Your Garden 2022

I was only thinking of starting this thread for next year the other day!

My main plan is to build a greenhouse. It's on order at the moment and should be here somewhere between Christmas and the end of January.

I also need to finish filling the last two veg beds i built last year. Kind of doing a modified hugelkultur way to fill them, so it's just the top layer of compost that's needed now.

I have two decent jobs on the maybe list, one is to plant a 20m mixed hedge. The area has gotten a bit over grown though so that needs to be tackled first. I also want to reclaim an area just under a Hawthorn hedge. It's gone overgrown at the moment, but the biggest problem is that there's a 'flower bed' that the previous owners laid down weed membrane and a 4-6in gravel layer over it so that's going to fame a fair amount of work. Time will be the biggest issues with those two though.

As for seeds, I want to involve the kids a bit more this year in the garden as it's use able for them now. We're making lists of what we want to grow at the moment. I'll have to work out what's going to go where then after that.

I'm still doing structural stuff so I am going to strictly limit the amount of seed sowing etc, I found this year that I simply did not have the time to do the minding of young plants and the veg didn't even get started, so I have decided no seeds. This is of course not what will actually happen, it just means I won't buy seeds, well not many, anyway.

Today I ordered a load of timber so that I can tip away at building a log store, and cladding a wall and other jobs in a sunken sitting area that I am developing. As I get older the amount that I get done in a day has decreased significantly so jobs take for ever, but at least I have the time to keep tipping away.

Bought 100 more pink tulips for my spring display under my new weeping cherries. But just like last year I forgot to plant my ‘forget me not’ seeds early enough to go with them! The irony! A Homer Simpson doh moment!

I like shade planting, there are a few areas in my garden that happily grow ferns and moss naturally, so I am encouraging them. I haven't planted hostas in years as I found it an expensive way of feeding slugs but I may try again in - like yours - a shade area I am developing. It only has self seeded baby ferns and a few bigger ones in it at the moment and is extremely poor soil so I will progress carefully and see what I can do with it, I don't want to turn it into an over-fed weed-fest. I may try a Hosta in a pocket of decent soil, the surrounding sandy shale may protect from slugs.

Finding plants that will cope with dry, sandy shade is a bit of a challenge, lots of articles list various things that on further investigation only suit one or other of the conditions. Any suggestions welcome.

Doh! now you mention it I have loads of lamium, I tend to overlook it because it grows like a weed in exactly those conditions. Mine is a silver variegated one with yellow flowers, I gather yours is a purple flower, I would be glad to trade, Its usually easy enough to find already rooted slips.

I have berginia but its a rather scrawny, less interesting pale pink one, one of the darker ones would be nice. Both of these were inherited in the garden. And I also have a small sedum that grows everywhere by itself so a bit of that could easily be transplanted. Sedums usually prefer sun but these seem to be happy to grow in quite shady places. Heucheras would probably do ok too.

I'll have a look at the site you suggested. (I just looked at it and its not all that far from me, though I think they are only mail order).

I find Brunnera and early flowering borage seem to thrive in shade here and the linked websites suggest they do OK when growing in sandy soil.

I do a couple of hours in the morning and that's enough for me. A couple of days a week. My garden at the moment looks tidy and good. I have a few hedges to trim and that's about it for the winter. I have reduced the number of raised beds by 3 this autumn. So going in to next year I will only have 6. I will grow simple stuff outdoors from seed. Tomatoes, lettuce, peas, French beans...plus two others.

I hope to get back travelling again in 2022 and visit some gardens overseas, take it easy and enjoy the work of others.

Did a little bit of very late bulb planting today, finally got around to planting my tulips, hopefully they’ll be ok.

Also attempted to plant some more organic Allium purple sensation to build my stock only to discover the whole collection was rotten. I left them in their delivery box without airing them. Made the decision to buy more, non organic this time. I’m totally going against my own principles, hoping the bees don’t mind them!

Tulips usually grow, though they can be a bit iffy for leaving them and hoping they come back, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

Snowdrops are notorious for not growing from dry bulbs. There are little pots of 'green' snowdrops available around now and for a month or so (though since Covid the supply seems to have been a bit hit and miss). Planting them green is the way to go, when they do get established they will keep coming and multiply if they are happy where they are planted, but getting started can be a bit of a labour.

I did the same. I've always bought off them, but didn't have a fantastic year with some of their seeds last year. But said I'd give them another go because I'm not sure if it was their seeds, the weather, or local factors as it was my first time growing in this garden and greenhouse. Can't beat their selection though, nor their price.

The only thing I didn't get off them that they did have in stock was Parsnips. It said on the website that it was 2020 seeds for 2021 planting, so I held off just incase. It could just be that the website hasn't been updated yet. There's a few other seeds I couldn't get off them that I'll pick up when I'm getting sets and spuds.

I sowed the first of my seeds yesterday, some onions and leeks. First time sowing onions from seed, so that'll be fun.

I'm still waiting on my new greenhouse to arrive. So that'll be a decent project for the spring. It's supposed to arrive anytime between now and the end of January.

I still have a couple big raised beds to finish filling, does anyone know of anywhere selling compost at a decent price? The place I bought dumpy bags off last year have added €25 onto a bag. And I need at least 4, maybe 5 by the time I've reclaimed some flower beds.

How's the log store coming on? Any pictures, looking at building one myself.

I had the same problem with snowdrops but this year I planted them in a pot and covered the pot with moss. It has been very sucessful. I plan to replant them 'in the green' from the pot and do the same nexxt year to increase the supply.

We have a massive area that was going to be a kind of Hugelkulture bed, but has just kept having more and more branches etc piled onto it. Its collapsing nicely but I reckon it will be years before it is compost. We do put briars and pretty much anything onto it, but I would not put briars and ivy into a normal compost heap. Briars dry out really well if left in a loose heap for a few months, at which stage you could probably chop them up and put them in compost, but I would not put the roots in. Ivy. Well, just saying, but ivy burns really well...

Plans for 2022:

Tackle back garden grass which has never recovered since being walked on a lot while we got new windows and the house insulated.

Powerwash and re-seal the back patio (black indian limestone).

Build a new raised bed at the back of the back garden.

Get front driveway paved and some nice planting / lighting to go around it.