Thread: Heaven: The green blade re-riseth (gardening thread anew) Board: Limbo / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
I hope I've not merely overlooked the old Gardening Thread...

Questionthe first:
So Mr Craddock the gardener has made a good start to excavating the aboreal mass that used to be a mixed bed and I can start some planting.

I'd forgotten (sensitive man's way of saying "didn't know") that annuals would be so bothersome. I realised that there would be the faff of replacing them every year, but all the seed packets ramble on about growing the plants in trays indoors / in the greenhouse, then planting them out.

Obviously, hardy annuals don't mind direct sowing, but would it really be naive of me just to sow the seeds directly in the beds and expect something to grow? (The bed in question is along the east wall of a south facing garden. It's well-composted and fairly sheltered, although the expanse of lawn in front of it does mean it can catch some hefty gusts if the wind is very strong. It's shaded until mid-morning gets the strongest of the sun for the rest of the day - or it does in the summer when we have any sun!)

Question the second:
I "had forgotten," too, that hardy perennials grown from seed don't flower in their first year. Or can anybody recommend a HP that will? I don't want to wait two years for flowers - - might not be here by then!)

Question the third:
I'm told that walled gardens tend to be a teensy bit warmer. Is this an old wives' tale? I can see that it might act as a pocket to trap a little heat (although maybe the size of the garden would undo that) but, judging by the frost on thelawn, it also acts as a jacket for keeping in the cold! Can I expect my leeks to grow ready-frozen or ready-cooked?

Corpus
(Hoe in hand...)

(was: The green blade riseth (gardening thread anew))
(reverted to more Heavenly English )

[ 02. March 2011, 20:31: Message edited by: Belisarius ]
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
It would be naive to direct sow if you have hungry birds. Or even squirrels. At least in my experience! But you might be luckier.

As for walls, a wall in the right place adds heat and moves the season forward a couple of weeks; one in the wrong place does just the opposite. Basically, you want to plant in front of a wall (not too close now, not in the area that never gets rain!) that faces the sun during the growing season--south, or possibly east or west. (Unless you live in Midwestern Hell where the sun will literally BAKE anything that is too close to the wall during our hot summers.)

Planting right in front of a north-facing wall (I mean on the north side) is asking for trouble unless you're growing something that likes shade (caladiums) and/or cold, like salad greens (prefer the cool).

Of course, the further you get from the wall, the less any of this matters.

Also, walls on a slope (Like my backyard) tend to trap cold air as it flows down the hill. So planting anything on the uphill side of a wall (or house) means that it will be growing in a little cold pocket. Good for some plans, too frosty for most. When we planted a sweet cherry tree (which is very, very borderline in our area) we took care to plant it on a hillside with nothing below it, so that all the cold air would flow down and away from it, and it would hopefully survive. So far, so good!

One last thing about walls. Walls tend to have concrete footings, and concrete has a tendency to turn the surrounding soil alkaline. So don't plant an acid loving plant (like an azalea) right up against a concrete-footed wall. It will be mad at you. Find something that likes alkali (ornamental grasses?), or is at least neutral (most plants).
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:

I'd forgotten (sensitive man's way of saying "didn't know") that annuals would be so bothersome.

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quote:

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Obviously, hardy annuals don't mind direct sowing, but would it really be naive of me just to sow the seeds directly in the beds and expect something to grow?

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quote:

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Question the second:
I "had forgotten," too, that hardy perennials grown from seed don't flower in their first year.

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This is not true of all perennials - we have a hardy Datura that comes up from seed and blooms the first year, and I know there are many others. What sort of things are you interested in? (I don't have the list to mind, but can find the info.)
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
Carex,

Sound advice - I'm not sure about the Datura though! It looks nice but sounds a tad dangerous with small boys and a dog around!

However, Google is my friend and, once I had decided what to ask, it confirmed your advice that there are plenty of perennials that will flower in the first season. Thanks.

The annual question was more concerned with less hardy annuals - the hardies all say they can be planted directly, but so many of my favourites turn out to be non-hardy annuals! I'm guessing the answer is not to sow directly until one is sure the frost is over and to cover the seedlings to avoid birdicide?

That ties in with the walled-garden question. Mine is pretty flat: if anything, there's a slight drop away from my walls. Maybe walled-gardens keep the heat, but it seems to me that when my garden becomes frosty, it stays frosty longer. Ergo - follow the frost-avoidance advice above! I suspect, Lamb Chopped, that my walls were built before concrete existed - but older lime-mortar will presumably still be a problem. Shall remember not to plant too close to the wall!

Thanks for your help - shall doubtless need more counsel later!

Corpus
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:
I'm guessing the answer is not to sow directly until one is sure the frost is over

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quote:

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Originally posted by Amos:
Corpus, could you post a list of the annuals you like and were hoping to grow?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:
Fuschia, Lobelia, Petunia, Salvia (Flare), Stock (Heaven Scent) spring to mind - and hopefully to life!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Carex:
Fuschia is a shrub... I wouldn't consider it as an annual. They are easier to propagate from cuttings than by planting seeds.

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Well that's what I thought until I bought the seeds. Maybe that's the key. The packet clearly says "half hardy annual - sow under cover." However, it also says (I've just noticed) "specially bred for containers / bedding."

Fuchsia for bedding? New to me, but then you already know how ignorant I am in these matters! I shall put out a call for cuttings from a decent shrub-type fuchsia. Bound to be a better bet!

Thanks Carex.

Corpus
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Well, there are many different types of fuchsia these days, and plant breeders are always coming up with something new. So it is quite possible that they have developed a "half hardy annual" version, whatever that might be. But with all such new things you have to use the information provided by the vendor.

Most of the fuchsia sold for hanging baskets, and those bred for large, showy flowers or foliage, tend not to be hardy. But have a look around Trumpton for established bushes that have survived there.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
In North Wales my fuschias died back every year and looked totally dead until after April. Just as I was convinced they were dead a little sliver of green would appear. The plants would never reach more than about 50cm high.

My Mum (in Scotland) would take heel cuttings each year grow them on for planting in the spring. It was the only way she could ensure that she had fuschias the following year. Sometimes her plants outside would survive, but mostly they died.

Here on the Isle of Man we have fuschia bushes that are over 2m tall. There are fuschia everywhere!

Look around and see how fuschias are around you. Do they die off completely, do they die back, or are they big bushes?
 

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Posted by nickel (# 8363) on :
 
I don't see fuschias at all here , they don't appreciate Virginia's heat & humidity. They are lovely in pictures, though.
 

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Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:

quote:

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Originally posted by Amos:
Corpus, could you post a list of the annuals you like and were hoping to grow?

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Fuschia, Lobelia, Petunia, Salvia (Flare), Stock (Heaven Scent) spring to mind - and hopefully to life!

Cc

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What effect are you after Corpus because you have mixed two styles of plants? All of your choices except the Salvia are pastels in the white, pink, pale blue range. The red of the Salvia doesn't blend with these plants. Also everything is fairly short.

There are three main types of fuchsia; bush, hanging and hardy. The hardy ones will die back over winter and come back the next year. The bush and hanging ones are tender and snuff it if left outside. Within the later two categories you get singles and doubles and very double ones. I think the singles look better in a mixed border but that is just my opinion.

If you want fuchsias then go to the garden centre and get mini plants which are available from now until about May. Get the bush types and pot them up and let them mature on a window sill until the frosts have finished. Lobelia as seed is more trouble than it is worth as it will dampen off if you so much as look at it the wrong way. Allysum has much the same effect and can be sown directly in to the ground. Stock can be sown straight into the garden as well. I've never grown petunias from seed so I don't know if they are tricky. What you can do is get some pots of ready germinated seedlings from the garden centre and prick them out into individual cells of compost and then plant them out into your garden later.

For height you could use Cosmos or Cornflowers or train some sweet peas up a wigwam of canes. Alternatively use the wall and put a selection of small flowered clemetis on there to provide a back drop. If the site is windy then delphiniums and foxgloves will spend most of their time flat on their faces. I'm very fond of penstemons, which are half hardy perenials, and there are lots in the garden centres. The taller ones are quite bushy and seen to stand up to the wind better than traditional cottage garden plants.

The other way of creating height and a focal point in the annual border is to put a pot in the middle with some plants in it. A nice polished blue pot will set off the foliage and paler flowers of your selected plants really well.

If you want a bit of a contrast use a spikey plant like a phormium or a cordyline to off set the drifts of annuals. I'm rather partial to the bronze foliage varieties and they work very well with the pastels of the plants you like.

If you want to use Salvias remember that the slugs adore them. The unforgiving colour doesn't blend well with much else but looks stunning in a tropical type border with white nicotiana, Dahlia 'Bishop of Landaff' and some hostas. You could add in some of the amazing thalia fuchsias which have long red flowers and go very well with this red/green/white/bronze colour scheme.

Apologies for the spelling, I'm not close to any gardening books right now.

[ 04. February 2006, 14:57: Message edited by: Poppy ]
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
I agree with Poppy, except I've found hardy fuschias to be hardier than she indicates: I've had one (and this on a hillside in Lancs.) grow into a bush about 3 feet high. It doesn't die back at all, and I have to keep it pruned if I want to enjoy my view.

Tall cosmos are lovely. They can be grown fairly easily from seed. Nicotiniana sylvestris is also lovely, very fashionable, and smells delicious, especially in the evening. Stocks will need staking unless you pinch them back severely. Nasturtiums aren't to be sneezed at (unless they clash terribly with the rest of your colours): Empress of India is the best, IMO, and any idiot can grow them. They're also edible. Nigella, or Love-in-a-Mist and cornflowers are great for filling in spaces, and grow easily from seed. Escholtziana (California poppies) now come in various pastel colours (though I think the original is still best): you can get them in cream. Valerian loves walls. If you're growing sweetpeas, start them early, and protect the seedlings with loo roll tubes.
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
All good advice - thanks. I have thought about the bit in the books that says "pastel shades at the top of the garden and bright colours at the bottom" (or is it the other way round?)

This is my first time planting a big garden, so I'm not too worried about what looks good where. I just want a summer filled with colour and for that colour to continue as long as possible through the winter. During this coming summer, I'll learn which plants might be better moved somewhere else because they "look wrong", but at the moment I just want to get lots of green and lots of colour.

I have, however, thought about height. I've planted some Euphorbia and Japonica towards the back of the bed, because they'll grow up to a reasonable height (albeit slowly.) I'm about to plant various lilies and delphinia behind them to give a bit more height (and, I hope, colour) in the summer. I've also used my Christmas-present-to-myself drill to put up some trellis across the wall for peas. I've bought a mixture of annual Sweet P (for immediate colour this summer) and eternal P (for colour and covering the wall ever after.) I've got lilies, chinese lanterns, delphinia and stuff to give the height at the back. The fronts are already filled with snowdrop, crocus, daffodil et al to provide some early colour and a bit of bulk. Then I have seeds and bulbs for all sorts of stuff that will fill in, and graduate down towards the front of the beds.

I've come to terms with the fact that I need to do some potting before planting out. Grrrr.

I just need to get the flower beds going and the make a start on the veggies... Just!


Corpus
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
The trouble with nasturtiums, Amos, is that they do Take Over the World towards autumn. And they seed themselves incredibly efficiently. Once you plant nasturtiums, you will never be without them.

M.
 

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Posted by Cymruambyth (# 10887) on :
 
Oh, this thread is just too cruel! Have you no sensitivity for the feelings of those of us who are still languishing under three feet of snow? Here in the frigid northern climes, we can only flip through garden catalogues and dream at this time of year, and long for the day when the frost comes out of the ground (which is usually at the end of May!!!!!!!)


 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
'Empress of India' is quite welcome to take over all the pink bits on my map. I can always put it in salads.

Hollyhocks are equally rampant, and in my last house I had a terrible battle with pot-marigolds.

Corpus, if you don't have it already, get the late Christopher Lloyd's masterpiece, 'The Well-Tempered Gardener' (or is it just 'The Well-Tempered Garden'?). You'll enjoy his style and he gives excellent advice.

Beware of lily beetles.

If I were sitting in Winnipeg with a seed-catalogue, I would make myself another cup of cocoa and enjoy all the pleasures of NOT being able to get out in the garden.

[ 13. February 2006, 06:59: Message edited by: Amos ]
 

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Posted by Dee-nz (# 5681) on :
 
Hi Green Thumbs,

I have just moved into a new place and inherited a wee garden. Unfortunately it has rampant oxalis...absolutely riddled with it.

Any idea how to get rid of this??
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
I looked this up and there were two suggestions, hoeing and hands weeding before the flowers come, and the use of 'weed and feed' for lawns. It thrives in dry, poor soil.

It seems the most important thing is to prevent it from setting seed. If touched the seed pods will explode sending seeds everywhere.
 

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Posted by Papa Smurf (# 1654) on :
 
We've just moved to a proper house, after being in a flat.
So we have a proper garden (front and back)

Out front is a fairly big tree, which I'm sure the previous owners said was a plum tree.
At the moment the branches are bare, but I'm guessing that once leaaves and any fruit come, the tree will block quite a lot of light getting to the house.

When's the best time to prune/chop/hack ?
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Dee-nz:
8<..Unfortunately it has rampant oxalis...absolutely riddled with it.

Any idea how to get rid of this??

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quote:

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Originally posted by M.:
The trouble with nasturtiums, Amos, is that they do Take Over the World towards autumn. And they seed themselves incredibly efficiently. Once you plant nasturtiums, you will never be without them.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Papa Smurf:

Out front is a fairly big tree, which I'm sure the previous owners said was a plum tree.
At the moment the branches are bare, but I'm guessing that once leaaves and any fruit come, the tree will block quite a lot of light getting to the house.

When's the best time to prune/chop/hack ?

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I spent much of the weekend pruning the remaining fruit trees. Ideally you would prune the tree before it starts budding out so the growing energy is focused in the remaining branches. Actually you can prune it any time, but the tree wastes less energy if you prune it before the sap starts flowing.

One of the first things to do is to remove the "water sprouts", the vertical, fast-growing whips that pop up everywhere. Plums fruit on the curly, horizontal branches and not on the vertical ones.
This alone may be a major undertaking if the tree hasn't been pruned for a few years.

Also take out damaged or diseased branches, ones that cross back through the tree at odd angles, etc. We keep our apple trees cut down to where I can reach the branches without a ladder, even though
they are not dwarf varieties. Don't be afraid to shape the tree or shorten it by taking out some main branches - a good guideline is not to remove more than 1/3 of the wood in any one year.


Pruning will improve the quality of the fruit produced. If you find that you really don't like the taste of the fruit, then next year after pruning you can think about grafting other varieties of plums onto the tree. We had two Italian Prune trees to which I had grafted several kinds of plums, as well as apricots, and almonds.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
We've had the Prince of Wales Trust helping with our tiny garden at our project, which I usually take care of. they have pruned the roses (only 2 bushes) and attacked the buddleia, which took over the rose's little earth circle last year. I am now waiting for the usual weeds to arrive when it gets warmer. The daffodils are flowering with great golden brightness. I also have to deal with buttercups - I was silly enogh to leave them there, because they have such gorgeous flowers, a few years ago, and now I have to dig them up as soon as they appear every spring.

A dirty question - what effect does dog-shit have on the earth? The bit of garden in our street has been emptied (apart from huge silver maples and a few bulbs which are poking out) while work was done in the area. It's not yet replanted, and people are using it as a dog's toilet.

Will it be fertiliser or poison for the tough clay? We keep trying to get it cleaned up and fenced off, but the council hasn't been helpful. I don't want to plant stuff myself at the moment....
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
Re doggy-doos...

I have plenty of friedns who just dig it into the flowerbeds seemingly with no ill-effects, but I have been told it shouldn't be added to the compost bin. I seem to remember something about herbivore faeces being ok, but not carnivore "stuff". I'm not, however, convinced that Canis cani's complete diet actually contains any real food at all!

I've just invested in one of these. It's buried in the garden and after scooping (either on a walk or in the garden at Corpus Towers) I empty the stuff in the bin. Once a week, I chuck in a couple of buckets of water and add a capful of enzyme and it seems to be doing its stuff. It's next to where my vegetable beds will be, so I'm hoping it will have pleasing effects on me carrots!

Corpus
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Mr M & I have a small bay tree in a pot. Unfortunately, it is no longer flourishing like the green bay tree - it is yellow and sickly looking. I don't think it's just winter as it was beginning to look poorly last summer.

Does anyone have any ideas?

M.
 

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Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
Tip it out of the pot and examine the roots.
It may be pot bound, and needs potting on into a larger container.
Does it get enough light?
Try moving it to a different position.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Thanks - it might be pot bound. I should think it gets enough light, but I will try both suggestions.

M.
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
...One last thing about walls. Walls tend to have concrete footings, and concrete has a tendency to turn the surrounding soil alkaline. So don't plant an acid loving plant (like an azalea) right up against a concrete-footed wall. It will be mad at you. Find something that likes alkali (ornamental grasses?), or is at least neutral (most plants).

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As an alternative, would it be possible to add something acidic to the soil to counterbalance all that? Coffee grounds work magnificently for this purpose; so do oak leaves and pine straw.
 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 
First little green nose of a bulb poked up today! Yayyyyyyyyy! The end of winter is in sight
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 
Ah, yes, you're in Chicago, Prophetess. Mine have been coming up for weeks, and the first dear little yellow narcissi BLOOMED today!

indeed!
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by M.:
Mr M & I have a small bay tree in a pot. Unfortunately, it is no longer flourishing like the green bay tree - it is yellow and sickly looking. I don't think it's just winter as it was beginning to look poorly last summer.

Does anyone have any ideas?

M.

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quote:

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Originally posted by The Prophetess:
First little green nose of a bulb poked up today! Yayyyyyyyyy! The end of winter is in sight

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quote:

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Originally posted by Amos:
I remember the first thread you ever posted on bulbs, Prophetess, before you moved to Chicago, before your son was born...Did you ever read Elizabeth Lawrence's 'The Little Bulbs'? I think it's still available in paperback.

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My salad days, when I was green in judgment.

I never have read that book, but it sounds like something I would enjoy. The Prophetlet and I took a nature walk today to look for signs of spring. It was pretty cold ( , Rossweisse!!!) and I had to wear my long wool churchgoing coat, but we did manage to identify a couple more hyacinth shoots!
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by The Prophetess:
...( , Rossweisse!!!) ...

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Ah, but think how much nicer your summer will be than ours!


 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Rossweisse:

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
...One last thing about walls. Walls tend to have concrete footings, and concrete has a tendency to turn the surrounding soil alkaline. So don't plant an acid loving plant (like an azalea) right up against a concrete-footed wall. It will be mad at you. Find something that likes alkali (ornamental grasses?), or is at least neutral (most plants).

---

As an alternative, would it be possible to add something acidic to the soil to counterbalance all that? Coffee grounds work magnificently for this purpose; so do oak leaves and pine straw.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
One last thing about walls. Walls tend to have concrete footings, and concrete has a tendency to turn the surrounding soil alkaline. So don't plant an acid loving plant (like an azalea) right up against a concrete-footed wall. It will be mad at you. Find something that likes alkali (ornamental grasses?), or is at least neutral (most plants).

---

When I was working on a church garden once, I planted a row of "Grosso" lavender against a south wall. Visiting the same church a few years later in high summer, I couldn't believe my eyes. The lavender was about 4 feet high----clearly it loved the heat and the alkalinity.
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 
Prophetess: The jonquils started bursting into bloom today. The little narcissi are still going, and together they make a very pretty picture.

It turned colder this afternoon, which should simply prolong the pleasure of their flowering.

Ross
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I've just had a violent visitor to my back-yard!

As I came in to my kitchen and looked out the window, a hawk glared at me. It was sitting on a pot, ripping up and eating one of our blackbirds who feed and socialise in the yard for hours every day.

The yard is fluffy with his feathers, and all that was left was his head and one foot of intestines. He was obviously drinking from the water bowl when he was grabbed, because it was rather full of blood. I've taken his remainder to the black bin, as I couldn't bear the thought of his head remaining in my kitchen rubbish bag.

Should I have poured the blood/water into a poy for fertiliser? I reckoned it would cause problems and stink.

Amos, it was one of my lily pots the feast took place on.

My tiny daffodils are thriving in their little pot and beginning to bend ovet to make flowers, and a couple of golden crocuses are flowering. The lilies are shoving up through the earth now, too. I need to water them with poison for the lily beetles.....

I've never seen a hawk so close except in one of the bird sanctuaries. It glared at me with bright yellow eyes.
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by daisymay:
... I've never seen a hawk so close except in one of the bird sanctuaries. It glared at me with bright yellow eyes.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Rossweisse:
Prophetess: The jonquils started bursting into bloom today. The little narcissi are still going, and together they make a very pretty picture.

It turned colder this afternoon, which should simply prolong the pleasure of their flowering.

Ross

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Lucky you! We're supposed to get a couple inches of snow this week, so my hyacinths and tulips will be in arrested development for a bit. I gave expression to my feelings by ordering a flowering quince "Toyo-Nishiki" from a nursery in Virginia. On sale, even.
 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 
Plus a 4-in-1 apple tree (4 varieties grafted onto one rootstock) and a "Carolina Belle" peach tree.
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 
72 degrees today...lovely breeze....nicely sunny... sitting out on the new screen porch for lunch, watching the daffy-down-dillies grow...

 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 
The heavy snow never arrived, thank the Lord. I really am quite sick of winter---this afternoon found the Prophetlet and me prowling about the back yard.

Does anyone out there have experience with growing grapes? I am especially curious about "Glenora."
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Vines like sun, and require hard pruning in the early spring. We had a couple in Boston (I doubt they were Glenora); the grapes were delicious, and they were very easy once you remembered to prune ruthlessly.
 

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Posted by Yish (# 11115) on :
 
Moo has suggested that we might post here. Al isn't feeling too strong presently and please forive me for posting on his behalf.

We are looking at planting something which CB's (Maia's) ashes could go beneath. So far we've had many suggestions, including :

Wild Roses

and

Butterfly Bushes

Someone else suggested this :

Camomile

We've had many suggestions involving roses and also involving various kinds of lawns. Al is looking for something that could be planted in Ohio in around June. It needs to be fairly hardy and something which doesn't require a great deal of tendering since he'd hate it to die. They have a good deal of space in Ohio and so could plant either one plant or, more preferably, something which is wilder. But something which can withstand all types of weather.

Al would like something which is wild growing and which would sum up Maia. My expertise on plants is laughable and any advice would be appreciated. I haven't added in all the suggestions but the main ones we're thinking about.

Thanks

Yish.

[ETA : clicked on post too soon!]

[ 25. March 2006, 13:02: Message edited by: Yish ]
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Yish---Ohio. Around June. Let me give it a think.
If it were England I'd offer one of the little oak trees I've got, grown from acorns I picked up by the Berghaus at Kreisau, where the Kreisau Circle met. But you'd never get it past Customs, small as it is.

Ohio is the Buckeye State: Buckeyes, which are in the same family as English horse chestnuts, are rather beautiful spreading shrubs that flower in the early summer. Somebody clever could provide a link to a picture of one. They grow well in Ohio (well, they would, wouldn't they?).

Lilacs and magnolias are also nice, and would grow well. Lilacs come in different shades of purple, lilac (no kidding!), white, and creamy yellow. They are all fragrant and tend to be bone-hardy. They live a long time and tend to sucker, creating a sort of lilac thicket. Magnolia denudata is perhaps the most beautiful spring-flowering magnolia around, with creamy, lemon-scented flowers before the leaves appear. Magnolia soulangiana 'Rustica Rubra' makes a beautifully shaped spreading small tree, with smooth silvery trunks and huge, chalice-shaped wine-coloured flowers in the spring. If you're interested in going for a magnolia, PM me and I can recommend a good specialist nursery in the US.

You might also plant a Dawn Redwood, metasequoia glyptosporoides (or something like that), a most beautiful tree from (literally) the dawn of time.

There are a number of old-fashioned roses which tend to last a lot longer than the houses they're planted next to, of which the Albas (names like 'Celeste' and 'Cuisse de Nymphe' and 'Rosa Alba Maxima' come to mind). There's a little rose called 'Stanwell Perpetual' which is perhaps my favourite these days: it blooms from spring until frost, is fragrant, spreads slowly to about 4' by 8" and thrives on neglect. I tucked a small plant of it into a pocket of soil on the side of a stone wall in the north of England about 15 years ago. I see it every year, utterly neglected, and slowly getting bigger and more beautiful. Absolutely disease free and never needs spraying. It has double flowers in a clean shade of pink, fading to cream, and ferny foliage.

I'm not sure that a chamomile lawn (which is what seems to have been suggested to you) would flourish in Ohio. It would get baked in the summer and frozen in the winter. They are also a pain in the arse to establish, even in the UK.

Do PM me if I can be of any help.
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
I should add that the alba roses are thought to be first crosses between rosa canina (which grows wild in northern europe) and the damask rose, which is from south-eastern europe and the mideast. Stanwell perpetual is a first cross between r. pimpinellifolia (also a wild rose, which grows even further north) and a variety of r. damascena that is continuously flowering.
(IIRC!!) They're not exactly wild roses, but they're very ancient and hardy varieties, and, once established, take care of themselves.

Buddleia are lovely, attract butterflies, and withstand drought. They are not always absolutely winter-hardy in the midwest, but do tend to reseed themselves. Look along any English railway line, and you can see buddleias which have been spread by the birds.

I happen to love cotton-wood trees too: they're native to the American midwest: their leaves have a smooth side and a matte side, and are pinched where they join the twig so that, in a breeze the whole tree shimmers. The cottonwood grows into a big handsome well-shaped tree; you can sit in its shade, and birds will nest in it. It turns golden in the autumn.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Rugosa roses are lovely and pretty much disease free. Even if they DO get a spot of blackspot once in a while, it does the rose no harm. We never spray or do anything for ours, and it's quite happy with us. And we live in the worst spot for roses in the US (well, New Orleans might be worse, but not much).

The leaves have a wonderful texture, sort of neatly crinkled like a fan when it's shut, and a gorgeous dark green. "Blanc Double de Coubert" is the purest white I've ever seen. Thorny as all hell, though--which might be a good thing, if you don't want deer, etc. chomping on it. It's hardy in Ohio, as I believe all the rugosas are. There are others in pink, magenta, white, and I think even stripes!

You can run a rugosa over with a lawnmower and it will come up from the roots the following year, no worse for the experience. Don't ask how I know.

[ 26. March 2006, 16:22: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Rugosas are wild roses---in Japan. Probably the most beautiful rugosa, and the one that would look least like a municipal roadside landscaping effort (which is what they're often used for, since they're resistant to salt and don't mind being run over) is rosa rugosa alba, the white form of the species.
 

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Posted by Yish (# 11115) on :
 
Excellent, I'm grateful for the advice. I think roses are definitely towards the top of the present list. Magnolias sound very nice too though, I can't think what they smell like and the smell seems to be important for Al. I'll have a look to see if I can find an image of a Dawn Redwood. I thought the same about the camomile idea but I'm grateful for your expertise. Lilacs might be nice but how do all these flowers go together? Can they be planted next to each other without problems? I'll have to look Buddleia's up too because I've got no idea what they are.

Al will be very grateful to you both. Thanks.

Yish
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Yish,
in my experience a buddleia can overwhelm a rose bush. One got seeded by nature next to our gorgeous yellow rose bush and in a few months it had grown enormous and was massive, the stems turning into thick trunks and the roses being pushed aside. We had to cut it down...

This may be because buddleias flourish wonderfully in London, growing enormous - up to about 20 feet easily at times. I have heard they don't grow so easily elsewhere.

I think that it would need to be planted a decent distance away from the roses....
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Magnolias have a lemony scent (but not like furniture polish!); rugosa roses smell like cloves, very spicy. Lilacs smell like---lilacs. Alba roses smell like very expensive rose perfume--as does the Stanwell Perpetual. Not all roses have scent, so if you're planting roses, make sure you've chosen a variety that is fragrant. Buddleias always smell a bit like honey to me.
Not all of these plants bloom at the same time. In Ohio, the roses won't start blooming before the end of May (and that's only if spring comes early). Lilacs will have finished blooming by then, as will a magnolia (unless you get a summer-flowering variety like magnolia campbellii), though both of these have attractive foliage, so you don't need flowers all year round. Buddleia usually begin flowering later in the summer. The colours buddleia generally come in--deep velvety blue, lavender, pink, white---tend to go well with the sort of colours species roses have. A buddleia in Ohio will not get as big and strong as a buddleia in London. In fact, if you get buddleia alternifolia (which is a really beautiful variety) it may even die down to the ground in a midwestern winter and then come back from the roots in the spring. It's useful when you're choosing plants and planting them to consider how big they're going to get, and then give them enough space that they won't get too crowded when they're full grown. All plants need to be kept from drying up in their first summer so that the roots can get established. After that, if they're hardy, they will take care of themselves. It's also important to dig a big enough hole when planting and to enrich the earth you put back (compost is good, so is well-rotted manure).
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yish:
Excellent, I'm grateful for the advice. I think roses are definitely towards the top of the present list. Magnolias sound very nice too though, I can't think what they smell like and the smell seems to be important for Al. I'll have a look to see if I can find an image of a Dawn Redwood. I thought the same about the camomile idea but I'm grateful for your expertise. Lilacs might be nice but how do all these flowers go together? Can they be planted next to each other without problems? I'll have to look Buddleia's up too because I've got no idea what they are.

Al will be very grateful to you both. Thanks.

Yish

---

The dawn redwood might be a bit borderline as far as hardiness goes (see this discussion) but more to the point perhaps, the thing is a sequoia, and that means HUGE. I've seen one forty years old which is already so big it takes three people to put their arms around it. Unless you have a really big site with nothing nearby to be dwarfed out or interfered with (think telephone lines, etc.) I'd avoid it. (Probably going to be a bit tough to grow things under, too, like all big trees. The shade and the roots crowd everything else out.)

Buddleias are the same thing as butterfly bushes (their Latin name) which are also sometimes called "summer lilacs." That's because they look very much the same in the way they grow and the way their flowers look. The individual leaves are a bit different, though. They come in white, yellow, lavendar and purple, including one that's very dark.

What about daffodils? Those will come back for fifty years with no care, and nothing but nothing will chew them up. Or peonies--again, a hundred years with little care, and gorgeous. Although some warm, humid places they get fungal disease. I don't know if Ohio is one of those places.

Sure, you can plant lilacs and buddleias together. But it's a good idea to find out how big you can expect them to grow in the end, or you'll find yourself digging them up and moving them in a couple years (like me ). A mature lilac is, oh, about the size of a volkswagen? Unless you do lots of pruning. But it takes a few years to get that size.

The biggest butterfly bush I've seen is about eight feet tall and maybe 5 feet in diameter. It has been pruned, so maybe eight by six would be a fairer estimate. Easy to prune--you just take off the ground level branches and anything that whacks you in the face. And the dead flowers at the end of the year, if you mind the way they look. (I don't, really.)

Korean lilacs grow a lot more slowly (in my experience) and bloom later. Beautiful smell. Common purple lilacs (syringa vulgaris) are heaven to the nose. Honeysuckle is awesome too, but it would be a good idea to check and make sure you don't get one that's going to be invasive in your area. Some vine up trellises and arches, and some turn into bushes (big ones again, sorry!)

There are also a lot of annuals that reseed themselves from year to year, so you can throw a handful of seeds out there in the (fairly secure) knowledge that they'll be there for years to come. I've had luck with cosmos, cleome and morning glory.

Violets would do nicely under the bigger plants, either the wild violets (I steal them from neighbors who don't want them--why I ask?) or the cultivated ones you get from catalogues. They come back for years and years, and I believe viola odorata is supposed to smell sweetly. And can't forget wild columbine (aquilegia canadiensis) which gets knee high and has little flowers that look like flame. Comes back year after year and seeds itself around the yard.

