I'm new!

[Jacquiht]

  Hi everyone,  I am just getting to grips with Ideas Genie and hope to put up some before and after photos soon.  I have one third acre garden which was completely overgrown when we took it over 5 years ago and having now completed the layout to our own design I am in the process of replanting most of the beds.  I take delivery of several hundred plants on Friday afternoon so bear with me if I am a little slow in being active on here.   I would very much like to show the before and after affects of my garden as it grows.  I have to say George is so very helpful, even with the simplest of questions from a novice!!!


Not sure if I've done this correctly but it should show two photos taken from my home!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jht69/

??!!

[ideasguy]

Welcome to the forum Jacqui! I'm delighted to see you have made your first posting - no stopping you now 

Its a pleasure to help people use the software. I wish more people would ask questions so I can help them get up and running, and I dearly wish more would register on the forum - its a terrific resource, and a place to communicate with other enthusiastic plant lovers.

One word of advice, if I may. Be careful what you plant. Resist the temptation to go for fast growing things to fill that large garden. It took as little as 5 to 10 years for some of my "mistakes" to grow into monsters. Ive been digging them out when I find time and this year I have a building project well under way and when digging foundations, I had them cut down and dig up some conifers, hedging and mature trees. Today they took the biggest one down - a 40ft plus Ash tree which was a small tree when we moved here some 25 years ago.

Good luck with all those plants! That is a massive project. Are you planting them yourself?

[Eric Hardy]

And welcome to the forum from me too, Jacqui. Good luck with your project, I can see lots of work ahead.
My wife, Anthea, and I established our garden in what had been an old orchard over 55 years ago. After that effort we have never felt inclined to move 
You are right that George is a terrific support when learning about his software.
Best wishes
Eric (not to be confused with Palustris, who is another Eric and a much more knowledgeable gardener than me)

[NightHawk]

Welcome to the Forum Jacqui.

You'll find all of our members here to be very friendly and helpful, so don't be afraid to ask away 

We're in a similar position to you at the moment, planting and replanting areas of our garden.

We recently moved to Hampshire, on the southern edge of the New Forest, so we're watching what comes up during this years' growing season, as well as planting some of our own favourites.

The climate and soil type are different here (from our previous northeast location) so looking at plants that thrive in more acid soil is a consideration for our borders.  But we still have the option to plant in pots and of course, which means you can have a different pH to work with.

It's great fun experimenting so I know you'll also have your work (hopefully pleasant) cut out for you.

Once you're familiar with the workings of the Forum (and you find the time  ) we look forward to seeing some of your garden photos.  If you get stuck with that, or anything else, then there's always someone here to help out.

Laurie.

P.S.  I can't give any advice on your 'bunny' problem (from your posting in another topic) as we've not had any experience with them.  Moles YES!, but that's another story altogether 

[Palustris]

Fun ain't it? Welcome.

[ideasguy]

Jacqui and I had a long session on the phone today - about Bank Genie Pro.

Jacqui had managed to import all her data from Quicken, so I was already impressed by that.
Everything was fine on her Windows 7 laptop but there was a weird problem on her husbands XP computer when trying to open her database which had been backed up from the laptop.
We did manage in the end

Not many of my customers use both our Gardening Software AND Bank Genie software so naturally we did discuss gardening, and I remarked that our women forum members are very quiet!
We are shy, was the reply

After a bit of encouragement (persuasion?) Jacqui said she would help me address that!
Already I'm envious, as she informed me that Rudbeckia does very well in her garden - i lamented that mine have never made it through two successive winters!

Ive read over this topic again Jacquie, and I am rather surprised that we haven't commented on your Flickr photos.
That's the view from your house?? That looks absolutely gorgeous.
Do we see a little of you garden in the second photo?

[Jacquiht]

Hope you've recovered George from our epic afternoon! 
I managed to get into the greenhouse after we had finished and have sown four trays of yet more Rudbeckia Goldilocks - as you can gather I rather like them.  I also started off my hydroponics with seeds, again Rudbeckia just to see what the different results are.  I only had this system at Christmas so am very new to it all, but I like a challenge.  Is there anybody who has experience of this system and can give me any good tips.
I also mentioned to George that I managed to take quite a number of cuttings from my garden in the Autumn and am so pleased that I have only lost six of them.  Absolutely wonderful.  I have decided that this year I am going to try not to buy any more plants as last year I completely replanted my garden which as you can imagine was a little costly, so a lot more cuttings to be taken when the time is right.
You mentioned my Flikr photos, well I can't seem to sign in a present and don't remember what photos I put up but they would have been of my garden and it's wonderful views over the River Helford, Cornwall.   I now use Picasa which is far easier to upload and use.
Am now going to try and get to grips with Ideas Genie and leave my husband to Bank Genie!

[Jacquiht]

Just managed to get into my Flcikr account and the photos are taken from my bedroom balcony looking over my garden and River Helford.

[ideasguy]

What a lovely view to look out at when you draw the curtains in the morning!

Did you happen to see any of the Country Tracks programs on Sunday mornings?
Recently, the SW of England was featured (twice) - Cornwall of course.
See my posting here on Jan 29:
http://www.flowergenie.co.uk/ideas/forum/index.php/topic,1615.0.html

Its one of our favourite "his n hers" programs (his= football, hers= a wider range of the popular stuff).
Sunday past was right down to the tip - Lands end.
They pointed out to sea, and like the view from your window, commented on the view which extended (over that expanse of Atlantic ocean) all the way to America!

RE:

Am now going to try and get to grips with Ideas Genie and leave my husband to Bank Genie!

I was impressed with your computer skills. Jacqui. Ideas Genie should be a doddle

PS Jealous again! Four trays of seeds sown. Haven't used hydroponics so I'll leave the others to comment on that.
Another session? This time on Ideas Genie?   

[Jacquiht]

No I must have missed that - will have to see if I can find it online.  Look forward to hearing from anyone about hydroponics.