Friday open thread: back to the garden

[dolorosa_12]

It's the morning of the first day of a four-day weekend, I'm spending the holiday at home, and from tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be very nice. We've just had landscaping work done on our back garden, leaving us with six large vegetable patches, a slightly tidier herb garden (partly filled already with sage, rosemary and a massive bay tree), and a huge raised flower bed. The front garden, on which we had landscaping work done last year, now consists mainly of a large, L-shaped raised flower bed, partially filled with flowering bulbs, but still with lots more space to plant.

In other words, the perfect conditions to do some gardening this long weekend.

My question for you all, therefore, is what should I plant in my garden?

I already have seeds for peas, corn, parsnip, beetroot, zucchini, butternut pumpkin, radishes, tomatoes, rocket, lettuce, and spring onions, all of which I've grown in this garden before with varying levels of success. I'm also very keen to add to the herb garden, and need to fill the flowerbeds with something — so I'm open to suggestions!

If you don't want to suggest anything, feel free to use this prompt to talk about your own current gardening adventures.

Comments

[mific]

I'm now at the opposite season to you, but last spring I got a lot of pleasure from radishes as they're so easy to grow and germinate fast. Had success with carrots too (cover the watered row with weighted cardboard to keep them moist until they germinate), and with a bed of rocket. Don't be like me and plant entire seed packets in your excitement - I ended up with >10 sage plants and more rocket than I could use before it bolted! Leafy greens are good now, lettuces, chard, spinach etc. Definitely interplant with marigolds to confuse cabbage white butterflies, and I found nasturtiums good as a trap crop but that was in raised beds. You might get more pest damage to them in the ground. Really, everything you have sounds good. Beans - they were the best and have kept on producing even after the main harvest, so make some bamboo teepees or a trellis and grow climbers like blue lake, scarlet runners, etc. Mix sweet peas in with them! You can germinate beans and peas in toilet rolls then plant the whole thing so as not to disturb the roots. Plant corn in a mass as it needs others for pollination, and care with the courgettes/squash - two plants is prob enough or you'll have way too many! Oregano and thyme have both done well for me and the Vietnamese mint is huge (bit invasive, and prob grows best in subtropical places like here, but it's a good coriander alternative, also called laksa leaf). I have lemon balm in a pot to contain it, and chinese chives. For flowers - lots and lots of foxgloves! Some are biennial, but some are annual. Also, big cinerarias have brilliant blue-purple colours and self-seed for the next year - very much recommended. Bee balm (bergamot) is easy to grow and an interesting flower, reds and pinks. And in summer, plant loads of zinnias - very easy to grow, colourful and cheerful, and flower through autumn. Also seconding the cosmos but be aware that they start small and get tall, a metre or more! Oh, salvias are also great. Mint family so read the info as some can be a bit invasive, but lovely blues and purples. Have fun!

[mific]

BTW, I learned to garden almost entirely from internet searching and Youtube - just search for any plant/crop you want advice about, very useful. I also recommend keeping a diary (I have a google spreadsheet) of what you planted and when, to keep track of how long it took to germinate, harvest, and any issues and tips for the next year.

[dolorosa_12]

This is great advice — thank you!

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you so much for these excellent suggestions, both in terms of edible and decorative plants. I've never grown beans, but I have grown peas and I assume it's fairly similar. Everyone warned me corn was difficult, but it worked out really well the last time I grew it, and zucchini and butternut pumpkin almost grow without any effort on my part, so I have high hopes for them.

The herb suggestions in particular are excellent — I want to branch out a bit beyond the standard rosemary, thyme, sage and bay, so it's good to have some idea of what works well.

We've just come back from the market and picked up so many seeds and seedlings, and I'm looking forward to a few hours in the garden getting them all planted.

Don't be like me and plant entire seed packets in your excitement - I ended up with >10 sage plants and more rocket than I could use before it bolted!

Oh no!