poundshop chic

Wow. I must write a few words about the poundshop. I went in the other day as i saw some hanging baskets in the window. When i went inside and upstairs i found a whole floor dedicated to gardening. There were lots of bare root plants. Lots of big pots(some a little tacky),little coloured enameled lanterns,bulbs and seeds,stepping stones made from polished pebbles and allsorts of ornaments and things.
I bought two big plastic terracotta pots,a Philidelphus mock orange and a variety of bare root roses and some lovely bits and bobs. All in all a real bargain. But most of all i got some lovely things. I know i could have spent at least a fiver on each hanging basket elsewhere.
I already bought roses from them about three years ago for my mum and although she is got the touch with plants it is still alive and does ok in mums mostly shady yard by the sea. I have tried to research into where they get the roses from. But no joy.
If you are in brighton, try western road poundshop that's where i went. brilliant!

I find a love of Roses...

I must say i have always loved roses. Something about them just is just awsome. So perfect. My mum and i never had a car and walked everywhere. Every summer mum stops to smell all the Roses. I would smell them too. The scent and the softness of them against your nose. Always reminds me of summer. They are gorgeous.
When it came to what plants i wanted to grow it had to be roses( amongst a few others). On valentines day i got a pot with three crimson miniature rose bushes. Id heard from my mum they usually die. Being a spcecial present from my beloved and so adorable, i set about making sure i kept them alive. I potted them on and they seem happy. They keep flowering and they survived all that time outside. Since then i have just been wanting to grow roses.
I kept seeing pots of miniatures in the fiveways fruits. I got a few different colors. Some are different types. I started reading about them on the internet and found some great advice on giving grocery shop roses a better chance. They need more space as there can be up to four plants i a 10cm pot. You need to cut of any open flowers first.
1. soak the pot in water. gently remove the plant from pot taking care at all times not to break the roots. (check they haven't grown through the pot so you dont rip any when removing from the pot)
2.when you have the plant out soak in a bucket or something full of water. Leave for 20 min. Hold the plant by the base and swish it around gently in the water to remove the soil. Keep repeating this until all the soil is removed from the roots.
3. gently tease the roots apart. it is very important to keep all the white hairy roots intact.
4. mix potting compost with sharp sand if you have it. about 20%sand. or just pot in compost.

There you have it! I actually did this myself and now have four times as many plants. I have some to do. The plants fill out much more with the added space. The ones i've done are doing great.

I set out tidying up and turning over the soil. Having never done any gardening before really i still dont really know what iam doing. I went to the hardware shop thing next to forfars up at fiveways. It is brilliant. i got enough grass seed to do our small lawn for £1. I also got a lovely big Lemon Thyme for £2.95.


I sprinkled the seeds all over my new turned over patch. I waited two weeks and there are finally little tiny hairs of grass poking through. On the first day the seeds were down i went out to water them only to find a black bird methodically eating all the seeds. hopping up and down the garden. I had to get right up to him to stop him and as soon as I had stopped watering he was back out there. Then there's Louis. My little dog. He has been running all over it for the past two weeks. I was loosing hope that any grass would appear. It was amazing to see the tiny green strands. Magical!


I think from what i have read online that I may need to patch it up and over seed. I dont think I have enough seeds. I may try and find another type of grass to mix in there.
hmmm....
what else can make a garden nice??

So this is the only pictures i have of the garden from last summer. bit of a shame really. Its hard to see all the bind weed and bramble things. you may also have guessed by now that i dont really know much about gardening. so this is the diary of my garden. And hopefully i will learn something along the way. Iam sure somebody reading may have a few tips and ideas to share. that would be great. i will be attempting to collect cuttings and learn about the plants. we will se how it goes.
In the garden there is a lovely big rose bush already. i accidently pruned it right back while i was hacking one day. There are a few lovely plants in the garden. A huge Lilac tree and a couple of fucshia trees and some flowery hedges. The fucshia had leaves until the big snow. It looks a bit dead now.
I suddenly find myself interested in the garden since my boyfriend bought me a rose bush for valentines day. I just really love roses. I always have but now iam inspired to grow them. i must get a picture of my little miniature rose bush. I want to turn this patch of land into a haven of peace and nature and beauty. I realised how sad it makes me looking out there.
I would love to see picures from other peoples gardens.
Is anybody out there doing what iam doing?
xxx