In the Beginning

My garden in 1995 when I first moved in

Welcome to my blog. This is all very new to me but I have been encouraged by a good friend who has several blogs on the go, which I will give links to when I have worked out how. I also found it very useful recently to post a message on another site regarding gardening and getting several suggestions of answers to my problem which made me realise that there are lots of normal 'gardening' people out there who may be interested in my progress and problems.

Firstly, the name of the blog refers to the fact that I look out over the sea in Weymouth, Dorset with what is, apart from the view, a normal 'surburban' back garden. I have the benefit of lots of sun and I suppose an added benefit of the warmth from the sea which means I rarely get a serious frost and no more than a few flakes of snow, much to the disappointment of the children.

I also have the negatives of being battered by gales which seem to come at all times of the year and which can seriously mess up a summer garden in full bloom. Also there is the issue of salt laden air which is not kind to all plants. However, I can leave dahlia, cannas and various other 'tender' plants in the ground or in pots on the patio with little fear of losing them. Last year I saw some strelitzia (birds of paradise) in pots in someone's local front garden so purchases 3 plants, they didn't do anything last year and have been left to fend for themselves in pots on the patio and it will be interesting to see if they manage to flower as the books say they are a conservatory plant.

When we moved to the property 13 years ago there was just lawn and apple trees and one border. Despite having a young growing family the garden has gradually got more and more borders and less grass - that never ending problem of having new ideas and plants that were bought on impulse and then having to find a home for them. I say my garden is a 20 year project at least and even then it won't be finished.

I have done all of the work in the garden myself, digging borders and building the pond, even did the brickwork round the edge. Also made some obelisks for plant to grow up as I have no fences for that purpose. Some occasional professional help with the tree pruning but can't afford anything too expensive. Wonder what it would be like to win the lottery and have a wonderful 'garden designer' garden but I would miss the pleasure of achieving something all my own.

I have started a proper veg patch this year having just had a few runner beans, tomatoes and corgettes in the past. I got the preparation all wrong, I had a tennis elbow all last year and only after the 3rd injection in November did all seem to get better by which time it was too late to dig over the patch and put the contents of a mature 3 year only compost bin onto the plot. I did all this in January and then after proudly surveying my work, reading in my veg book about only adding the compost in the autumn. It didn't say why this was, so it will be wait and see with the results of my crops.

At the moment I am planting up seeds and having had a clear out in the garage/potting shed last year realised that I had very few small pots so I went off to the garden centre and got some of these you plant straight into the ground as the pack can with 2 free packets of seeds - sucker me! However it was only when I got home that I realised they are 'peat' pots and though I do still use some peat compost as I haven't yet found a reliable alternative I was sure there must be alternatives to peat pots - then I remembered I had seen pots made from newspaper. Quick browse on the web and found the instructions and have done a test session with half peat pots half newspaper pots and the same seedlings and compost mix so we will see which do best. It will certainly cut down on the recycling box if I make the newspapers into pots and put them in the ground.

My first 'newspaper pots'