[ 26. March 2006, 21:30: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Forgot to say--leaves on butterfly bushes look (and grow) like olive leaves. Some are quite silvery, too.
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Hmm. The metasequoia in the Boston Public Garden is not that huge. I recommended that and the cottonwood because Yish said there was a lot of space, and it seemed to me that one possibility was a big tree that would not reach maturity in Al's lifetime. If, for instance, he were to plant a five to ten foot sapling, he could expect it to grow, at most, a couple of feet a year, and possibly an inch in trunk diameter. In ten years' time, it would thus be at most 30' tall. There's something very moving about planting trees whose maturity one will not live to see. It's a gesture of hope: that's why I like it. It's true that not a lot will grow under a big tree. But quite a lot of things will enjoy its shade for the twenty or thirty some years that it's a sapling, and after that, if you're around, you can marvel at your big tree.
Annuals are good too, but they send quite a different message. The common wild violet seeds itself twice yearly: if it's planted in Ohio it will be invasive and will tend to choke out anything else that's planted. That's why they're so good for ground cover. Peonies, once established do last for about a generation, but they require a certain amount of care and attention in the way of fertilizing and cutting back. They're also a bit lacking in the scent department.
Bulbs are lovely. In the Midwest they're not guaranteed to come up every year and multiply, but some of them will, especially the little ones, some of which do have scent. There's a book called 'The LIttle Bulbs' in which the garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence details her correspondence with a gentleman from Ohio (I think--it might have been Indiana) named Krippendorf (or something like that) who had a most beautiful woodland garden of little bulbs---snowdrops, anemone blanda, the smaller narcissus, species crocus and the like. Another possibility is Lily of the Valley: it blooms once a year in the spring, is fragrant, hardy, and, if it's happy, spreads nearly as much as violets.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
The Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostraboides) probably was a native of Ohio at one time - it was known from the fossil record across most of North America and Greenland, but thought to be extinct until it was discovered in the 1940's in a remote part of China. Unlike the other Redwoods it is deciduous - the needles turn bronze in the autumn and drop off. This may or may not be appropriate, depending whether you want the memorial to signify ever-living or cyclic rebirth.

There is also a variety called 'Gold Rush' with yellow foliage that turns gold in the autumn - ours seems to be taking its time getting established, and doesn't do well in the heat.

The Sierra Redwood (Sequoiadendron Giganteum) has a beautiful shape and grows fairly quickly, though it won't reach full size for a millenium or two. I see many of them planted around the old farms here 50 to 100 years ago.

The common Buddleia variety is considered an invasive species here, but there are others such as Buddleia japonica or Buddleia alternifolia that are better behaved. I'll have to check the hardiness on them when I get a chance.


With any plant (and especially a larger tree), the important thing will to make sure it gets enough water for the first year or two while the roots are getting established - this is especially important during the heat of summer. For planting in June, you may do better with a plant in a large pot (where the roots are well established) rather than a "B&B" (a root ball wrapped in burlap).
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
It is the elder cub's birthday today and Gremlin bought her some flowers. Very striking flowers they are too.

I am looking for some help in identifing them. All Gremlin remembers is that they are from Columbia. The stems of the flowers are about the diameter of a finger, and the flower part itself is about 20cm (8") long and is a lovely soft pink. The petals are all overlapping, rather like this pine cone. The leaves are a rich dark green and is a similar shape to this hosta. However, the leaves are far longer that the hosta, easily 50cm long. One of the leaves is a rich dark purple-y green. It is smaller than the others, so it could be that the leaves start out very dark and then lighten off to a dark green as they grow.

If anyone has got the foggiest what this plant might be I would love to know. Or if anyone knows of a plant identifier that I could use to track down this plant that would also be very helpful.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
I have continuted searching and found a picture of the flowers.

I have been hampered in my search because I didn't know that the correct spelling of the country was 'Colombia'. I have been searching on 'Columbia'. Wiki says that Columbia a historic and poetic name for the US. I had never heard of that before.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I think it's a bromeliad, probably guzmania. I'm also pretty sure that the leave shown on the image you found are NOT from the same plant as the flowers shown--the leaves are from a peace lily, which is white.
 

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Posted by Catrine (# 9811) on :
 
We moved into a new house recently which has a reasonably sized garden that is entirely made of gravel.

Does anyone know of some good online resources to help design a garden. Mr C wants a brick barbeque and some decking. I on the other hand just want some plants to lovingly care for.
We can't really afford a landscape gardener either.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 
Got the blackcurrant bushes (five Ben Lomond and five Hilltop Baldwin) into the ground yesterday and planted an Aromatnaya quince tree and Heritage raspberries earlier this week.

Does anyone have a notion of what to do about rabbits, other than acquiring a dog or a gun? I have seen very large ones hovering about the tool shed and suspect they've got a warren under there.
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 
Most of the Chicago suburbs have animal control departments that will either come and trap the animals themselves or lend you the traps. Most of them take (or tell you to take) the animals a fair distance -- usually to a forest preserve -- and release them. (That strikes me as unfair to the people and animals already in the other places, but nobody asked me. I will note, however, that rabbit is pretty yummy when cooked properly.)

Ross // It's wabbit season!
 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 
Thanks for the tip, Ross.

It is a fine day here; I got my apple tree into the ground. It has five antique varieties grafted onto one rootstock: Pound Sweet, Golden Russet, Roxbury Russet, Summer Rambo and Fameuse (Snow Apple).

The blackcurrants and raspberries look happy in their new home. I don't know about the quince tree. It looks kind of sullen, as if it were harboring fantasies of life in the Caucasus.
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
I asked Craddock to clear some beds to put veg in, but to replant anything that looked like it would do well elsewhere.

The hoards of primula have gained a new life - especially the yellow ones for some reason - but the flowering quince completely disappeared. I asked why and, with typical Craddockesque bluntness, was told "'Sdead."

Never mind bunnies - what about bloody grey squirrels ("rats in cute suits" as an American chum calls 'em)? I don't really mind them sharing the bird food, but I do object to them eating the bottom of the bird feeders so that all the nuts fall out and then whizzing away with them. The furry swine can clear 1/2 lb of peanuts in quarter of an hour.

I've just noticed too that, when they sit on the feeder chomping nuts, they eat three or four, then take the next and bury it in the garden. [So cute!] I'm awaiting the moment when they start growing and I can claim the crown from Jimmy Carter as the peanut growing king of the world!

I love the birds too, but they're no better. Only today, I've covered the peas, beans and veg beds with netting but I'm sure there's nothing left to protect. The Feathered Storm Troopers have already stripped everything I've planted.

Thank God the dog's home to patrol the borders...

Cc
 

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Posted by Zorro (# 9156) on :
 
I have a shoot of bamboo which I grow in water. It's about 40-50 cms in length, and is very healthy.

The thing is, I'd like to see just how big I can get it in as little time as possible. Can I add anything to it's water? Would it be pointless?

Thanks in advance!
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Run away run away run away!

Bamboo is the Thing that Ate Tokyo. You do not, repeat DO NOT, want to encourage it. (Unless you're just perverse that way. )

No, seriously, as long as you've got it in a little vase with a security guard watching it 24 hours a day to be sure it doesn't take over the kitchen, you're probably safe. But why take risks?

There are whole cities in California where it's illegal to plant the stuff at all.
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 
Lamb Chopped speaks the truth.

A friend of mine planted some yellow groove bamboo, after admiring a grove of same at a nearby botanical garden. The thing is, said botanical garden has a full-time staff to keep the stuff in line. My friend finally moved to get away from it, and estimates it's about to take over the far right lane of southbound I-270 any day now.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I know that garden (the botanical one, I mean). They MOW for yards and yards in every direction in order to keep their bamboo stand from spreading. Then they invite the local Asian population to come and get free bamboo shoots.

Wish they were half as willing to give away the lovely tropical fruit in their huge greenhouse.
 

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Posted by Zorro (# 9156) on :
 
Well, I'm not in California, and the variety I've got doesn't seem too intent on growing. Is it possible to see how big it can get in as short a space of time?

Would Baby Bio work, for example?
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
High nitrogen fertilizer will help it to grow, although it may outgrow the ability for the roots to support it.

The thing to remember with bamboo, however, is that when the shoots appear they are already as large in diameter as the resulting stalk will get. Being a grass, they don't grow outward the way trees do. So you might be able to get it to grow a bit longer, but not really any thicker.

Bamboos come in many different sizes. Some will grow to 10 metres while others only get to 10cm. If you have one of the smaller varieties, you can't grow it into a tall one.

Bamboo in the garden can be (mostly) contained by a 70cm/2 foot container, such as a large pot inserted
into the ground with the bottom cut out. The larger types may go down a metre, but for most garden varieties this will keep the surface roots from spreading. Be ever vigilent, however.
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
Three simple words - "Ground Elder - Help!"

The wretched stuff has sprung up so quickly and is growing between (and even through) other plants. What's the best way (any way? the only way?) to get rid of it?

I'm guessing weedkiller wouldn't help because of all the other plants. Don't really want to use it anyway - too muchchance of finding Canis cani and the SBs on their backs with their legs in the air!

Corpus
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Me too - help!

I've sprayed it in the minigarden where I work with poison I bought from the local Woolworths. It says it is not poisonous to children or animals. You spray the leaves and let it get absorbed into the leaves and then down the roots. It has worked in the past - it gets brown and dry and doesn't continue to prosper, but it may need doing more than once. Yu have to be very careful only to spray the ground elder leaves as it will kill the plants we truly want more easily IMO.

[ 14. April 2006, 18:12: Message edited by: daisymay ]
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:
Three simple words - "Ground Elder - Help!"
...

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Eat it. Well according to this site the leaves can be used as a spring leafy green similar to spinach.

So don't try and get rid of it, just tell yourself and everyone else that it's one of your foodcrops - at least you know the birds aren't going to take all of it.
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
Oh! - meant to add that I've found a temporary solution to the Squirrel Peril. Coated the pole of the bird feeder with olive oil. You should see the buggers jump up then slide down again. Most fulfilling!

I'll have a go with the weedkiller if it's safe - thanks. Not sure about eating it though!
Cc

[ 14. April 2006, 19:31: Message edited by: Corpus cani ]
 

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Posted by Zorro (# 9156) on :
 
Thanks, Carex, I'll get right onto it.

3 weeks, and many metres of new bamboo later
 

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Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :
 
Ground elder is the spawn of Satan. Don't try and dig it up as every tiny bit that breaks off and is left in the soil will come back 7 fold.

What you need to do is get some glyphosphate in in the 'paint on' variety rather than the spray. Carefully apply the glyphosphate to a couple of leaves on every plant. It sounds tedious but this stuff is liquid death so you can imagine that the leaf is a pupil, the DfES, governors, OFSTED or whatever.

If you can't be bothered to take this approach then put some pea sticks in the ground near to the ground elder. It will grow up the pea sticks and provides a better target to spray with the weedkiller. Just be careful that you protect the other plants.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I agree about avoiding every bit of a plant we want to keep alive. the poison goes down through the leaf to the roots.

I was doing the spraying very, very carefully and neatly, about an inch away from them at the most, on the leaves, which have just suddenly whizzed up - ground elder obviously recognises the time when the weather is just right
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
This may be a myth, but I have heard some story about roots interconnecting and people losing good plants to the poison placed on bad ones. Hopefully not, but.... anyone know?
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
That's what I'm worried about... I planted some new plants and bulbs and I don't want them hurt... but the earth is just full of the roots from the ground elder and we've got to deal with it, ot let it grow mad and produce those lovely big creamy flowers from wild places. No good in a garden the size of a small room....
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I'd suggest trying it on, say, half the area and then waiting a week to see what happens. If no problems, then you're in luck! If problems (which I really doubt,though) then at least you haven't lost the whole thing.

Alternately (shudder) dig up EVERYTHING and sift all the dirt, keeping the bulbs and discarding the elder.

(Or.... Say loudly, right in front of the ground elder, how happy you are that it's living there, and how you really hope it will flourish because a) it's pretty b) it's edible c) you plan to sell it or d) all of the above. That should ensure it dies off in a week.)
 

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Posted by Rossweisse (# 2349) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zorro:
Well, I'm not in California, and the variety I've got doesn't seem too intent on growing. Is it possible to see how big it can get in as short a space of time?

---

Nor am I; I'm in the Midwest. But if you really want to live dangerously, you could ask at your local garden center. I know there are potions to put in hydroponic gardens that should help.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I'm glad to see you're in Baja. It'll give my Orange Country relatives a few extra minutes to start running.
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
My forsythias need help! There are four large ones along my back border and they have become horribly overgrown and spindly, with branches almost strangling one another. They have not been cut back for several years. I cut out quite a bit of deadwood earlier this week (casualties of our dry late summer and weird winter) but I left the flowering branches alone for now. I think it must need a really radical pruning, but I'm not sure when (i.e., can I do it once the flowering is done, or must I wait until the end of the summer) or how far back (cut it down to about 3 feet high?). Suggestions welcome!!
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I would like some advice on what to plant in the planters at either end of my deck. One of them gets sunlight for about four hours a day; the other gets virtually no sunlight.

I had thought of impatiens, but I intend to put impatiens in the hanging basket on my porch and in a narrow strip of ground beside the porch door. I love impatiens, but a little variety would be nice.

I want to plant the same flowers in both deck containers, and I would like to plant something that will bloom all summer.

I would be very glad for any suggestions.

Moo
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Moo, try caladiums (caladia?). They're leaves, but more colorful than most flowers, and if the other only gets four hours of sun, it will probably be as happy as the one in shade.

Mamacita, take this with a wee pinch of salt, but this is what I know about pruning. You can do it as soon as the flowering stops. (Heck, you can do it sooner, but you'll lose the flowers.)

It's best not to just take a hedge trimmer to the thing and whack it all down to three feet out (unless you like the gumdrop shape). What I've been doing to my lilacs, honesuckle, etc. is taking out the worst or oldest branches from the bottom--that is, trace them all the way back into the stump, and cut them there, where they first come out. Don't just whack a branch halfway along its total length. That looks weird and tends to result in funky new branches coming out at weird angles.

First get the deadwood out, if any; then anything that looks diseased, spindly and weak, oddly shaped and unattractive, reaching out to slap people in the face, or growing back in toward the center of the bush. Also, if you have two branches crossing and rubbing against each other, take one out. This will probably leave you with a much cleaner, open-er bush.

Then, if it still needs more trimming in your eyes, start taking out the longest branches, again, working from the base. That way the whole bush appears to magically shrink, and no one knows why. It just looks younger and smaller.

I probably wouldn't take out more than 1/3 of the total mass of the bush in one year--deadwood and sick branches don't count. You could probably go safely as high as 1/2, but I'm being conservative, since they're your bushes and not mine.

If you want to get ambitious, you can shape the things through pruning, too. My honeysuckles have long branches that tend to grow up and then gracefully trail down, right where they slap me in the face. I don't like that. But I don't just want to take them out. So what I do is to follow the upward arch of the branch out to the top, locate a bud or young branch that is heading upward from that point, and then take off the rest of the main branch just past that bud. That way all the energy goes into the new bud/branch, which is still heading upward, and when it finally gets long enough itself to start weeping over, it will be safely above face level.

Good luck! LC
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
I was given a seedling Seville orange tree for Christmas. It is growing and now has 13 leaves. It is a healthy little thingy, and I want to keep it that way.

Should I be thinking about re-potting the slightly-bigger-than-seedling? It is as tall as the pot is deep, and the pot is 10cm internal diameter. I haven't been feeding it through the winter, but I reckon I should now be looking into feeding the thing.

I have never had an orange tree before, and I have been waiting for the soil to get quite dry before giving a good soaking and draining. Does this sound about right?
 

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Posted by Moth (# 2589) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Mamacita:
My forsythias need help! There are four large ones along my back border and they have become horribly overgrown and spindly, with branches almost strangling one another. They have not been cut back for several years. I cut out quite a bit of deadwood earlier this week (casualties of our dry late summer and weird winter) but I left the flowering branches alone for now. I think it must need a really radical pruning, but I'm not sure when (i.e., can I do it once the flowering is done, or must I wait until the end of the summer) or how far back (cut it down to about 3 feet high?). Suggestions welcome!!

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quote:

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Originally posted by babybear:
I was given a seedling Seville orange tree for Christmas....

Should I be thinking about re-potting the slightly-bigger-than-seedling?

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The key is when it gets rootbound - when the roots take up most of the available space in the pot. If the seedling wiggles in the pot, it hasn't filled out
yet, so leave it there a while longer. If it has been recently potted and the roots haven't grown out to fill the pot, you can lose a lot of dirt from around the roots when you transplant it.

Ideally you would transplant the tree when it has filled the pot enough that you can turn it upside down and slip the pot off without any of the dirt dropping off as well, but not to the point where the roots have wrapped several times around the pot and there isn't enough dirt left to hold water.

Eventually you will certainly want it in a larger pot - perhaps as large as 20 litres once it gets larger. Some slow-release fertilizer will be good to mix in with the potting soil, but try to avoid shocking it with sudden applications of highly-soluable fertilizer.

I was surprised to find that citrus were very popular houseplants in eastern Russia.
 

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Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :
 
I don't know whether this really counts as gardening, but still... Are really tiny little spiders making little tiny webs all over houseplants a Bad Thing&trade? If so, any suggestions for what to do about them?
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
No, if they really are spiders they are a Good Thing for the plant.

All spiders without exception are carnivores. The more spiders you have the less insects you get. Tiny spiders will eat the tiny insects you don't notice but your plant will.

Of course if they are not really spiders but in fact mites then they might well be a Bad Thing for the plant. So you must look at them closely to be sure!

A real web is a dead giveaway - nothing but spiders spin webs. But some other multilegged thingies use superficially similar silk to make other sorts of sticky structures.


Ticks won't harm plants but, unlike spiders, they might harm you. But these won't be ticks.

Basically spiders in the house are good for you and good for plants. Ticks are bad for you and irrelevant to plants. Mites can be either, but most are so small you won't see them unless you go around with a binocular microscope.

Other spiderlike things are mostly harmless. Opiliones can be cute, Solifugids are really really Not Cute, but you probably don't have them unless you live in some Evil Hot Place. Scorpions? - well, you wouldn't be asking about them here
 

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Posted by PhilA (# 8792) on :
 
I want to start this post by saying that I hate gardening. I'm not interested in it and I don't like it. Its not fun, its not interesting - its boring.

However, I have a garden and neighbours who frown when walking past and kids who complain that they can't play in it. I decided to re-do the front lawn as it was basically moss with bits of grass in it. So, I rotivated (sp?) it, raked it, planted the grass seed, raked it again, flattened it all down and left it, watering it when God didn't.

This was last week. So far nothing. Not a sausage. Not a single blade of grass - nadda.

Please tell me, oh green fingered ones what can grow stuff, tell me what to do.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by PhilA:
Please tell me, oh green fingered ones what can grow stuff, tell me what to do.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Carex:

quote:

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Originally posted by PhilA:
Please tell me, oh green fingered ones what can grow stuff, tell me what to do.

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Wait for the seeds to sprout.

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But how long does this take? It said on the seed packet 7 days. It has now been 8 days and I still have a large area of mud with nothing else growing on it.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
What do you mean 'mud'? Are you meaning real mud, or just plain earth? The seeds aren't going to be too happy about mud, but earth should be fine. If the seeds get too wet they will start to rot instead of germinating.

Does that patch get much sun? If it is in shade then the ground might not yet be warn enough to help with the germination. Have a little patience.

If these seeds don't take, then do have another go. You will not have to do it all again. There would be no need to rotivate.

Did you get your seed fresh this year? Old seed can have problems germinating.
 

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Posted by PhilA (# 8792) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by babybear:
What do you mean 'mud'? Are you meaning real mud, or just plain earth? The seeds aren't going to be too happy about mud, but earth should be fine. If the seeds get too wet they will start to rot instead of germinating.

Does that patch get much sun? If it is in shade then the ground might not yet be warn enough to help with the germination. Have a little patience.

If these seeds don't take, then do have another go. You will not have to do it all again. There would be no need to rotivate.

Did you get your seed fresh this year? Old seed can have problems germinating.

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quote:

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Originally posted by ken:
Plant bushes and shrubs. With lots of thorns and lots of fruit. The kids will love it.

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Bit of a bugger when it comes to kicking a football round though.

Cc
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I've sprayed our ground elder with glucosamide (?) twice - the first time it obviously attacked some of the young leaves, but more new, bigger ones have now grown, and so I sprayed them yesterday. I'm hoping they don't get rained on.... they do grow so fast, so big, so sweetly green...
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
When new leaves are just growing they take energy out of the roots. At some point they get well enough developed that they start making their own energy and storing it back into the roots. The optimal time to kill the top growth is just as they make that switch, because that is when the root is weakened the most. This will vary for different types of plants, but three weeks between sprayings might be a good guess. (The same applies for weeding if you are only pulling the top growth and not the roots.)

For systemic herbicides you want to spray when the flow is from the leaves down to the roots rather than vice versa, as that will maximize the effect on the roots rather than the top growth. With some weeds that actually means it is best to let them grow for most of the season, then spray when it has stopped growing and is storing energy for the next year.

This is why it is good to find out how the makers of your herbicide recommend treating the particular weed that is giving you trouble - sometimes the most effective method is counterintuitive, especially when the weeds are well established.
 

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Posted by Evangeline (# 7002) on :
 
Hello gardners

I have a strawberry plant that was doing really well (so looking forward to the bumper crop of fresh strawberries from my little tub on the balcony ) anyway the leaves seem to be diseased, it could be a bug but I suspect not. THe leaves haave sort of yellow patches but then they virtually disintegrate, anybody have any suggestions as to how to treat strawberry plants

[ 26. April 2006, 00:25: Message edited by: Evangeline ]
 

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Posted by chukovsky (# 116) on :
 
Assuming it is autumn where you are, they are either a) dead or b) settling down for the winter (are the leaves on the trees also yellow?)

Wait until next spring and if they don't surge back, get some new ones - they are not expensive.

[ 26. April 2006, 08:37: Message edited by: chukovsky ]
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
Rhubarb!

The one thing in my garden that's growing really well and should be growing is a huge rhubarb plant.

You've guessed it. I hate rhubarb! I know people who love it and am preparing to cut it down and pass it on to them but...

I arrived in this house in August and had a huge rhubarb crop in Sept / Oct. I now have a huge crop in April. Does this mean my rhubarb plant is in flux or, if I cut great chunks off now, will I keep harvesting throughout the season?

Corpus

P.S. Daisymay - please keep us informed on the weedkiller-on-ground-elder situation - Ta!
 

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Posted by Badfundie (# 9422) on :
 
HELP! Can anyone here tell me how to keep chickens out of my garden? No matter how well we fence them in their yard they somehow find their way into the garden. They've eaten all the Mexican Evening Primrose and are working on destroying the Penstemons. If I'm outside when they venture out of their area, I can spray them with the hose which sends them home, but what can I do when I'm not around? Does anyone have any experience with this?
 

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Posted by dinghy sailor (# 8507) on :
 
Automatic motion-activated machine guns.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
We put wire mesh covers over freshly-seeded rows, or anything else they tended to eat. (It was mostly the young lettuce that temped them.) One centimetre mesh seemed about right - I would cut a strip of it about half a metre wide and bend it 90 degrees down the centerline. Make sure it isn't so high that they can get inside at the ends.

Otherwise the chickens did a good job of keeping the insects and weed seeds at bay in the garden.

Another approach is to set up some place where the chickens would rather go. A patch of loose soil with some chicken feed mixed in should keep them happy.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by dinghy sailor:
Automatic motion-activated machine guns.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:
Rhubarb!

The one thing in my garden that's growing really well and should be growing is a huge rhubarb plant.

You've guessed it. I hate rhubarb! I know people who love it and am preparing to cut it down and pass it on to them but...

I arrived in this house in August and had a huge rhubarb crop in Sept / Oct. I now have a huge crop in April. Does this mean my rhubarb plant is in flux or, if I cut great chunks off now, will I keep harvesting throughout the season?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tree Bee:

quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:
Rhubarb!

The one thing in my garden that's growing really well and should be growing is a huge rhubarb plant.

You've guessed it. I hate rhubarb! I know people who love it and am preparing to cut it down and pass it on to them but...

I arrived in this house in August and had a huge rhubarb crop in Sept / Oct. I now have a huge crop in April. Does this mean my rhubarb plant is in flux or, if I cut great chunks off now, will I keep harvesting throughout the season?

---

I also have a prolific rhubarb plant in the garden and a family less than enamoured. I'm afraid that you can keep cutting it from now until the autumn.
I just take bags of it into work, where it is fallen on with cries of glee, thankfully.
I have heard though, that the more you pull it, the more it grows, but I've never had the nerve to just ignore it and see if it dies...

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You cannot kill rhubarb short of digging it up or spraying it with herbicide. A long enough drought (the kind where clay soil bakes to a fine brick-like consistency and everything but cactus disappears) might work. And leaving it under two feet of water for a month might as well.

And the more you pull stalks off, the more it will grow.

I suppose if you stop fertilizing it for 5-10 years but keep pulling the stalks every day, you might wear it down, but I doubt it.

Just be glad it doesn't send out runners, like strawberries, or spread by roots, like goutweed.

John
 

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Posted by PhilA (# 8792) on :
 
Its started to grow!

I feel so happy about it, yet so sad that I feel happy about it, if that makes sense.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:
The one thing in my garden that's growing really well and should be growing is a huge rhubarb plant.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Carex:
We put wire mesh covers over freshly-seeded rows, or anything else they tended to eat.

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Thanks, Carex. Even though my husband prefers the machine gun method, yours is the suggestion I intend to use. It's very pleasant watching the chickens wandering around among the plants. It's only the destruction that bothers me.
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
I want to take a cutting of the climbing rose bush we have in the garden of our (rented) flat before I leave. Any tips?
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Corpus - Rhubarb makes excellent "green manure". If you don't want to eat it, us it as a fertiliser. It would do most compost heaps the world of good, particularly if your soil is too alkaline.

Failing that you can always dig it up and send it to me .
 

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Posted by sharkshooter (# 1589) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by babybear:

quote:

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Originally posted by Corpus cani:
The one thing in my garden that's growing really well and should be growing is a huge rhubarb plant.

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Perhaps the small boys might like rhubarb crumble for dinner?
...

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I like my rhubarb quite tart - sour, even. I eat it straight from the garden, or in a pie - easy on the sugar.

Now, if you want it sweeter, mix it with strawberries - it makes a delightful dessert.

John, I think I am the only person who couldn't keep a rhubarb plant growing. My parents gave me half of their plant one summer, and it died at my place.
 

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Posted by fisher (# 9080) on :
 
Two very basic questions from somebody who's been a "gardener" for precisely one day!

I've just bought a windowbox and put some plants in, fuchsias and impatiens.

(1) Is it better to water before work (so they're nice and hydrated for the hot part of the day) or in the evening (when they have plenty of time to take up the water without it evaporating)?

(2) The labels on the plants said to put them 30cm apart. But that doesn't make for many plants in a 80cm tub! Particularly when they came in groups of 6 and I wanted two varieties of plant. So I've bunged them all in with a spacing of about 2cm. Is this a bad idea? Should I chuck out half of them so that the others flourish? Could I be starting some Darwinian fight for survival?

Thanks! I'll remember you fondly when I get the job at Versailles.
 

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Posted by sharkshooter (# 1589) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by fisher:
...I've just bought a windowbox and put some plants in, fuchsias and impatiens.

(1) Is it better to water before work (so they're nice and hydrated for the hot part of the day) or in the evening (when they have plenty of time to take up the water without it evaporating)?

(2) The labels on the plants said to put them 30cm apart. But that doesn't make for many plants in a 80cm tub! Particularly when they came in groups of 6 and I wanted two varieties of plant. So I've bunged them all in with a spacing of about 2cm. Is this a bad idea? Should I chuck out half of them so that the others flourish? Could I be starting some Darwinian fight for survival?
...

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quote:

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Impatiens planted on your East & North sides and in the shade are easier to establish when the weather is still warm. However, in South and West exposures, all that is required is attention to watering. Keeping a moist soil (not wet and NEVER let dry out) is the secret

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quote:

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Originally posted by fisher:
The labels on the plants said to put them 30cm apart. But that doesn't make for many plants in a 80cm tub!

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That advice goes totally out of the window when planting up window boxes or hanging baskets.

As you will have many plants all trying to get nutrients from the same tiny bit of compost/soil it is very important to feed them. The easiest ways are to give a liquid feed (you put the feed in the water and the plants get fed as you water them) or to use slow release feeding plugs.

One thing to be very careful of is that as the plants grow they may become heavier than the window box. They could fall off the window ledge if they are not secured.

As for watering, I would water in the evening. I don't think it really matters when you water, as long as it is at a cool time and the water gets a chance to get to the roots.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
You may want to consider some form of water retentive material in your container that will enable a more even release of moisture to your plants. Information on water retaining materials here.
 

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Posted by fisher (# 9080) on :
 
Thanks very much everyone, I'm really grateful!

Feeding sounds a good, at least partial, solution to the overcrowding problem (although I'll note your caution, Sharkshooter, and grow fewer next year if they don't work).

I wanted to get some water-retaining stuff, but the Homebase only sold sackfuls. I'll carry on keeping an eye out for some.

ETA the box is well secured with a horizontal bar. Watering, on the other hand, could lead to all manner of comical capers with people walking along the pavement below

[ 02. May 2006, 20:10: Message edited by: fisher ]
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Make sure that the level of the dirt in the box is somewhat below the edge of the box. This will allow the water to pool while it is soaking in. If the dirt is level with the top of the box the water will run off before it soaks in, and get the pedestrians below instead. (Of course, if you drench the soil with water, it will drip out the bottom and onto the pedestrians anyway.)

We water in the mornings. This gives the water time to soak down to the roots for the hot part of the day when the plant needs it the most. Having the top of the soil dry overnight also helps to discourage the slugs, but that may not be a problem in your case.
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Goodric:
Rhubarb makes excellent "green manure". If you don't want to eat it, us it as a fertiliser.

---

I'm almost ashamed to admit that most of last year's crop went straight in the compost bin. Almost, but not quite...

Gooders, maybe we can gnaw on a stick or two as we share a King-Sized bed in years to come!

Cc
 

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Posted by John Holding (# 158) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by sharkshooter:
John, I think I am the only person who couldn't keep a rhubarb plant growing. My parents gave me half of their plant one summer, and it died at my place.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Ferijen:
I want to take a cutting of the climbing rose bush we have in the garden of our (rented) flat before I leave. Any tips?

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quote:

---

Originally posted by fisher:
Watering, on the other hand, could lead to all manner of comical capers with people walking along the pavement below

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quote:

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Originally posted by Evangeline:
THe leaves haave sort of yellow patches but then they virtually disintegrate, anybody have any suggestions as to how to treat strawberry plants

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It sounds like Powdery Mildew. This is normally caused by cold and damp conditions. The treatment is to remove the effected plants and dispose of them, but not in the compost bin. If it goes in the compost bin the mildew spores will fine a new home in the compost.

My Mam used to get new strawbery plants every two years as they are not very resistant to mildew or disease. When you get your new plants, it is important to put them in fresh compost. This will prevent disease spreading from the soil to the new plant.

A while back, Coot and I had a conversation about growing strawberries in Australia. He said that to him strawberries as a spring fruit, not summer. It seems the Australian summers are too hot for strawberries. Although, when I was Googling for info on the Australian strawberry season it looks like there have been advances which mean that the season has been greatly extended.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Reporting to Corpus Cani on the ground elder:

It's still growing and much of it is nicely green, but some of it has shrunk and gone yellow/brown.

I sprayed it all again today, focussing individually on the leaves, doing it very close and efficiently. At least we have some sun instead of rain, and so it should act more powerfully.

