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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:06 pm

She has polytunnells Herbi. I do have a much underused greenhouse though. I must get going on them. I remember one glorious year, possibly twenty years ago, when my sweet peas were the envy of the street! :lol: One of my cello teaching friends even asked me for tips!! :lol:

Monty Don was on some sort of compilation programme yesterday sowing his in loo roll tubes. He, Alan Titchmarsh and one of the auction house people all looked very young!

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:48 am

I don't know how to stop them getting leggy.

I suppose they are not too bad but nothing like the ones in those videos/on those sites, as I said.

I admit I have been getting a bit obssessive about getting them right...

I thinkI have destroyed osme by pinching oput the leaves too soon. We shall see... I have sowed a lot (too many probably), so I can afford to lose some, I suppose.
I take it you grew them in the ground, PP?

I wish I had room for that. But then I'd be worrying about slugs (more).
Last edited by herbidacious on Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pepper Pig » Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:17 am

I can’t remember what I did Herbi, but that’s me and gardening all over. Like you we have an extremely wet back garden. Unlike you I have to get a man in to manage it because I just can’t cope. It’s about 100 metres long and I am terrified of falling. Derek, the gardener, is about to move to Herne Bay. I am on the look out for another trusty man of the soil.

My OH did such a wonderful job for many years. Now he won’t even go into the back rooms, let alone the garden.

I’m afraid that top of the list if we eventually move is a manageable garden. But I so still want birds.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat Feb 20, 2021 2:35 pm

If I had the little house of my dreams I would have a nice little corner of the garden close to the house suitable for bird feeders and set up a bird watching window in a comfy room with one way glass. They had a room like that at Westonbirt Arboretum and it was wonderful to be so close without the birds knowing.

I have grown wonderful sweet peas in the past just from sowing the seeds directly into the garden in the Spring.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:11 pm

Earthmaiden wrote:I have grown wonderful sweet peas in the past just from sowing the seeds directly into the garden in the Spring.


snap.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby miss mouse » Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:13 pm

I bought some Tête à tête daff bulbs today, significantly reduced, do I stick them in the ground and see what happens? One seems to be making a valiant effort to grow despite living in a plastic bag for months probably. I think plant. Any other views?

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Sat Feb 20, 2021 7:40 pm

if you don't put them in the ground now, when they're trying their best to grow, you will have nothing to plant later as they will be using all of their energy store to push leaves out.
don't expect flowers this year - they'll have to build up their reserves again.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby miss mouse » Sat Feb 20, 2021 7:46 pm

Thanks scullion. That makes complete sense.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:43 pm

Pepper Pig wrote:I can’t remember what I did Herbi, but that’s me and gardening all over. Like you we have an extremely wet back garden. Unlike you I have to get a man in to manage it because I just can’t cope. It’s about 100 metres long and I am terrified of falling. Derek, the gardener, is about to move to Herne Bay. I am on the look out for another trusty man of the soil.

My OH did such a wonderful job for many years. Now he won’t even go into the back rooms, let alone the garden.

I’m afraid that top of the list if we eventually move is a manageable garden. But I so still want birds.


I always used to have a gardener to help because I can't do it all, but it's become increasingly difficult to get one in in the last few years (a succession of lady gardeners have stopped doing it) and impossible this last year, of course. I have had to resort to paying silly money to get a couple of blokes in to blitz the bottom half. And of course that means plants get ripped out that shouldn't have because they are not really gardeners.

My OH is hopeless in the garden. He hacks things back willy nilly (our beautiful wisteria has not flowered for years now), plonks flag stones and pots on top of my plants, and if I ask for help just does what he wants to do - usually a bonfire, and odes whatever he does in an angry (often sweary) way (because he hates gardening! Same applies to housework...) He has constructed raised beds for me, though. And he does the lawns (but only because I can't. He insisted on buying a mower which I can neither start nor push easily - slightly up hill lawn.) I love him dearly but I don’t actually want him in the garden as it spoils my serenity.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:59 pm

Next rookie question on growing chillis

If I use a heated propagator, when do I stop cooking the little babies? I will turn the grow light on too

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Wed Feb 24, 2021 4:22 pm

Has anyone used the Gardening Express website? They seem to be based in Leigh on Sea.

