. They come in ten colours, I asked them to send me any colour but black and they sent me a rainbow. I was so pleased. I don’t have any connection with the company.

Hi
Gardening is amazing I learnt most of it from my dad, funny as I have been thinking about it all night and this morning. We moved into house just before lockdown blessing in disguise, 1 acre overgrown and not touched for 20 years has beautiful water features but nothing works and was not visible until we started working our way through. I wanted to bring my 92 year dad to see but I did not want him to see a mess now I feel I have waited too long as just found out yesterday he has cancer and I am afraid he may never be able to see it. I just wanted him to see all the skills I learnt from him.
I would like to recommend to go on Pinterest some amazing ideas.

Make a pond. That was my lockdown project, could only dig a bit at a time so it took a while and I got a flexible liner and moved plants which had filled the tiny pond I built 4 years ago, now we use the patio area behind my studio (converted garage) all the time as there is so much to watch, the bog garden behind is doing well too and contains moisture loving plants moved from other parts of the garden which are doing much better, we let that little bit of lawn go uncut apart from a path and I'm introducing more wild seeds there

I've learned that whatever work you put into your garden is rewarded tenfold. I've always loved gardens but not necessarily doing the work to keep them looking good! Lockdown meant I had many hours on my hands. I used them well and transformed my garden. I then loved spending many more hours with a glass of wine appreciating my efforts! ?

Try WD-40 around the top of tub/container to prevent snails.
Another tip:place a garden cane taller than your plant or vegetables with a small plant pot on top of the cane. Snails climb to the highest point so empty the pot of snails each morning.

My vegetable patch is at the end of the lawn, so I have learnt to move the hosepipe before mowing the lawn.

DH cut through the flex of the hege cutter, last time he used it. Not a good idea.

grannie7 you can grow second crop potatoes for a late Autumn harvest, so not too late to plant now. I'd probably choose certified potatoes though, although I doubt you'd be poisoned by using shop bought ones.

Yes I agree that shop bought potatoes don't seem to keep as long nowadays. Home grown ones seem to keep better though.

I always open bags of veg straight away on purchase and transfer them to a brown paper bag. Lettuce, apples etc will last months wrapped in newspaper. Look up 'Fresh Pods.' They are amazing for keeping veg, fruit from over ripening in bags, fruit bowls and fridges.

These are my tubs, wall troughs and baskets along the back of the house by the kitchen window. My tip, water, feed and deadhead for a good display.

I use big wash/sand tubs from my local £ shop. Much cheaper than big planters and they have lots of colours. I 've made them into Self Watering Wick planters. Loads of youtube videos.
Morrison's paper carrier bags make great storage bags with a bit of hay in for potatoes.
I 've learnt I need another greenhouse. ?.
I need to remember to bring brand new patio fruit "trees" in of a night before I go to bed. Too many times just dropping of to sleep and had to run downstairs to get them in.

https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/202008/medium-155927-eb18a0f5-ed85-4ad7-bc9d-8a615fcb45b9.jpeg%3C/span%3E https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/202008/medium-578582-9e9012bf-a13b-4b73-a513-4656fdd5796e.jpeg%3C/span%3E https://signal-corridor.live/uploads/talk/202008/medium-681964-eb602a46-a957-4aeb-b5d2-42556bc4b460.jpeg%3C/span%3E

Lovely, colourful display Foxyferret. I’ve had such joy from my garden this year.

I’ve learned to slow down and appreciate it!

I've learned not to go slug hunting at night in order to protect your strawberries. You are likely to trip up backwards and squash all your raspberries.
Coffee grinds do not deter slugs but you do get pretty slug trails in them.
Cultivated tomatoes are not as successful in pots as the ones that spring up amongst your flowers.
Ground cover roses are directionally challenged; they always grow 3 times higher than expected rather than covering the ground.
Nappies your grandchildren no longer need are a great source of gel for water retention.
Keep a plan of what you have planted and where. That way you'll know that the plant you can't identify is a weed before it roots deeply, spreads all over the place and wafts its seed about so they take over again next year!

