Gardening tips request.

[Cruddy]

Gardening tips request

Spring is in full flow and my garden is overdue a revamp - it's quite small and faces east/north (in the Northern Hemisphere) so it doesn't get a lot of light.

Anyone got any tips for plants that don't need a lot of light and are attractive?

Or, even better, any private websites that host gardening forums? I'm kind of sick of browsing comercial seed sellers that just want to shift stock.

[Dinner]

Plant zones for the UK and Ireland. What you plant and when you plant it depend upon which type of plant zone you live in. As you can see much depends upon the gulf stream when it comes to climate in the British Isles.

[Dinner]

To compare the US and Canada looks like this. Definitions of Gardening Climate Zones are given on right.

[Dinner]

I live in Zone 11.

[Dis]

average annual minimum temperatures?

we certainly aren't 10 to 20 F

[Dauphin]

(Amongst other things) I'm wondering why there are little dots coming out of Scarborough and Eastbourne on that UK/Ireland map.

[Az]

That's in case you want to do your gardening in the ocean.

[child of Thor]

Re: Gardening tips request.

Originally posted by Cruddy
Gardening tips request

Spring is in full flow and my garden is overdue a revamp - it's quite small and faces east/north (in the Northern Hemisphere) so it doesn't get a lot of light.

Anyone got any tips for plants that don't need a lot of light and are attractive?

Or, even better, any private websites that host gardening forums? I'm kind of sick of browsing comercial seed sellers that just want to shift stock.

Cruddy, i'm surprised if you haven't thought of the good ol bbc website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/

how about an ivy of some type? they grow well in darker aspects - just make sure you set up a frame for it to climb on(saves it destroying the walls in the longrun). But you'd probably be better off taking some photos of the area you want to grow stuff and take the pics to someone at a local gardening centre.

[Dinner]

I'd suggest an herb and vegitable garden.

[Odin]

England is no worse than zone 7? You lucky SOBs. Up here in Zone 4 we have "Zone Envy." No magnolias, sycamores, evergreen hollies, etc. for us.

[Dinner]

One is close to the gulf stream and the other is far, far from the moderating effects of warm ocean currents.

[Cruddy]

Thanks folks - especially Oerdin and Child of Thor.

BBC - it's such a big website it's hard to see what they haven't got. Here goes...

[Snotty]

I wait ages for a gardening thread to come along, and then its on something I dont know the answer to! What a waste of space that 5 years experience turned out to be

Go on, ask me about turfing, or pruning apple trees or something....

[Urban Ranger]

Suppose your garden is to the north of your house. You can then paint the wall facing the garden white to reflect more sunlight.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Suppose your garden is to the north of your house. You can then paint the wall facing the garden white to reflect more sunlight.

Great advice. Except of course the north facing walls don't face the sun either.....