Need gardening help!!

[LisaPink]

Ok, the rest of you who keep posting about working in the garden have inspired me!! Only problem is I no squat about gardening, which poses a few problems!!

Can anyone give me some advice? At the moment the dog is the only one that uses the garden, but youngest DD is getting a playhouse for her birthday which is exactly a month away. So I just want to make it a nice area for the girls to play. I have a table & chairs, a little bench for the girls on the patio bit, but the rest is just grass. As its a rented house I want to plant flowers in pots so I can take them with us when we move, but I need to plant flowers that are easy to take care of & sturdy enough to cope with the girls & the dog!! Ive decided to get the girls a sunflower each to plant as Ive been told their quite easy to take care of, but Im at a loss as to what else?

Can anyone help me? What flowers do you have in your garden?

Thank you & sorry for rambling!!""cutey""b

[vikki]

when they come into season marigolds are idiot proof and good for pots, i can't plant anything in our garden cos the slug population is enormous so have to pot everything, plus i forget to water stuff.

failing that buy fake ones that look real! (don't laugh, that wot my MIL does and she is nuttier than me!)

[Tess]

sorry i can't help..but i will be pinching the others ideas too...my garden is just mud at the moment with a resident mole!! we are waiting for them to turf it....xxx

[Macaroni]

Pansies flower most of the year and are pretty tough , are in plentiful supply at the moment and are reletively cheap

Campanula are pretty and have lots of flowers

[LisaPink]

Fake ones?? Thats a great idea, I didnt think of that one, at least I couldnt kill them! I actually managed to kill a cactus a few years ago, how bad is that!!

Ive added marigolds to my list, thanks for that sweetie.xx

[LisaPink]

Thanks Toni, added those too. Im getting as much info as poss before I brave a visit to the garden centre!

[trai]

Sorry nothing new to add just to say i only started gardening last year and i had pansies and marigolds and they were pretty and practically looked after themselves. I also had a couple of dahlias as they are really pretty too.
Good luck with it and don't stress yourself just try to enjoy it.

[funkydorydawn]

I've been gardening for a few years and I'm not very green-fingered at all - the following plants have always grown well for me in tubs:

fuscias
pansies
geraniums
lobelia (trailing lobelia looks lovely in a pot with other plants)
busy lizzies
campanula
herbs

What I would do is go to your local garden centre or nursery from mid-may onwards (after the frosts have gone) - and take your pick!

Don't worry about putting too many plants in either - I tend to put 3 or 4 in one pot so it looks nice and full in the summer.

Also, it might be a lovely idea to plant up some pots with herbs - they are are amazingly easy to grow and there's nothing better than a fresh herb patio garden!

hth

dawn
xx

[smirnoff]

Pansies flower most of the year and are pretty tough , are in plentiful supply at the moment and are reletively cheap

Campanula are pretty and have lots of flowers


I agree!!
3 years ago i was bought a pansy by my son for easter. As we didnt have anywhere to plant it, we put it in the kids "digging patch" in nannys garden. This plant has been dug up, drowned, planted upside down... you name it this poor plant has suffered it! And b***er me it flowered again this year!!!!:woot: :woot:

They look really pretty and are really easy to plant :party05:

[funkydorydawn]

oh, and why not get a few windmills and things - the kids love them :party05:

dawn
xx

[pattacake]

I love gardening although I aint to good at it ! I have fushias all down one side and they are bush like and have lasted 10 years with 2 kids and a husband who gets a bit carried away with the lawn mower!And also monbresia(spell!!!)that is a bulb and grows pretty much any where it has thin long green leaves and in late summer bright orange flowers,looks lovely and spreads like mad.
In the summer we go for lobelia, geraniums,buzy lizzies and one that looks like a bell cant think of the name they are all bedding plants so make sure there is not a chance of frost!
My ds had a herb container last year and loved it ,its funny how he never seemed to do any damage to that.

[Lemon]

Summer bedding which is the fuscia's, geraniums etc are easy to grow in pots, but do need regular watering in the summer. Just be aware that most of these plants are classed as "annuals" which means they only last one year. You might like to mix some hardy perenials (come back every year) to give you a bit more value. Go to a really good garden centre and they will be happy to advise you more for the type of garden you have and how much time you have. I absolutely love gardening and it's a bit like mumszone once you get the bug your addicted !! Happy Gardening :costumed-

[karri25]

when they come into season marigolds are idiot proof and good for pots, i can't plant anything in our garden cos the slug population is enormous so have to pot everything, plus i forget to water stuff.

failing that buy fake ones that look real! (don't laugh, that wot my MIL does and she is nuttier than me!)


You can make beer traps to catch the slugs if you want. the only problem is that you have a big bowl of drunk slugs:)

[karri25]

Can anyone help me? What flowers do you have in your garden?


I use impatiens in pots as they are really easy for me. They are only annuals but do sometimes reseed themselves. They have a neat country cottage look to them and you can get them in any color:)

[LisaPink]

Thanks for all the ideas, now have a big list to take to the garden centre!! Am gonna get windmills & little statues for the girls, actually just found a Fifi Flowertot gnome in Woolies so thats at the top of the list as the youngest is fifi mad.

Am really looking forward to it now......!!