I love this post. My little grandson and I have spent most of lockdown in the garden, battling with squirrels, foxes (ugh), pigeons and every kind of smaller pest. We have just been making a list of what we have learnt this year.

1. Nothing will stop the foxes doing their business but laying down spiky branches between vegetable plants will at least protect our produce.

2. Don’t grow cabbages. Last year the cabbage whites got the lot so this year I grew them in a tunnel and covered it with net curtaining. Result: no caterpillars and cabbages destroyed by mealy bugs. Decaying cabbage smells disgusting.

3. Courgette, pumpkin and other squash seedlings all look the same and get them mixed up at your peril. I thought I planted out 5 plants of each and ended up with 10 courgette plants, 5 of them producing strange balloon shaped courgettes, and no pumpkins.

4. Butternut squash plants grow about 10 ft in length (and still counting), and interfere with anything close by

5. Purple french beans really are purple and delicious but they grow higher than runner beans and out of reach in the cherry tree above. The purple flowers are lovely.

6. Big mistake to forget to put the weights back when I moved the growhouse. 9 trays of seedlings hit the floor when the wind blew it down and I blame that event for the seedling mix up in no.3.

7. However fast we eat cucumbers we always end up with too many big ones all at the same time, Same goes for courgettes.

8. We are just so lucky to have a garden, however small. Locked down together we have enjoyed hundreds of happy hours battling with the bugs and the weeds and learning about the world immediately around us.

We still have the best bit to come, lots more veg and especially digging up potatoes which is the best fun a small boy can have.

I've learned that I'm not as young/strong/fit as I once was. Or patient. There was a time when if I wanted something doing in the garden I did it. Now I have to ask for help. And wait. Meanwhile, I can do bits.

I've learned that foxes dig up newly planted items, discard the plants and eat the Growmore planted with them. Squirrels eat the bark off the fruit trees which results in damaged trees. Deer damage what's left of the trees after the squirrels have had their turn and also eat the flowers Rabbits dig everywhere and eat the roots of plants and graze on smaller plants. Muntjacs really like trampling over my lawn and through the borders. All in all a very unsuccessful gardening year

I'm constantly fascinated how nature finds a way when I have planted something in a less than perfect position for it. They seek sunshine or shade in the most amazing ways. My learning has been that, if a plant stays alive but doesn't thrive, try moving it. I did this with a memorial pieris. Moved it three times from wimpy to flourishingly splendid. Love it. Another thing I learned (slowly!) is that my wood shrub prunings make much better plant supports than the expensive bamboo canes I used to buy. They conceal and wrap around very naturally and no tying up is involved. The joy of learning indeed. This is a very pleasant thread indeed; decidedly enjoyable. Thanks everyone.

Beauregard
Many thanks for your advice much appreciated.
I will take it and try my hand a some ‘spuds’
I feel even I could grow those, I hope lol ?

I am tempted to give up on my garden. I am competing with Deer rabbits pheasants pigeons blackbirds slugs snails saw fly caterpillars mice voles and a heron in the pond. I can at least sit and watch the buzzards and peregrine falcons circling overhead--- till I get bitten by the mozzies.

During lockdown we dug out a veg patch for the first time. It was jolly hard work as our garden is full of clay - you could have made pots with some of the chunks! But... we’ve had lots of fun seeing things grow, counting how many beans have appeared and getting ridiculously excited at the signs of the first embryonic Brussels sprouts. What I’ve learned - don’t plant lots of kale as you’ll soon get sick of the sight of it, no matter how good it is for you and don’t have peas if you’ve got a DH like mine who is determined to make pea pod burgundy a la The Good Life!

Beautiful pics, Lisagran and other ladies. I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread, although I do not garden

Does having a garden pond mean more mosquitos? I seem to be their meal of choice, wherever I am.