My mock orange is blossoming and sweetly smelling at home in the back yard, and the rosemary in the pot at work is beautifully light blue, loads of flowers on it this year.
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
My parents have a garden and I in order to arrest my mothers feeling of inadequacy, have offered to take over the heavy manual gardening.

However I am also realising that we need to try a new approach to gardening against the old one of bunging in and seeing.

The reason being that the garden is the basically a 16ft wide by 12ft long by 8ft deep hole.The hole walls are a 3 story house on the west side, 8ft wall on the south side, a bank and fence (probably about 10ft) on the east side and a 6ft wall on the north side. The base of the garden is paved and but there are flower beds (including one at the top of the bank which is above the 8ft wall which is therefore sunny, but even they have very little soil in them.

I am thinking that even in the beds, we will have to approach this as if we are container gardening.

Actually what I was wondering is if anybody has any suitable book suggestions for complete novices that might help us with this gardening.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I hope someone can give me advice on this.

A burrowing animal settled down underneath the roots of one of my mini crape myrtles. I thought it was dead, but today I noticed some small leaves at the base.

What can I do to help it? Thanks.

Moo
 

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Posted by Badfundie (# 9422) on :
 
The No-Garden Gardener by Edwinna von Baeyer and Dinah Shields is great for people who have to contend with size and light limitations. There are chapters on design, materials, diseases and all sorts of specific container-garden topics.
 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
Well, I decided to get a bit bolder with my kitchen windowsill plants this year. I cleaned the whole sill (which is quite substantial), got rid of the rosemary that finally died, and will get rid of the basil once the flowers have died (I know the herb itself is effectively toast now that the plant has bolted, but I can't get myself to discard a plant with such pretty little flowers). Yesterday I planted a lettuce mix, lemon corriander, and chives. Once the seedlings sprout, I intend to move them into a large trough planter that we bought. We also bought two sad looking tomato plants (10p each, so I won't be too upset if they don't make it). If they do survive, they will each get put into a pot of their own. According to all the labels, given the right care, everything should thrive happily in the sunny windowsill.

Any specific recommendations for fertilizers for my new garden? Any particular brand/type to avoid? Do I need something specific for veggies?
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Now that I no longer have a garden ( ), I have had to content myself with collaring a small concrete corner of the communal courtyard and filling it with as many pots of plants (mainly herbs, bulbs and my Christmas tree) as it can take. As it's right outside my kitchen window nobody else uses it apart from for the outside tap, so it's reasonably private and with any luck it will mean a more colourful display out there, although I'm sad that it's too narrow to keep my garden table out there. Sipping wine under the communal washing lines, the other side of the wall from the dustbins, isn't quite the same somehow. Anyway, with no table there's more room for more plants, so at some point I shall buy a few much bigger pots and put some flowering shrubs in.

For the first time since I've had it (about 4-5 years) my rosemary has gone bonkers with flowers, so I'm really chuffed about that. I also have a pot of miniature daffs which are just coming into flower (I was really surprised by how much later things come into flower up here in Scotland - I've only noticed things like magnolia and tree blossom in the last couple of weeks, but both were well and truly in flower down south when I was there at the end of March).

My question though is about my pride and joy. I have two oleanders in pots - one is about 6ft tall, a bit of a monster, which has always thrived on neglect and the last couple of years has rewarded me with masses of beautiful white flowers. It seemed to cope with the cold winter here remarkably well, but now the leaves are looking really dry and starting to brown, particularly the ones furthest away from the main stem (or trunk more accurately, as it's really filled out the last couple of years). The other oleander, which has been outdoors in identical conditions next to its bigger cousin, is fine and healthy looking. Is there anything I can do - feeding (if so what?), that kind of thing - that will stop the big oleander looking quite so sorry for itself? I'm pretty sure it's not dead (which is a good start ).

[Forgot to add: I've posted a couple of pics on today's blog]

[ 12. May 2006, 12:12: Message edited by: Jack the Lass ]
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Jack -

Make sure the plant isn't rootbound in its pot. When there are too many roots the soil can't hold enough water, so the tree gets less even with the same amount of watering. And, with more leaves, a larger plant needs more water because it is losing more through transpiration.

Also, plants in pots are more prone to freezing than ones in the ground, and roots near the outside of the pot are more vulnerable than those deeper inside. It is possible that some of the outer roots froze, leaving the plant with fewer roots to support it.
 

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Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :
 
We've just cleared a load of connifers from a bed in our garden. How much of their roots do we need to remove before replanting the bed, and will we need to improve the soil?
 

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Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :
 
Keren - Take out as many of the roots as you can but don't kill yourself! The soil really will need improving so use whatever you can lay your hands on, well rotted horse manure straight from the farm is good but otherwise go and by some bags of the stuff from the garden centre and fork it in. Don't bother doing too much digging, the worms will do it for you.

Flausa - garden fertilizer can be an exact science with different formulations for different types of plant but quite honestly well watered tomato feed does the job perfectly well. The best crops of tomoatos I ever grew were the years we potty trained our boys. It was high summer and we lived in the garden. Everytime they used the potty I rinsed it under the garden tap and threw the dregs onto the plants. Lovely glossy leaves and an abundence of fruit.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
We've just cleared a load of connifers from a bed in our garden. How much of their roots do we need to remove before replanting the bed, and will we need to improve the soil?

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Badfundie:
The No-Garden Gardener by Edwinna von Baeyer and Dinah Shields is great for people who have to contend with size and light limitations. There are chapters on design, materials, diseases and all sorts of specific container-garden topics.

---

Unfortunately out of print.

Jengie
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Perfect Plant Perfect Place by Roy Lancaster is an excellent book, really easy to follow and almost gaurenteed to sort out the "Why did my plants all die when I bunged them in the ground" syndrome - if the advice is followed. If I was going to have just one gardening book - this would be the one - highly reccomended.
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
I'm almost tempted to post this on the praise thread I'm so happy.

Back in March I foolishly thought spring had come so did a wee bit of pruning. Then of course it got bitterly cold again.

Most of the plants bounced back ok but I had a fushia in a pot that has just been a dry twig ever since. The other fuschias have been sprouting madly over the last month but this one has been stubbornly playing dead. To the exent that I really thought it was dead. I broke bits off at intervals and tried to comfort myself that it was just a little little bit green inside, but to be honest thought I was holding onto false hope.

And then, this week, right at the bottom I noticed a teeny weeny, itsy bitsy, little bit of shoot.

Hurrah. It lives. I didn't kill it after all.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
We had an interesting winter - a late freeze down to 14F with a cold, dry wind that freeze-dried many of the plants. We lost a number of them, including at least one that had survived 8F previously. Most of the larger fuchsias we simply cut back to ground level and they are coming back vigourously, but the smaller ones don't have as much reserve capacity. Some of the marginal plants may not reappear until early July, if at all.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
The Isle of Man is prime fuschia territory. They grow into huge bushes over here. Many of the fuschia bushes around us are gloriously green and lush. Not so my two little fuschias that I brought from Wales. They are sticks with a few hints at buds.

I suspect that some fuschias simply start coming into bud later than others. Every year I think my fuschias are dead, but they keep coming back.
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
I'm loving the fact that between us we just had three different spellings of fuchsia. Hell, I managed two all on my own, neither of which were actually correct!!
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
Carex has it right; I managed to spell it incorrectly too.

I know that the plant was named after the German botanist, Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566). Actually, I thought it was named after Fusch, hence my mispelling.

I have just learned that fuchs is the German for fox. I must try to remember that, and pronounce (at least in my head) as 'foo-ch-si-a'. Then I will be able to get the spelling right.


 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
Just reporting in to say my kitchen window garden is happily growing after just a week. The two tomato plants are thriving after being rescued from the scraggly plant pit at B&Q, so I treated them yesterday to a move to two large pots. I also transplanted the lettuce (which is already about 2inches high) into some larger pots. The chives have begun to sprout, and everything is lovely and bright and green. The only silent player so far is the corriander, but I'm told that it can be a bit difficult to get started. We got a free packet of rocket seeds in the newspaper, so I've planted those as well. If everything stays healthly, we should have some nice salad fixings!
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
Just found this virtual garden designer which is suitable diverting.

We move house in June, which means that the current garden has to look presentable enough in order to get our deposit back (and it was at a high standard when we moved in), and that I'm moving to a flower-less garden which I'll want some instant cheer in.

So far my lillies are peeking up in my tubs, my sweet peas have just started, and my bush rose (which I transplanted from the bed into a 2ft diameter tub in February) gave its first three flowers today. Yippee!

(And the rose cutting I took has a bud on it. Still no roots, but a bud nonetheless.)
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Hi gardeners, what's up? (ha ha ha).

I am so much not a gardener, it's pathetic. The one thing I've succeeded in planting so far and really succeeding, is a witchhazel.

Yardwork is OK -- something you can do a big bunch of and see a lot of result. So, I am gearing up for a bit of yardwork: Clearing out the invasive plant species from my yard.

That is going to leave a bare swath of ground that is currently swamped with Lesser Celandine. Oddly enough, I will want to plant something in it.

Here is my question: How do you make a garden/planting so that it is solid, and not a bunch of itty-bitty plants poking their heads up out of a sea of mulch?

(Next week I'll go to the nursery, after researching my preferences of native / perennial / insect-pollinated for whatever the micro-climate in my back corner turns out to be.)
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I was asked how my weeds at work are thriving. they are dying, dying, shrivelling!

I've been spraying them every week with the poison, whenever it was dry weather, and it has worked. the ground looks grotty, but no weeds!

I've had to cut down the big buddleia, as it was attacked by someone ot some people over the w/e and broken down. the rose bush also had some bits broken off - a lovely pink rose bush.

Out the back the pots with lavender, rosemary, red honeysuckle etc are flourishing.

At home, there is a pot of orangey lilies, some pink pinks, loads of pink lavinia roses, several huge pots of hostas, the jasmine has finished, got lots of browney flowers left so high up that I can't tidy it, and there is wonderful lavatera rosea - constantly visited by busy bees.

And I have two tiny strawberry plants in a pot - I've eaten four sweet ripe berries.
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Just to prove that I'm a complete failure as a gardener, my Celandine turns out not to be the dread invasive Lesser C., but just plain normal C. Although it's behaviour pretty much matches what Lesser C. does in terms of obnoxiously leafing out earlier than anything else and shading out native woodland species.

Anyway, I dug it all up anyway, just for the hell of it. It hasn't left such a dreadful bare spot at all, hiding in the back corner behind the irises, compost heap, foxglove (?) and honeysuckle (probably one of the invasive varieties, given my luck). But my appetite is whetted and wouldn't it be nice to have a nice native miniature woodland in my back corner?

Now to prioritize with the shade-producing objects (trees? monster shrubs?) for my south yard, and shrubs around the house to feel like The House I Grew Up In, and blobs of flowering shrubs and hardy perennials around the edges to look at from inside and actually enjoy. (Because of my allergies I don't spend a lot of time sitting outside in my garden .)

The milkweed meadow in the southwest corner is proceeding very happily all by itself. Complete with an artistic curvy border produced by judicious mowing.

(My lot is about 100 x 70'... just in case my raptures are giving the impression I live on a large estate. Small as it is, all the different parts of my yard have very different flavours to me. Even when they're still mostly just grass as now...)
 

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Posted by Photo Geek (# 9757) on :
 
We planted our tomato and bell pepper plants late, because of the cool May weather in Ohio. I was worried, but everything is growing very well. We have 2 small tomatoes on one plant. All are now about 16 inches tall and covered with blossoms. The pepper plants are still rather small, but we have 2 tiny peppers already.
 

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Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 
I want a rubber plant.

I know nothing about plants or flowers. I bought my first house plant last year and called her Felicity. She was only a small thing that set me back £2 and I managed to kill her within a few months.

I'm now moving house and my new bedroom is huge. With the decor a rubber plant would look quite good. I'm also told that it's rather difficult to kill them as they're quite low maintenence. It doesn't need to be massive to begin with and so I'm happy for something small from a nursery which can then grow.

With a pot, what sort of cost would I be looking at? Also, what sort of care would I need to take of it in gterms of food, watering, light, &c.?

Many thanks.
 

---

Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
rubber plants really are good value and fairly indestructible.

They don't grow phenomenally fast, so though you could get one in a small plastic pot for a quid or two, it would probably be worth shelling out for a bigger one in more decorative pot- price=size.

water when soil is dry (push finger an inch or two into soil to feel moisture level there, rather than at surface), and then water generously, (i stand them in water for an hour or so) BUT don't leave that water in the saucer for longer than that- they can rot away.

feed occasionally (not more than once/month, on my experience) with houseplant food, and if you want, clean leaves with leaf shine wipes.

only pot on when plant is obviously too big for current pot- my personal rule of thumb is when the damn thing keeps falling over because too heavy.

one thing- rubber plants tend to be a bit like corpus cani- grow tall and thin! If you want a more "corner filling" plant with presence, you could go for a monstera (swiss cheese plant)- a friend had one that grew so large it was eventually donated to her local zoo to furnish the reptile enclosure.
 

---

Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 
Thank you, auntie di!

You now have me seriously thinking about a swiss-cheese plant. They look marvellous. (I've just done a quick google image search). Is it possible to prune them if they get too out of hand after a year or two, without harming the plant?

Ta.

Michael.
 

---

Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 
Further to my previous question, is there any substance to the claim that plants are not a good idea in the bedroom?

I have read that the competition-for-oxygen-at-night argument doesn't hold much water due to the small quantities actually used by plants but a swiss-cheese plant appears to grow to a significant size and does not have the tiniest of leaves. Would I be safe with one of these in my bedroom, staked and wired to grow along the wall over my bed with time?

Ta.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
The main danger is having it fall on your head in the middle of the night (I've heard of this happening).
 

---

Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Competition for oxygen ?

Isn't it the reverse: you breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; plants breathe carbon dioxhide and exhale oxygen?
 

---

Posted by Roxanna (# 9639) on :
 
As far as I can remember, plants give out oxygen during the day while they photosynthesise, and carbon dioxide during the night when they metabolise the sugars they made during the day - not as much CO2 as they took in though, otherwise the ecosystem would collapse.....

any suggestions for vegetables that do well during a drought, my allotment is dry dust to a depth of two inches
 

---

Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
Competition for oxygen ?

Isn't it the reverse: you breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; plants breathe carbon dioxhide and exhale oxygen?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
The main danger is having it fall on your head in the middle of the night (I've heard of this happening).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Corpus cani:
I'm not sure about the growing along wires thing - rubber plants are not climbers. They grow up (into rubber trees) and (IME) rather slowly.

---

Not rubber plants, sweetpea. Swiss cheese plants.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Corpus cani:
(AND I'm sure I read on the Ship somewhere about pot plants jumping off shelves onto people's head during the night. But (a) it was ages ago and (b) I may be imagining it through some deja vue-type psycho thingy.)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Saint Bertolin:
Not rubber plants, sweetpea. Swiss cheese plants.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
A Swiss cheese plant tried to murder me twice in one night when I was at college. I've never trusted them since.

---

There you go, you see. Having failed to poison Ariel, her SCP tried more vigorous assaults. SCP are all part of some vast Opus Dei - Masonic plot.

Cc
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Ah yes! But not albino, more's the pity. Eight feet, maybe, though.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
It was 6' and on a shelf over my bed. It wasn't even mine. I think it bitterly resented my occupying the room and my not paying it enough attention. It's not a lot of fun being suddenly woken up by a shower of earth on your head and a cheese plant next to you in bed.

They do grow to enormous sizes though, one luckless student had one that grew to at least 10 feet and filled half her room. She had to move house to get away from it.

Anyway - I don't want to derail the thread so will return you to your horticultural discussions.
 

---

Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
rubber or swiss cheese- fine unless you eat them or get brained by them. Unless your sleep walking involves sleep eating, I think you're OK!
 

---

Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Corpus cani:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Saint Bertolin:
Not rubber plants, sweetpea. Swiss cheese plants.

---

Oh, I think you'll have trouble growing sweet peas indoors. Unless your huge new room is a conservatory.

---

Not quite.

quote:

---

But seriously folks... Did you know Swiss Cheese plants are horribly toxic?

---

Are they, seriously?

M

[ 25. June 2006, 21:10: Message edited by: Saint Bertolin ]
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I think they're related to the things called "dumb canes." Which apparently swell your throat shut if you're fool enough to eat a leaf (or maybe paralyze the vocal cords or something.)

Keep it out of the salad, and you'll be fine.

(kids, cats, etc.)
 

---

Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
Yes - but you have to eat them!

quote:

---

The leaves can cause problems if chewed by humans or family pets. Experimental rats and mice died after they were fed plant extracts. General symptoms of poisoning are immediate and painful with aphonia (loss of voice), blistering, hoarseness, irritation of the mouth. Urticaria (an allergic disorder characterized by raised edematous (watery swelling) patches of skin) accompanied by intense itching can occur in sensitive individuals who ingest the ripened fruit.

---

Makes their name (Monstera deliciosa) somewhat amusing.

Cc
 

---

Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 
Thank you, Lamb Chopped. I'll be sure to treat it as I would its namesake.
 

---

Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Dear Very Knowledgeable Shipmates,

I need help with me courgettes! I have 20 lovely, healthy plants that are bunging out flowers like there's no tomorrow.

Problem is, they're all male flowers. Now, I have no problems with their lifestyle choice, but for me the point of the exercise is to get baby courgettes (that I hope will grow into bigger courgettes before they grace our table).

Without females, we ain't gonna get no baby courgettes.

What do I do? Can anyone help?

M.

PS, I think courgettes might be zucchini across the Pond.
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Worry not because Courgettes, melons etc are as they say in the trade monoecious. This means they are kinky bear separate male and female flowers on the same plant. What you may need to do is take a soft brush to a few male plants and then transfer the pollen to the female plants when they appear. (Just to give the birds and the bees and helping hand.) Did you plant them all at the same time - sounds like you might have. Sometimes plants like this are assisted by sequential sowing so that they come to varying stages of maturity at different times, thus in theory, assisting cross pollentation.
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
I have a question about compost. Tring to be earthy friendly I have been recycling veg waste and cadrboard etc making my own compost. I even purchased some worms to assist the process going on in my black bins. However when I had a root round in the fullest bin yesterday, I discovered a very large family of ants had made my compost the latest site for their conquest of the world.

My first question is - are these ants going to make nice compost for me, or will everything I have put in the bin be turned into baby ants?

My second question is - will they have eaten all my little tiger worms I sent on a mission there?

My third question is, if they are not beneifical to making compost what reccomendations do you have for me in order to rid my compost bins of these invaders?

I hope someone may be knowledgable and kind enough to help me with this please. Thanks.

[ 01. July 2006, 09:15: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

---

Posted by Corfe (# 633) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.:
Dear Very Knowledgeable Shipmates,

I need help with me courgettes! I have 20 lovely, healthy plants that are bunging out flowers like there's no tomorrow.

Problem is, they're all male flowers. Now, I have no problems with their lifestyle choice, but for me the point of the exercise is to get baby courgettes (that I hope will grow into bigger courgettes before they grace our table).

Without females, we ain't gonna get no baby courgettes.

What do I do? Can anyone help?

M.

---

Oh good, someone interested in proper gardening (FOOD plants)!

I've only got four courgette plants and I've had them in past years and never paid any attention to their sex. I'm not a courgette sexer and don't like to intrude into their private lives. They all seem to have flowers AND fruit.

I was going to suggest pollinating yours (like Goodric) but if you really have no female flowers, this wouldn't work. Are you sure? Sounds like a GM experiment gone wrong. Where did you get the seeds or plants? Were they suspiciously inexpensive?
.
 

---

Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Goodric:
I discovered a very large family of ants had made my compost the latest site for their conquest of the world.

My first question is - are these ants going to make nice compost for me, or will everything I have put in the bin be turned into baby ants?

My second question is - will they have eaten all my little tiger worms I sent on a mission there?

My third question is, if they are not beneifical to making compost what reccomendations do you have for me in order to rid my compost bins of these invaders?

I hope someone may be knowledgable and kind enough to help me with this please. Thanks.

---

Oh goody! ants in the compost. I would be quite pleased myself, as the ants will certainly munch on the raw materials and in making baby ants will also produce ant poo; reduced, refined compost.

they won't eat your worms, unless they are ferocious army ants.

My one concern would be that this may indicate your compost is a bit too dry- only may you understand. My compost bin, which is one of those with an open base and in direct contact with the soil as well as a lid to keep in moisture, has over two years in one spot become amazingly colonised by worms and woodlice, both of which like it a little damp. Ants tend to like it a little drier, which would slow down your composting and drive your worms deeper into the soil below the compost.

Add a watering can full of water, make sure the heap is covered by a lid or tarpaulin, stand back and enjoy.

If you are bothered by ants where you can't kill em with nasties, I've been using a biological control of ant eating nematodes (eg this one) watered into my lawn to stop the little buggers biting me when i'm lying out there- it's reduced their numbers to almost nothing and I am v. pleased with it.
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Thanks for such a fast and knowledgable reply auntie di (anty di perhaps ) there therefore shall be no declaration of war against the ants.

Yes it is a plastic (council subsidised) bin (indeed 3 bins) with base open to the soil and lids. The water has now been applied, snorkles masks and goggles issued to the critters inside.

Excellent answer - thanks again.
 

---

Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
Just wanted to announce that we have fruit growing on our tomato plants!! Woo hoo! We did some hand-pollinating as the plants are indoors, and it seems to have paid off. Not to mention the plants that were wilting and puny (maybe 2" high) when we bought them are now thriving and lush and green and over 2' high now. My mom has transplanted the chives and rocket for me (as since baby's come along, my gardening has fallen by the wayside), and she has replanted lettuce and corriander. We've eaten a quite a bit of lettuce already, but the corriander bolted due to being left in too small pots and being neglected. Hopefully, the new seeds we've planted will be happier in the bigger pot.
 

---

Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Corfe said

quote:

---

I was going to suggest pollinating yours (like Goodric) but if you really have no female flowers, this wouldn't work. Are you sure? Sounds like a GM experiment gone wrong. Where did you get the seeds or plants? Were they suspiciously inexpensive?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Goodric:
I didn't know that about compost activators. I'm going to have to try very hard as the bins are fairly tall. By the way, why is pee a good activator - genuine question.

---

aha! (flexes science teacher muscles) urine is full of nitrogenous waste (urea- CO(NH2)2, says she, showing off and about to look very silly as someone finds out she's got the formula wrong), which stimulates the development of your fungi and bacteria- your actual decomposing microbes.

it does work, says Bob Flowerdew of GQT, and my old allotment neighbour.

you can also get chemical activators, like Garotta, which is a dry powder composed of seveal different microbe stimulating compounds, but you shouldn't put this stuff where you've puth your worms, as the microbes can get fermenting at such a rate that there is an increase in temperature sufficient to kill off your worms.

same thing happens if you put masses of grass cuttings on your heap at one go, as they are v high in nitrogen too, so if you have to put a box on your mower (I try to mow frequently and let the cuttings lie on the lawn- good and lazy too ) either make a separate compost for them or mix them into the main compost a bit at a time.

enjoy!
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Grass clippings make a lovely mulch around tomatoes, watermelon, etc. No weeds at all, hardly.
 

---

Posted by Corfe (# 633) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Goodric:
I didn't know that about compost activators. I'm going to have to try very hard as the bins are fairly tall. By the way, why is pee a good activator - genuine question.

---

So you never heard of liquid gold then?
And you missed 21st June: pee on earth day!
I've been saving mine for a couple of years now.
Avoids the waste (and cost) of drinking water too.

Also see free fertiliser page.

Here's a serious compost question: does it matter if it never gets hot? I often check by sticking a fork in and feeling the prongs and it's never perceptively above ambient. Also, theres so much crawling about in there, mostly woodlice and quite a few ants that I wonder if it's not really working. The end product is pale brown-ish and moist but quite a lot of the 'ingredients' are still recognisable. Is this alright?
.

[ 01. July 2006, 14:25: Message edited by: Corfe ]
 

---

Posted by Corfe (# 633) on :
 
Er... I meant wasting drinking water for flushing, of course!
.
 

---

Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :
 
From what I remember about compost making you need heat and air and moisture to get it to work so it might be worth moving the heap into a sunnier position. It is worth mixing the contents up a bit as loads of grass clippings compact down and the air can't get to them. Mix them with some woody prunings to aerate the heap.

I say all this but as someone who actually has qualifications in gardening I've never made really good compost. The council have a scheme where they collect green waste and compost it and you can go and get bags of the end product in return. Works for me.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
You do want it to heat up, as that is what happens when the little microbes get to working and turning crap into good compost. If it isn't doing that, your microbes may be asleep on the job. (As in, needing more water, turning, or something to get them going)

But IIRC, even the best compost makers wind up with undigested bits in the end product. You sift them out (unless you don't much care, like me).

Another option (if you haven't very much waste, or have lots of inclination to dig) is to do your composting in the ground where you intend to plant something next year. Dig the hole (or lots of small ones), put the stuff in there (suitably layered with soil, etc.) and cover it all up. Plant straight into it next year. Or maybe even right away, if your plants aren't expensive finicky types and there's plenty of soil mixed in.

Can you tell I don't always follow the rules?
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Wow amazing stuff about compost I didn't know. Thank you.
 

---

Posted by Roxanna (# 9639) on :
 
Can anyone advise on the advantages of insulating a compost heap? Mine is a wooden box and stuff seems to take ages to rot to a suitable consistancy, especially in winter.

Thanks
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I think you'd do better to chop the stuff up pretty fine if you want to speed things up. I don't think compost heaps do much in winter, unless it's very warm or very, very large. Besides, how could you insulate it much without keeping the water out as well?
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
I gues she was thinking of lining the wooden box with polystyrene or something. Is this correct?
 

---

Posted by Roxanna (# 9639) on :
 
Yep,

I've seen various instructions for building boxes with a layer of polystyrene or similar, and wondered if the improved results were worth the effort.
 

---

Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :
 
Probably not as the compost isn't going to do much in the winter anyway. Is it worth moving the bin to a sunnier spot so it gets hot naturally. My heap is in a shadey spot and that probably accounts for its sorry performance.
 

---

Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Gooric said,

quote:

---

You may find the female flowers do eventually develop on your courgettes - just keep an eye out for them.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.:
Goodric said,

quote:

---

You may find the female flowers do eventually develop on your courgettes - just keep an eye out for them.

---

Only a few days later and it looks like you may have been proved right - when I watered this evening, I think I saw 2 females.

So it looks like I was panicking a bit prematurely.

Thanks, everyone.

M.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Corfe:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Goodric:
I didn't know that about compost activators. I'm going to have to try very hard as the bins are fairly tall. By the way, why is pee a good activator - genuine question.

---

So you never heard of liquid gold then?

---

I have.

And I can assure you it's nothing to do with urine. Liquid Gold is poppers.

After much indecisiveness about rubber plants and swiss ncheese plants, I finally bit the bullet and went all the way.


 

---

Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
ace move st bertolin- however, keep posting, so that we can be sure one of them hasn't pole axed you!
 

---

Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 
lol

I promise I will. Thanks for all your help. I'll probably be coming back for guidance about care of them. I suppose if I keep them happy they are less likely to plot an attack whilst in transit.
 

---

Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
My garden's blossoming nicely - the fuchsias are thriving (even the one I thought I'd killed); the jasmine was spectacular as ever, the self-seeded nasturtiums from last year have been popped in the hanging baskets (OK - with fuchsias and nasturtiums together it's an eyewateringly colourful garden but hey, I like colour), the weeds coming through the paving stones are vaguely under control....

So it's just the damned squirrels I have to complain about. One of them just dug up a nice young cutting that was rooting away nicely. Grrrrhhhh. I can vaguely understand them digging up bulbs but why they have to uproot my plants I don't know. I even caught one in winter sitting on the window box chewing the geranium petals.

I'm sorely tempted to get a pop gun. BBQ squirrel anyone?
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
Here is a traditional recipe for squirrel.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Hah, now they should be scared, very scared.

(Although I am slightly concerned as to how full of pollution a London squirrel would be.)
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Can they be trained to eat slugs?

Actually I do have a severe slug problem and have tried beer traps, dawn & evening patrols etc and the only thing that seems to be an effective and cheap defence against the blighters are those nasty blue slug pellets. Yes I know they are not particularly ecologically friendly but at the moment I'm being over run by these slime trailing plant consuming swines.

My question is how close can one use them to plants you intend to eat - beans, lettuce etc? I don't want to poisen the family (well maybe just one or two) as well as the slugs. Can anyone help me on this please?
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Go outside with a friend, stand under a tree, and talk VERY LOUDLY about how you really hope the squirrels won't touch your lovely slugs, they're the best crop you've had in years. That ought to do it.
 

---

Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
My slug pellets are supposedly environmentally friendly and are harmless to "children and wildlife" (tautology?). Sadly I can't tell you what they're called because [a] illicit advertising on the Ship makes Baby Jesus cry and [b] they're in the potting shot, the key to which has been... temporarily misplaced by one of the SBs. (I'm expecting to discover it jamming the washing machine any day now...)

I'm sure there are lots of different brands of the same thing, though. I've yet to die from eating my produce and so far am fairly slug free too.

Corpus
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Mine are the nasty blue ones containing 3% w/w metaldehyde. Slugoids

Your answer will determine whether I feed them to my family or give them away to my troublesome churchwarden.

[ 12. July 2006, 14:34: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

---

Posted by Pearl B-4 Swine (# 11451) on :
 
If you want something other than metaldehyde, try these ideas for killing (preferably torturing)slugs:
1. Sprinkle salt on the ones you can see. You'll enjoy seeing their reaction.
2. Put down a band of granular fertilizer, like common 10-10-10 or whatever, around your veg. bed or particular plants you want to protect.Make the strip of granules deep enough and wide enough so the slug will pick up plenty, if it tries to cross the line.

3. Use lime (garden lime, ground limestone) the same way.

THe good thing about using fert. & lime, is, they are good for the productivity of your soil, and although not GOOD for pets & wildlife, not nearly so harmful as outright poisons.
 

---

Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
We virtually eliminated slugs in our hothouse with a layer of lime on the floor. Diatomaceous earth (crushed rock containing fossil diatoms, also known as diatomite) is another option that also works on many insects (it has lots of microscopic sharp edges that get caught in the joints in their shells.)

Now we use "Terminator Turtle" bait stations that keep the bait contained and protected from the weather and animals with good results. (Sorry I can't find a photo of the Terminator Turtles, but this also discusses the dangers of the various slug baits in Chapter 2.)

For protecting small areas, particularly raised beds or individual pot plants, slugs won't cross a strip of bare copper. We've put strips of it around table legs or tree trunks to keep them from climbing up (also works on snails.) The commercial products sold for this are much more expensive than other sources - we found some sheets of copper circuit board material in a disposals shop that we put under individual pots.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I have a spray called SAS, "Ready to use slug and snail repellant", which is sprayed on the pots with my plants, or can be sprayed on the floor or stone ground slabs - it smells like liquorice and contains yucca. It's safe for pets, birds, and "for you". It works really well to stop them climbing up into the plants and munching.

I have tried that business of providing swimming pools full of beer for alcoholic slugs to dive into and die, but it takes them so long I feel guilty.

And salt does torture them.

If I find any remaning slugs, I use a little metal spade, chop of their heads, squash the whole body as fast as possible, while praying for their instant death and asking forgiveness from God for my violence....
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
lots of very nice alternative anti-slug tips, which I very much appreciate - and I'd love to hear any more, but does anyone know anything about how safe these pellets are in proximity to vegetables?

[ 12. July 2006, 18:09: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Goodric -

The link in my last post has some information on the hazards of various commercial brands, though they are ones available in the US. However you should be able to correlate the type you have by looking at the active ingredients on the label.

Most of the slug baits appear to be more of a hazard to dogs and wildlife than to humans, though the long term effects at the levels that may be encountered by eating plants that may have absorbed the chemicals through their roots is uncertain. If the bait is kept from the immediate root zone of the plant (say at least a foot away with no obvious drainage patterns to bring it closer) then the risk should be very small.

