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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

TV & Radio, Gardening, Who's Who, etc.
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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Sun May 02, 2021 7:10 pm

Binky, blue badge holders can park for free in the Kew car park, which is at the Brentford Gate. If you haven't been there before, it's a little bit off the beaten track to find - you have to drive round the Green in front of the Elizabeth Gate, so do check it out before you go there!

I would imagine that normal blue badge parking would apply to all the nearby streets, but you can end up walking a long way to the entrance of the gardens and wear yourself out before you even get there unless you find somewhere on the Green itself or know which roads to park on - probably the car park would be more reliable.

If you decide to go, do let us know and maybe we can go at the same time!

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby miss mouse » Sun May 02, 2021 10:14 pm

Binky wrote:

Keen Cook, Kew Gardens is one of the properties in the 2-for-1 entry offer in this month's BBC Gardeners World magazine (this offer runs annually and it's a great money saver if you visit some stately homes and gardens. Audley End for instance is £20.90 per adult so you save £20.90 on that visit alone if there's two of you).

Back to Kew - do you know if there is provision for Blue Badge parking at Kew or on nearby streets?



Herbi has had trouble booking with the two-for-one offer, have you mastered the system yet? What is the trick?

"Back to Kew - do you know if there is provision for Blue Badge parking at Kew or on nearby streets?"

Any clues on the Kew website?

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Amber » Mon May 03, 2021 12:01 am

I can’t find it now, but last week I saw something about Kew, which said to put the code word in the appropriate box on the website. I ‘think’ the code was ‘gardenersworld’ or ‘gardenersworlduk’, but you’d need to check. If nobody else finds it first I’ll try again tomorrow.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby miss mouse » Mon May 03, 2021 7:30 am

Thanks Amber.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Binky » Mon May 03, 2021 7:54 pm

It isn't online (as far as I know). You need to buy the May edition of BBC Gardeners World magazine. Inside is this booklet with details of all properties and a little card that you show to the entry staff.

Image

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Mon May 03, 2021 8:04 pm

I think the difficulty comes with booking a Covid safe time slot. Some folk are saying that they can’t book for two without paying for two ... I don’t know whether that’s been resolved yet .., I’ve not tried it.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon May 03, 2021 8:33 pm

Binky wrote:It isn't online (as far as I know). You need to buy the May edition of BBC Gardeners World magazine. Inside is this booklet with details of all properties and a little card that you show to the entry staff.

The problem is that you can currently only gain entry to Kew Gardens if you buy a ticket online in advance, and there’s no way of “showing” the card online to get the discount as you pay

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Mon May 03, 2021 8:52 pm

As Sue says.

Few places round here (= London, Kent, Sussex) are allowing non-prebooked visits. (Syon Park lets you with an RHS card on this basis but not with the GW one.) I can't find a code anywhere in the booklet. Has anyone else? It's certainly not anywhere obvious, like on the card itself?


Maybe the booking in advance will be relaxed in June.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon May 03, 2021 9:05 pm

Is there a human being you can speak to on the phone, to find out how you would book a 2-for-1? Surely it must be possible?

Absolutely tipping down now, and very, very windy, I'm glad we don't have an acer in a pot any more or it might well have been blown over. Fortunately our flowering cherry has long since finished but trees that are just coming into bloom are going to have a rough time of it.

Btw, I've been meaning to ask if anyone has successfully revived woody rosemary?

We read on YouTube that if you cut down into the wood, it won't make new growth, and I think I must have done that to some rosemary plants in the past. We trimmed a bit off the tops, but I don't know how successful it'll be.
The plants are in pots, not growing in the earth.

They have just flowered.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Tue May 04, 2021 8:00 pm

I have had very little luck with Rosemary grown in pots - as I cut sprigs for cooking, it just gradually dies off :( :? I have seen large bushes, but they are usually planted directly into the ground. I recently bought the cooking pot of rosemary and am hardening that outside at the moment. The plan is to split it up when I feel inclined to get into the garden ;)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue May 04, 2021 10:28 pm

I’ve had a rosemary bush in a pot for about 16 years - it is currently in flower but I will have a go at taking cuttings when it stops

I bought it from Jekka McVicar, she said to grow in a container you need one that is naturally compact/dwarf, these tend to be slightly contorted varieties, I actually encouraged it to form a central trunk by strapping it to a bamboo as I didn’t want it to trail too much. The other advantage of a dwarf variety is that because the nodes are much closer together you don’t get that straggly skeletal look, and the flowers cover the plant very closely.

