Lavender and Spring Onion

I was told by my mum that when my lavender went a bit woody and the buds were drying up to cut the plant right back to prevent the plant growing back woody. Whilst doing this today, it occurred to me that I may be able to get seeds from the drying buds that are on it, so I asked my mum about my plans and she said to put them in an envelope and the seeds will come out themselves. I have done this now and am storing them in a box with other envelopes of seeds I have been collecting (peppers etc), so hopefully I'll have lavender seeds soon!

I noticed a spring onion that I planted last year but didn't come up had been growing this year, so I left it to it's own devices as it seemed a bit woody to eat. It's flowering at the moment, and I'm wondering if I should be getting seeds from that (the flowers) too? If anybody knows, feel free to comment and let me know.

Lilies.. Again.

I was out yesterday (in the rain) and snipped off the anthers (see below) as I was told that they damage the lily and cutting them off, will prolong the life of the flower itself. I'm hoping this is true and I'm hoping I've done it correctly. *Fingers Crossed*




Also, a big thanks to Lesley at http://www.vegetable-gardens.co.uk/forum/ for telling me that I should be putting tomato feed on my strawberries when the fruit is forming and growing, plus cut them back to about 4 inches after they have finished fruiting, ready for next year.

Loving My Flowers..

Ok, so I'm still getting to grips with this whole blogging malarkey and I don't even know if anybody is reading this so it could all be a hopeless waste of time; however I'm carrying on regardless. Feel free to comment if you do read, even if only to say hello.

I was in the garden the other day, and noticed a few of my flowers (lilies and cosmos sensation) were finally flowering. This has pleased me greatly as i started these particular ones as seeds/bulbs, thinking they'd probably not survive.. let alone flower.

Here they are:








I'm also pleased with my containers that I made up of bought plug plants.. they're probably quite mismatched and messy to the seasoned gardener, but I'm really happy all the same as they're still alive and look reasonably good I feel for a first real attempt.




I noticed my strawberry plants were looking rather sorry for themselves now they have stopped fruiting, so I'm thinking that I should feed them this year as I did not do so last year as I thought they had died; so I got a pleasant surprise when I saw they were growing again at the beginning of this Summer. I am thinking I should be using tomato feed for them, but I should probably go and look this up before taking any action to make sure.

An Introduction.. And A Test.

This is a hello from me and also a test to see how the posting turns out so I can make any tweaks necessary.

I am Claire, I am 27 and my garden needs a lot of TLC so I am starting this blog in the hope that I can grab some hints and tips from any knowledgeable people out there (hint hint) and also share my mistakes with any other novices along the way.

I'm starting my gardening journey as a complete novice and hope that in time, instead of amusing you all with my disastrous attempts at gardening, that I'll actually be able to share hints and tips that I've picked up along the way.

Over and out.