This is one reason we use the bait stations - they keep the active ingredients from being washed into the soil and picked up by the plants.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
slugs, the humane control thereof (oh to make a hollow laughing sound)

when I moved into my house, 6 yrs ago, I was going to be friendly in my pest control. Observing my fine crop of slugs and SNAILS i surrounded delicate plants with a circle of cat litter and crushed egg shells. i put down beer traps. the dogs (especially the late Gus) flipped the top off the beer traps and drank the beer.

as spring progressed i raised 35 dahlia seedlings to about 9 inches tall. i planted them out, surrounding them with a particularly lavish barrier. i like dahlias...

the next morning- THE NEXT BLOODY MORNING- i had precisely 5 dahlias left. i got on the phone to one of my garden mad brothers. through his sniggering all he said was "Nuke em". i went out and bought some blue pellets and have used them joyfully ever since.

if you want to use the pellets but in an unobtrusive fashion, get a plastic trap and put the pellets inside (then they die out of the way of thrushes and hedgehogs, who can't be affected by the poisen then). also, try putting pellets down in january and february, when the little buggers are just starting to get active, this reduces the burden later on. slug eating nematodes, available on the net are also helpful in reducing numbers, but to protect precious plants i still reckon on a few blue nasties nearby.

and when it rains in the summer i go dancing down the garden path in clogs, and with every "scrunch" i feel a little drop in my blood pressure.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Ok those last two posts are really helpful - excellent - thanks.

I'll have to have a look at doing bait stations -
If the blighters will die in a bait station, so much the better - particularly for the wildlife. I think I could probably make one out of an old ice cream container.

I don't see why the slimey so and so's should eat the lettuces and beans I have grown for my family. It has been bad enough going to my early budding hydrangeas in the spring and then more recently my sunflowers and finding them totally shredded overnight.

I'm afraid I am suspicious of manufacturers claims for their products "can safely be used around vegetables" when in the next breath it says "avoid polluting watercourses with the products".....and.... keep away from pets /children" it just doesn't seem to add up somehow. If it can get in the water, it can surely get in the plant.
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Ducks absolutely love slugs and snails. Ducks also love vegetables (lettuce is a particular favourite). If you don't want to risk your lettuce by borrowing a duck, you could always pay a child to collect all the slugs and snails in a container and take them down to your local park, where the ducks will thank you for them. And they're a lot better for the ducks than bread is.

Otherwise I use beer traps and salt. I'm not as kind as daisymay.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Amos, I never knew that about Ducks, thanks. Hmmm it could be time to create Stalag Slug I and then engage in a little "rendition" to the webbed footed inhabitants of our wonderful park which is only 5 mins away - thanks. Far more creative than stamping on them - that is the ones that have not eaten the blue slug death.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
or you could adopt a hedgehog. added advantage that hedgehogs, being enthusiastic carnivores, aren't interested in lettuces. there was a newspaper article a year or so back about an organic strawberry farmer who'd got together with St Tiggywinkles (hedgehog hospital) to house convalescent urchins. gave a hut each and they'd spend the night marching up and down the rows of strawberries gorging themselves to fitness (on the slugs, not the strawbs!). i have gone to lengths to entice one into my garden on a permanent basis, but they're flirty blighters and refuse to indulge me.
 

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Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :
 
We've got a hedgehog and he is really good at munching through the slugs. They are supposed to like cat food but we seem to have enough slugs to keep him happy.

I used to have one of those beer traps but in the hot weather they get very smelly very quickly.
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
Have just seen our resident hedgehog for the first time this year. Nocturnal? Yup. Only this one was making the most of the morning sun. He was lying on his side on the edge of the lawn, with all his legs sticking out, fast asleep. I prodded to make sure he was alive and he didn't wake up - just wriggled a bit and sighed! So-o-o-o-o sweet! He's wisely taken himself off somewhere cooler now.

Any handy hints regarding Cabbage White Butterflies? I'm growing bored with wiping the eggs of each leaf of my cabbage, red cabbage and cauliflowers. Does anyone have a great tip to share to protect my brassicas whilst they still have leaves?

Cc
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Hmm, netting* would have helped stop the butterflies laying eggs in the first place but it may be too late for that now.

I wonder if spraying with soapy water would help? (I think it needs to be soap not detergent so washing up liquid's no good) Might not make the cabbage very tasty though.

*I vaguely remember hearing that you don't actually need to cover them with netting, just have it surrounding the plants and higher by around a foot (or maybe half a foot) - the butterflies apparently don't swoop down from above but cruse along around that height. But I could have mis-remembered - that might have been for carrots not brassicas. You'd probably want to check.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
I have found mushrooms in my compost bin. Is this good, bad or not terribly important? We have had mushroom circles growing in the garden, and no doubt some spores became attatched to the grass.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
do you want to eat them? if so, and they are field mushrooms or other edibles, then

if you don't want to eat them but are thinking of the decomposing quotient, still

fungi are decomposers par excellence, and the mushroom is the fruiting body of a large mycelium network of microscopic fibres reaching through your compost busily digesting the bulk material of your rubbish. yes, some of that is now incorporated in the mushrooms themselves, but they rot down fast in their turn, and your compost should be v good. you may find, if you spread the compost, that a few spores from your mushrooms are present, and if you have a damp autumn, you might find a few more fungi in the flower beds,- i never have a worry about this myself, but it could be a for you
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
I am not a mushroom person. They are vile things. However, I am now very happy to have them in my compost bin.

I got the compost bin in May, and have been adding layers of grass clippings, shredded paper and veggie peelings. I am wondering if it is now time to give it a bit of a mix up.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Yes, you're supposed to turn it pretty often. Though if you don't, no great harm done--only slows down the rot.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Corpus cani:
Any handy hints regarding Cabbage White Butterflies? I'm growing bored with wiping the eggs of each leaf of my cabbage, red cabbage and cauliflowers. Does anyone have a great tip to share to protect my brassicas whilst they still have leaves?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Corpus cani:
Any handy hints regarding Cabbage White Butterflies? I'm growing bored with wiping the eggs of each leaf of my cabbage, red cabbage and cauliflowers. Does anyone have a great tip to share to protect my brassicas whilst they still have leaves?
Cc

---

Ah I know about this....

Yep - just the thing Derris Dust or similar wiped out last years plague of cabbage white caterpillars with ease.

There are "natural" solutions including Bacillus thuringiensis (as referred to previously as BT - not a killer telephone) contained in preparations known as Dipel and Thuricide - but where you find this - I'm not sure.

Another natural solution was the parasitoidical wasp Ichneumon, which lays into the caterpillar and the laval wasp eats its way out of its host. I know they used to sell these, but then some ijut said they had to be licensed to be marketed as pest control and so I think have been withdrawn from sale in Europe.

So for me, if it is not to be the manual approach of picking the blighters off, I would say buy yourself a puff container of Derris Dust and have at them. Makes your patch look as though there has been a light fall of snow in summer!

[ 19. July 2006, 13:51: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Oh and a request from me too please. Does anyone know why my Blackcurrents might taste more like grass than anything else and hardly taste of Blackcurrent at all?
 

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Posted by chukovsky (# 116) on :
 
Are your blackcurrants ripe? Or are you comparing them to Ribena, which does not really taste like blackcurrants?
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Well they are black...perhaps they are not yet quite ripe enough. Yes that lingering memory of Ribena is a confusion, perhaps I just can't remember what blackcurrents taste of. So how can I tell if they are properly ripe without tasting each one?
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Some currents are selected for showy flowers rather than edible fruit. I wouldn't say that the currents in our garden taste like grass, but only because I haven't eaten grass recently.

Currents should be juicy and soft when ripe - if you pinch them between your fingers you should feel the current deform, giving the sense that you would pop it if you squeezed hard enough. The non-edible types (or not yet ripe) will feel more squeezing an apple than a grape.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Ah, as a man inexperienced in these matters, I am now enlightened and thank you.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Just as an update of very marginal interest (except to me) - my courgettes are now going great guns and I will soon be able to complain that I've got too many!

Many thanks for the advice.

M.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
That is delightful news. Well done
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
The plants at the allotment are doing fine, even in this hot weather and my "don't water anything that's planted in the ground" policy. Unfortunately, when I say "the plants" I mean above all, the weeds. I think I have the entire observer's book of weeds set, including bindweed, which has never been an issue before, growing throughout. I am inclined to the parable of the enemy sowing the weeds in the wheat and am scrutinising the old boys' bicycle baskets as they arrive to check for incriminating evidence. I don't like to use weedkiller near food plants, but I have had to resort to some of that "paint on" glyphosate on the bindweed, the ground elder and the plantains... courgettes however are rather marvellous- blanching and freezin the big job now. Any ideas about my broad bean problem: plenty growth, plenty pods, and many of the pods having only one or two beans inside. It's the same variety as last year (aquadulce), which was very successful, and freshly bought seed when sown, so what's going on?
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
My runner beans are in an even worse state - the flowers have been frizzled by the sun before they turned into beans, and insects are thriving and attacking the leaves..
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Sorry I don't know the answer for the broad bean problem - but daisymay have you tried spraying your runner bean flowers in the evening? This, I am told, helps to "set" the flower and assists in the production of the bean. I think you may need to spray your plants with a friendly pesticide.

I have just had the first of my runners, radishes and Spring Onions tonight. Yum.

[ 21. July 2006, 23:31: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

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Posted by Auntie Doris (# 9433) on :
 
OK... advice needed.

I want to plant something in a pot outside my front door. I would like it to smell nice (especially in the evening) as I sometimes sit out there before I go to bed when I am reading my book.

What do all you budding Alan Titchmarshes think?

Auntie Doris x
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Not sure where you're from, but jasmine and honeysuckles smell lovely.
 

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Posted by Auntie Doris (# 9433) on :
 
I am in the UK.

Auntie Doris x
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Ah some of these things are seasonal and you may need to chop and change through the year.

But generally a nice pot of lavender. It wil also have the advantages of being "harvestable" and will withstand drought or you going away on holidays if that is an issue.

But if it is for the evening - Night Scented Stock should do the business.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
I'm with Goodric, but if you have room for two pots you could put a daphne in one, which will give year round interest and sweet scent very early in the year. A dear friend reckons it's a crime to plant them elsewhere in the garden, because you miss the joy of running your hands through them as you pass and waking the scent. One tip- get the biggest pots you have room for- makes watering much less of a chore.
 

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Posted by Fool of a Took (# 7412) on :
 
I haven't done a thing in the gardens since we moved here over a year ago. The previous owners were avid gardners, and it all just looked so sad, overgrown, and neglected. I tried to tell myself that thistles had a pretty flower, and weren't really weeds- even when they were towering over me.

I finally got sick of my house looking so unloved, when I really do love it.

So I got to this point and felt really good about it. Then got my avid gardner parents to walk me 'round the garden centre and advise. Then they let me walk 'round their own perennial beds.

This will never get me into 'better homes and gardens'. But it sure makes me happy.

I've enjoyed reading through this thread- and now my most abundant weed has a name! It's oxalis! So when I talk to my folks about how things are going, I don't have to call it 'that little leafy thing with the yellow flowers that just keeps coming and coming and coming and coming'. Thanks!
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
I'm with Goodric, but if you have room for two pots you could put a daphne in one, which will give year round interest and sweet scent very early in the year...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
ace move st bertolin- however, keep posting, so that we can be sure one of them hasn't pole axed you!

---

Just to reassure everyone, there have been no unpleasant incidents thus far. You can see the Hilda here and here. She'll need to be repotted fairly soon, by the looks of things. I'll try to remember to pick a larger pot up next time I'm at the shops.

Thanks to all for your help.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
she's very beautiful, St Bertolin- and safely grounded!
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Good news!

quote:

---

Originally posted by me back in May:
My question though is about my pride and joy. I have two oleanders in pots - one is about 6ft tall, a bit of a monster, which has always thrived on neglect and the last couple of years has rewarded me with masses of beautiful white flowers. It seemed to cope with the cold winter here remarkably well, but now the leaves are looking really dry and starting to brown, particularly the ones furthest away from the main stem (or trunk more accurately, as it's really filled out the last couple of years). The other oleander, which has been outdoors in identical conditions next to its bigger cousin, is fine and healthy looking. Is there anything I can do - feeding (if so what?), that kind of thing - that will stop the big oleander looking quite so sorry for itself? I'm pretty sure it's not dead (which is a good start ).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Aggie:
St Bertolin,

A liquid feed is liquid fertiliser, such as "Baby Bio" (TM) or "Phostrogen" (TM).

If you are a novice gardener, and want to learn more, the "Expert" series of books by D.G Hessayon are excellent. Very easy to follow, as he goes through everything step by step with plenty of pics and diagrams.

---

Thanks, Aggie!

I'll pick some up at some point soon. Thanks, as well, for the reference. I doubt I'll be doing very much gardening although the new house comes with much back garden space, so who knows what I may set my hand to. That book may well come in handy. Also, I like pictures.
 

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Posted by Aggie (# 4385) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Saint Bertolin:
[Thanks, Aggie!

I'll pick some up at some point soon. Thanks, as well, for the reference. I doubt I'll be doing very much gardening although the new house comes with much back garden space, so who knows what I may set my hand to. That book may well come in handy. Also, I like pictures. [/QB]

---

Oh and another thing - best to gradually enlarge the pot for the cheese plant.

Basic houseplant compost is fine.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
My neighbor's pumpkin vine is invading my yard, more specifically the area where I planted tomatoes and cucumbers. Every morning I go out and find new growing tips on my side of the fence. I shove the tips back through, but the vine is too big to shove the whole thing through.

There are at least two small pumpkins on my side of the fence. I presume they're mine.

Moo
 

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Posted by Saint Bertolin (# 5638) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Aggie:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Saint Bertolin:
[Thanks, Aggie!

I'll pick some up at some point soon. Thanks, as well, for the reference. I doubt I'll be doing very much gardening although the new house comes with much back garden space, so who knows what I may set my hand to. That book may well come in handy. Also, I like pictures.

---

Oh and another thing - best to gradually enlarge the pot for the cheese plant.

Basic houseplant compost is fine. [/QB]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
There are at least two small pumpkins on my side of the fence. I presume they're mine.
Moo

---

They may be yours in SW Virginia, but if you were in the UK they'd still belong to your neighbour. You would be perfectly entitled to cut off any growth that crossed your boundary, but are supposed to return the trimmings to the neighbour.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
For anyone vaguely interested, the interloping blue / purple flowers continue to thrive on my Runner Beans. Pics now provided as requested - what do you all think? Should I cut them off for any reason (like might they be sapping bean production) or let them be?

Runner Beans - big picture. also Runner Beans, purple and normal red (fruiting) flowers together and finally A beautiful (but mystifying) blue flower on my Runner Beans

[ 03. August 2006, 11:04: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
I wonder if they are forms of bindweed, either purple(Spanish?) or blue rock (American?). The flower shape screams 'bindweed' at me. All the British forms are white or pink but searching on the web I regularly came across these forms which look so like your flowers.

Jengie
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Yeah I would have said that too - but they are on the same plant as the runner beans!
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
Have any of the leaves a different shape or texture? Runner bean leaves are rough, and lobed. Bindweed/morning glory has softer, more heart shaped leaves.
Have you tried unwinding the stems of the blue flowers to see if they emerge from the soil in a different place to the bean stems?

Are you quite sure you are not extracting urine from us, Goodric ?
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Those are most certainly morning glories. I should know, I see enough of them in my own garden! And once planted, you have them for the next 100 years, as they self-seed like crazy, and lie dormant in the soil for eons.

If you're absolutely sure they're coming out of the same stem (easy to be mistaken, I know) then my only suggestion would be that your runner beans somehow got crossbred with the morning glories. Apparently something similar happened between somebody's cucumbers and cantaloupes about a month ago in a news article--wish I had the URL for you. Apparently some weird plants are similar enough to cross that way. But if so, your local university would definitely be interested.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
The purple flowers are definitely Morning Glory. They are part of the Convolvulus family, of which bindweed is also a part.

Bindweek is a horrible plant to try to eradicate as it can re-grow from a tiny section of root, and it sends out meters of roots! Bindweed will use anything to help t grow up into the light. The stems of beans, hedges, slow-moving dogs... I don't know if Morning Glory is so bad with the root thing, nor the climbing.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Looking carefully at the leaves in the photo, it appears there are two types: some heart-shaped on longer stems, and others that tend to come in groups of three without as much indentation at the top of the heart. Look closely at the leaves and see if you can tell the difference.

But certainly two different plants growing up the same support.

Note that it is possible to have a mutation in the middle of a plant such that the part beyond that point is different than the parent. This is called a "sport", and is a valuable source of new varieties in the horticulture trade. (That is the origin of Bing cherries, for example.) But while a sport may have mottled beans or different coloured flowers, it won't change a legume to a Convolvulus.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Ok I know I have more than one runner bean growing up each support. I thought I had traced the plants correctly, I shall have to resort to untwisting it (which i am currently reluctant to do as they are fruiting well) in order to ascertain whether or not they are entirely seperate species.

I hope I have not wasted your time here. I certainly did not plant convolvulous, morning glory etc - but this is a new plot.

[ 03. August 2006, 16:17: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Actually, this particular kind of morning glory is most likely Ipomoea, a genus in the larger family of the Convolvulaceae (which includes bindweed, shudder shudder). It even looks to me like one of the named varieties, but can't put my finger on which one right now--something they sell at garden centers, no doubt.

This particular morning glory is really not much of a pain, except for the way it self-seeds so freely--which I consider a blessing, since it's beautiful. This flower will come up everywhere as soon as the weather gets warm enough, it's true, because the seeds linger in the soil forever. It will climb--I've seen it two stories high--but it won't strangle anything.

And if you don't want it, all you have to do is yank it or hoe it, and it won't come back from the roots like bindweed. If you get more later, they're from other seeds. The plant is an annual unless you live somewhere tropical, since it can't cope with freezes.

I'd suggest you just enjoy it. And expect to have it around for centuries to come. Our neighbors planted it five years ago (and never again), and we have a bumper crop on our side of the lot every year since.

Keep the kids (if any) away from the seeds, though. They're poisonous. But they look nothing like runner beans--little round seed capsules that explode to shower down hard black pebbly things the size of half a pea.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
And expect to have it around for centuries to come.

---

Fortunately that's not likely in Goodric's part of the world...unless future winters/springs are consistently milder than most of the UK is used to.

Goodric, try only to unwind the stem down from a blue flower, you'll probably find that you won't damage the beans at all!
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Just enjoy it, Goodric. It is a very nice blue (possibly even Heavenly Blue) morning glory growing up your beanpole with the beans. It is unlikely to become invasive. It's an annual, it's killed by the first frost, and if it does self-seed, you can pot up the volunteers and sell them at your Church Fete.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Ok, thanks for the advice. As we are 1000' above sea level here and it has been known to snow in June, even in recent memory, first frost should not be that far away. I shall let them be.

However as to their appearance the story then is that this stuff had just been lying in the ground for years waiting for me to dig up the ground, plant beans & erect wigwams before they would show themselves? I certainly have not seen anything of them during the previous three years when the ground was, well, grass. How amazing is that?
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Some seeds have unusual characteristics for survival. Some will only sprout after a fire when the competing plants have been cleared off. Some are more likely to sprout after a very brief exposure to light - enough so that some farmers plow their fields at night because measurably fewer weed seeds sprout than when they do it in daylight. Or perhaps your beans get more water than the grass got and this has triggered the sprouting.

Of course, it could also have been that the offending seed(s) were in the seed packet by accident along with the beans - such things happen.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Possible, but as their appearance is very different, not likely. But the light and water thing is very likely correct. (That's what I meant by "centuries to come." If you've got one morning glory, you've got a billion, lurking as innocent little seeds underground.)
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Oh well....spuds in that patch next year - we'll see how those interloping creepers compete with them. Its almost like they knew I was putting in bamboo supports for them to climb up and that they waited three years until i did it.

As for the amount of water available to germinate Morning Glory...this garden drains down to a small river and is usualy wet all the time. I live in one of the areas of highest rainful in England. Even during the so called "drought" period we have just experienced, parts of my garden were still very soggy.

Well this has been an education - that is why I posted - and I thank you. The runner beans are very tasty.
 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
Whoo hoo! We have an almost ripe tomato! And a glut of others coming on the plants.

Now, a question ... can we train a tomato plant to grow sideways? The plants have reached the ceiling, so they are out of up room to grow, unless we put them on the floor. If I put them on the floor will they get enough sunlight? Okay, that was two questions, but they were connected to the same idea.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Yes, tomatoes of that height (!) are happy either as skyscrapers or as ground trailers.

Are you growing them inside, with artificial lights? In that case, you may need to lower the lights so they're still getting enough on the floor. But if it's outside or in a greenhouse, your only worry will be making sure the tomato-lets don't rot from contact with the floor. Try a layer of dry grass clippings or such.
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
I am trying to remember all the little tips that my Dad mentioned about tomato plants, and it is proving rather difficult.

'Pinching out' was one of his obsessions. He would let various trusses start off then after about 4 - 6 trusses he would pinch out any new growing tips. The idea was to allow the plant to put its enegry into growing and maturing these tomatoes. The other reason was to avoid spindly stems and tiny green tomatoes.

Another one of his tips was to ensure an even watering of the plants. He found that if you changed the amount of watering from day to day the tomatoes would swell up and crack their skins. This lets in disease and mould.

I grew tomatoes indoors one year, and a very fine, sticky green/black powder came from the tomatoes and started to discolour the things around the plants. If I were to grow them inside again I would put down newspaper to protect the surroundings.
 

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Posted by Corpus cani (# 1663) on :
 
I've had some beans from my French stalks, but not many. I've had some peas (mange tout) from my stalks, but the stalks have died off pretty quickly despite regular watering and feeding with seaweed extract ( how desperate can one be ) My marrows are growing well and the lettuce seem to be OK.

However...

Pictures of my brassicas will follow (when the battery on the camera has charged.) They are worth seeing. Suffice to say, cabbage and cauliflower will not feature largely on my menu this autumn, despite my hours picking the bloody caterpillars off the plants.

Corpus

(Interestingly the caterpillars have also had a good go at the... not geraniums but flowering things things that look like geraniums... I forget. At least they're still flowering though!)
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
A couple of days of good rain has done wonders in my garden.
To start with my six linked water butts are now full. The purple climbing french beans (three plants) are providing enough beans for the two of us every other day, I am supplying my neighbour with swiss chard (the rainbow variety), as we can't eat it fast enough, and the courgettes have started producing female flowers again, so it's back to rat-production.

('Rat' is the name we call the not-quite-ratatouille, courgette/onion/tomato/herb stew I make in bucketloads each year, and freeze for winter consumption )
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Most of my bean flowers got frizzled by the hot sun and so I have no beans. But there may be a few later on, now the weather is wetter and cooler.

I had two tomatoes that survived and ripened. That's all.

I don't think I'll bother trying to grow veggies next year...
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
My garden is looking a right state. Out of 5 cosmos planted only one has actually survived being slugged. My sweet peas are dry as very dry things and nothing bar my fuschias have any flowers. Even my fuschias are looking rather ropey and nowhere near as good as last year.

In fact, the only things that are looking good are the brambles arching their way up into the garden. I have decided to leave them for a few more week until I can get the berries. Once they have delivered tehir red juicy goodness the brambles are going to be cut right back, decimated even.

I am going to plant masses and masses of stuff next year in the hope that at least some of it will survive. I shall probably be seen in the hours of darkness outside on slug patrol.
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Flausa:
....
Now, a question ... can we train a tomato plant to grow sideways? The plants have reached the ceiling, so they are out of up room to grow, ....

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Corpus cani:

Pictures of my brassicas will follow (when the battery on the camera has charged.) They are worth seeing. Suffice to say, cabbage and cauliflower will not feature largely on my menu this autumn, despite my hours picking the bloody caterpillars off the plants.

Corpus

---

Cc, I too am hopeless with brassicas of all forms, and one of my brothers, a real whiz with cauliflowers and cabbages (smug beast presents them to me, knowing I can't for the life of me grow them), tells me I need to lime the ground, once or even twice a year. When I remember to try this, I'll see if it works!
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Anyone versed in the Care of the Cactus?

I have just adopted one (?) from a friend who is moving.

The pot is quite shallow, but it has growing in it 4 stems of of the tall, narrow sort, two of them about 3 ft tall. There is also, in the same pot, a cluster of the round sort (you can tell I am not terribly well versed).

They seem happy enough in the small amount of soil, but they are, as we discovered when transporting them, quite top-heavy. So at the moment they have to be leant against a wall.

Should I transplant them? And if so, how do you handle something that size, weighing several pounds, and covered in spines?
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
If they're happy enough, leave them alone. Why risk killing them off? No, seriously, I've had cactus grow forever in the same pot and ultimately split the thing from sheer enthusiasm. That's the time to transplant.

If you DO have to transplant, you do it using a heavy towel wrapped around the spiky bits (which may break off, in which case you simply shove them back into the ground and have a new cactus when they root). Might add gloves. If you are willing to destroy the pot, the whole affair becomes so much easier, as you can handle it from the root ball end, rather than the spiky bit.

Really, they don't need much room, or water for that matter, and may resent being messed around with. Why not let them settle in to their new home with you? You can remedy the top heavy problem by seating the current pot inside a larger decorative ceramic pot, and wedging it in with pretty rocks. This works for top heavy amaryllis too, which also like being a bit potbound.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Meant to add: When in doubt, don't water (if they start shriveling, ignore me and do it. They generally come back then).

Never let them stand in a saucer full of water--if the soil they are in stays damp, they will look just fine until the day they keel over and you discover that the whole thing has rotted through at ground level. If you use the large decorative outer pot, be sure this doesn't result in standing water (since lots of these have no drainage hole). Perch the real, inner pot on an upside down saucer or something, to keep it out of the overflow.

If you do repot, use a cheap plastic pot you won't mind hacking through when you have to do the job again--in, oh, twenty years.

If you start to like the things, take the little baby offsets that develop at the base of the main cactus, pull them free (use a heavy washcloth or tongs or something!) and then stick their bottoms back in the dirt. Voila, new cactus. Some offsets will even start growing roots into the air in the hopes of inducing you to pluck them away from Mama and give them a pot of their own. "Hey, look! I've got roots!"

[ 20. August 2006, 17:50: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Some of my tomatoes have big brown splodges on the bottom. The gardening guru (aka my dad) was not very helpful but the ever useful google let me know that this is something called 'blossom end rot' and comes about due to erratic watering. I guess going away for long weekends during a hot summer when the toms are only in a grow bag was a bad idea.

Apparently they need a good dose of calcium to sort them out. So I've duly bought some at the garden centre. Much as I love home grown tomatoes this is beginning to be quite an expensive exercise:
3 plants £1
grow bag £5
calcium £4.50

How many sun ripened vine tomatoes could I buy for a tenner? Probably about as many as I'm going to get from these plants (though I have to say they are heavy cropping) given the number I'm throwing away due to the above mentioned blossom end rot.

Aah well, what price the feeling of living off the land?!
 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
Yangtze, we had two on one plant that went brown and mushy on the bottom ... very sad. However, we have just eaten one lovely ripe tomato from the other plant (and two others are close to being ripe) - hooray! We also had nineteen other green tomatoes growing on the ripening plant and five or six others on the other plant. Both plants seem to be growing happily along the ceiling - we've got quite the jungle in our living room window. I'm not sure about the trusses or actually what a truss is ... we do keep pruning some of the leaves and we are faithful with brush pollinating any new flowers that appear.

Did I mention that we've eaten our first home-grown tomato?
 

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Posted by obble (# 10868) on :
 
A truss is a bunch of tomatoes, often commercially cut from the plant in one piece and sold as "vine tomatoes".

Hope that makes sense!
 

---

Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :
 
I'm so glad it's not what I was first thinking of. That would be kinda rubbery.
 

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Posted by Photo Geek (# 9757) on :
 
Here in Southern Ohio we have been feasting on fresh corn and tomatoes for about a month . We have at least 20 beautiful tomatoes hanging on our vines ripe and ready to pick and will soon be sharing our bounty with friends and neighbors.

Our bell peppers haven't done well at all. But kind friends have shared and in the last 4 days I have cooked two large pots of stuffed peppers. The last batch is now in the freezer.

I just love Summer in Ohio
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I read a book a few months ago called The 64 $ Tomato. It was by a gardener and fellow sufferer, naturally.

No tomatoes here to speak of--the summer has been averaging about 98 degrees every day, and I think that's too hot to set fruit.
 

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Posted by Badfundie (# 9422) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yangtze:
Apparently they need a good dose of calcium to sort them out. So I've duly bought some at the garden centre. Much as I love home grown tomatoes this is beginning to be quite an expensive exercise:
3 plants £1
grow bag £5
calcium £4.50

---

You don't need to buy expensive calcium for tomatoes. They do just as well if you mix up some powdered milk for them every week or so. At least that's less expensive here.
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Well I'm feeling quite smug having grown lettuce, rocket, spring onions, radishes, herbs and runner beans galore. The only thing I have expended extra money on is a little chemical assistance to keep the nasties away, although pouring good beer into slug traps was a mistake as apparantly (I learned here) yeast, sugar and water does the same trick. Extra nutrition for the plants has come via free chicken manure, applied sparingly. I feel sorry for those of you facing crop failure.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Courgettes, runner beans and french beans, cucumbers all going well here. The peppers are coming on but the tomatoes are way behind. We have lots of them but none are ripe yet. We have harvested the onions - also not exactly a bumper year. The beetroot isn't doing badly (have eaten lots of yummy leaves) and the first lot of carrots were OK; the second is just in. Lots of parsnips and leeks coming on, too.

The runner beans are gradually filling up the freezer for the winter.

I am absolutely hopeless with all brassicas as well, Corpus Cani and Auntie Di. Perhaps I should try lime.

I really don't like gardening but I do love eating stuff. I just get a real buzz going down the garden to get dinner.

M.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Most soil isn't calcium deficient anyway. It's just that the irregular watering means the plant can't get at it. Fix the watering problem and you're done.

I'm so pleased and embarrassed. A friend just picked a couple of rather large bell peppers out of my garden that I had never noticed growing there. In my own defense, I had mixed up the seeds and thought I was growing the little ultra-hot Vietnamese peppers, the kind that point upwards and turn various colors. I never thought to check under the leaves for a couple of hulking big green things.

She thought I was crazy.
 

---

Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
Okay! I am not very jealous of your sucesses. Help me plan for next year please. I don't have much space at all, but I could grow some vertical things or things that will work in pots.

My soil is aluvial with builder's rubbed added in for good measure. It probably needs about 5 years of well rotted compost worked into it before anything terribly worthwhile will grow. However, I have had a beautiful collection of slugs and snails this year.

Any suggestions?
 

---

Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
babybear,
we were always taught that we should plant potatoes the first year and that that would begin to sort out the soil and make things better from then on.

Is that old-fashioned and effective, or just about primitive gardening? It was done in fields also, whenever crops were changed. Done anywhere else or just in Strathmore?
 

---

Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
I am eyeing up the garden of the house we are buying. Apparently it is chockful of bulbs that will come up in the Spring. (We thought we might wait until we have lived through a season of bulbs, taking pictures, before we do very much disrupting of the soil!)

I would like to plant some roses and have been looking at David Austin's ones - I suspect they are relatively expensive, but very special and beautiful. I wonder if we could take cuttings (we will have a greenhouse) and multiply our rose plants that way, once we have some established roses? Would it be very difficult? Are you allowed to do that for plants that come from a particular grower, if it is just for your own use? There is a section at the end of the garden that would make a lovely rose bower!
 

---

Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Badfundie:
....You don't need to buy expensive calcium for tomatoes. They do just as well if you mix up some powdered milk for them every week or so. At least that's less expensive here.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by babybear:
...........Any suggestions?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:
I am interested in this alluvial of which you speak.

