Why I'm Blogging This

My name is Diane and I am NOT greenfingered.
I have never gardened, and I have always maintained that I am possessed of some evil plant-killing aura. I have always been the sort of person who gets given Cacti, or Ivy, or something equally hardy and the generous giver gently teases, saying, "You can't possibly kill these!"*.

But I love the idea of gardening. Of watching things grow, of being part of the process of beauty emerging from earth and water and tiny specks of seeds. I also love the idea of having a garden.

So, as a clueless beginner, I turned to my first port of call for free information: the internet.
But I was to be disappointed. Although I found lots of wonderful friendly forums, and cheery sites full of useful stuff, I couldn't find anything that was aimed at my practically non-existent level of knowledge. Most of the library books I found were similar.

Luckily, I was rescued by friends! I know people with varying levels of expertise and equally high levels of enthusiasm, so I do have some good sources of advice.
And now I have a starting point.

I always think that the best way to learn any practical skill is to try it, so that's what I'm doing. And because I can't be the only person who is a clueless dreamer with a plot of land, I'm going to blog what I'm doing, what I learn, what happens, what grows and what doesn't, all of it, so that there will be a gardening resource for the clueless beginner!

*Yes, I killed both the cacti (it went mouldy) and the ivy. I've never met anyone else that's managed to accidentally kill off an ivy plant.

Something from nothing

Bloo and I are trying to make beautiful gardens from our vast enthusiasm, little knowledge, and the work of our hands.

I'm trying to create a herb garden for a friend who seems to dislike the mud, insects and unpredictable nature of the garden, despite wanting the beauty and usefulness of a herb garden. I've never started from a blank slate before. My previous lovely messy garden spaces have always had something that I valued in them, so I've been adding to the existing pleasures.

This time, I'm working in a space that was once (and is currently still) under decking. My friend's desires for her garden are lavender, some tasty spicy herbs, something beautiful, more lavender, and ease of maintenance. I want to lure her into the delight of watching things grow, seeing the nature that lurks in British suburbia as a positive thing, not a frightening one.

This is a non-scripta blog, because we have no written plans, no formal outlines for our gardens. Currently I just have a list, and the idea of a circular plot. My list is as follows:

• 15 lavender plants,

• thyme (I have never had much success with thyme before)

• rosemary

• pansies

• basil and hot peppers in pots

• sage

• fennel

• chives.

I love to grow things from seed, so this weekend and the next I'll start to put things into trays, to see what little darlings will come up from my carefully hoarded seed packets. I'm going to post on freecycle too, to see if I can get some bricks to outline the bed, and maybe we'll be away. This is definitely learning by doing

Bloo has much more exciting, adventurous plans and I'm eager to see what she comes up with.