Plans for 2017

[andy]

So we're the right side of the winter solstice and even though the weather is freezing, the seed and plant catalogues are coming through the door by the ton.   So ive been having a good think about what to grow this year....not only for home but for work too.

I'm going to try growing a lot more herbaceous perennials from seed this year.  I collected about 15 different varieties and they've been in the fridge at work since the autumn.  I also want to take a lot more cuttings.  Ive set up a small 6 x 4 foot glasshouse at home and im going to use it as a propagating house with a bench around all sides with undersoil heating cables.  Im even tempted to get a mist unit if i can rely on the water pressure.

I plan a lot more exotics this year especially Cannas and bananas...i wouldn't mind trying a few Brugmansia cuttings too.

One thing i am doing this year is cutting out the chilli growing.  I don't eat them and i wasted loads this year.  I'm also cutting back on tomatoes....i'll probably grow just Shirley and Sweet aparatiff.  I'll grow the stuff we eat....sweetcorn, courgettes, onions, beetroot, chantennay carrots, leeks and parsnips but that's about it

So that's the start of my plans.....what about you?

[Ladygardener]

Well I've given over a full bed at the allotment to flowers for this year. Mostly grown from seed and it's the bed I'll put the Sweetpea into as well. I planted loads of spring bulbs in it back in the autumn so it will be off to a good start.

Also at the plot, I started a Dahlia bed last year so I'll expand on that a bit and put some more in all being well.

I know I say this every year but I really am going to try to grow less from seeds and try to avoid ordering so much stuff online and buying things impulsively.

I'm also going to try to have less things sitting around in smallish pots this year. It's a real pain when it comes to watering them and will make a much better effort to get them into the ground somewhere. Normally, there are dozens of them so it'll be a challenge.

No tomatoes for me either, they end up not doing well or getting blight anyhow. It'll be a relief not to have to worry about them.

[Tig]

I too have decided to give up on growing tomatoes this year, too many disasters and not enough rewards.
I can't help growing plants from seed, it really is a passion to try something different each year and try to germinate something I haven't tried before. I'm always happy to give away surplus, so in a way others benefit from my hobby.

I intend to remove some of the hardy geraniums, mostly self seeded ones, and also divide the phlox if I can get in without damaging other plants.

Hoping for much more fragrance in the garden as I have planted more scented varieties of roses, peonies and lilies and they should come into their own this year, if the weather suits them.

[Rosefriend]

I've been thinking about this ever since I read the post andy,.....mmmh not easy for me still but the "Plan" (see Ron, I can make them as well, vague ones anyway, hahahaha) is as follows....

Tomatoes - with 722 varieties, still counting, yes I will be doing around 50 with a few dwarfs on the terrace. I am going to use the "Aspirin" trick against Blight - it worked very well last year even though some plants were showing signs of blight - I got toms ripened.. This time I will soak the seeds in an Aspirin solution as well...won't you try Tig,??

I didn't keep the garden as tidy as I would have liked last year - it was noticed of course, neighbours can be great and also a pain. However I did do the flowers that I wanted for OH and that is what was important to me...

The Plug plants that I ordered last year were very good indeed and I have started to look through and will order a load more this year. Mrs Bucket was interested but when she realised that you have to grow them on and that it would be too cold in the GH to start with she said that if I would do them for her then OK....why?? - she doesn't want "dirt" in her house. Needless to say she is now going to buy her plants at a later date - hahahahahaha!!

Far less tubs of course but I am getting compost from Olaf this year - he will be getting tomatoes from me...the back of the shed is to be covered by Friedhelm and I. Neighbour got me a load of wood from his work place that was going to be burned so that is less money...

I have two mini GH's still and they are full of tubs etc and my little nursery - have been told by Mrs Bucket that I should get rid of them - they don't look very nice...sigh!!

[Auricula]

I really,really must make the garden less labour intensive this year. This means it will be more work for me and Moaning Minnie ( how will we get rid of the stuff? it will be too fresh to burn, the council bin is always full the day after collection, the compost heap gets full of weeds.. and I'm not putting garden waste in the car )
We're taking out 120' x 8' of fuchias, and other shrubs ( now all about 5' high ) and are half way through taking out the dogwoods in the front. Hydrandgeas ( over 40 of them ) to cut back and a new hedge to plant.
When we moved here 13yrs ago 1/3 an acre seemed ideal but...tempus fugit and now it's a chore. I'm going to concentrate my floral efforts ( can't live without herbaceous perennials ) on the front garden and some pots outside the greenhouse.
Oh, and I have to plant up the alpine house with succulents.
I also plant ot regularly feed and deadhead.....something I have previously found no time to do
I'm starting all this on Monday and will start a new thread accordingly.......happy gardening 2017  
Oh and absolutely no buying of anything this year   it'd be criminal when we have so much to get rid of 

[Jasmine]

I am planning on getting as much as possible in the ground and only having a very few pots in the summer so that we can go away for as long as we like and not worry about getting the garden watered.
That's the plan anyway......

[Ron]

Jan 7, 2017 10:42:49 GMT Auricula said:

absolutely no buying of anything this year 

That's my intention too, but I'm not at all confident

[victoriahampton]

I love gardening. This year I will plant more trees.

[Ladygardener]

victoriahampton, if there's anything we can help with, just ask. We're a right old mix here, some only recently starting off their gardens and some very experienced.

[Jilly]

victoriahampton, the people on here do give very sensible suggestions, although if you catch us in our mad moments, you might find that hard to believe  we're a very happy crew.

This year I'm making no plans apart from the compy, will be just glad to get things done when I'm able.


Well of course there is all the things that I put away in the growhouses in the autumn, so they'll have to be planted out again, and then there is all the seeds that I'm doing, so actually quite a lot of plans really

[Barbara]

I'm going to get rid of the monkshood, it does nothing for me, and I know someone who would like it, and that gives me room for cosmos up there, all my hemerocallis want splitting so I'll have lots of that, and my phlox does too, I never get the top bed under the living room window just right, I hope I can this year, and I've bought more dahlias for down on the allotment.