---

Sorry, my fault, I was using 'alluvial' to mean 'alluvial clay'. This is clay that has been built up in layers, deposited by a river. Some alluvial soils are very fertile.

My soil is clay; it bakes in summer and is waterlogged in winter. I need to add in lots of compost and organic matter to break this down to make nice crumbly soil that will drain well, but still hold moisture.

I don't have the space for growing potatoes. Anything fruit or veg grown in my garden will be in borders or in pots. It is very small. I have been wondering about getting an allotment.

bb
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
The reason for growing potatoes in the first year is so that, in lifting the crop, you dig a good spade's depth into the soil. As you do that you loosen, and can remove, any perennial weeds that infest the plot (the potato plants should have smothered annual weeds). You then leave the clods of earth over winter, for the frosts to break down into a fine tilth, ready for sowing in the spring.

My only attempt at growing potatoes in the open ground resulted in several years growth of 'volunteers'

This year I have grown in 40litre pots; 4 climbing purple french beans (2 plants per pot), 2 bush courgettes (1 plant per pot), and rainbow chard (about 6 per pot). They have taken considerable watering, and I have fed the courgettes and beans weekly with tomato feed, but they are feeding the two of us in return, with enough left over to put some in the freezer, and give some away to the neighbours.

[ 23. August 2006, 12:14: Message edited by: Roseofsharon ]
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
OK babybear if you don't want runner beans, because you want to grow flowers, sweet peas I believe are also nitrogen fixers and produce some very pretty flowers.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Tis (nearly) the season--gather up your neighbors' fallen leaves and compost them. It's best if you can either chop them or mix them a bit with the soil below, but this can be heavy work. Running a lawnmower over them several times can help.

Or be lazy like me and just strew the leaves en masse over your garden beds. Hardly any weeds next year (the blanket of leaves keeps the light from reaching the seeds) and you can dig down through it to put good plants in place.

A couple of years from now, those leaves will be part of your soil, and your plants will thank you.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
The reason for growing potatoes in the first year is so that, in lifting the crop, you dig a good spade's depth into the soil. As you do that you loosen, and can remove, any perennial weeds that infest the plot.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
No tomatoes here to speak of--the summer has been averaging about 98 degrees every day, and I think that's too hot to set fruit.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Welsh Dragon:
I am eyeing up the garden of the house we are buying. Apparently it is chockful of bulbs that will come up in the Spring. (We thought we might wait until we have lived through a season of bulbs, taking pictures, before we do very much disrupting of the soil!)

---

quote:

---

I wonder if we could take cuttings (we will have a greenhouse) and multiply our rose plants that way, once we have some established roses? Would it be very difficult? Are you allowed to do that for plants that come from a particular grower, if it is just for your own use?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:

I would like to plant some roses and have been looking at David Austin's ones - I suspect they are relatively expensive, but very special and beautiful. I wonder if we could take cuttings (we will have a greenhouse) and multiply our rose plants that way, once we have some established roses? Would it be very difficult? Are you allowed to do that for plants that come from a particular grower, if it is just for your own use? There is a section at the end of the garden that would make a lovely rose bower!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:
[QB] I would like to plant some roses and have been looking at David Austin's ones - I suspect they are relatively expensive, but very special and beautiful.

---

I planted a number of roses a few years ago. Because I wanted specific varieties I bought from three specialist nurseries, all by mail order.
David Austin was not particularly expensive.

It is cheaper, and generally more successful, to plant 'bare-root' roses from a specialist nursery than pot grown ones from a garden centre. This must be done in the dormant season.

The more popular varieties of rose bred by David Austin are available from other nurseries. I found
Warley Rose Gardens Ltd, Warley Street Great Warley Brentwood ESSEX CM13 3JH (01277 221966 Fax: 01277 262239) to be the cheapest at that time. They had a small selection of David Austin's Old English roses, but their catalogue was not illustrated.

David Austin and Peter Beales produce beautiful illustrated catalogues.

Customer sevice from all the nurseries I used was excellent.
 

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Posted by Lady R of Ashwood (# 4788) on :
 
Is it ok to ask for help if you have not so much a garden as rather a selection of indoor potplants?

I hope so as mine seem to have acquired a lot of tiny black flies round the soil only. Said black flies have started to wander about the house which is most distressing, and may or may not be responsible for the bites I have been getting on my legs (a friend said maybe I have midgies as well, this is Scotland after all). I bought bug-killer for blackfly and other bugs, but I dont think they are blackfly as they are not arround the leaves at all....

I really dont like flying bugs, can anyone advise?!

Ta
 

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Posted by Roxanna (# 9639) on :
 
Please can anyone tell me what huckleberries look like when they are ripe and what to do with them when they are. I planted some earlier this year which are now covered in little green fruit, but have lost the seed packet with the instructions.

Thanks
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lady R of Ashwood:
Is it ok to ask for help if you have not so much a garden as rather a selection of indoor potplants?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lady R of Ashwood:
I hope so as mine seem to have acquired a lot of tiny black flies round the soil only. Said black flies have started to wander about the house which is most distressing....I really dont like flying bugs, can anyone advise?!
Ta

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lady R of Ashwood:
Said black flies have started to wander about the house which is most distressing, and may or may not be responsible for the bites I have been getting on my legs (a friend said maybe I have midgies as well, this is Scotland after all). I bought bug-killer for blackfly and other bugs, but I dont think they are blackfly as they are not arround the leaves at all....

I really dont like flying bugs, can anyone advise?!

Ta

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roxanna:
Please can anyone tell me what huckleberries look like when they are ripe and what to do with them when they are. I planted some earlier this year which are now covered in little green fruit, but have lost the seed packet with the instructions.

Thanks

---

The ones that I am used to are red when they are ripe, though some types are more like blueberries. The usual clue with berries is when they pick easily, and they often will appear more translucent, plumper or softer when they are ripe.

I missed a lot of the salmonberries the first time I was around them because I kept waiting for them to turn red. They don't, of course - they are, well, salmon-coloured when ripe.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I've seen those darned little black flies--they seem to like moisture. Maybe you could let the plant dry out in between waterings, and not let water stand in the saucer?

Another fiendish possibility would be to take clear plastic wrap or paper towels or something, and basically carpet the surface of the soil around the plant's stem. I suspect a few days would smother the little buggers. A half-inch layer of sand on top would also probably do the trick.

Might not hurt to find some kind of smelly mulch, either--cedar shavings, bay leaves, or something similar. But don't let them migrate to another potted plant!

[ 05. September 2006, 21:41: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by Lady R of Ashwood (# 4788) on :
 
Thank you all. Alas the infestation is indeed on more than one plant - the worst of it is on the Giant Yukka (sp?), the dragon plant and the umbrella plant. All quite big buggers...

I tried a general de-bugger - its only description of its contents says "contains0.125g/l imidacloprid as ready to use aqueous formulation". In fact I tried it twice in 3 days despite the instructions saying wait a minimum of two weeks between. The plants seem to have suffered no ill effect yet, but although there are less bugs, they are still there.

The putting them outside plan sounds good, but hard as I live at the top of a tenement building. The covering the guilty plant in cling film I have tried and it didnt work. I have stopped watering them though, and the stinky mulch sounds an interesting plan. I had worried the answer might be totally new soil

quote:

---

Why not purchase a plant that would enjoy the little blighters - Venus Fly Trap perhaps?

---

Now this idea I like , although it would get very fat very fast with the number of bugs I have - and how do they respond to cats?
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lady R of Ashwood:
Thank you all. Alas the infestation is indeed on more than one plant - the worst of it is on the Giant Yukka (sp?), the dragon plant and the umbrella plant. All quite big buggers...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lady R of Ashwood:

quote:

---

Why not purchase a plant that would enjoy the little blighters - Venus Fly Trap perhaps?

---

Now this idea I like , although it would get very fat very fast with the number of bugs I have - and how do they respond to cats?

---

Have you ever seen "Little Shop of Horrors"?
 

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Posted by Lady R of Ashwood (# 4788) on :
 
This

Dragon plant

Only bigger. Mine is tall and skinny due to suffering neglect in a former life. Of course in its current well-loved life it has developed bugs so perhaps neglect isnt so bad!

(ps I have never done a link before, so if this hasnt worked then I am most sorry)
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Dragon Plants are incredible. I got given one for a birthday nigh on 15 years ago and it's still going strong. For a good few years it lived on some steps in a hallway at my parents' house and kept hitting the ceiling. So they'd chop a bit off, stick it in a pot where it easily rooted and they'd have another houseplant (all got given away).

They do seem to have favourite spots though and get a bit sad if they're not in a good position - but once you find a place they like you can basically ignore them. (Well give them a drink occasionally)

Peace Lilies are another fab houseplant that cope well with being ignored (and with owners who go on holiday / work trips and therefore leave them alone for longish periods of time). Apparently they actually only like being watered when their leaves are really drooping - so they really do tell you when their thirsty.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lady R of Ashwood:
Thank you all.....

quote:

---

Why not purchase a plant that would enjoy the little blighters - Venus Fly Trap perhaps?

---

Now this idea I like , although it would get very fat very fast with the number of bugs I have - and how do they respond to cats?

---

Don't worry, they couldn't eat a whole one.

It sounds like you might be suffering from Fungal Gnats. If so fly spray for the adults and repeat as necessary. Reduce soil moisture and add 1 teaspoon of white vinager per pint of water when watering. They feed on decaying organic matter in the soil in their maggoty form - but sometimes will attack plant roots - other than that they are considered a nuisance rather than a heavy threat to the plant.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
I have this evening eaten grapes from my grapevine in the garden!! And they tasted sweet! Beloved old Dad, who gave me the vine two years ago for my birthday, did my head in fussing every week "I'm not sure it's going to survive the winter...are you sure you staked it properly?". The vine is a THUG and strangles everything nearby- even ivy, and now I have grapes- highly recommended for a south facing spot.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Well done Auntie. What sort of low temperatures can they tolerate? And which variety of vine is it?

[ 08. September 2006, 01:08: Message edited by: Goodric ]
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Grapevines survive weather colder than anything they are likely to find in most of Britain. Their natural habitat is mountain forests in Anatolia and the Caucasus, and they are totally frost hardy.

But they don't grow well in cold weather. Their leaves don't come out until there have been a number of days in which the temperature hasn;t fallen below about 10 degrees. So in those parts of Britain subject to late frosts (not really a big problem here in London) they don't put on leaf till very late in the spring.

When in flower and fruit they want a LOT of water. But if you can keep them watered in dry hot weather, and if you can keep them frost-free into Septmeber and October (sheltered south-facing walls are good) then just about any wine variety should produce a good drop more or less anywhere in lowland Britain.

Here in London there has only been one frosty spring in about the last ten years- we've even had a couple of winters with no frost at all - so vines grow well with very little care indeed.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
I wish I knew the variety, it wasn't well labelled, but the grapes are dessert rather than wine. The weather in Staffordshire gets quite chilly in the winter (geraniums reliably pop their clogs), but I do live in a fairly sheltered river valley, and the garden has substantial fences, so even when cold the wind is not an issue. I don't water the garden generally, but I do feed, with standard muck and with sulphate of potash to aid flowering and fruit set.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
Oooh thank you one and all. I wonder if the highest market town in Britain could grow an outdoor vine? I shall give it a go.

Ken, I never knew all that stuff about vines - amazing.
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
I hand a couple of handfuls of grapes from my garden today. The vine has over a hundred bunches on it

Not quite as impressive as it sounds - they are small bunches of small grapes and most are high up and out of reach!

Its a Muller-Thurgau which is a semi-sweet German wine variety, but they are nice to eat. I planted it myself and my ambition for it was that it would grow out of the bottom of the garden, and over the trees on the railway embankment and hang down on the other side so people in delayed and overheated commuter trains could see the nice green grapes hanging just out of reach. Which has now been the case for a couple of years
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
So when is the best time of year to plant a vine and can anyone suggest a really hardy variety please?
 

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Posted by Basket Case (# 1812) on :
 
Something is excavating my back yard. Doing a little research, I guess it's down to moles, voles or gophers.

I think it's mostly voles, as I can see the tops of their tunnels in my "lawn".

However, some of my plants are a bit loose, though not dead (?yet).

I really don't want to kill them. I do have something growing wild in my yard, called "gopher plant". I put it on one of the mounds, hoping it repels rather than attracts. (I am not a scientific gardener - more of a laissez-faire type).

I have no pets, but the neighborhood cats use my yard, so maybe they'll take care of them.

What can I expect? Does their activity die down in fall/winter??
 

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Posted by Apothecary (# 3886) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Goodric:
OK babybear if you don't want runner beans, because you want to grow flowers.

---

But I thought runner beans were originally introduced to this country as fowering plants. Someone must have started eating the beans by mistake. Just because they're not poisonous doesn't mean they should be regarded as food!
 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 
Okay, so how to preserve the harvest?

Mine's pretty miniscule, since I only have an herb garden and immature fruit trees. But if anyone could give me some tips on how to dry catnip and lemon balm, I'd appreciate it.

(I did pick up 10 pounds of plum tomatoes today, on sale, and will be drying them in the oven.)
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Catnip! (waves hand in air) Pick me, miss, me!

I just dried a few bushels of this. It's easiest if you have a nice, horribly hot spell with no rain. Then all you have to do is to get out the clippers and cut the catnip stalks off at the base of the plant (don't worry, they'll come back all the stronger from the roots next year! )

Take the catnip stalks and spread them out on a tarp or something in the hot sun. Leave them alone for a couple of days, until the leaves are crackly.

Then sit down with a huge iced tea and start stripping the leaves off the stalks. Wearing gloves would probably be good. If the leaves are dry enough, you can probably just run your fingers down the stalk and get most of them off. Stick the crumbly leaves in a container of some sort. Throw out the stalks (compost or something). (By the way, I strew my dried catnip stalks on the driveway for a week or two--the smell when the car backs over them is lovely.)

You will have quite a few little stems mixed in with your leaves. You can leave these in, or go the extra labor of picking them out. Your choice. I try to pick them out because I'm not sure whether a cat will get one in an eye some day. Put the finished leaves in a covered container.

What if you have no hot sun to speak of? Catnip CAN be dried indoors in a spare bedroom or something. It just takes longer. The more you spread it out, the faster it will go. Or if you've only got a little of it, tie it together at the base with string and hang it upside down somewhere till dry. I'd suggest having at least some air circulation too--leave the door to the spare bedroom open.

A friend and fellow shipmate tells me that the stuff I dried this year is so potent even her catnip-insensitive kitty can smell it! I'm taking my five-year-old over this weekend to watch her kitties freak out on the fruits of our labor.
 

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Posted by Lady R of Ashwood (# 4788) on :
 

quote:

---

It sounds like you might be suffering from Fungal Gnats. If so fly spray for the adults and repeat as necessary. Reduce soil moisture and add 1 teaspoon of white vinager per pint of water when watering. They feed on decaying organic matter in the soil in their maggoty form

---

Thanks Goodric. You will all be delighted to hear, no doubt, that I had a good poke at the soil today after starving the plants of water for a couple of weeks, and most of the nasty blighters seem to have gone (although there are still a lot flying around my bathroom, where there are no plants, making me suspect the flying ones might not have been related after all!)

Cheers
 

---

Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
No probs. I wonder if you have a little bit of black mould in your bathroom (its a pain for me no matter how much we clean and ventilate)? If so they may be enjoying pastures new.... Sometimes they take residence in sneaky places like in the most cracks of window frames and such where you sometimes get a little fungi too.
 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
(By the way, I strew my dried catnip stalks on the driveway for a week or two--the smell when the car backs over them is lovely.)

---

Really? Can't stand it myself. It reminds me of skunks. But I suffer, I suffer for my cat.
 

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Posted by gizzie (# 11715) on :
 
I just can't grow catmint. Every plant I buy is immediately completely obliterated by the two cats who enjoy some minutes of fleeting feline hallucinogenic ecstasy.

We too have had a very good crop of black grapes this year after a hot dry summer. the variety we have is called Black Hamburg.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I've heard of growing catnip in (and through) a chicken-wire cage, so the cats can't destroy it instantly--but that may take more trouble than you feel it's worth.
 

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Posted by Ann (# 94) on :
 
Last year I planted catnip under an upside-down wire hanging basket and the stuff lasted all year, despite the cats. A hanging basket is about the right size and easier to sort out than chicken wire. Unfortunately, it died over the winter. And the lavender had taken over that corner. I shall have to try again in the Spring.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Dang. Wish I could get lavendar to take over anything at all. I can grow catnip with great abandon, but something the rest of the family would like? Mmmph.
 

---

Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Dang. Wish I could get lavendar to take over anything at all.

---

I know the secret, and I think I may have shared this on these boards before, but anyway: I once worked in the garden of an 18th-century church in Connecticut. Nobody else was paying much attention to the plants, so I got to put in what I liked. I planted half a dozen lavender plants (L. intermedia "Grosso") on the south side right up against the foundation. They grew and grew and grew to my shoulder height---about 4 feet or so. I figure they liked the exposure, and lime was probably leaching from the foundation---as you may know, they're alkaline-loving.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
Lavenders- they like to have their roots baked in the summer, and the poorer the soil the better they are scented, as the oils are more concentrated (I understand!). Treat em mean.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Um, I have a ferocious middle Midwest southeastern exposure which is very difficult to keep watered. Dandelions grow great there--everything else, not so much. Would lavendars like THAT???
 

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Posted by The Prophetess (# 1439) on :
 
Quite possibly. I'd try other Mediterranean herbs too, such as rosemary and thyme.
 

---

Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
place where I worked a few years back had a baked bank that they planted up with herbs, including those mentioned, also varieties of sage (purple, silver, green). It was a wonderful sight year round, requiring very little maintenance. I think the tip is to plant each shrubby herb in a patch of bare soil allowing room for expansion to full size. The smell was super and I used to regularly gather bunches for cooking. Thinking of sage, a few years ago I got a packet of seed of "painted sage", an annual variety that grew with coloured leaves (pink or purple or white) above green ones. Looked lovely in the flower beds, and being leaves rather than flowers, lasted all summer. I just can't seem to get hold of it since. Has anyone else grown this plant?
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
The hollyhocks that I had planted along a sunny, dry, southern-exposure had a bad summer. I got tired of looking at them and dug them all out (and have the sore back to prove it)! Now, I'm thinking about planting some daylilies or Asian lilies (not sure of the difference) there. The previous homeowner had the Stella D'Oro daylilies growing there when we moved in, and you see those everywhere around here. So I'm thinking maybe a different variety or varieties, with different colors. Does anyone have experience with daylilies? Any suggestions? Bulb season approaches. Many thanks.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
I just can't seem to get hold of it since.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Goodric:

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
I just can't seem to get hold of it since.

---

Might this page be of help, Aunty?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
a baked bank that they planted up with herbs

---

quote:

---

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I guarantee you that bank wasn't in the American Midwest.

---

Well, technically it was in a Wood Near Athens.


But I once worked with a bloke who lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and we exchanged email about runner beans (or maybe French beans). We planted them at about the same time in May (IIRC). Six weeks later his had fruited. Mine hadn't even flowered, and were mostly destroyed by snails. On the other hand his were dead and dry by the end of August and I was picking beans into October.
 

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Posted by Goodric (# 8001) on :
 
I just wanted to boast how my runner beans are still producing in abundance. Took a whole bunch of them to one of our Harvests - and loads of flowers too.

Sadly, in these parts, it is feeling autumnal and I don't suppose the first frosts are too far away and will kill off the remaining blooms and put paid to my bean fest.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
Today we harvested the remainder of our grapes (8 trays worth) and tomatoes in anticipation of the impending frost. I suspect that we will make up quantities of grape juice, tomato soup, and tomato sauce in the next few days. The grapes hadn't been pruned last winter or watered all summer, and were quite tasty. (Most of the 6 plants were quite productive as well.)

The favourite tomato was an irregular yellow one that was quite prolific and tasty also - unfortunately the label is unreadable so I will have to try to find what it was. Most of our varieties are open polinated, so we've saved seed for next year. Unfortunately our Siberian varieties got planted too late to fruit, but we might put them in the hothouse and see if we can keep them going.
 

---

Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:
The hollyhocks that I had planted along a sunny, dry, southern-exposure had a bad summer. I got tired of looking at them and dug them all out (and have the sore back to prove it)! Now, I'm thinking about planting some daylilies or Asian lilies (not sure of the difference) there. The previous homeowner had the Stella D'Oro daylilies growing there when we moved in, and you see those everywhere around here. So I'm thinking maybe a different variety or varieties, with different colors. Does anyone have experience with daylilies? Any suggestions? Bulb season approaches. Many thanks.

---

If you're anything like me, Mamacita, you might find the big, triploid hermerocallis hybrids--the ones in shades of pink and grape-purple and squash-blossom orange with the ruffled edges--to be a bit much. I'm getting so blooming refined that even Stella d'Oro irritates me. So I would recommend that you go for some of the older, simpler varieties. Of these, IMO, Hyperion is the best. It's been around forever; the flower, which is a pure, clear yellow, is large, but not too thick-petalled, and, best of all, it's fragrant. They grow quite tall if they're happy. Another good one is called 'Corky'; it's hard to find these days (so if you find it, snap it up) but is starting to come back: Corky has elegantly small golden flowers on tall scapes. The species hemerocallis, hemerocallis flava (the Lemon Lily--very sweetly scented) and hemerocallis fulva (which is the old tawny daylily) are always pleasing.

White Flower Farm used to offer a bargain jumble of fifty daylilies, to be planted with daffodils. With that, you get a huge variety of height, colour, flower shape, and substance, but it's a lot of fun.

The Asiatic lilies are a whole nother story: I have lost so many to lily beetles in the last decade that I now just enjoy them in other people's gardens and avoid the heartbreak. (ETA: Asiatic and Oriental lilies are true lilies: they grow from a --rather delicate--bulb. Daylilies, aka hemerocallis, grow from a root)

All daylilies will be bone-hardy in Chicago.

Lavender, and the mediterranean herbs, in my experience, cannot endure the climate of the Upper Midwest.

[ 04. October 2006, 06:11: Message edited by: Amos ]
 

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Posted by chukovsky (# 116) on :
 
My dwarf French beans are still fruiting, too, and my autumn raspberries have started - shame I've only got a couple of plants of each.

However one lot of tomatoes are still green (though they seem to be slowly ripening, and to be yellow when ripe! I planted a few varieties). All the others are only just starting to flower, if that. All those wasted interesting seeds! The first ones were flowering in JULY and they fruited not long after but as I say are only just ripening, the others were also planted I think in April and are doing nothing. Nada. Zip. Next year - buying plants I think. Although I've done that twice and they haven't done as well as the ones I've planted from seed.
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
We're just beginning to enjoy our tomatoes. There are only about a dozen tiddlers which are just ripening this week although, to be fair, this is from a couple of plants which grew from over-ripe tomatoes from last year's crop which we chucked out into the flower bed and which we've done nothing to since (no stake, no fertiliser, no nothing), so, considering the neglect, they haven't done too badly at all.

Haven't had time yet to start pruning the climbing roses, so running late there - now scheduled for the weekend after next.
 

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Posted by chukovsky (# 116) on :
 
You do live about, ooh, 250 miles further south than us...
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
...I guess so; plus there's global warming.
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by chukovsky:
... All the others are only just starting to flower, if that. All those wasted interesting seeds! The first ones were flowering in JULY and they fruited not long after but as I say are only just ripening, the others were also planted I think in April and are doing nothing. Nada. Zip. Next year - buying plants I think. Although I've done that twice and they haven't done as well as the ones I've planted from seed.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Beenster:
I actually tried .. These pots are made of iron it seems. OK - thick plastic but it is soooooooooooo resistant to my charms and efforts in poking holes.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wet Kipper:
any ideas when the best time is to hack to bits, er I mean, ruthlessly prune my hydrangea bush is ?

having moved into the house in January, it was all cut back already and it blossomed and bloomed to a great size (Great meaning large, not meaning fantastic)

are leaves supposed to die off first, or should I just hack away at it. The flower heads are only now just beginning to die off, some are still full of colour.

I'm keen to do it before the council stops taking garden rubbish for the winter

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
A few weeks ago I planted bulbs for the spring, like what it said on the instructions, but this Oct. has been so mild that they're starting to come up already! Will they flower again in the spring or are we going to have confused bulbs for ever?

---

quote:

---

Prune these hydrangeas only in the summer BEFORE August (to be safe). Some experts believe these hydrangeas may be pruned even into August, but this might be risky.

---

quote:

---

If those stems are removed (pruned) in the fall, winter, or spring, the bloom buds will be removed, and there may be little or no bloom the following June/July.......or the vast majority of hydrangeas, pruning after about July will result in fewer blooms the next summer.

---

well that sounds like a risk I'm more than willing to take
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
I discovered 4 courgettes and a cucumber yesterday when looking around the garden (not on the same plant, you understand!).


We shall have the courgettes tonight with the first leeks (they're a bit small, really), parsnips and runner beans from the freezer to go with our salt marsh lamb and nice bottle of merlot (is the the recipe thread, the gardening thread or the family food favourites thread?).

And we picked the last of the tomatoes yesterday - still nice but not as sweet as they were, not surprisingly.

M.
 

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Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
Thinking of courgettes...

I should soon be moving to a place with a garden!!! (finally!)

Im very much excited about the prospects of courgettes in particular but also other easy to grow veggies and plants...

I expect to be moving about end of december so will ask then what I should be doing in a scraggy garden in winter!!
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
If you have some outdoor space just now you could plant up some pots and then take them with you when you move. I have a couple of pots by the front door. I planted some variagated shrubby stuff in the middle, and a trail of ivy dangling over the edge. Then I scattered some bulbs, covered them with potting compost and then planted some winter pansies on top.

This gave me a lovely pot during most of the winter, and then in spring as the winter pansies were dying off the snowdrops started peeping, afterwards crocuses and daffs appeared.

It took maybe about 2 hours to buy and plant the tubs, and they gave colour and interest for at least 5 months. This summer I put in some fresh compost and shoved in some pelargoniums.
 

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Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
Sadly Im in a first floor flat... hence why Im so excited about moving to a place with an Outdoors again

First time in nearly 3 years .....
 

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Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
We had hard freezes Wednesday night and Thursday night, which finished my annuals off. Even the valiant fuscia, which had surivived the earlier frosts met it's end alone in the night. Today I will clean up the signs of the carnage and see if the rosemary can be brought in or if it's too far gone. Ah well.
 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
Our tomato plants just will not quit. I thought we'd got the last, but one of the silly critters has started popping out 3 more toms. The plants are looking quite scraggly and I've been willing them to die for a couple of weeks, but they just keep producing. Not bad for 20p and some space in our living room window.
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
*bouncing this up for a new season*

So, green-fingered shipmates, what have you been up to in your garden? Since moving last summer, the garden here has been mostly ignored (although the bulbs I planted last september have come in wonderfully in the front and are a riot of dwarf irises, crocii, with daffodils growing hard and even, in a sheltered pot, the first brave peeks of a tulip. I saw daffodils out today (early even for my south-coast location) so I hope we don't end up with a sharp frost to ruin things.

Anyway, on to the back garden. We've dug over and prepared a veggie patch about 1.4 x 2.4 m - not huge, but certainly enough (we hope) to get something edible out of the garden, and I've been persuaded by a friend to turn my pots to produce-bearing too. I can't resist seeds, and I've done a swap with that friend, so we've got multiple varities of carrots, tomatoes, courgettes, peas, beans, peppers chilli and "normal", onions. calabrese and other delights. I'm thinking about investing in link a bord to make some raised beds over our plot - so we're going to end up with 1m x 2.5m, I think. Whilst the soil is OK at the moment, the lumps of clay within it are just waiting to turn to brick come the first real sunshine and I think a raised bed should get over some of this problem to start with (I hope so, at least)

So any tips for an almost-first time veggie grower? What's peeking through your garden?
 

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Posted by gizzie (# 11715) on :
 
Excited to see this thread again, makes me think that spring is coming.
This weekend is the first time I have been out in the garden since December when I was still planting bulbs.. Just been clearing up and planting a few polyanthus and some lovely mauve miniature irises in flower.
Yesterday I started getting my fuchsias out of hibernation. I had quite a large specimen of ´Checkerboard´which I plant outside in the summer and train to climb up a fence. Well when I got it out and watered it, I really wondered whether anything had survived. There were no shoots at all on it. I went back today to look at it and there were about ten tiny pink shoots about a quarter of an inch long! Ive never seen a fuchsia grow that quickly!
 

---

Posted by RainbowKate (# 9331) on :
 
I used to have two small palm trees in large pots out on my balcony. They died last winter, and never did well on the balcony anyway since I get very little sun.

It gets very hot and humid here (Virginia, USA) in the summer, 90's or so from late June-September, but my balcony is largely in the shade. A bit of afternoon sun, but that's it. I'd like to plant some kind of bulbs out there, but before this place I'd always lived in places were I got lots of direct sun so my experience is with sun loving plants.

Anyone have suggestions?
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Really, really pleased to find this thread instantly, when I was about to check where it had travelled to.

I was fighting with my jasmine yesterday: it's been trying to take over the whole yard, spreading everywhere, and so I was pruning it like mad. I filled a whole black bag with it, and planted some in the "garden" across the road where there are trees and the council has not planted anything for two years... I hope it will grow there as much as it's been thriving with me.

It attacked me and poked my eye with a strong stick yesterday - feels sore, but it only jabbed the white bits of my eye.

I've also decided I need to throw out my two old clematis plants and scrub their pots and plant new ones...

Can't give advice though..
 

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Posted by mertide (# 4500) on :
 
Rainbow Kate: Have you tried Clivia Miniata? They do very well in dry shade.
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Another question rather than any answers I'm afraid.

My flat is one of two in a converted house. The garden likewise had been split in two - I got the bit that was nearest the house, paved with a couple of tiny beds. However I've just bought the other half off my neighbour. I need to pull down the fences, move the shed, lift up paving stones, remove some concrete and then I can start thinking about creating a garden! (Anyone wanna come and help???)

Anway, most pressing questions are:-

- how do I get rid of a number of Buddleia that are growing through the paving stones? They must be about 20' high. Is chopping and digging up roots the best/only option? I suspect that once a garden's got Buddleia they're hard to get rid of and I know they grow ferociously fast - anyone got any experience?

- how does one go about moving a garden shed?

- there's a beautiful white climbing rose that will really need to be moved. It's got very very straggly as it hasn't been looked after for years. Is there an optimum time for cutting it back and digging it up for moving?
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yangtze:
(Anyone wanna come and help???)

---

quote:

---

how do I get rid of a number of Buddleia that are growing through the paving stones? They must be about 20' high. Is chopping and digging up roots the best/only option?

---

quote:

---

- there's a beautiful white climbing rose that will really need to be moved. It's got very very straggly as it hasn't been looked after for years. Is there an optimum time for cutting it back and digging it up for moving?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yangtze:

- how does one go about moving a garden shed?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by obble:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yangtze:

- how does one go about moving a garden shed?

---

The easiest method is to get half a dozen strong people to help you, and pick the shed up and move it in one piece <snip>

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yangtze:

- how does one go about moving a garden shed?

---

The first step is to inspect it to see how it is built. Wood floor or bare earth? Metal or wood? Any foundation involved?

We have a large wooden shed for the tractor that I have moved several times, about 2.5m x 3.5m with heavy timbers under the floor (to support the weight of the tractor.) I can move it by myself if necessary, although an extra person makes it easier. If your shed doesn't have a wood-framed floor you can place some long planks under it.

My moving method (that I use for other heavy items as well) requires the use of two ancient discoveries - levers and rollers. First look for rollers that are appropriate for the ground you have to pass over - if it is rough then round logs 10 to 25cm in diameter may be the best choice. For smoother ground I've gotten steel tubing perhaps 5cm diameter cut into shorter lengths for me at a metal disposals. Plastic water pipe might work if the shed is light or you use enough of them. I got a number of 12cm logs intended for fence posts and cut them into 1m lengths because the shed only touched the ground on the two long sides - sometimes something that goes all the way under the shed is better (depending on what is under it.)