The variety is Severn Seas
https://www.jekkas.com/collections/jekk ... Severn-Sea

I’ll try to get a decent photo in daylight

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed May 05, 2021 10:14 am

Lady Rosemary in the sunshine

Image

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Wed May 05, 2021 10:17 am

I have to admit I've never bought a named variety until last year when I thought I'd give a prostrate one a go and this is in a tall container to allow it to drape over the side. Perhaps my others needed a larger pot - I have the same problem with sage, but my bay tree in a pot it romping away :thumbsup


edited to add : that certainly looks like a healthy plant Sue :thumbsup
Last edited by PatsyMFagan on Wed May 05, 2021 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed May 05, 2021 10:34 am

I thought I'd killed yet another sage over winter, it got water logged and I didn't get around to draining it before the frost, but after a shaky start I think I can count is as "frost pruned" rather than damaged, it's growing into a nice dense bush

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Wed May 05, 2021 1:36 pm

That's magnificent, Sue! Well done! It looks as if it gets good sun there.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby aero280 » Wed May 05, 2021 4:11 pm

My gardening skills are nil. But I have a pot of basil on the windowsill. It was leaning across towards the light, so I watered it and turned it around. This morning it must have drawn all the water up into the leaves, which made it top heavy, and it fell off the sill onto the floor. Time for a bigger pot?

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Earthmaiden » Wed May 05, 2021 4:19 pm

Sounds like it aero!

I've got basil and parsley waiting to go out - I keep basil outside when its warm enough but it's been so cold at night. Looks as if it might start warming up next week but I'm sure they said that a couple of weeks ago then changed their minds :roll:.

My rosemary could do with repotting. I don't think I've got a bigger pot without buying one. A nuisance as I've loads of assorted pots but none the right size for things that need repotting.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Wed May 05, 2021 6:57 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:I’ve had a rosemary bush in a pot for about 16 years - it is currently in flower but I will have a go at taking cuttings when it stops

I bought it from Jekka McVicar, she said to grow in a container you need one that is naturally compact/dwarf, these tend to be slightly contorted varieties, I actually encouraged it to form a central trunk by strapping it to a bamboo as I didn’t want it to trail too much. The other advantage of a dwarf variety is that because the nodes are much closer together you don’t get that straggly skeletal look, and the flowers cover the plant very closely.

The variety is Severn Seas
https://www.jekkas.com/collections/jekk ... Severn-Sea


I am back from Flowerland (as mentioned on another thread), having spent £60. :shock: It was an amazing place and I will certainly be going back. They did have Severn Seas Rosemary there, as well as Officinalis, however I found one called Corsican Blue and it really is a beautiful little thing, even more compact than Severn Seas according to the label. :thumbsup

I also got my hands on a couple of perennial Osteospermum (as opposed to the annual bedding one). I have been looking for a long time now as I have always loved seeing those plants in front gardens. It seems they are hardly grown these days. Lucky I like pink ;)

Found Borage too and also bought the plants for my hanging baskets, various ones with white flowers as the baskets are all grey woven ones :thumbsup

This place also had a butchers selling local meat, a veg stall and clothes and shoes (Sketchers) as well as the normal gifts, garden furniture etc ... almost a day trip to see everything :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Wed May 05, 2021 7:51 pm

Pat, we need a pic of your spoils :lol:

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby karadekoolaid » Wed May 05, 2021 8:33 pm

I have had very little luck with Rosemary grown in pots


Me too, so a month or so ago, I transplanted it into the garden. It´s about three times the size now and has started producing lovely little purple flowers.
My bro (who lives in Kent) has got a HUGE rosemary bush in the back garden. Been there for years. Every now and then, he trims it back and uses the rosemary sticks for kebabs on the BBQ.

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