Register

Gardening resources and tips, etc.

TV & Radio, Gardening, Who's Who, etc.
User avatar
Posts: 6058
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:19 am
Location: East Anglia

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:59 pm

Sweet peas are hardy ... I sometimes sow mine direct into the garden in the autumn and they survive just fine all winter and then flower nice and early of course.

If yours have been growing indoors and have roots poking through the bottom of the root-trainer or pot I'd start hardening them off now, putting them outside in a sheltered spot in the day and bringing them in at night ... 10 days of that and they'll be ready to plant outside. :thumbsup

User avatar
Posts: 4598
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sun Apr 05, 2020 10:02 pm

ok! thanks, Suffs.

They did go outside today.

We have a balcony with glass roof and sides. I intend to actually make use of this this year. It's southish facing. The floor gets very hot, but I can get around that if it's a problem. Anway, that's were the sweet peas spent their day.

User avatar
Posts: 1489
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:07 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Badger's Mate » Sun Apr 05, 2020 11:05 pm

I've tried sowing peas and broad beans in the autumn, but they're generally mouse food. Spring-sown peas do alright but broad beans get blackfly. Sowing them early in the year in rootrainers and giving them a head start seems the best approach for me. We've got sweet peas ready to harden off for the garden.

User avatar
Posts: 4598
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:33 am

I have summer savoury on order for companion palnting for broad beans. Not sure if it works. Probably not.

User avatar
Posts: 8629
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:15 pm

Tastes good with the beans though Herbi!

Posts: 3511
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:42 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Apr 06, 2020 3:22 pm

I have a question about honeysuckle, please, all you experienced gardeners!
If I cut it back now, along with a load of ivy on our fence, will I stop it from flowering later in the year?
The trouble is it's really bulging too far out from the fence in our small, London garden.

Thank you!

User avatar
Posts: 8629
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:44 pm

I used to trim mine whenever it suited me
But the RHS says, as I suspected, that you should prune late-flowering varieties now, early-flowering varieties in autumn

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/honeysuckle/climbing/growing-guide

The question is can you remember when it flowered last year :D ?

As a very rough rule of thumb you will lose flowers if you prune anything that flowers before midsummer day in spring, as the buds are probably already formed

Posts: 3511
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:42 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Apr 06, 2020 5:15 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:I used to trim mine whenever it suited me
But the RHS says, as I suspected, that you should prune late-flowering varieties now, early-flowering varieties in autumn

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/honeysuckle/climbing/growing-guide

The question is can you remember when it flowered last year :D ?

As a very rough rule of thumb you will lose flowers if you prune anything that flowers before midsummer day in spring, as the buds are probably already formed


Thanks Sue :thumbsup That's really helpful :thumbsup
Hmm, good question ... it has never been a fantastic flowerer - tbh, I've always wondered why, as in our old house the honeysuckle there was fab, and had less sun than the one here - but definitely a late variety. I'm sure I recall it carrying on quite late into the Autumn/ beginning of Winter.

By comparison, one of our camellias has been known to flower at the beginning of October! It was November last year and it's just got the last few flowers on it now. It needs pruning/shaping, probably sooner rather than later, I would imagine.

User avatar
Posts: 1887
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:38 pm
Location: Wuppertal, Germany

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Uschi » Mon Apr 06, 2020 5:56 pm

Some honeysuckles flower their hearts out and others just sit there and sulk. I have no idea why that is. I had one in a large container that was gorgeous, but it was red and I wanted a pale yellow one as I had in my old flat. I tried one that refused, pushing only one yellow flower in three years. I then replaced it with another yellow one which turned out red and flowered prolifically. Doh.

User avatar
Posts: 5297
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:58 am
Location: Wiltshire

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Earthmaiden » Mon Apr 06, 2020 6:06 pm

I've got well established honeysuckle grown from a cutting my mother gave me about 35 years ago. It grows like a triffid and some has to be cut back early or it goes everywhere. It doesn't always flower well but one summer, when we had a lot of rain, it was stunning. I realised then that they like quite a lot of water.