We are replacing an acer palmatum and want to get something slightly larger than a baby one -about 100-150 cm and GE has got one. We've left it too late for most - they're all sold out of larger specimins but we had h[MP4][/MP4]oped that ours would thrive once it was taken out of its pot and planted in the garden, but, sadly, I think it's not going to.

https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/spec ... yjEALw_wcB

Edited to say I've now found another place, Paramount, in North London, and they have a massive selection. We like this one:

https://www.paramountplants.co.uk/plant ... eglow.html
Last edited by KeenCook2 on Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:09 pm

I haven't used Gardening Express but my brother has and said he had problems with them. He bought a shrub which was all but dead when it arrived. He contacted them straight away and sent photos but they refused to do anything about it - wouldn't offer a replacement or refund the money. Despite my SIL's care (and she is a very experienced gardener) it died within a week or so.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby jeral » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:14 pm

Hmm. I bought an acer from a garden centre as a sapling about 5 ft tall (c.£40+ then). It didn't look like the healthiest specimen TBH and fairly promptly died which surprised me as I thought it would perk up once bedded into the ground. I wasn't soil savvy re acid/alkaline then, but still think it was a mistake to buy an unhealthy one, or they are very sensitive.

That said, I learned that they grow to a lot bigger than I'd first thought so a mixed blessing.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:18 pm

If one acer has decided it doesn’t like the location is it wise to put another there? Or are you planning on leaving this one potted?
Might be safer to go for something more robust, such as a sambucus? Though those can go the other way and get out of hand

I have a bay that has been in a pot for 20years, it likes quite a lot of slow release fertiliser, and an occasional teaspoon of Epsom salts in water if pale (not more than once a year)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:19 pm

Pampy wrote:I haven't used Gardening Express but my brother has and said he had problems with them. He bought a shrub which was all but dead when it arrived. He contacted them straight away and sent photos but they refused to do anything about it - wouldn't offer a replacement or refund the money. Despite my SIL's care (and she is a very experienced gardener) it died within a week or so.


Thanks, Pampy, that's exactly the sort of thing I was wondering about.

The one I've found now is called Paramount.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:37 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:If one acer has decided it doesn’t like the location is it wise to put another there? Or are you planning on leaving this one potted?
Might be safer to go for something more robust, such as a sambucus? Though those can go the other way and get out of hand

I have a bay that has been in a pot for 20years, it likes quite a lot of slow release fertiliser, and an occasional teaspoon of Epsom salts in water if pale (not more than once a year)


Hi Sue, the thing is that it had been in a pot for all its life - we've been here 9 years now and it was probably planted 20 years previously. We redid the decking, getting rid of a huge pond, and kept it in its pot. However, it then started to die off and our tree person planted it in the ground last Autumn, to see if it would revive. He said it was seriously pot-bound.

It hasn't, so we're wanting to get a healthy one as it is exactly the right specimen for that spot in our very small garden.

Good to hear how you look after your bay :thumbsup

I had to look up what sambucus was, and we used to have a huge elder in our previous house. The cordial I made from it was terrific!

Jeral, I have heard that acers are quite temperamental and sensitive ...
Last edited by KeenCook2 on Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:03 pm

I have a bay tree that I bought from the discounted section of a garden centre in 1989 - it was a very sorry specimen but with some care, perked up and has been living in a very large pot since then. A few years ago, it started to look very sorry for itself again so I decided that I'd cut it back, to see if that would help. I pruned it drastically and for a few months, it didn't really do very much but then came back much healthier. It's still in its pot and I have to admit that I rarely feed it but it's doing ok. I've got some Epsom salts that I use for my caviar lime, so I'll give it some when the weather bucks up.
I have an elder that was self-seeded (well, probably bird seeded) from one next door but one. It gets cut back to the ground every autumn but always comes back strong and healthy. The birds are very good at gardening round here - I also have a beautiful self-seeded sedge, again from next-door but one and my next door neighbour has irises and a blackcurrant bush from my garden!

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:07 pm

Yes, I think that's the other thing with bay - it doesn't like the canopy getting too much bigger than the root ball


Mine self seeded from my father's bay - which he grew from a cutting he scrounged in Italy many years ago

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby jeral » Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Apols for intervention on something different.

I just read that sparkling water can be good for plants once a week. It's just something I wondered about, i.e. if Epsom salts is good, what about carbonated water...
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/spray-orchids-59949.html

As you were.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Feb 24, 2021 7:20 pm

The reason Epsom salts are good is because some plants turn yellow from lack of magnesium, and Epsom salts are magnesium sulphate, an easy and safe source

Only needed as treatment for yellowing plants, not routinely

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