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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:01 pm

Stokey Sue wrote: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



you turn the lights on when you see them coming through and take them out of the propagator when they've got their first true leaves as long as they haven't started etiolating and as long as it's not too much of a shock temperature-wise.
i think my son leaves his in a bit longer but he has very good lights for them.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:30 am

The place that I got my caviar lime from advise using Epsom salts on it once a month in winter.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:52 am

Thanks scullion - that’s what I guessed
There’s a tiny fleck of something coming through in most of the modules :bounce:

Pampy my grandfather used to use the Epsom salts on some of his prize winning fruit and veg, but I’m not sure which, possibly cucumbers?

Does the caviar line make a nice plant?

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Thu Feb 25, 2021 1:22 am

It's a leggy, thorny shrub with quite glossy leaves - not particularly attractive but I got it to see if I could grow the fruit - and after 2 years, I've now got 5 fruits ripening. I'm going to try some light pruning this year to get a better shape. It's not frost hardy so I grow it in a large, self watering pot in the porch in warmer weather and bring it inside in the cold months (usually late Nov to March/April). Because it's in a pot, I feed it regularly while it's in the porch and dose it with Epsom salts once a month when it's inside.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:22 am

Gardening Express customers have reported some shocking tales on the Gardeners World forum. Personally I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.

Lots of regulars with acers on the GW forum ... pop in and post a request for recommendations. One off queries are always welcome. You don’t have to be a regular.

https://forum.gardenersworld.com/categories

:D

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:40 pm

I signed up to the forum, as you suggested, Suffs, and have had some very helpful replies already :thumbsup
Thx!

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Thu Feb 25, 2021 5:49 pm

Glad they could help Kc ... the majority on there are very knowledgeable and lovely folk. Occasionally, as with a lot of large public boards, there are a few idiots and WUMS but in the whole it’s a good place. :thumbsup

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:40 pm

I have been assiduously taking all my seedlings out of my propagator as soon as they appear. I still think the legginess of things is heat rather than lack of light. But who knows. Sweet peas batch II were take out straight away and had grow lights (initially on the lid of a propagator and also in a glass roofed room) but are still taller than they should be. (I do need to check I am pinching them out right...)

Mind you chillies like a bit more warmth? Once my new propagator is set up will put them in that at a lower heat with lights. It gets pretty hot in my Stewart one.

I had a bad experience with Gardening Express and will not use again. Shockingly bad customer service and lots of caveats in their small print.

Basically the plants turned up very the worse for wear/half dead. I complained, got endless 'we will get back to you in x days' then when I did get a response it was inadequate. They closed the complaint before it had even had it responded to by someone who had read it properly. I opened it again and they offered me a £5 voucher.

Two years later, the hydrangea which survived, flowered for the first time. It's nothing like the picture pf course and it's a lot smaller than it should be in spite of a lot of care. The other plants died. I think they should have replaced it. I mean you probably wouldn't buy something in the state it arrive in, if you saw it in a garden centre even at a much much reduced price, let alone what I paid for it. Certainly not if you were not an experienced gardener. (I know they are a bit cheapo but I bought it because it was unusual-looking... On the web site. What with its photoshopped colours etc...)
a
Pampy have you got your finger lime to fruit? I got tiny tiny ones but they all dropped off. I think one can use the leaves in cooking? They certainly smell very citrussy.

Has anyone grown hollyhocks from seed indoors? I sowed mine in seed compost, covered with vermiculite. They came up quickly, but once they get to about 1cm flop over. I have not over watered them (I stood the pots in water before sowing, and since then just given them a light spray if they seem too dry). They are not dead. I can kind of bank them up with a bit more compost. Just wondering why this is happening. They are out of the propagator as I said above, and on the kitchen windowsill (sometimes, if it's very sunny, they spend the day in the sitting room with me :) ) Maybe I just need to wait for them to develop roots. But seems odd.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:08 am

herbidacious wrote:Pampy have you got your finger lime to fruit? I got tiny tiny ones but they all dropped off. I think one can use the leaves in cooking? They certainly smell very citrussy.

.

I've got 5 fruits on at the moment and they seem to be growing/ripening well. I bought some of the fruit online so I have a reference point for size.
I'm sure the leaves can be used for cooking.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:24 am

Wow. Is it indoors or out?

I think I bought mine from Suttons a few years back. Along with a Yuzu... having told myself that I would never buy another citrus plant because they never even flower outside, and indoors they flower but don't fruit even when a paintbrush is used. They also always seem to become infested with little flies.

edit: just read up and finger limes, at least shouldnot be kept indoors. (mine has been outside all along.) Maybe I will try and cosset it )asusming it survived the winter) this year and chivvy it on. I have some citrus feed.
Last edited by herbidacious on Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:28 am

Herbi my daughter grows fantastic hollyhocks from seed, sowing them in a cold greenhouse in late spring/early summer. She grow them on in the greenhouse and plants them out in early autumn to flower the following summer.