Next for the levers - some 5cm thick planks about 2m long should work. You need an assort of fulcrums of differing heights - I used a stack of short pieces of board, logs, bricks and other handy items. Ideally something that you can stack to various heights as needed. Work the end of the lever under one corner or side of the shed, insert a fulcrum under it, and push down on the far end. Hopefully the corner raises enough so you can get a small piece of wood or a brick under it. (This is where it is really good to have a second person - holding down the end of a lever while inserting a wooden block 2m away is not always easy.) Repeat all around the outside until the shed is off the ground, then keep raising it a bit at a time, stacking more boards under the shed and for the fulcrum as needed. Eventually you should get it high enough to slip the rollers underneath instead of the stack of blocks/bricks.

Once you have the shed on rollers it is easier to move. Sometimes. Actually, things tend to slide on the rollers more often than rolling, but either method is much better than trying to carry it or slide it over the ground. You can use the lever again hear by putting the end slightly under the back of the shed and prying up - that should nudge it forward a bit. The same method applied to the sides will slowly steer it around a corner. Just keep track of where all of the rollers are to make sure that the shed doesn't fall off, or that one gets lost underneath where you can't reach it to pull it out. You'll have to move them from the back to the front. A half-dozen strong blokes wouldn't hurt to push it, but make sure they don't push it too fast and off the end of the rollers.

Then just take it slow and do a little bit at a time, and you will be amazed what you can move.
 

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Posted by geroff (# 3882) on :
 
I have just started a thread in All Saints about the possibility of a garden based meet in the UK sometime this summer.
I would post a link but I am not sure how to do this within the Ship!
 

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Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
Well, before our temperatures plunged the night of January 29th (last day we were above freezing--in fact, we've only gotten to 20F once since February 2nd), the crocus and daffodils had started to emerge. As they're now buried beneath 5" of snow, I haven't a clue what's happening. Once we get a thaw, I need to cut back the clematis from last year and pulls back some of the leaves I let cover the beds along the driveway so the lily of the valley can emerge properly.
 

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Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
After the blizzard we had last Tuesday, and the Alberta Clipper that came through overnight, everything is now buried under 18" or so of snow. I can barely see the tops of my azaleas and lavender. I really want it to be spring now.
 

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Posted by bush baptist (# 12306) on :
 
Spring? It's full summer here, and our garden is producing its head off, with a special effort in the tomato line, and capsicum, zucchini and pumpkin also rolling in. But the heat and the dry have crushed any hopes we might have had of green leafy things, even good old silver beet, the most forgiving vegetable I know.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ferijen:
What's peeking through your garden?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ferijen:
What's peeking through your garden?

---

On a quick trot round the garden between showers yesterday I spotted the following in flower:
The last single bloom on a winter aconite
Viburnum bodnantense "Dawn"
Winter Jasmine, nearly over
Clematis cirrhosa 'Jingle Bells', which has been flowering since the end of November, and has about a week's worth of flowering still to do.
Christmas Box
Snowdrops, various varieties
Spring Snowflake
Cyclamen Coum
Sweet Violet
Lenten Roses-many pink & purple shades, and white
Crocus, various varieties
Primula
and, to my surprise, a few flowers already out on the Forsythia.

The only veg out there at the moment is Rainbow Chard, which has lasted through from last year.
 

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Posted by PeteCanada (# 10422) on :
 
Just popped in to post that my Christmas Cactus, which is a contrary thing, has finally decided to bloom. I think it is a Lenten plant. It gets later every year.
 

---

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
Still 2 or 3 days minimum before the snow melts off the garden beds. Snow drops and crocus had begun sprouting prior to the blizzard--I'm hoping they'll be ready to bloom in the next week or two.
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
We've now finished assembling our vegetable plot - 2.5m x 1m, so hardly huge, but enough (I hope) to get out a decent crop of salad and a few peas for the year. I've also got chillies and tomatoes on the windowsills of my home, but its still a bit cool to prompt germination.

The long term forecast is for relatively mild weather for the next month. I think, therefore, its time to turn my conservatory into an impromptu greenhouse for the year (being leaky, and in bad need of repairs/rebuilding, its not much use for anything else). Hopefully next weekend I'll start planting up my flower seeds - I have some petunia, salvia, and some rather lovely looking nastusiams ("Summer Carousel"). But our new house has shady, tree-dominated gardens and extremely clay-like soil, so there's a lot of groundwork still to be done.
 

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Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
We have great soil, but a terrible problem with moles - which is a new one for us (rabbits, squirrels, and all the usual invertebrates, but never moles). We have a couple of sonic mole repellent thingies, one of which sems to be working, but the other one has three beautiful fresh molehills right up against it.

We're not bothered about having a perfect lawn, but parts of it are starting to look like a ploughed field. Any suggestions (bearing in mind that I am a complete wuss, and wouldn't want to actually hurt them. Just send them next door ...)?


[punctuation]

[ 25. February 2007, 20:02: Message edited by: PeaceRose ]
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Daffodills, crocuses, and at least some of the street cherries are in bloom in London now. Photos tomorrow
 

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Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
When I moved into the house (about a month ago) it was wildly overgrown - so far we have dug up the rubbish and spent ages digging the soil/ adding compost/ removing old bits of things and it looks just ripe to plan things...

Ive put some "instant colour" annuals in and a few shrubby things(cikle ones)

The herb garden didnt get off to a good start as Id used herbs from tescos which i think were designed to live on the windowsil rather than outdoors.... so either ill have to go to a garden centre or sew seeds for the basil and things that didnt like being put outside.

As Ive got an (almost) black slate Im thinking of gradually building it up each season over time, as theres nothing there now to base it around.

We have family visiting for The Wedding from ozzy land around last 2 weeks august/first week of september...

Any ideas for things i could buy/plant now that would look lovely then? All ideas welcome - whether its from a garden centre ofrom seed - only criteria is that I can get hold of plant now/soon or plant it now/soon and that it will look good *then*
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
The helebores in my garden are really doing well, giving pink and white flower colour in contrast to the daffodils. I love this time of year when the flowers show us a promise of what's to come.

Also, I was pleased to see that when I planted another helebore (addicted, me, never!) yesterday that the soil under a horrid leylandii hedge (not mine!) is beautifully rich and full of worms - it might be the "tea" from my wormery that I've been feeding that bed with to help give it back the nutrients taken by the hedge. Hopefully the summer will bring stronger plants there than in previous years.

Now counting the days before planting my pea and bean seeds..... 3 days to go....
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
The moles are visiting you for a reason--probably lunch. I'm not certain what moles eat, but vaguely remember hearing that they like Japanese beetle grubs (you know, the kind that live in and under lawns and just beg to be dug up?). You might look into it. If you do have a lot of grubs, you can get that organic Bt stuff (bacillus thuringiensis) to spread that gets rid of them for years to come. If that's what's attracting them, the moles will probably move on, too.
 

---

Posted by obble (# 10868) on :
 
I believe that moles like eating earthworms best, but will eat any other small creatures they come across.
 

---

Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
I'll look into the BT stuff, but we have done a fair amount of digging, and there doesn't seem to be anything odd in the lawn soil - the soil is really lovely, which I suppose suggests that we might have a goodly population of earthworms.

I think there must be a massive mole community around here in general too. When we go out we see vast numbers of molehills. We have a pleasant, if repetitive, conversation that goes, 'They have far more molehills than we do. And their soil's worse, too.'

More than anything, I'm concerned about the potatoes I'm about to plant. The potato bed is alongside the worst patch of molehills, and it really won't do them any good to be tunnelled through.
 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisydaisy:
when I planted another helebore (addicted, me, never!)

---

Me too! They seed themselves so freely, and I can't bear pulling them out, so my garden is gradually being taken over by them. It's a good job they look good for so long!
 

---

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
To deter the moles have you tried something like a windmill in a half-buried bottle? Aparently the rattling puts the moles off.
 

---

Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
Emma, I went to a garden centre today and suddenly there are HUNDREDS of seed varieties around. I've just planted some indoor trays today which should (will) flower June-September. I had some pretty Petunias the other year which were dead easy to grow from seed. Do you have a sunny wall where you could grow some Sunflowers? Or sweet peas? Or marigolds? I've found those all easy to grow and great for colourful niceness in the garden.

I think I'm going to plant some radishes this week...
 

---

Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
I think I'll try the windmill idea - it should look interesting anyway. I hope I'll be able to figure out which way the runs go, given the mass confusion of the molehills.

Borage is really easy to grow from seed - throw it anywhere, and it'll grow - and the flowers are beautiful. You can put them in Pimms, too, either frozen in ice cubes or just on their own. I love multi-purpose plants.
 

---

Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by PeaceRose:
I think there must be a massive mole community around here in general too. When we go out we see vast numbers of molehills.

...

More than anything, I'm concerned about the potatoes I'm about to plant. The potato bed is alongside the worst patch of molehills, and it really won't do them any good to be tunnelled through.

---

The moles (or, more likely mole) won't eat the potatoes - they are carnivores. They make lots of tunnels then patrol them to see what tasty worms, insects or other things end up in them. They are not social animals, which is why I suspect that you are infested by just one. A single mole can easily cover an area 50m square. In fact, I can look out the window and trace the route of one that came 200m up the hill through the neighbor's field towards our garden.

The only damage we had with moles in the potatoes was that they burrowed right under the soaker hose where digging was easiest - this went right through the roots of the plants and exposed them to the air, which they didn't like. After we removed the mole the voles used the tunnel and chewed on a few potatoes, but there was no significant damage to the crop.

Mole control: one approach is to kill all your earthworms, but that surely does more damage to the soil than the mole does. I've tried most of the various deterrants such as noise makers and euphorbias: they might discourage building a new tunnel nearby, but doesn't really chase them away once they get established. The only approach I've had success with is trapping them. And because moles have a very keen sense of smell and rarely come to the surface, they aren't very cooperative.
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Re the grubs--my understanding is that they aren't in the soil, they're on top of it, right under that nice little carpet of grass thatch. Basically, if you peel back your turf, you may see some. Or you may not. Don't know which to hope for!
 

---

Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
I'm sort of sneaking in here with a confession of sorts.

We have recently been offered a large piece of land to cultivate. We plan on doing this with friends. Mr D is already getting quite excited about his potatoes and leeks, his fruit trees and his raspberry patch. All I can do is think "It's all going to be Very Hard Work" The patch is overgrown, and although the soil is good in places, it's fairly poor in others. I know I will be expected to aid and abet in this venture, but I can't get enthusiastic. I'm sure I will love the veg & fruit, but the digging and weeding...aargh.

How can I enthuse myself to this task? I know I can think of the rewards, and that may help, but does anyone really like weeding? I want to love it, like the lady on Grow Your Own Veg (or Grow Your Own Prog-Rock, as Mr D called it, on account of its soundtrack) but I can't get excited.

Although I am looking forward to the chickens that we plan on getting....
 

---

Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
I think you need to set up some job definitions. If he's really excited, then the heavy digging should clearly be his!! The chickens, however, could possibly be your job. Do this while he's still excited.

Then get yourself a book like Bob Flowerdew's 'The No Work Garden'. It's a lie, of course, but he does talk a lot of sense about the things that do and don't need doing. And he has a lovely pony tail. If your aim is good, tasty fruit and veg, then weeds will only need removing if they are going to interfere with the things you're growing.

The best way to get real enjoyment out of the garden is to put on a wide straw hat, hold a little trowel in one hand and a cool drink in the other, and tell the man where to dig.
Charles Barr
 

---

Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
I've just spent 2 hours raking over the ground already dug by Mr D to find weeds. It was actually rather pleasant being out in the hot sunshine.

And our gardening neighbour gave us some leeks and 2 fresh eggs. Which was nice!
 

---

Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
Dormouse, I've found that raspberries are very difficult to rein in once one gets them established---in all likelihood your problem will be how to deal with a superabundance of raspberries!

We've got hyacinths and gregii tulips poking their tips up along the front walk. It is supposed to get up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit today---marvellous!
 

---

Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dormouse:
I've just spent 2 hours raking over the ground already dug by Mr D to find weeds. It was actually rather pleasant being out in the hot sunshine.

And our gardening neighbour gave us some leeks and 2 fresh eggs. Which was nice!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by PeaceRose:
The best way to get real enjoyment out of the garden is to put on a wide straw hat, hold a little trowel in one hand and a cool drink in the other, and tell the man where to dig.
Charles Barr

---

This quote is prominently displayed in the Carex household!
 

---

Posted by ReginaShoe (# 4076) on :
 
First, a praise report - my specially-ordered Spanish Roja garlic is starting to sprout! I was cheering tonight when I saw the first shoots coming out, as I had been really worried about whether they would. First I had let the cloves sit too long before I planted them last fall and they got rather dried-out, then right after I planted them we started one of the snowiest winters in recorded Colorado history, then my husband got the bright idea of putting an "ice skating rink" on a tarp right on top of them. Man, I love growing garlic - it really can take some punishment and keep on going.

Second, a question for the folks here; has anyone tried solarizing your soil? If so, any particular tips, such as where to get the clear plastic? Basically, we love growing Romano beans but our soil now has a bad infestation of fusarium root rot fungus, and solarizing the soil is the only way we can get rid of it. (We're doing it on half the garden per year so that we can still do some growing - we just planted winter rye on the half to be solarized so it won't be too ugly between now and summer.)

Finally, Dormouse, the real thrill of gardening is hard to describe, but it has to do with watching living things respond to your care. (Though I tend to pick things that don't need too much.) Tending a thriving plant goes beyond the satisfaction of a job well done, such as a well-written report or a delicious homemade meal - it's more like that warm feeling you get when your kids make you proud. That's my experience, anyway.
 

---

Posted by Ethne Alba (# 5804) on :
 
The past two years has seen me gardening in five different gardens.

We now have:
Back:
Bare.
Badly grassed ( think Very badly grassed).
White painted concrete fence bases.
Ruddy red, wooden, fencing all round.
Side path to rear gate.

Front:
Bare.
Badly grassed ( see above)
Walled, but so badly it Will need to be redone, esp as it's alongside a pavement.
Drive
And a place where gate could go, but it's in wrong place.

So far the pots that moved with us have been planted out with cheap-and-cheerfuls- just in order not to be humiliated by the abundance of colour and style from the rest of the street!

To add to the mix we have a dog.
And the gardens ( front and back) are small.

Questions?
Where should we start?
Should we be thinking about raised beds?
At what point do we replace the front wall?

manythanks.
my enthusiasm is tiny and the project appears daunting!

[ 14. March 2007, 08:20: Message edited by: Ethne Alba ]
 

---

Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
If you can think about raised beds, do!! Especially if you are prone to back ache. It is sooooo much easier to pull a few weeds as you go along if the beds are higher.

If the area in the back that is badly grassed is fairly small, level it and put down turf, then just make sure it doesn't dry out until it's well-established. It's a quick and easy (ish) job and will give you a real boost because it shows immediate results.

I've filled lots of gardens in the past with the cheap shrubs from Woollies, Morrisons, Wilko* etc - as long as you check they're alive before you buy them, and put them in straight away, they tend to do pretty well - and they're so cheap that if you decide you don't like something in the future you can take it out without too many qualms, but in the short term the garden will fill up nice and quickly.

The wall probably needs doing as soon as you can - it will be harder to do if there are plants you want to keep growing up against it, and, anyway, it will give you another boost if it looks nice.


* Not sure if you're in the UK, but I expect there are equivalents everywhere!


Oh - and my early clematises are covered with big fat buds, the wisteria has little tiny flower buds, and there is a bullfinch eating the flower buds on one of the damson trees.

 

---

Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
hmmmm. M garden is looking much prettier now, but still a lot of hard labour to be done. Ive got sweet peas planted in a pot with canes tied up, which should be nice, and some seeds planted.

Whats the difference between a rose climber and a rose rambler?

Im wanting somethings to cover my back wall and looking at rambling/climbing plants with wires and sticks and things...

As im poorly I wont be doing much for a while - but its fun to get excited about the warmer weather
 

---

Posted by Badfundie (# 9422) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by ReginaShoe:
Second, a question for the folks here; has anyone tried solarizing your soil? If so, any particular tips, such as where to get the clear plastic?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Emma.:

Whats the difference between a rose climber and a rose rambler?

---

quote:

---

Im wanting somethings to cover my back wall and looking at rambling/climbing plants with wires and sticks and things...

---

Ivy covers walls faster than any other native plant. It is very fast growing, hardy (it can grow in temperatures as low as freezing - it has its own antifreeze ) Its evergreen, and insects and birds love it.

Grape vines are only in leaf for six months of the year, but when established they can grow very very fast. Long-term project though - you want two or three years to get the roots up to size.

Dont touch so-called "Russian vine" with a bargepole. (Some sort of Polygonum IIRC) It is also very fast, but scrawny and ugly, especially in winter. And it is far too closely reminiscent of Japanese Knotweed, which is an Abomination unto the LORD, to be seen out in public.

Don't forget runner beans. They are true climbers, look and smell beautiful, have lovely flowers, and can put on three metres in two months. The problem with them is snails will eat them bare in days if you let them. You either have to put down poisons (not fun on an edible plant) or be prepared to do nightly murder amongst the molluscs.

The most glorious of our common garden climbers is probably Wisteria, but developing a good one is a lifetime project. Plant one now, in the hope that future inhabitants of the house will praise you.

Honeysuckle is lovely of course. Get a native type that will smell good - so good! - and require almost no work, as long as you put up some canes for it to grow along.

Clematis and loads of other plants such as climbing jasmines can be grown into other climbers or trees or shrubs but are not themselves able to provide cover.

Camellia doesn't really climb any mroe than a rose does, but it can be persuaded to throw itself over a trellis or other support, and is beautiful. I think it takes a little looking-after though - I've never grown one myself.

And whatever you do you will probably get bindweed. Don't knock it, the flowers are truly beautiful. And it requires zero maintenance!
 

---

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
First crocus of the season bloomed in my back yard today!

Sieg
 

---

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
About 150 miles north, I've got about 1 inch of daffodil peeking up.
 

---

Posted by Laura (# 10) on :
 
Crocus everwhere and my neighbor's daffys are up. I went to get soil improver to day and hope to dig it in my own 5 by 20 patch of flower garden later today. Of course, we're supposed to turn from 75 to 39 overnight tonight w/ freezing rain tomorrow.
 

---

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
We went from 67 to 50 in less than an hour last night and bottomed out at 37. Got up to 49 today and low tonight of 25 is expected. Love that midwest weather!
 

---

Posted by Ethne Alba (# 5804) on :
 
what are the small clusters of yellow ?eggs in my potted up over winter large pots?
 

---

Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:

quote:

---

Im wanting somethings to cover my back wall and looking at rambling/climbing plants with wires and sticks and things...

---

Ivy covers walls faster than any other native plant. It is very fast growing, hardy (it can grow in temperatures as low as freezing - it has its own antifreeze ) Its evergreen, and insects and birds love it.

Grape vines are only in leaf for six months of the year, but when established they can grow very very fast. Long-term project though - you want two or three years to get the roots up to size.

Dont touch so-called "Russian vine" with a bargepole. (Some sort of Polygonum IIRC) It is also very fast, but scrawny and ugly, especially in winter. And it is far too closely reminiscent of Japanese Knotweed, which is an Abomination unto the LORD, to be seen out in public.

Don't forget runner beans. They are true climbers, look and smell beautiful, have lovely flowers, and can put on three metres in two months. The problem with them is snails will eat them bare in days if you let them. You either have to put down poisons (not fun on an edible plant) or be prepared to do nightly murder amongst the molluscs.

The most glorious of our common garden climbers is probably Wisteria, but developing a good one is a lifetime project. Plant one now, in the hope that future inhabitants of the house will praise you.

Honeysuckle is lovely of course. Get a native type that will smell good - so good! - and require almost no work, as long as you put up some canes for it to grow along.

Clematis and loads of other plants such as climbing jasmines can be grown into other climbers or trees or shrubs but are not themselves able to provide cover.

Camellia doesn't really climb any mroe than a rose does, but it can be persuaded to throw itself over a trellis or other support, and is beautiful. I think it takes a little looking-after though - I've never grown one myself.

And whatever you do you will probably get bindweed. Don't knock it, the flowers are truly beautiful. And it requires zero maintenance!

---

Do all of the above work equally well with wooden fences (we did have a passion flower on ours until the conservatory builders killed it off ) and I want to take the advantage of a bare fence to creosote it this w/end but then I want to re-cover it.
 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:
want to take the advantage of a bare fence to creosote it this w/end but then I want to re-cover it.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ethne Alba:
what are the small clusters of yellow ?eggs in my potted up over winter large pots?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Badfundie:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ReginaShoe:
Second, a question for the folks here; has anyone tried solarizing your soil? If so, any particular tips, such as where to get the clear plastic?

---

Do you live near a Murdocks or some other farm supply store? The prices aren't as low as Home Depot, but the quality is better. Boulder Hydrophonic and Organic Center is a good place for supplies and advice. And of course there's always McGuckins (in Boulder).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Don't forget runner beans....The problem with them is snails will eat them bare in days if you let them. You either have to put down poisons (not fun on an edible plant) or be prepared to do nightly murder amongst the molluscs.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisymay:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ethne Alba:
what are the small clusters of yellow ?eggs in my potted up over winter large pots?

---

Slugs?

---

Are they a bit big and translucent? The slug eggs I've seen have looked almost like fish eggs. Bigger than some, actually. The clusters of tiny yellow eggs that I get are Mexican bean beetles, but you may not have problems with those in your area. (Don't know where your area is!)
 

---

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
NO wisteria on wooden fences unless you want to see the whole thing pulled to bits --wisteria is lovely but mean and strong, strong, strong. I'm told that the Japanese kind is slightly less thuggish, but that's not saying much.

Steel I-beams might do.
 

---

Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
what a beautiful day! thinks I. As soon as I get home from church I'll pop round to the allotment and finish digging over the far section.

As I am on my way home it starts chucking it down with sleety snow. Bugger! now I can't do it- to add insult to injury the snow has now gone and it's bright again, just that the soil's way to wet to dig now.

Such is the lot of a whinging gardener!
 

---

Posted by Laura (# 10) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
NO wisteria on wooden fences unless you want to see the whole thing pulled to bits --wisteria is lovely but mean and strong, strong, strong. I'm told that the Japanese kind is slightly less thuggish, but that's not saying much.

Steel I-beams might do.

---

You should see what the wistaria did to my parents' wooden arbor. It looked like a monster had ripped it to shreds!
 

---

Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
Ta for the climbing ideas (big thanks Ken for that fab post) I think i will try and tie up/train/whatever some roses as I love them, but will also think about clematis, ivy, jasmine and honey suckle now

[ 19. March 2007, 12:20: Message edited by: Emma. ]
 

---

Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:
want to take the advantage of a bare fence to creosote it this w/end but then I want to re-cover it.

---

If you are going to treat you fence with creosote it will remain bare for a very long time! Plant life and creosote don't mix, so use some other preservative.

---

quote:

---

UK gardeners, be warned, winter is returning.

My fault... I removed the fleece surrounding my over-wintering pots on Tuesday, and have to cover them up again tomorrow, if the forcasts are to be believed

---

It didn't quite freeze down here last night but dropped to 3 degrees celsius, and will do the same tonight; bit worried about my parsley in the herb garden
 

---

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
I've just read Ken's post about climbers, and add to be careful if you go for a passionflower vine - once planted it (or it's descendents) is there forever! But in the right place it can be a good evergreen cover, with beautiful flowers and lovely fruit (not edible in S England though), sometimes at the same time.
 

---

Posted by gizzie (# 11715) on :
 
Yes I agree, daisydaisy: My passion flower seems to be virtually indestructible, and climbs all over the neighbouring shrubs as well.
Another climber which is spectacular while it lasts is the blue Solanum. But it is so vigorous and sprawling that unless you have practically cast iron supports for it it will be pulled right off a fence in a summer gale. That´s why we never seem to be able to keep one for more than three years.
 

---

Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
We did have a passionflower on the fence which was very robust - until we had the conservatory built just before Christmas and the workmen killed it

On a different note, does anyone know an effective remedy for stopping cats crapping on my lawn. The cat in particular is our own whom we've had for nearly six years with no difficulty. Last winter (ie:05-06) she started using the back garden as her toilet for a short while; we put it down to the ground being frozen as she stopped doing it when it got warmer but this winter, which has been very mild, she's been doing it virtually daily. We've tried buying repellent pellets but they don't seem to work.

Any ideas?
 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
I've managed to kill off a couple of passion flowers over the years, probably by injudicious pruning. It seeds itself fairly freely 'though, so is easy to replace.
My husband eats the pulp out of the fruit, although it seems totally tasteless to me. (yes, I do mean the common blue passiflora caerulea, not p. edulis; he has strange eating habits)

Solanum crispum Glasnevin on the other hand seems to cope with an annual pruning...otherwise I'd lose the roof off the gazebo!

Clematis are my favourite climbers, and think I can find at least one in flower in my garden. every week of the year (except this week, when the last flower has gone from c. cirrhosa Jingle Bells and c. alpina Jaqueline Du Pré is still in bud.
 

---

Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :
 
I've killed off a fair number of clematis in my time as they just don't like my heavy clay soil. I love them but they don't like the combination of cold heavy soil in the winter and very dry in the summer. In theory I should be able to improve the soil with muck but the clematis are growing through roses and in a fight between the two the roses win every time.
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Our native Clematis and many of the Asian species are serious lime-lovers, and often flourish in poor soil. They can grown on practically bare chalk on the South Downs. Not really clay-loving or muck-needing plants at all.

But there are many other kinds - you need to suit the plant to the soil. Read what it says on the packet I suppose!
 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Poppy:
I've killed off a fair number of clematis in my time as they just don't like my heavy clay soil. I love them but they don't like the combination of cold heavy soil in the winter and very dry in the summer.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Our native Clematis and many of the Asian species are serious lime-lovers, and often flourish in poor soil. They can grown on practically bare chalk on the South Downs. Not really clay-loving or muck-needing plants at all.

But there are many other kinds - you need to suit the plant to the soil. Read what it says on the packet I suppose!

---

That is a bit like telling a computer programmer to read the manual Far too simple.

Anyway, the backs of packets are all written by some Dutchman who wants you to plant it in the wrong place, see it struggle and then get a new one next year. Tis all a cunning marketing ploy.
 

---

Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Gah! Feckin' cat's shat on the lawn again! If I was a more vindictive type and if she wasn't in all other respects a Nice Cat, then I'd lie in wait with an air rifle...
 

---

Posted by Laura (# 10) on :
 
We have the azaleas that ate Chicago all around our house. They are starting to block half of the front windows. When can I cut them back and how drastically? They need to be about two feet shorter. They will be blooming in about a month, so I shouldn't imagine it's good to cut them back before that.
 

---

Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:
If I was a more vindictive type and if she wasn't in all other respects a Nice Cat, then I'd lie in wait with an air rifle...

---

You need a pump action water pistol.

 

---

Posted by Laura (# 10) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by PeaceRose:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:
If I was a more vindictive type and if she wasn't in all other respects a Nice Cat, then I'd lie in wait with an air rifle...

---

You need a pump action water pistol.

---

These are excellent on squirrels who steal birdfeed. I see no reason that it wouldn't discourage a cat.
 

---

Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
Ahh - is there anything as satisfying as getting a direct hit on a surprised squirrel and watching it somersault into the air?

I graduated from using them on the cats that thought my lawn was their litter tray, to the aforementioned thieving squirrels. If you can get the cat just as it is performing (so to speak) you will get the most benefit (and satisfaction).
 

---

Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I was thinking of water pistols too - I use a big, fairly powerful one (but not so strong as that one on Amazon!!!) to chase off the big wood pigeons that watch out for any food left for little robins, tits and blackbirds, and they are so-o-o messy these huge pigeons. I once actually sent some water into a window of another house on the corner, and had a neighbour come and ask what was going on.

 

---

Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
So, a sawn-off pump-action water pistol it is, then; attempts to reason with said feline have failed - Mrs B caught her in the act the other day and shouted at her, and the cat just looked at her as if to say, "Excuse me, but I'm doing a poo; how about some privacy."

Thanks for the suggestion...

[ETA - on a happier note, I am pleased to see that my parsley seems to have survived the cold snap]

[ 22. March 2007, 12:00: Message edited by: Matt Black ]
 

---

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
They're hardly in any condition to take over Chicago, but it does appear that my two dead looking azaleas are actually not dead but just napping. The lavender out front, however...
 

---

Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
Its only 9:30 and I've already had a productive morning. //pauses for satisfaction//

Anyway, the first of my carrots are peeking through (yippee) which I realised when I got up close & personal to plant my summer garlic and a second batch of spring onions (the others have been in four weeks without a sign, so I'm close to giving up on them. Also planted some spinach and lambs lettuce. Another few weeks and I can plant some more leafy stuff and my salads for the summer will be guaranteed! Also planted my sunflowers and, on the windowsill, my indoor flower seedlings are starting to come on.

Now then, the new question is: how many tomato seedlings do I need to have to make sure they don't get all eaten/infested/fail. I've got 9 at the moment, of which about 6 are healthy...
 

---

Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
Is the water pistol advice the same for cats that think your garden is a litter tray? The two cats from next door have obviously been used to using our garden for said purpose and now we've moved in they dont see a reason to change.
 

---

Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
I've heard it said that orange peel is good for discouraging cats - they don't like the smell or something. Scatter it amongst your flower beds?
 

---

Posted by obble (# 10868) on :
 
I've often found a bucket of water tipped out of an upstairs window to be more effective than a water pistol...
 

---

Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
My blackcurrant bushes ("Ben Lomond" and a Bulgarian variety) are leafing out! The foliage looks just like green lace. Weeding their bed today, I also noticed white shoots at the base of each plant---the canes for next year's crop, I assume.

Hyacinths and gregii tulips are up---though looking a little brown and tired at the tips after our fickle winter.

Peach tree ("Carolina Belle") made it through the winter, amazingly, and is budding out. I tied the main branches to stakes in the ground today---a trick that, I hear, induces the production of fruiting hormones.

Flowering quince is budding. Quince tree proper is also budding but looks suspiciously gray in spots---I think I planted it in too poorly drained a location.

Now we are planning raspberry and strawberry beds as well as a setup for tomatoes in containers on the back patio. So happy spring is here at last

[Deleted duplicate post -- Mamacita, Heavenly Host]

[ 26. March 2007, 03:08: Message edited by: Mamacita ]
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
Spring indeed! A record high here in Chicagoland. We arrived home from a 500+ mile round-trip today and found our daffodils completely up and in bloom!
 

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Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
Thanks, Mamacita.

Are your daffodils against a south-facing wall, or something? I haven't seen any round here.
 

---

Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Emma.:
The two cats from next door have obviously been used to using our garden for said purpose and now we've moved in they don't see a reason to change.

---

I have heard that lion poo is a great deterrent to cats. It is available at some zoos, safari parks and garden centres.
 

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Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
The scaredy-cat plant, which is a type of coleus, is supposed to work against cats. I've used it to protect my roses from rabbits, and it seemed to be successful.

The flowers, which never get mentioned much, are lovely too - quite exotic.
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Thanks for the anti-cat suggestions. I have as a precaution now bought a small mobile water cannon off Ebay for £2.99...
 

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Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
Now have spied tiny blossoms on blackcurrant bushes.

I covet a Mauviel copper confiture pan at Williams Sonoma but shall probably wind up making jam in stainless steel...
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Anna B:
Thanks, Mamacita.

Are your daffodils against a south-facing wall, or something? I haven't seen any round here.