Posts: 3511
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:42 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Apr 06, 2020 7:26 pm

Uschi wrote:Some honeysuckles flower their hearts out and others just sit there and sulk. I have no idea why that is. I had one in a large container that was gorgeous, but it was red and I wanted a pale yellow one as I had in my old flat. I tried one that refused, pushing only one yellow flower in three years. I then replaced it with another yellow one which turned out red and flowered prolifically. Doh.


Glad to hear my honeysuckle is not unique in its reluctance to flower!

User avatar
Posts: 2632
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Renee » Mon Apr 06, 2020 9:36 pm

I've been wondering what to do about my thyme plants from last year. Do they need pruning?

User avatar
Posts: 4598
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Mon Apr 06, 2020 9:46 pm

Mine from last year just seemed to die back then rise up phoenic like in the last month or two.

My sages though are huge and sprawling and looking scraggy. I suspect if I prune UI will just be going back to old wood and they may not leaf again...? I need to look it up.

While weeding the herb patch (which is now dominated by these huge two sages and a rosemary that's gone ridiculously big) I found some wild garlic :) (I find this really hard to grow.)

I think I might have to start a new herb patch somewhere. I have always wanted one of those wheel planters on a table, but nowhere obvious to put one.

User avatar
Posts: 3146
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:28 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby jeral » Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:51 pm

Re wheel planter space, assuming to avoid bending down, do you have a fence on which to mount brackets to hang up at suitable height for herbs?

User avatar
Posts: 4598
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:16 pm

The wheel thing primarily because it looks nice. I don't have a problem bending down. But I don't think either of our fences are sturdy enough to take plant pots, really. Would really like to try some strawberry vertical gardening, but not sure I have a free vertical surface (the wall of the house has wisteria on it.)

The garden is basially long strip of grass, separated into two halves by rhodendrons and camelias, and with borders either side. Top half has lots of shrubs that were there when we moved in. Bottom half has fruit bushes and is prone to flooding. The whoelle thing is sloping. It's a big garden that is limited, in terms of planting, by it's current design. I will think about this. I do have various pots of herbs on the patio right at the top. I just like the idea of a herb patch/garden.

User avatar
Posts: 6058
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:19 am
Location: East Anglia

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:39 pm

I shear thyme sown short all over in the spring and a few weeks later we get a cushion of soft young growth.

I also cut thyme hard back in the spring ... right back into the woody stems. I did mine 10 days ago and it’s just sticks at the moment. As soon as the weather warms up it’ll spring into new growth. I do it every year.

User avatar
Posts: 2632
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Renee » Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:44 pm

Thanks, that's very helpful Suffs!

User avatar
Posts: 3919
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 6:33 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Tue Apr 07, 2020 1:28 am

another thing you can do with the thyme is put a load of compost into the crown if you don't feel like giving it a drastic haircut . it will grow up through it and root into it producing a thicker clump and a load of new plants if you want to pot them up.

User avatar
Posts: 6058
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:19 am
Location: East Anglia

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Tue Apr 07, 2020 9:15 am

Oh dear ... my second part was wrong ... I was obviously half asleep. My second paragraph should’ve referred to sage ... amended version below ...

Suffs wrote:I shear thyme sown short all over in the spring and a few weeks later we get a cushion of soft young growth.

I also cut SAGE hard back in the spring ... right back into the woody stems. I did mine 10 days ago and it’s just sticks at the moment. As soon as the weather warms up it’ll spring into new growth. I do it every year.

User avatar
Posts: 4598
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm

Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:49 am

Ok I might experiment on the sage. According to my gardening magazine, a sage leaf wash can help stop your hair going grey??!!! (Or hide the grey. hmm by darkening it.) I might give it a go :)

PreviousNext

Return to Other Stuff

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests