What's your garden like at this time of year?

[joyshirley]

I'm visiting my father and all his roses are coming out. They look really lovely.

 

[MWood]

I had a garden in pots until last year. The plastic pots got brittle and began to break, so I quit gardening. Oh woe is me!

 

[musicalpilgrim]

Tidied up the garden yesterday...and it rained today so that's OK.

 

[pdudgeon]

Amazingly so pdudgeon.

Found out, the hard way, that begonias don't like the frost!

agree, my cannas bit the dust too. green one day, brown the next!
fortunately we have a good early weekend with nice weather comming up, so i'll have a last chance to get things tidied up around here before the really cold wether hits.

the Nandina berries are just starting to turn red.

 

[musicalpilgrim]

I had a garden in pots until last year. The plastic pots got brittle and began to break, so I quit gardening. Oh woe is me!

Plastic pots do get brittle, you should be able to get a better plastic, thicker..or wood troughs etc...we have a front paved area, and some wooden troughs have given me a 'front garden' well sort of...

 

[MWood]

Your front garden and wooden planters are really nice. I may try the wooden planters this spring. Thanks.

 

[joyshirley]

Arrived home today to see our lawnmower dude hasn't cut the lawn due to showery weather lately. It looks awful right now, but he will be coming early next week. Quite a few roses have come out here while I was away visiting my father. Very cheering...

 

[pdudgeon]

Your front garden and wooden planters are really nice. I may try the wooden planters this spring. Thanks.

I've gardened in wooden planter boxes before, and they're really great.
they're easy to keep up, easy to swap out plants by the seasons for a new look, and very easy to water.
one handy bonus is that most of the planters come sized to accomodate the bagged potting soil, which makes the initial setting up a real breeze.

and one more tip.
some planters will come with an inside plastic or metal liner.
But if yours doesn't have that, just measure the inside dimentions of your box to include both sides and bottom width. (ie. side, bottom side)
If your box is a square that's the only measurement you'll need.
Add those 3 numbers together to get the width and leingth of plastic you will need.
If your planter is a rectangle, then add the dimentions of the ends and bottom of the box (if it's a rectangle it would be end, bottom, end) to get the leingth of plastic to cut from the roll.

if you can find a roll of heavy clear or colored plastic, line your planter box with that first. After lining, pour a little bit of the potting soil in the planter to anchor the bottom, and then fold the plastic back on itself at the corners (pleated, like the folds on the back of an envelop) so that the inside of the liner is smooth, and the pleats are next to the sides of the box.
Fill in the planter with the remaining potting soil, put in your plants, and water!
Happy gardening!

 

[musicalpilgrim]

We had our first fall of snow, and it looks beautiful...
Here is a photo that I just took of our garden railway...Sycamore Creek in the snow.

 

[MWood]

Arrived home today to see our lawnmower dude hasn't cut the lawn due to showery weather lately. It looks awful right now, but he will be coming early next week. Quite a few roses have come out here while I was away visiting my father. Very cheering...

I hope you had a wonderful visit with your Dad.

 

[MWood]

I've gardened in wooden planter boxes before, and they're really great.
they're easy to keep up, easy to swap out plants by the seasons for a new look, and very easy to water.
one handy bonus is that most of the planters come sized to accomodate the bagged potting soil, which makes the initial setting up a real breeze.

and one more tip.
some planters will come with an inside plastic or metal liner.
But if yours doesn't have that, just measure the inside dimentions of your box to include both sides and bottom width. (ie. side, bottom side)
If your box is a square that's the only measurement you'll need.
Add those 3 numbers together to get the width and leingth of plastic you will need.
If your planter is a rectangle, then add the dimentions of the ends and bottom of the box (if it's a rectangle it would be end, bottom, end) to get the leingth of plastic to cut from the roll.

if you can find a roll of heavy clear or colored plastic, line your planter box with that first. After lining, pour a little bit of the potting soil in the planter to anchor the bottom, and then fold the plastic back on itself at the corners (pleated, like the folds on the back of an envelop) so that the inside of the liner is smooth, and the pleats are next to the sides of the box.
Fill in the planter with the remaining potting soil, put in your plants, and water!
Happy gardening!

Thanks pdudgeon. Good info and instructions. Hopefully I can find the planters that have the liners. It'll cut down on the work.

 

[rebornfree]

We had our first fall of snow, and it looks beautiful...
Here is a photo that I just took of our garden railway...Sycamore Creek in the snow.
View attachment 185666

Looks beautiful. The snow didn't reach us (SE of Manchester) but I saw that it was forecast for the Pennines which are not far away.

I've clustered my pots together for winter with the now pruned begonias, and the bulbs, in the centre and the hardy plants around them. The leaves continue to fall but look pretty with their varied colours.

 

[musicalpilgrim]

Looks beautiful. The snow didn't reach us (SE of Manchester) but I saw that it was forecast for the Pennines which are not far away.

Yes, I'm in the foothills of the Pennine chain, the first hill is our local park! so the snow just lasted for a day and it was soon melted.

 

[pdudgeon]

We had our first fall of snow, and it looks beautiful...
Here is a photo that I just took of our garden railway...Sycamore Creek in the snow.
View attachment 185666

oh WOW!!!!

 

[rebornfree]

Yes, I'm in the foothills of the Pennine chain, the first hill is our local park! so the snow just lasted for a day and it was soon melted.

We're just below the foothills and I've known occasions when there has been very little snow here but further east enough to make the roads impassable.

Almost all the flowers in the garden have gone now, but I'm delighted that most have lasted well into November.

 

[joyshirley]

We had our first fall of snow, and it looks beautiful...
Here is a photo that I just took of our garden railway...Sycamore Creek in the snow.
View attachment 185666

Your garden railway was pretty before, but looks so gorgeous now with the snow on everything!

 

[joyshirley]

I hope you had a wonderful visit with your Dad.

Yes, I did, thanks, MW. Dad is very cool and I enjoy his company very much. He is also very capable. I still learn stuff from Dad all the time.

 

[joyshirley]

Saw the first few flowers on our feijoa tree today...

 

[rebornfree]

How lovely to see the flowers, but I've never heard of a feijoa tree. What's it like?

 

[joyshirley]

Well, a feijoa is a fruit, Sue, which grows abundantly here in NZ. My father loves them. I don't mind them. You cut them in half and then just scoop out the inside with a teaspoon. Some people make feijoa jam too. The flowers are like miniature pohutukawa flowers. The pohutukawa is NZ's Christmas tree.

Here are a couple of photos of the feijoa tree flowers and the fruit.