---

Yes, it's actually the side of our garage, along the alley, and the only sunny spot on our property. A totally ugly site, so I tossed some inexpensive daffodil bulbs alongside it, and it brightens it up. Now I need something low-maintenance for the summer.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
A little moan!
I ordered fruit trees and bushes from T&M in January. The gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes arrived five weeks ago, and because I am creating a new fruit gaden, and want to plant everything at the same time, to get spacings right, I heeled the shrubs in temporarily, until the trees arrive.
They are coming nicely into leaf, but I'm still waiting for the trees.

I've chased them up three times, but keep being fobbed off.
I feel quite sorry for the girl at the end of the phone, as she can only tell me what the despatch department tell her ("This week" is the latest promise).

I think there must be quite a lot of customers in the same position as me, as their number is constantly busy.
 

---

Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mamacita:
Now I need something low-maintenance for the summer.

---

Daylilies?
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
My potted big pinkish magnolia has had loads of flowers and is coming to the end of them - a bit ahead of a huge magnolia tree in Sussex Gardens where the lovely prunus trees have finished blossoming, and my potted camelias are having loads and loads of bright reddish flowers - more than ever before .

I've got to put the huge jasmine roots into a bigish square Conran Shop marble-ish whitish pot- and will have to get some help from family as it will definitely need strong people lifting both the roots and the new pot. The jasmine is just beginning to flower and so is the orange blossom bush.

One of the lily pots is well on the way - why does a red/orange lily grow and flower well before all the others?
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisymay:
One of the lily pots is well on the way - why does a red/orange lily grow and flower well before all the others?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
blueberries Seconding the ericaceaous compost thing. They are naturally found in mountains and moorland. A common plant in the noth of Scotland - where they are called by their proper name, bilberries.

---

Actually, they also grow in north Wales, and I used to go to pick them with my nain (grandmother), who used then to make fabulous pies and jams. They are much smaller - and tastier - wild off the mountains. Nain was the eldest of nine children, and her parents were short of money, so when she was a child she used to go picking the berries and sold them for pennies.

I remember the name "bilberries" but they were also called "wimberries" as well.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
And I used to pick them up in the highlands - and we called them "blaeberries", but I also remember hearing "bilberries".

I have been wondering about planting some in one or two pots in the yard. How big do they grow as they are nowadays? Maybe I should wait and hear what yours turn out like, Welsh Dragon...

This afternoon, I managed to get my huge jasmine into a much larger, stoney white sqare pot, with help from a couple of members of my family. After they flower, I'll have to get a ladder out and fix as many of them up into the high fence (about 20 feet) that some already are stuck to, as I can fix.
 

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Posted by Basket Case (# 1812) on :
 
I think my 2 citrus have made it through the frosts and I am thrilled. The Owari Satsuma mandarin has the best little seedless oranges I have ever tasted - it was like heaven picking & eating the few I got last year.

The other is a Bearss lime, which I mainly use in cooking & drinks.

My raspberries which I planted last year have lots of green fruit - so far they have been easy peasy (cross fingers).

I planted my 1st tomato yesterday, and I am working on a shady grotto-type area in one corner, where I planted Bleeding Heart, maidenhair fern, Brunnera, native oxalis with pink flowers, and a vine and groundcover - whew! So far all is well there.

My roses, though.
I planted them fairly hastily, in what used to be the lawn, and I am reaping the nonrewards of my lack of diligence.
My "Mary Rose" has aphids, although otherwise it looks very healthy.
The other 3 are French Lace, Summer fashion, and a great white heavenly-smelling old rose with a green eye (brain fade on the name).

Under my oaks, the native shrubs which I planted are looking good, and I'm doing a little (natural & simple) path on that side of the yard.
 

---

Posted by Basket Case (# 1812) on :
 
I'd sure love to be able to add photos to our posts - but I'm sure if that were possible, it would already be happening.
But it sure would be nice.
 

---

Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
Basket case- why don't you post apicture of your crop and roses on Flicka or similar and post a link?
 

---

Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
If you would like to see some pictures from my garden, have a look here - there's quite a few pictures of last year's roses lower down.

I have to confess, though, that the recent picture labelled 'baby auricula' has since grown into a weed ...
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
Something is trying to use my vegetable patch (I see shoots of garlic, carrot, beetroot, spinach and more developed bits of rocket, radish and lambs lettuce) as a toilet. I suspect, from the size of the droppings, that it is a fox, although I'm at a loss as to how it gets in to our fenced-in-garden (if it can keep a dog in, I'd expect it can keep a fox out but...).

I can put rose thorns over it, I can even (if this wind calmed down a bit) but the little greenhouse I have on the patch. But how can I deter it from coming in?
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Well, the pump-action water-gun has now arrived and has been tested on the cat. We will probably not be able to catch her in the act so have adopted the policy of firing at her whenever she is on the lawn to deter her from going on the lawn at all
 

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Posted by Basket Case (# 1812) on :
 
Auntie Di, great idea!

The 1st one will show how my roses aren't getting enough sun due to oak tree. Then I will diss my groovy hometown for their tree ordinance which says I need a permit (big bucks) to prune it significantly.

I will post a link ASAP.
 

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Posted by Laura (# 10) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:
Well, the pump-action water-gun has now arrived and has been tested on the cat. We will probably not be able to catch her in the act so have adopted the policy of firing at her whenever she is on the lawn to deter her from going on the lawn at all

---

Which water gun did you go with? (Shades of hermit's gun thread years back...)
 

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Posted by Basket Case (# 1812) on :
 
My back yard is a bit messy, but here goes:

Photos of my back yard, taken today.
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
It's called 'Splash Attack' and comes fitted with it's own back-pack reservoir. Range of about 15'.
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
Basket Case, your Brunnera is gorgeous. I planted some a few years ago and never got those pretty little blue flowers.
 

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Posted by Basket Case (# 1812) on :
 
Gee thanks, mamacita. I wish I could take some credit, but I just bought it ~ 2 weeks ago, with flowers already on it
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Inspired by the survival of the parsley the other week, I have now expanded the herb garden to include some (purple?) thyme, rosemary, mint and a (very small) bay tree. The Greek oregano I planted last year appears to have snuffed it however - any ideas as to why? Is it worth replacing or is the same thing likely to happen again?
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
We have lots of lords and ladies in our garden (check out that link!).

Some places seem to describe it as a precious wildflower; the chap who had the garden before us (who is now gardening professionally) says it is pernicious and not to let it get a foothold in the garden or it will smother everything around it.

Anyone got an opinion on this?

(Also, I just asked Dave to get rid of a load of this - but he is now worried that he was attacking a proper plant, so we left half of what was there. We have a real "is it a weed or is it a "nice" plant problem!)

Are then any good plant identification books?
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
I don't know about the books, wd, but I'm sure the regulars here will have lots of suggestions.

In the meantime, I have the same "good plant or weed?" issue in my yard. We are enjoying our annual visit from the siberian squills. My neighbor says they're a weed. I think they're cute and cheery.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
Matt Black- I seem to remember that your greek oregano is a bit on the tender side, and there is an annual version as well, if memory serves, so it could be natural wastage. It might be worth getting some seed and treating it as an annual, sowing fresh each spring.
 

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Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:
We have lots of lords and ladies in our garden (check out that link!).

Some places seem to describe it as a precious wildflower; the chap who had the garden before us (who is now gardening professionally) says it is pernicious and not to let it get a foothold in the garden or it will smother everything around it.

Anyone got an opinion on this?

---

I have some in small quantities around the edges of the garden, and I love it. It has certainly not shown any signs of perniciousness - so far!

A weed is just a plant that is in the wrong place. At one of our previous houses we had love-in-the-mist growing as a weed - it was a nightmare, however pretty. Here, I have deliberately introduced a small, brown leaved sorrel with yellow flowers, and alpine strawberries (both weeds from previous houses) because they are pretty, controllable, and good ground cover.
 

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Posted by obble (# 10868) on :
 
Welsh Dragon,
It might be worth waiting to see if the half of your lords-and-ladies which you got rid of comes back again, or if the stuff you've left spreads before deciding if it needs to be removed properly - if you already have lots of it, you won't be creating that much more work getting rid of it next year rather than this, unless you let it take over more ground.


I generally work on the assumption that a weed is a plant in the wrong place, so if you think it's pretty, and it's not in the way of anything, it's not a weed. The exceptions to this are plants which I know to be set on world domination, such as bindweed, couch grass, and the offspring of any nearby tree which sheds thousands of seeds into the garden every year.
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
Moving on from weeds to compost heaps , does anyone have advice on these, particularly what you can and can't put in them?

We have inherited one that is "done" and another that we are filling up. Is filling up with weeds okay? We have been ripping out brambles apace, for example.

Also, I have been digging, literally, dandelions out of the lawn with a trowel, somewhat to Dave's consternation, as it leaves little holes. However, if we don't go to Australia to get the roots, they are going to come back. The lawn is quite green, albeit mossy in places, and I don't mind the daisies and clover. Is it worth getting the stuff you put on (I think after cutting) to fertilise the grass and get rid of weeds and moss?

And, regarding compost heap, is it okay to ut the dandelions in there? I noticed today that the yellow heads were turning to clocks in there!

Turning again to blueberries , I have been reading a bit more about them. The one we got on Sat is an Earliblue and I got a Goldtraube, which is a late fruiter, to keep it company. However, having attempted to cater for the emotional needs of my fruit-bushes, I now find that they require rainwater, or, indeed, bottled water, because they don't like the lime in tapwater. (No doubt they would also like compost that has been gathered at dawn by the hands of virgin princessses who are the seventh child of a seventh child).

Since we do not yet have a rain butt, and bottled water is expensive, for Pete's sake, does anyone have any advice on this? Would filtered water do?

And indeed does anyone have any advice on rain butts and the best one to get?
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Cheers, Auntie Di! I'll get a new one - it's only £2 at the local garden centre
 

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Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
If you put dandelion flowers or seed heads on your compost heap, you will get dandelions growing in your compost. And, as you have found, the flowers can turn to seed heads after being picked or dug up. Similarly, if you put fleshy weed roots on the compost, many plants will be able to grow back from fairly small pieces.

I like moss in my lawn. It's nice and springy, doesn't need cutting, and stays green when the grass goes brown in a drought.

Matt Black, Mr PeaceRose is delighted that I have played a part in conscripting someone else to the 'Pump-Action Water Pistols Against Cats Team' (PAWPACT).
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Thanks, but it hasn't stopped the cat, yet . Mrs B did manage to catch her once 'in the act' with the gun yesterday but, short of staking the garden out and trying to catch her when she 'performs', the only solution that I can see is to squirt her every time she ventures on to the lawn; this may seem harsh but, as Hilary Briss says in The League of Gentlemen, "we shall have to take steps..."

[ 04. April 2007, 11:15: Message edited by: Matt Black ]
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by PeaceRose:
If you put dandelion flowers or seed heads on your compost heap, you will get dandelions growing in your compost.

---

And this is bad because?
 

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Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
Because you're probably going to spread your compost on your flower beds or vegetable garden, and you're creating weeding for yourself by putting weed seeds into it. If you've already gone to the trouble of weeding the lawn of dandelions you probably don't want them in the beds.


[ETA If you shred the flowers you should be OK.]

[ 04. April 2007, 14:24: Message edited by: PeaceRose ]
 

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Posted by Clint Boggis (# 633) on :
 
I usually remove dandelion flowers and dispose of separately before they turn to seed. I started doing this frequently, religiously (!) several years ago and there aren't too many in my lawn now. Sometimes I go round digging up the roots, or rather sticking something sharp diagoanlly down to slice the root and remove what I can. This takes a few seconds and is very satisfying but does leave holes but I don't care!

I've never been sure what to do with several kilos of dandelion plant. Can I make wine?
.
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Or soup: Antonio Carluccio's Italian feast has a marvellous recipe for soup involving dandelions and stinging nettles - full of vitamins apparently!
 

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Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :
 
We (well, actually, I mean the three blokes out of the 6 person partnership)(Though I did some raking and weed removal, she adds hastily) have dug over about 100 metres sq of our enormous potager. Cyril has started on planting the strawberries in little plastic cloches, but other than that we've not planted anything yet. I'm guessing stuff needs to go in...
And, serendipidously, Mr D arrives back from Agri Sud Est (local garden centre) saying he's bought seed potatoes, onions, shallots, and seeds for courgettes and "green leafy things" YAY! I think we may be eating veggies grown ourselves this year.
I have bought the son of our Potager Partners a little gardening set for Easter, together with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Hopefully this will get another generation interested.
Now the Blokes have dug over the ground, I may get interested in planting stuff.

The chickens may become Next Year's Project, as I have to wait for Gerome (designated Builder In Chief) to build the Chicken Run, and he's busy renovating a house at the moment.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Today I planted vegetable seeds to cram into my tiny garden that is otherwise given over to ornamental plants. So come the summer I should be harvesting courgettes, radishes, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, spinach, runner beans and peas. That is if the seeds survive the birds and the seedlings survive the slugs and being sat on by cats who seem to think these things need to be incubated.
 

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Posted by Beenster (# 242) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt Black:
Well, the pump-action water-gun has now arrived and has been tested on the cat. We will probably not be able to catch her in the act so have adopted the policy of firing at her whenever she is on the lawn to deter her from going on the lawn at all

---

My mother has filled two empty bottles (the sort that squash or water would come in) with water. These are placed on their side at opposite ends of the garden. They keep the cats away 99% of the time.

Today, I am going out with my hedge trimmer and cutting back the bushes. Also some weeds are coming through.

What I am very happy to note tho, is that I planted a clematis last year and the recent sunny weather has definitely had a positive effect on it. It is spreading like there is no tomorrow. So, another little job will be to train it along the walls.

I have patch of garden that needs a bush. I want something flowering and attractive and probably would grow to about 3'-4'. Soil: London clay. Position: sunny. Any suggestions?

Thanks
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
I am trying to reclaim my garden slowly from under a mountain of tree (don't ask!)... though not breaking my back as the extension that's due to be built soon will put paid to any serious work I reckon, and I'll need to rethink the layout as I'll be sacrificing a lot of light to my increase in space .

1) I know you're supposed to leave daffodil leaves until they die off so that the bulbs can continue to absorb goodness, but they grew through the bits of tree, were straggly and untidy and now are lying all over the place and looking like my son's hair when he gets up in the morning. Will I regret it if I cut all the leaves off? Should I persevere? What are thoughts about the knotting of leaves which my gardening friend tuts about?

2) My Smudgelet was given a rose bush when he was adopted formally five years ago, so it's very special.... and is in the direct path of the minidigger. Would it kill it to dig it up and pot it for a while? If it would survive, what sort of compost should I pot it in?

3) In shifting all the leaves we found a mass of minibeasts that we've never seen before, and neither has my 75-year-old gardener friend. They don't stay still long enough to catch one and examine it, but they bounce and spring all over the place and then either scurry away or curl up in a teeny tiny ball that looks like a bit of dirt. They're very small - maybe about 2-3mm long and slightly longer than round, but can spring about 30cm off the ground repeatedly like on a trampoline. Any ideas what they are?
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
you're supposed to leave daffodil leaves until they die off so that the bulbs can continue to absorb goodness... Will I regret it if I cut all the leaves off? Should I persevere? What are thoughts about the knotting of leaves which my gardening friend tuts about?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:

2) My Smudgelet was given a rose bush.... Would it kill it to dig it up and pot it for a while? If it would survive, what sort of compost should I pot it in?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:

3) In shifting all the leaves we found a mass of minibeasts that we've never seen before.... Any ideas what they are?

---

no idea - but I look forward to hearing what anyone suggests
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
1) I know you're supposed to leave daffodil leaves until they die off so that the bulbs can continue to absorb goodness, but they grew through the bits of tree, were straggly and untidy and now are lying all over the place and looking like my son's hair when he gets up in the morning. Will I regret it if I cut all the leaves off?

---

I would advise against cutting the leaves off. If you could bear to wait until they have died back then you can dig up the bulbs, dry them out, keep them in a bag and replant them next year. If you do decide to cut the leaves, that would probably be alright but you may find the same issue arises next Spring.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the small, free standing, plastic greenhouse type thingies (note technical term!)? My garden does not have space for a proper greenhouse but I'd like to have somewhere I can nurture my seedlings without having to drive down to Devon and borrow space in Mummy D's one.
 

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Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
I think ferijen has one...??

Dolphy - I was just about to post to ask *why* people dig their daffodils up, and when and and and!

I thought bulbs were supposed to be left in the ground? I could quite happily go and dig up my daffodils (do you wait until the leaves look a bit dead?) but why? I guess it saves forgetting where they are in the garden?

Do you then keep them in a shed in the dark or somethign?

please tell this amateur gardener more

(were just off to buy scare-the-cat pellets although I am sceptical...)
 

---

Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Smudgie,

quote:

---

1) I know you're supposed to leave daffodil leaves until they die off so that the bulbs can continue to absorb goodness, but they grew through the bits of tree, were straggly and untidy and now are lying all over the place and looking like my son's hair when he gets up in the morning. Will I regret it if I cut all the leaves off? Should I persevere? What are thoughts about the knotting of leaves which my gardening friend tuts about?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Emma.:
Dolphy - I was just about to post to ask *why* people dig their daffodils up, and when and and and!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
2) My Smudgelet was given a rose bush when he was adopted formally five years ago, so it's very special.... and is in the direct path of the minidigger. Would it kill it to dig it up and pot it for a while? If it would survive, what sort of compost should I pot it in?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ferijen:
My mission for this afternoon is to re-create the flower beds in the front garden which are over-dominated with bushes. Wish me luck!

---

Good luck! I need to do the same but am waiting until Mummy d comes to stay

I agree that Wilkinson's is a good place to buy cheap garden 'stuffs'. We have another cheap place just opened here, similar to Poundland, where I got myself a wonderful lawn edger for £2!

I'll have a look at the small greenhouses and get back to you for advice, if that's ok.

I must sort the pots out this afternoon also since I'm told that the tomato seedlings will be ready to transport from Devon soon. There is a sadness behind this for us since Daddy d used to sort out the toms but I am determined to pick off the right leaves and shoots this year as they grow. Last year I managed to kill four of the six plants due to picking the wrong bits out, daddy d was not impressed.
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
Stubborn bushes and potato-style roots dug out, ground dug up, broken glass (clearly the current fractured window isn't the only casualty there's been) cleared, compost dug in, and a peony, bleeding heart, japanese lantern style thing and geranium, all root plants, put in, as well as a pack of blue-mix seeds and white-mix seeds (I've got quite enough going on in windowsills as it is, just wanted something easy!).

The root plants didn't look too healthy, but all of them showed some signs of life even if they didn't come out of the pack as expected. And I feel very achey. But it looks a lot better (even if just a heap of soil at the moment!).
 

---

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
Just to mention that I have never dug up my daffodil bulbs and when they don't have a tree on them they always grow rather beautifully and are a riot of yellow in the early spring. It was only the tree that did for them this year.
Actually, now that we have cleared all the bits of tree from the area, the leaves don't look so bad at all - mainly because the lawn is now completely done for (temporarily, I know) having been covered in tree for so long and the daffodil leaves are the only bit of green. It looks for all the world like that funny hairdo the kids seem to like where it's shaved really short all round their heads and there's just a mop of unruly longer hair flopping around at the top!

Immense thanks are due to my brother and my eldest son for their industrious and indefatigable tree-reducing endeavours today. The garden looks so much more presentable.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
I've not dug up daffodil bulbs either, and they've been doing fine - although I do wonder if they have a stroll around the garden over the winter because I'm sure they are in different places each year (could be my bad memory though!). I deadhead them as soon as they've finished flowering and give them a feed of potash (or a feed high in this) around now (thanks for the reminder!).
 

---

Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by dolphy:
[
I must sort the pots out this afternoon also since I'm told that the tomato seedlings will be ready to transport from Devon soon. There is a sadness behind this for us since Daddy d used to sort out the toms but I am determined to pick off the right leaves and shoots this year as they grow. Last year I managed to kill four of the six plants due to picking the wrong bits out, daddy d was not impressed.

---

Dolphy I know I keep asking questions (and thanks for the daffadil answers. Im now tempted to dig mine up, but after deadheading them I wont remember which were white and which were yello...!) but...

... Ive got tomato plants Im growing from seed, planted out in little tiny pots indoors still. Im hoping to put some in a grow bag outside etc etc (the variety says I can). So er... whats all this about picking leaves and shoots? I thought i just stuck a stick in for them to grow up?...


My garden has gone from being an overgrown bramble with big garage sized shed in it to no shed nad dug over beds to now having a nice selection of plants. It can get rather expensive though cant it.... buying a few "cheap" plants every weekend is adding up.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
You CAN pick out the little side shoots like the purists do, or you can ignore them altogether and still get gallons of tomatoes--in the Midwest, at any rate. I'm a lazy creature.

My daffodils have also gone for a stroll. Either that, or the squirrels are replanting them.
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
My shade garden is starting to awaken. The trilliums (trillia?) are popping up and starting to uncurl their leaves. Since we in the Midwest have been in the deep-freeze for the last two weeks, it's almost enough to make you believe that spring will come!
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
I love it when something nice pops its head out of the gloom to remind you that spring is on its way (or here) and summer is just around the corner. I think i'd miss this if I were to live somewhere with no distinct seasons.
 

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Posted by PeaceRose (# 11586) on :
 
Oooh, ooh! Snakeshead fritillaries! And cowslips in the lawn!
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 
Does anyone know anything about pests?

There seem to be a new 'breed' of something in my garden which I've never seen before. They are a bit smaller than ladybirds, have bright red backs and black legs and heads. They are a sort of mini beetle type thing. There are four of them on one plant at the moment, 'doing it'!

Any advice?
 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
Rocket and radishes for dinner tonight. Which I grew. From seeds.

//we interrupt this for a novice gardener interlude//

How Cool Is That? TO think that all that scrumminess (well, radishes aren't my favorite things in the world, but they'll do) come from little seeds!

[ 13. April 2007, 13:36: Message edited by: Ferijen ]
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by dolphy:
a bit smaller than ladybirds, have bright red backs and black legs and heads. They are a sort of mini beetle type thing.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ferijen:
Rocket and radishes for dinner tonight. Which I grew. From seeds.

//we interrupt this for a novice gardener interlude//

How Cool Is That? TO think that all that scrumminess (well, radishes aren't my favorite things in the world, but they'll do) come from little seeds!

---

That's not a novice gardener thing - or at least it shouldn't be. Seeds fascinate me - I have a 5 foot standard bay tree that I grew from seed, and it still staggers me that it happened, even after about 15 years. And eating stuff when just months before it was these little, dead-looking things - wow!

Enjoy your rocket and radishes!
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 
Originally posted by ken:
Are there any lilies around?

Nope, I hate lilies.

<What is it with my code?>

[ 13. April 2007, 14:24: Message edited by: dolphy ]
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 
Tangent.
Sorry if that sounded rude, Ken. It was not meant to come out in that tone of voice!
End Tangent.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by dolphy:
Originally posted by ken:
Are there any lilies around?

Nope, I hate lilies.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
What about fritillaries

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Thank you RoseofSharon, yes these beetle types are 'shagging' and munching their way through them!
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
What about fritillaries?

---

Yes, they are shagging and munching their way through them

So, do I zap them with the usual organic killer?

They are also starting to have a shag fest on my roses!

I've never seen these sort of beetles before...

Maybe global warming has something to do with it?

They are not camera shy though!

ETA: sorry for double post... no idea how that happened, unless they are now in my pooter!

[ 15. April 2007, 15:32: Message edited by: dolphy ]
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Kill them any way you can, dolphy. But it will probably be too late for this year's fritillaries. Next year, if there's a poison you can apply while watering, go for that, and start early.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
At least Scarlet Lily Beetle are easily seen, so can be picked off and squished ( I crush 'em with my thumbnail )
The larvae are more difficult, and I use a systemic insecticide on badly infested plants. I don't like to use insecticides, but will make an exception in the case of SLBs!

RHS advice.

[ 15. April 2007, 22:37: Message edited by: Roseofsharon ]
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Amos:
Kill them any way you can, dolphy. But it will probably be too late for this year's fritillaries. Next year, if there's a poison you can apply while watering, go for that, and start early.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
This sight lifts my heart every year at this time (or to be more accurate, usually a little later in the month).
The joy is greater each year, as each blossom time could be the last. The tree is under attack from armillarea mellea (honey fungus), which has already killed off several trees and shrubs in the garden.

---

Lovely pictures of your plants!

 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Take your pleasure where you can. Not only is honey fungus (and its relatives) a fascinating organism - one of the most highly structured creatures that isn's an animal or a plant, and with astonishing metabolic capabilities - it also tastes nice
 

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Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
Well, the freeze took out all but one flower bud on the first of the azaleas. I'm hopeful that the other two will bloom fully. Lilacs got bad leaf burn, but shouldn't be affected beyond that. The honeysuckle, though... :/
 

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Posted by jlg (# 98) on :
 
Hey! Siegfried, nice to cross paths with you again.

Lots of nasty weather here in the northeast this spring, and I haven't done anything at all Lo! These Many Years! for the front flower bed, but the faithful daffodils erupt regardless.

Old and well-established honeysuckle, lilacs (white and lavender- mostly wild) as well as irises and lily-of-the-valley (white and pink) and forsythia will do their thing. The odd ancient tulip bulb might send forth a feeble flower here or there. Perhaps the wild columbine will show itself again undr the white lilac. Or not.

I planted roses around our new gazebo in hopes of scent. We shall see how they survived this crazy winter/spring in addition to my ignorant culture (was I supposed to prune them in the fall?).
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by ken: it also tastes nice

---

but it's a high price to pay for a plate of mushroom risotto!

 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
Anyone got any advice on clearing our greenhouse before we start planting stuff in our gro-bags?

We weeded the floor last night (most of it). I got some Jeyes fluid which we (Dave prob) will use to clean the walls.

My Alan Titchmarch book suggested finishing off with a sulphur candle (sounded like something that the pagans in Burley might use in a ritual) presumably so the fumes kill everything off. So I'll just try to find one of those then.

Meanwhile, we sprayed the roses - there are quite a lot of them - having first removed as many diseased leaves as possible. There is a slight problem though, in that even Dave can't reach the top of the climbers to de-leaf and spray. Does anyone have any advice on what you do with climbing roses in that circumstance?
 

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Posted by gizzie (# 11715) on :
 
My advice would be..... beware of sulphur candles. I tried one a few years ago, the stuff is disgusting, not environmentally friendly, and is like acid rain if any leaks out from the greenhouse and settles on any hapless vegetation. I lost several bushes near the greenhouse then, and now just stick to the Jeyes fluid solution!
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:
... Meanwhile, we sprayed the roses - there are quite a lot of them - having first removed as many diseased leaves as possible. There is a slight problem though, in that even Dave can't reach the top of the climbers to de-leaf and spray. Does anyone have any advice on what you do with climbing roses in that circumstance?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
Welsh dragon, why do you need to spray your roses so vigourously?

---

Well, I have read that black spot is supposed to be particularly a problem from June onwards. of course, we have just had a warm spell, and the roses were flourishing early, so any pests have had an easy winter and have a nice long hot summer ahead (probably) to enjoy.

The stuff I have got up on the internet suggests that we need to spray the roses very thoroughly (every 2 weeks) and burn the cuttings and the BBC suggests pruning affected roses back hard in spring (and it is still spring).

I was very sorry to find so much of our rose arbour going yellow and spotted just in the space of the few days we spent on the Isle of Wight. It would be a great shame to lose our old roses, especially the climbers and the ones that have been trained against walls or over frames. So I'm happy to do whatever would help.

Re horse manure, it isn't hard to come by round here (though it's quite smelly stuff isn't it). How old does it have to be before you put it on roses? Also, I do have some special rose fertiliser granules - can they go on together?
 

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Posted by chukovsky (# 116) on :
 
You can buy manure in sacks from our garden centre, and I suspect that stables that sell it will advertise it as "well rotted" if it is...
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
roses are greedy buggers. they take any nourishment then can grab. I can see that a previously neglected garden will have a lot of residual black spot in the soil.

you will always get some black spot, and certain varieties are much worse than others- I have a bourbon and a de crecy that drop leaves what ever I do, while a "gypsy boy" seems impenetrable.

after years of squirting "rose clear" persistently I have throttled back, and just pick off leaves when I have the time and feed and water to support them, also regular yearly pruning. I just tolerate a certain amount of yellowing. To be honest, it doesn;t seem much worse for the reduced chemical input.
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
and a question: I have a covered compost bin, which takes all my kitchen scraps. As it is one of those with a small door at ground level, I never actually take the bin away, merely take the compost as needed from the bottom without stirring the whole thing up thoroughly. Thanks, I reckon, to this stability, there is a very flourishing invertebrate community in the bin, including some large, mottled grey-green slugs. now the question: when I removed the compost and put it on the allotment or round the garden, am I distributing slug eggs that will munch on the seedlings growing through it? If so, what should I do?

also, as a child, living in London, I was surrounded by lively, black spot free roses, growing huge and flowering freely. This seemed to be the case in every garden in London. I have heard 2 theories for this- which, if either, is right?

theory 1: dirty London air, heavy in sulpur from smoke, is a fungicide
theory 2: the London clay is so beneficial to roses that they fight off the effects of invasion with impunity
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Slugs can move themselves.

If compost hot enough will kill eggs though.

No blackspot here. The only rose in my garden has been in more or less continual bloom for ten years now - most winters there is never a day without at least one flower. It just came out with about fifty flowers though Lovely smell.

What we can't easily grow is lilies
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Welsh Dragon & Dave - are your garage camoflaging roses climbers or ramblers? It rather sounds to me like they might be ramblers, and the way these a pruned/renewed could be different to climbers.
On the whole.... Climbers:
- have long strong shoots
- have large flowers (on their own or in clusters)
- after a few years of inappropriate/no pruning tend to have nothing of interest except for in the sky
Ramblers:
- are vigorous
- have long flexible stems
- have small blooms in large clusters

One of the problems of ramblers is that because they are so vigorous they don't allow the air to flow as freely as with a more "open" plant and so any disease is trapped there and mould-type diseases love that environment.

It would take a few (3 or 4) years to get your garage covering rambler back to form, but will be worth it. I'd suggest that this summer just enjoy the blooms, then in about late August/September each year gie them some TLC. If you are able (I suspect not) lay the roses flat on the ground. Whether the roses are flat or in situ, choose about a quarter of the oldest least productive shoots and cut them down to the ground. Leave the new shoots and also the older but more productive ones. Encourage a more open growing structure by tying the shoots where you want them to be.

This is sharing what I have been learning from the RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening (excellent manual!) - I was given an unlabelled climber that I thought was a rambler, and an unlabelled ground cover rose that I thought was a rambler (actually, it's doing pretty well considering ), so I've asked each of these roses to do what they couldn't do, and I'm now working on getting the best out of the roses by renewal pruning - it's taking time, but is worth it.
 

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Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 
I was given a Solomon's Seal 3 years ago, and it has come up each year since, but still only the one stalk. Will it ever multiply or do I need to help it along (or buy it some friends)? I like it a lot but it looks pretty stupid on its own!

Mrs Whibley
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
The other thing to be careful about when pruning roses with black spots, is that you have to clean/sterilise the cutters - otherwise when you prune something else you spread the bug. I've done that

PS: what's a Solomon's Seal?

[ 22. April 2007, 20:26: Message edited by: daisymay ]
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
Daisydaisy, I think we will have to ask you round for tea, so you can advise us with the rose arch in view .
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:
Daisydaisy, I think we will have to ask you round for tea, so you can advise us with the rose arch in view .

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quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:
Daisydaisy, I think we will have to ask you round for tea, so you can advise us with the rose arch in view .

---

 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Maybe I've got a bit obsessive, but I wipe the secateurs after every cut now - even on the same plant, because I reckon that the black spots are not in every twig of the rose bush. I wipe them with anti-bacteria wipes. It's certainly been better than I did in the past.