She really does have green fingers ... she doesn’t have a heated propagator and starts all her seeds either on her bathroom windowsill or in an unheated greenhouse.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:36 am

herbidacious wrote:Wow. Is it indoors or out?

I think I bought mine from Suttons a few years back. Along with a Yuzu... having told myself that I would never buy another citrus plant because they never even flower outside, and indoors they flower but don't fruit even when a paintbrush is used. They also always seem to become infested with little flies.

edit: just read up and finger limes, at least shouldnot be kept indoors. (mine has been outside all along.) Maybe I will try and cosset it )asusming it survived the winter) this year and chivvy it on. I have some citrus feed.

It's in a large pot that lives in the porch usually March/April - November and in my dining room in the colder months. My house is rarely overly warm and it's not near to a radiator so seems quite happy during its stay inside. It's far too cold in winter where I live for it to live outside and my house is in quite an exposed position too, which is also a no-no for them. This is useful readinghttps://www.nature-and-garden.co ... -lime.html

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:57 am

That's a very long game, Suffs. I did do this with foxgloves though, sowing late last summer. Actually I have a few more to plant out. Job for the (stunning looking) weekend. I could move the hollyhocks into the lean to. Its colder there, but it's not particularly warm on the kitchen windowsill either.

I just don't seem that great at grwoing from seed, or at least not flowers. My vegetables grown from seed seemed pretty good last year, but flowers, less so.
It's only really year 2 at doing it properly, though. I am clearly not a natural and just need to keep plugging away at it. I do read up on things a lot.
If I manage to get my greenhouse I will try doing more in there. I am sure many things do better if they take longer to grow in cooler temperatures. I always think the peas I sow directly outdoors are better plants than ones started off inside.

Things don't die on me, usually, at least.

I think I have bought more (varieties) seed than I can manage to grow :?

Thanks, Pampy. My house is not warm during the day. (My fingers have been so cold some days this winter, I've found it hard to type.) but it is warm enough in the evenings. This could be another greenhouse thing as I don't really have room for biggish pots in the porch or lean to.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:31 pm

KeenCook2 wrote:
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!


There's sambucus and then there's sambucus ;)

The wild one that grows in the hedgerows is the common one that has white umbrels of flowers (to make elderflower champagne/cordial) and black berries (to make black berry wine)

Then there is Sambucus Nigra Black Lace, with dark maroon lacy leaves, and a froth of pale pink flowers - I have one of those in the garden. This is one of the most attractive plants I have seen and can take hard pruning when the leaves have dropped. I have even seen one trained into a small lollipop.
And then there is Sambucus Nigra Golden Towers that has lime green lacy leaves .. I have one of those too, but so far it is very slow to take off and so I don't know what colour the berries are. I suspect it's not happy in a pot.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Sun Feb 28, 2021 5:06 pm

I've never heard of the Sambucus Nigra variety so have just looked them up - the black one is absolutely beautiful. I imagine it looks really impressive when it's in flower.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:08 pm

Scully I was wondering if the jostaberry cuttings survived. I noticed I have one that's come up in a pot in the garden...

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:34 pm

hiya, yes, two of them did. thank you.
they are still in 4" pots but i intend to pot them on - when i get some compost.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Tue Mar 09, 2021 4:05 pm

Jolly good! Must have been almost a year ago. I remember venturing out very timidly to the post box in earlyish lockdown.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:22 pm

Suffs, I have just ordered some plants for shade (vinca major) from a nursery in Diss and thought of you - I know Norfolk isn't Suffolk but I still thought of you :D (Funnily enough I used to go to Diss many, many years ago for violin lessons.)

It's hard to get hold of vinca major, the various minors are much easier to source.

I've also ordered some anemone https://www.plantpref.co.uk/all-perenni ... estal.html for a pot by our front door ...

And tomorrow we're going to pick up a new Acer from a garden centre PP mentioned near Bushey in Herts when we go to test drive a car.
We've gone for one called Acer Palmatum Bi-Ho. It has stunning yellow bark. Here's a pic of one at Kew.
ETA the one we'll be getting is A LOT smaller :D
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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:00 pm

KC2 you should've said ... we've got Vinca major here in our 'wilderness' ... I could've sent you some rooted runners. Just shout if you want some more. Funnily enough Diss used to be in Suffolk ... now it's in Norfolk. I used to live quite close by there ... it was my favourite place to go for my last minute Christmas shopping ... there was always a lovely Christmassy atmosphere ... and feeding the 'wild chickens' was fun for DS and DD, even tho we had chickens at home :lol:

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