Two of my rose bushes are no longer available to me because they were in the graden on the Centre I worked in, which has been closed down, and it was a pink one that had the blck spots, while the yellow one was fine. here in my yard, it's the Lavinia - pink again, while the yellow one is recovering from the black spots I've passed over.

Maybe it's better to be a bit obsessive rather than sensible...
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisymay:

PS: what's a Solomon's Seal?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by mrs whibley:
I was given a Solomon's Seal 3 years ago, and it has come up each year since, but still only the one stalk. Will it ever multiply or do I need to help it along (or buy it some friends)? I like it a lot but it looks pretty stupid on its own!

Mrs Whibley

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisymay:

PS: what's a Solomon's Seal?

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Polygonatum spp.

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I don't know the plant but I looked it up in some floras. Apparently it grows best in shaded areas, with mildy alkaline soil. They have rhizomes and so ought I would have thought to spread themselves of their own accord if given space and time.

Beth Chatto ("The Damp Garden") says they grow best if undisturbed. And just by including it implies it grows in damp places. Allen Paterson ("Herbs in the Garden") says it can take more or les anything except full sunlight, it will grow in dry soil.

Apparently it can be easily propagated by division of the rhizome - but of course you need more than one stem before that works!
 

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Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
Just set out 12 raspberry plants ("Heritage") and now must do the same with 50 strawberry plants ("Earliglow" and "Honeoye"). So far the rabbits have not discovered them---they will strip young raspberry leaves from the canes if given half a chance---so I have been working on a chicken-wire fence for the bed as well.

Blackcurrant plants are attracting bees like crazy! Who knew? No bee shortage here.

I lost a number of peach buds to our late frost---oh, well, there's always next year. The tree ("Carolina Belle") is putting out plenty of leaves, as are the apple tree (1 year old, 5 varieties grafted onto one rootstock), quince tree ("Aromatnaya", and flowering quince ("Toyo-Nishiki").

I think I may have lost several rosebushes in the late frost as well, and about half of my tulips and hyacinths refused to come up. It's my fault. Awhile back I posted on a certain Internet forum that spring in Chicago had finally arrived.
 

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Posted by Emma. (# 3571) on :
 
wow - it sounds ike you have a fairly big garden... (says she with her rather humble two raspberry plants!)

I'm religiously watering my little ones at the moment, and sometimes twice a day. I cant actually remember when it last rained here...
 

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Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
It's big, Emma, but a completely blank slate except for what we have put in. The developer's idea of landscaping was to put in extremely uninteresting shrubs, surround them with black plastic, staple said plastic to the ground, and cover it with red mulch.

I think the neighbors think we are mad for doing something different.
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Well, things are progressing - albeit slowly - on my garden. I still haven't moved the shed (though thanks for all the tips on how to do so) but the fences are down,I've hacked back the 5 buddleias that were growing through the paving and seriously pruned the roses (including a very vigorous climber).

My parents came up to help on Saturday and we:

- emptied out most of a raised bed (which will be knocked out completely and where I think the shed will go)
- rescued some of the plants that were in there: euonymous, fuchsia, pieris, bulbs (my predecessors had squeezed an awful lot into one very small raised bed)
- cleared out another raised bed (discovered what I think is a camellia hiding away in there)
- chopped back a massive bush (probably a berbera, leaves have been taken back to my parent's gardener for proper identification )
- chopped back the jasmine growing over from next door
- demolished a trellis (possibly demolishing my father at the same time as he trod on a rusty nail - see prayer thread)
- tidied, swept and watered

Everything is looking so much better now. Once I've moved the shed I'll really be able to see the garden and decide what to do with it. And we bought some nasty vicious poison to kill the buddleia roots.

Getting rid of the huge buddleia and bush remains is a challenge when you live in a smokeless zone and don't have a car!!
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
Wow Yangtze! When you've finished that I think yoiu'll be ready for a big tank of Pimms in the shade
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Indeed. Though that was mainly just what we got through on Saturday. Still got heaps more to do, including lifting paving, re-laying paving, replacing a whole end fence, creating raised beds..... and that's all before any planting can happen.

I'm feeling a wee bit daunted by it all but it's good fun.
 

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Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :
 
Thanks for the Solomon's seal advice. I have stupidly got it in full sun, so I think I'll move it to somewhere shadier - we don't have damp and shady.

Mrs Whibley
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Wow! Wow!

In my little back garden I have an Osmunda regalis fern. It dies back evey winter. On Tuesday there were some little fiddleheads just visible in last year's leaf litter. Right now, two days later, there are over twenty stems above ground, the largest of which are over two feet tall., above my knees. Its extending at about an inch every two hours!
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
Does anyone have any opinions or knowledge on what do do with or about a bumpy lawn? Dave is having probs with my hover mower and we wondered if this was because the lawn is too bumpy.

Also, re dandelions, I have been grubbing them out with a daisy grubber. Without the dandelions, the lawn has a sort of wild flower meadow feel, with different grasses, daisies, buttercups, clover and another white flower I haven't yet identified. With the dandelions, it just looks full of weeds.

There are products which fertilise the lawn and kill off the weeds and moss. Should I be using one of them? I'd rather not use weedkiller if that is a reasonable option.

[ 29. April 2007, 12:00: Message edited by: welsh dragon ]
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Those products have weedkiller IN them. Sorry!
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I just checked my own Solomon's seal yesterday and it has lots of new stems from the time I planted it three years ago. It's in a shady spot, so I think you're likely right about moving it.

Anyone got tips on a hydrangea that is struggling and never flowers? We're not pruning.
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
Are there products with a nitrogen rich fertiliser in them that don't contain weedkiller? It does seem that at least part of the rationale is that the grass in the lawn responds well to fertiliser and can beat off the competition from the weeds if well fed. But I haven't seen any product with lawn fertiliser and not weedkiller.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
Can't help with the bumpy lawn...ours is bumpy from ants nests, and I have no idea how to deal with them in such numbers!

In theory, frequent mowing encourages grass and discourages weeds.

That's not helping us, as the dandelions are practically stemless, and flower as soon as the bud is clear of the soil.
In addition to the 'wildflowers' you named, welsh dragon, we have common yarrow. Could that be the white one you were asking about?
In the illustration it is quite tall, but in a lawn it can flower at ground level...like our dandelions!
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Welsh Dragon, I'm tempted to try something for my lawn from Natural Gardening. But if you like the wild flowers & meadow look you might find they don't like such a rich soil after you've fed it. How green do you like your green?
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
Welsh Dragon, Alan Titchmarsh recommends feeding lawns with fish blood and bone meal- no weedkiller, and if you have stubborn weeds, one of those glyphosate paint pots can give localised effect. FBB can be scattered by hand onto the grass
 

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Posted by Sister Mary Precious (# 8755) on :
 
Any idea how to keep suckers from growing every year on and around the base of my fruit trees. Pear, Apple and Plum. Every year I cut them off and every spring a new batch is there.
 

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Posted by rosamundi (# 2495) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sister Mary Precious:
Any idea how to keep suckers from growing every year on and around the base of my fruit trees. Pear, Apple and Plum. Every year I cut them off and every spring a new batch is there.

---

This is a known problem for some fruit rootstocks. I'm not sure how to stop it, apart from doing what you're doing.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Where's the rain ???
I've just emptied a 3rd water barrel - I've still got 2 that are just over half full, but I'd be much happier going into May with a bit more in reserve (I don't just use it in the garden).
 

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Posted by obble (# 10868) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sister Mary Precious:
Any idea how to keep suckers from growing every year on and around the base of my fruit trees. Pear, Apple and Plum. Every year I cut them off and every spring a new batch is there.

---

It can be more effective to pull the suckers off rather than cutting them, I'm not sure why, but it seems to work - perhaps the new buds come off with the shoots? It may be worth rubbing the new buds off as soon as they start to appear, rather than waiting for them to grow into suckers. Also, are you cutting the shoots that come up round the trunk off at ground level, or digging down to the root and taking them off there? (The latter works better, as it stops them coming back again from just below ground level.)
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Today before making my packed lunch I thinned out the beetroots so I'll be having the first produce of 2007 from my garden

As for no rain (still no rain in sight) I've decided to make the most of having empty water barrels - it's the best time to add new ones to the chains of barrels - I want to try linking them at the base so it doesn't matter which one in a chain that I drain from. I'll need it much more this year now that I'm growing more vegetables than before.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
I have a chain of 6 water butts, in pairs, down my garden. Each pair is linked by the usual bit of tubing at the top, but the second in each pair has a length of hosepipe connecting the tap at the bottom to the tap at the bottom of the first butt of the next pair.
The first in the chain takes water from the house roof, and the 4th from a shed roof.
Suitably placed hose connectors allow for draining water off at points along the chain.

It works well for most of the year, but cleaning them, and then rejoining them without leaks is a nightmare! (As was getting the levels roughly right in my sloping garden!)

[ 03. May 2007, 08:34: Message edited by: Roseofsharon ]
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Roseofsharon - linking by the taps sounds excellent - so simple and obvious that I missed it I shall try that method. My garden slopes too, but very gently, and so far I've been able to take advantage of that.
I currently have 2 chains of 2 barrels (one for the front of the roof, another for the back of the roof) and one on it's own (for the garage belonging to next door).
 

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Posted by Saint Bertelin (# 5638) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Saint Bertolin:

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
ace move st bertolin- however, keep posting, so that we can be sure one of them hasn't pole axed you!

---

Just to reassure everyone, there have been no unpleasant incidents thus far. You can see the Hilda here and here. She'll need to be repotted fairly soon, by the looks of things. I'll try to remember to pick a larger pot up next time I'm at the shops.

Thanks to all for your help.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
daisy daisy- how did you get your beetroots to get going so well?

---

oo sorry it was the leaves of the thinnings that I had in my sandwiches not the beetroots themselves which are still far from round (imagine straight matchstick thin beetroots and that is them ). However the radishes (growing in a seed tray because I ran out of deeper containers) are looking promising and I reckon I'll be harvesting by the end of the week.

quote:

---

Originally posted by auntie di:
Now what do I do about my runner beans? I sowed them too early, in pots, and they're all getting on for a foot tall now, and getting a bit big. I've hardened them off through cold frame to outdoors, but they really need to be planted out this weekend. I'm convinced that this will be the signal for late frost. What should I do? They are due to be planted out in the allotment, not instantly close at hand.

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Like you I planted my bean and courgette plants far too early and decided during the week to be bold (foolish??) and plant them out (in a variety of sizes of tub trug - all in black, although the pink ones are very tempting) because I thought they'd get too leggy if I wait unti it's safe. I'm further south than you and close ehough to the coast, I think, to benefit from its warming effect on the air, so hopefully won't get a frost now. But that sounds rather like famous last words....
It's all these veggies (I've also got peas, carrots & parsnips growing in these buckets) that is causing my rain barrels to be so empty... rain is forecast on Monday
 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
I decided to try growing tomatoes indoors again this year, and this time I've found a more size-friendly variety. I've planted the seeds and have got 10 healthy looking seedlings already. Now to figure out how many I want to bring to full health (and if I've got enough window space and pots). I could be making lots of tomato sauce come the end of the summer.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
No veggies this year because my bean plants got their leaves and red flowers toasted by the hot sun and very few beans appeared - but nastursiums are blooming - orange and almost red, and a pot of little daffodils that I planted late when I found the bulbs I'd forgotten about.
 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
You may not have veggies, but nastursiums make a colourful and zingy addition to spring and summer salads. Yummmmm ...
 

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Posted by babybear (# 34) on :
 
I found a host of bulbs that I forgot about and only planted in Jan. The crocus bloomed just after Easter and the daffs are opens now.
 

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Posted by Alogon (# 5513) on :
 
Maybe this isn't the best place to put this link, but it belongs somewhere-- especially with Rogation Sunday approaching. What better time to meditate on it?

Developments like this give me hope that we have a future.

Sustainable farming. (I suppose that this link will present something else tomorrow or next week, but the description and the streaming audio program itself will be available for quite some time. Look for the first hour of May 10.)

This is about organic methods, personal responsibility, closeness to customers (both geographically and in other ways), elimination of middlemen, and the ecology that results from using the "chickenness of the chicken and the pigness of the pig." One of the guests describes himself, incidentally or probably not, as a "Christian Libertarian." This is actually traditional agriculture. The unnatural, false-economical, petroleum-gulping specialization of agri-business is the blip on the historical radar screen, and it is approaching its death-throes. Healthy alternatives, which respect the bounty that God built into the world and co-operate with it, are already being recovered.
 

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Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
My blackcurrant bushes have little strigs of green currants on them! I can hardly wait.

I've also decided to try a grand experiment and plant a greengage plum tree. Greengages are not at all common in American markets for some reason.

And little tiny fruits are swelling on the quince tree!
 

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Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :
 
Well, the hardest phase of spring planting is done. Since all 3 azaleas survived, I've planted two more to keep them company and added 2 more astilbe (one a creamy pink and the other scarlet) to fill in the gaps. Even better, I finally found monkshood (aconitium) at the nursery and put a pair of them at the back of the garden. I got a good deal on fuscias as well (they're not hardy enough to be perennial here), so put in 3 of them across the front. I also had an inspiration on what to plant next to my kitchen door, in a sunny, rather dry spot--mint! If mint can't survive there, nothing can!
Next weekend comes phase 2--the annual bed in front.
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by daisymay:
No veggies this year because my bean plants got their leaves and red flowers toasted by the hot sun and very few beans appeared

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You've still got time to plant runner beans. You can plant them as late as June or even early July if you want - they will mature in about ten weeks in sunny weather if you keep them watered, and will keep on producing beans till the first serious frost (which these days in the south of England is rarely earlier than late October and one year wasn't till February!)
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
thanks to an unexpected day off (carbon monoxide alarm sounding, school evacuated for day, boy was I distraught) I've actually planted out my runner bean plants today- very worried that it will suddenly turn cold, but they looked smart and solid in their rows!
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
maybe I should plant the beans...otherwise they will never grow when I try maybe next year...they do taste wonderful and the red flowers are gorgeous.

I've got quite a few pink Lavinia roses, and the yellow ones are finishing - I'm deheading them as that's the only way they flower again later; they do have gorgeous big red rose hips but I only leave a few..
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
My runner beans have only just broken the surface of the compost. I sowed all my seeds late, as the raised beds I ordered for my new veggie plot were not due until the end of April.
They still have not arrived...something to do with the timber shortage that is causing a black market in fence panels...and when they do they still have to be erected and filled.
If everything germinates I will have runner & french bean, leek, acorn and sweet dumpling squash, swiss chard, and courgette plants all without homes
 

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Posted by rosamundi (# 2495) on :
 
How do I re-pot a cactus without needing a tetanus booster? I'm thinking "make a cone of paper and hold cactus gently through that," but does anyone have a better plan?

I don't own any gardening gloves.
 

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Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :
 
We've put up some trellises in our garden and now we want to get things to grow up them. Can anybody recommend a clematis that is easy to look after and not too rampant?
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by rosamundi:
How do I re-pot a cactus without needing a tetanus booster? I'm thinking "make a cone of paper and hold cactus gently through that," but does anyone have a better plan?

I don't own any gardening gloves.

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The only time I've repotted cacti were a couple about 20 yrs old, with lots of long prickles and lots of furry prickles too. One was a round one, the other the sort that sticks its arms in the air. I took several layers of newspaper together and very carefully wrapped this around each plant. It was more successful with the round one, and was OK with the taller one. Although I don't have cacti now - maybe as a result of the attempts leading up to that solution

[ 19. May 2007, 21:17: Message edited by: daisydaisy ]
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
Rosamundi, I'm due to repot a cactus or two too and have read up in a gardening book that the thick-layer-of-paper approach is best. I think I may wear several layers of protective clothing, too, and use the barbeque tongs to keep a respectful distance from those rather determined prickles.

Apparently (and thank goodness) they are extremely tolerant to NOT being potted on and only need repotting when utterly potbound and with roots dangling manically from the drainage holes of the pot.. about once every twenty years or something.

I am delighted to have discovered I do far better at keeping cacti alive than any other pot plant. And what's more, one of my cacti has just had three babies
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I kept a cactus zoo for many years. Repotting is not so hard, just a bit frustrating.

First of all, which kind do you have? There are the kind with a few big or medium spikes (the best kind) and there are the kind with a zillion tiny hairs arranged in polka dots that look furry, but will actually embed themselves in your skin invisibly and Hurt like Hell™. This advice will work for either, but if you have the big/medium spikes, be grateful. MUCH easier to avoid. (IMHO the only time gloves are helpful is with the tiny hairs type, and I wouldn't depend on them.)

First of all, pick out an appropriate new pot. If at all possible, make this a cheap plastic pot of the sort you can cut with scissors or a knife and destroy the NEXT time you do this task. That way you get off easily next time. (To make it look good, you can just slip the whole thing inside a decorative pot when you're done.) Make sure there are good drainage holes--cactus roots will drown or rot otherwise. (That's also why you don't just use any old soil. It needs to drain very, very well.)

Go outside or lay down newspapers. Get yourself the cactus, a few kitchen towels, a pair of scissors, the new pot, and some cactus mix (special sandy dirt you get at the garden store).

Lay the kitchen towels down (one or two of them) and then lay down the cactus horizontally, in its pot, carefully on top of them. Look at the bottom of the pot to see if any roots are sticking out. If so, cut them off. (You'll never get it out of the pot otherwise.)

Then use your kitchen towels to wrap up the prickly cactus end and grasp it lightly. See if the pot will slide off. Usually it will.

If not, decide if you want to sacrifice the pot. If it's a cheapo thin plastic thing, you can cut it off and save yourself a lot of trouble. If you don't want to do that, then you get the fun job of tapping on the pot while pulling GENTLY on the cactus and trying to get it to come loose. A kitchen knife round the inner rim sometimes helps.

Once the pot is off (and the cactus still in one piece!) it's time to prepare the new pot. Put enough new cactus mix in the bottom of it so that the cactus will sit at the same level it did before. Pick up the cactus through the kitchen towels and put it in place. Then fill in with extra cactus mix round the sides and tamp it down carefully. (It helps to have someone else there who can hold the cactus vertical so you can fill around it, but if not, it's just awkward.)

Water it and let the soil settle. Add more cactus mix if you need to. Put it in a pretty outer pot, and you're done.

By the way, cactus are pretty tough. If a piece comes off while you are doing this, just set it aside to root in a separate pot, and voila! You've got a new cactus. If the WHOLE THING comes off from its roots, well, it's a goner--but you can comfort yourself by remembering that this only happens when it is already secretly dying because the roots have rotted through at surface level. In that case, make a resolution not to overwater or let it sit for days in damp soil next time. (Plant saucers full of standing water are Not Good.)

Sorry if this sounds totally over-detailed and picky. I thought you might prefer over-detail to under.
 

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Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
Lamb Chopped, you are a wonderful wonderful person.

*goes off in search of several layers of kitchen paper and protective clothing for her cacti who fulfil, between them, most of the "prickle" criteria mentioned above, especially the "furry looking tiny hairs that get secretly embedded in your skin and hurt like hell"!
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
adding on to Lamb Chopped's advice here, if your cactus isn't very old or incredibly pot bound (their roots do seem to like being snug) but is in danger of toppling over because it is bigger than its pot, a simple alternative to repotting is to plant the entire cactus, pot & all, into a larger pot to give it the balance it needs.
 

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Posted by rosamundi (# 2495) on :
 
Thank you everyone for your advice - I'm off to do battle! I can't help but feel I should have bought a full suit of armour instead of a roll of kitchen paper...

(I'd take photos, but I still don't have my replacement camera. It'd better be here before I got to Chelsea Flower Show on Thursday, that's all I can say).
 

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Posted by Nats (# 2211) on :
 
I've just planted out corgettes in my garden - so many plants I have too many and have had to put one under the rubarb! And one is by the tomatoes - I'm hoping they grow tall enough to cope with the corgettes underneath them. And some french bean like things from a friend that apparently don't need staking - well they have just had to go in the flower bed. If all the rest of my seeds do as well then I'm going to be seriously stuck for space! I did have to plant loads of corgettes though - I had sown green and yellow and couldn't remember which was which and wanted to make sure I had both!

Right, now the sun is going down had better go and water the lot....
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
We've put up some trellises in our garden and now we want to get things to grow up them. Can anybody recommend a clematis that is easy to look after and not too rampant?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
We've put up some trellises in our garden and now we want to get things to grow up them. Can anybody recommend a clematis that is easy to look after and not too rampant?

---

What time of year do you want it to flower? What aspect will it have (N.S.E. or W.)? How high & how long is the trellis you want to cover?

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quote:

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Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
...and probably summer flowering would be ideal.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

quote:

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Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
...and probably summer flowering would be ideal.

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May/June (with possibly a second flush in October) or July/Aug/Sept?
Any colour preference?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Badfundie:
Can someone here help me? My roses have developed hollow, pink pods on some of the leaves. The pods are about 1/8 of an inch across and have darker pink hair/thistle-type things sticking out of them. They are growing in clusters. What are they and what if anything should I do about them?

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
Can anybody recommend a clematis

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
Can anybody recommend a clematis

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Here's what I would plant if they were my trellises.

For the NE aspect:
Nelly Moser,which I know is reliable, and does best in shade, as the flowers tend to fade in bright sunlight. It flowers May/June with a second flush in September.
With it on the same trellis I would try Guernsey Cream . this is another one that prefers to be out of direct sunlight, otherwise its yellow marking fades. It flowers at the same time as Nelly Moser.
both of these are non-pruning varieties...apart from a little tidying immediately after the second flowering.

Against the other trellis I would grow a couple of my favourite clematis viticella varieties. They flower from the end of June until October, depending on variety. Polish Spirit can be in flower into November. I would plant Alba Luxuriens with that, as it is a little out of the ordinary. The first year I had mine I thought it had succumbed to some strange disease, until I discovered that he odd green leafy growths were the immature flowers All viticellas need pruning hard, but all that involves is cutting through all the stems about 9" above the ground in late winter/early spring.
They do best scrambling through shrubs, but are fine on a trellis, as long as you give the shoots a bit of encoragement to grow along the horizontals. Their inclination is to shoot up to the sky.
For information on other varieties you could visit a specialist nursery (such as Thorncrofts, near Norwich), and get one of their catalogues to browse through.

All clematis need lots of water, feeding with tomato food in summer, and mulching with composted manure over winter.

I love 'em
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Today was bliss - I worked from home with my patio door wide open, letting the delicious honeysuckle scent drift in, and allowing me to hear the "plop" to confirm that one frog at least still lives in my tiny pond.
 

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Posted by Badfundie (# 9422) on :
 
Thank you, Roseofsharon! From your link, I was able to go to the Co state CE and find out that they are indeed galls from mites. I had never seen these or heard of them before and Google was not helping.
 

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Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :
 
Thanks for all the clematis info Roseofsharon. If they need a lot of water though I'm now wondering whether it's such a good idea as we don't get much rain around here and probably ought to be planting drought resistant things...
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
Well in that case can I recommend a passion flower.

Could possibly be a bit rampant for you (though maybe there are varieties that are less energetic than mine) and whilst the flowers are absolutely gorgeous they don't have a very long flowering season. But so worth it. And the greenery alone is lovely I think.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Yangtze:
Well in that case can I recommend a passion flower.

Could possibly be a bit rampant for you (though maybe there are varieties that are less energetic than mine) and whilst the flowers are absolutely gorgeous they don't have a very long flowering season. But so worth it. And the greenery alone is lovely I think.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Yangtze:
Well in that case can I recommend a passion flower.

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Passion flowers are gorgeous, but the problem I have with them is that I only get a few flowers at a time. It is also rather rampant.
We are pretty dry here in NW Essex, and I sink a 2L drinks bottle upside down (with the bottom cut off, the cap removed & with a few extra holes cut into the 'shoulders'), into the planting hole with the clematis.

I can then water into the bottles, which take it straight down to the roots. I sometimes find it time consuming in drought conditions, but then I do have over 2 dozen clematis in various parts of a large garden, five of which are against a hot, dry southfacing wall.
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
We had a lovely show of clematis montana Elizabeth, huge quantities of pink flowers. They came out in April (they're supposed to flower May to June). As you may remember it was very warm then - I wasn't sure how much to water them, so maybe the flowers would have lasted a bit longer if we'd given them loads, which is a shame. How long are they supposed to go on flowering for?
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
I bought my c. montana Marjorie under the impression that montanas flowered April/May. but it only just scraped into the end of April with the first few flowers, in spite of being in the sunniest south-facing spot.
It went on flowering well into June, which meant that it camouflaged the rose 'Albertine, which it grew with, and was supposed to precede
Sadly it died in last year's drought.
The clematis texensis Etoile Rose that shared its planting hole survived, but Marjorie carried so much top growth that it clearly should have been given more water.

 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
Oh! they die in droughts! I have to say that I was v relieved when we had all that rain recently. I have gardened with containers before, but didn't really have a feel for how much to water plants in flower beds. I guess if it's a hot summer we will have to save grey water and put some on the clematis-es and presumably roses. We have mainly been doing the plants in containers and in the greenhouse and the very few other newly planted plants we have.

We have one cucumber plant and have been rather amazed at all the complexity of trying to care for it
a) you are supposed to sex the plant which can be male or female and I think there are even multiple possibilities here
b) you are supposed to remove male flowers (how the hell do you work out which flowers are male )
c) they cross fertilize with melons apparently ( very odd of them but we aren't growing melons fortunately)
d) they like a "damped" down greenhouse (a sort of sauna effect, we might try that when the weather gets warmer)
e) we are confused about the watering because on the one hand they like lots of water but on the other hand the stems can rot and not quite sure of the rubric for avoiding that
f) apparently they like their water to be at least 65 degrees, presumably F. Dave says that's just TOO fussy
g) and they like their leaves to be sprayed with water. Sigh. In the morning rather than the evening (the leaves have looked rather dry so I have been splashing water over them).
Anyone grown any cucumbers?
 

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Posted by obble (# 10868) on :
 
Welsh Dragon,

From my experience of cucumbers (and related plants)

a,b) I thought it was the flowers rather than the plants which needed to be sexed - male flowers are on a thin stalk wheras female ones have a miniature cucumber behind them.

[ETA that there are all-female varieties aviliable where this is unneccecary - consult seed packet!]

c) many related species of plants can hybridise with each other - it also happens in the animal kingdom, e.g. the mule)

e)watering, I have been told, is best done "little and often"

f) 65°F (about 18°C) isn't really all that hot - if you fill your watering can when you've finished watering and then leave it standing in the greenhouse, it will probably be quite warm enough by the time you need it.

g) Don't know about this one - my book says you shouldn't spray the leaves.

[ 26. May 2007, 14:37: Message edited by: obble ]
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
It's too long since I had a greenhouse for me to remember the rules for growing cucumbers. I do know that I grew an incredible amount of a lovely white skinned ones one year, and had to make many jars of 'bread and butter pickle', which we were eating for years.
Recently I have grown some outdoor cucumbers, which were all-female, and quite prolific...and trouble-free

As for spraying the leaves...well I'm pretty sure I didn't do that. Wouldn't the leaves scorch when the sun shone on them through the water droplets?
 

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Posted by auntie di (# 11521) on :
 
when I used to hav a greenhouse I followed my father's instructions on indoor cucumbers- place some polythene like a tent inside one area of the grrenhouse, keep tomatoes outside, put cucumbers inside and water heavily- the humidity sky rocketed inside, the cucumbers got enormous and the tomatoes stayed happy in their drier area. it was a faff to set up, but very successful.
 

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Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
Strawberries are in! We have 50 plants and they are producing right and left. I didn't know that strawberries tasted so good when warmed by the sun.

My nine blackcurrant bushes are laden with ripening fruit. I finally broke down and bought a copper preserve pan as well as some cute little glass jars (Leifheit). I'm ready.
 

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Posted by welsh dragon (# 3249) on :
 
We tried putting a polythene tent around the cucumber but it collapsed!

The tomatoes are shooting up though. I am deeply confused by the pinching out business - I have been trying to do this, but my gardening book said be careful not to take off the flowers.

We now seem to have tomatoes with multiple stems (but lots of baby green fruit).

We had a lovely lunch on Sunday with home-grown, freshly picked baby romaine lettuce and lots of home made Caesar's dressing.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
The materials for my raised beds arrived on the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend, and it has taken until today to erect them. There are 3 of them. Two are 8'x4' and 18" deep, the third is 6'x4' and 12" deep

As the garden slopes in all directions the ground that each side rests on had to be dug out individually, and checked with a spirit level (my job). Then my husband had the job of assembling them, and struggling to get the mitred corners joined at right angles, but it is done now, and the next job is filling them!

Someone in the next street is digging up his garden to build a patio, or extension, and - ever on the lookout for a freebie - my husband has been barrowing this chap's discarded topsoil round to our garden, where it is heaped up waiting for me to sieve it, and fill these huge beds.
I don't expect to get them all filled this season, but hope to have somewhere to plant my veggies soon, even if it is at normal ground-level for some of them!

The beds look great - nice new timber, and no weeds yet
 

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Posted by Photo Geek (# 9757) on :
 
Welsh Dragon said

quote:

---

The tomatoes are shooting up though. I am deeply confused by the pinching out business - I have been trying to do this, but my gardening book said be careful not to take off the flowers.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by welsh dragon:
The tomatoes are shooting up though. I am deeply confused by the pinching out business - I have been trying to do this, but my gardening book said be careful not to take off the flowers.

---

If you look at where the lower leaves join the main stem you'll probably see some little leaves trying to grow - this is what they want you to pinch out. If you leave them they will become little branches and it is my understanding that the plants energy will be diverted to those branches, rather than towards the top where the fruit will be.
In order to avoid pinching out flowers (the first year I was a bit too enthusiastic at pinching out ) I pinch out the growths at the leaf joints from the bottom of the main stem up for about 4 leaf joints. I try to limit each plant to 4 trusses of fruit which I find is plenty for a plant to support both in terms of feeding them and carrying them.

PS WD - your garden sounds lovely!
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 
The garden is looking great here, I am pleased to say. It's been great therapy tending, planting, mowing and watching the rewards grow. The only problem is, I think I have rust!

The tomato plants have little green toms on them, the courgette plant has tiny flowers and the red and white currant plants are also bearing fruit. However, on the leaves of all the plants are little rust coloured spots. This happened a few years ago and sadly, the plants died but, I was wondering if there is anything I can do to stop this spreading, and, if I can not, will the 'rust' harm the fruits?

Bear in mind that all these plants were nurtured by Mum and transplanted here. Her plants are all doing really well with no signs of the disease...
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
To go back to the clematis/trellis debate, I'd second Nelly Moser (mine did really well in a sunny spot) but they need pruning in spring. It's dead easy to do - ignore them all winter when they look twiggy and dead, and then when the new shoots appear in early spring, cut back right to just above the lowest new shoots. It feels a bit drastic (as it will probably have grown a good few feet higher than this the year before), but then you get loads of new growth from the lowest shoot. If you don't prune (as I didn't the first year), they become really leggy and the next year the growth starts higher up so you have a twiggy stalk for a couple of feet before you get any leaves or flowers.

Alternatively, any of the montanas, although they can be a bit rampant, don't need any pruning at all unless you want to give them a bit of a haircut. They seem to be pretty indestructible, and have gorgeous smaller flowers (the Nelly Moser ones are huge, like big saucers, the montanas I had were a bit more subtle, one was pink and the other white).

I never had much luck with passion flowers (it was too windy in my garden, I think - in 3 years and 2 plants I only ever had the grand total of 1 flower and 0 fruit). But another climber I love is jasmine, which has the added bonus of smelling gorgeous. And plenty of honeysuckles also look good on a trellis.

I miss my garden
 

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Posted by The Artisan (# 4277) on :
 
Here Jack - have some of my (church) one! How many square metres would you like?
 

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Posted by dolphy (# 862) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
I never had much luck with passion flowers (it was too windy in my garden, I think - in 3 years and 2 plants I only ever had the grand total of 1 flower and 0 fruit).

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