Gardening Resources & Tips

[scullion]

camellia - haven't looked for anything else.

i saw primroses and snowdrops in flower in letcombe regis last week - definitely a tad early for the former.

[Stokey Sue]

Camellias do brilliantly round here, and as they were largely introduced into English gardens through local Loddiges nursery, who persuaded us we could grow them outside, there’s a tradition of having them in the gardens of the Victorian villas.

Will go on a camellia safari as I do most years, but they might need to recover from the morning gales.

[Suffs]

We’ve had wild primroses at tge going of a northfacing wall in flower for at least 3 weeks … don’t remember them being that early before … and we have had some chilly weather …

[herbidacious]

Rosemary
knautia macedonia
rose campion
dianthus
bidens Spicy Margarita
winter flowering jasmine
aster x frikartii Mönch
campanula
skimmia
rose
strawflower (although may just have dried out very colourfully)
petunia
Scabiosa atropurpurea
Gaura
Erysimum 'winter orchid'

I didn't check my camelia but I don't think it's out.
Forgot to check the lawns too.

The one I am most surprised about is the petunia.

Many of the above (the things one might not expect to be flowering) are not flowering prolifically.

I had a geranium/cranesbill flowering until last week.
Violets not flowering.

[Sloe-Gin]

Not actually been down to the end of the garden, but from the top I can see Whiskey Mac rose in bloom and Duchess of Cornwall in bud. Snowdrops, the usual pansies and loads of buds on the Carnations. Will do the trip down the garden tomorrow.
Camelia not out here yet.

[scullion]

our first narcissus is out - it will also be the last type to finish - and smells heavenly.
i have sown three types of sweet peas in root trainer pots today.
our son's chillies are up and under grow lights. he's given me the residual compost discs and seeds - i think he's challenging me.
i have also ordered some more of these - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oakland-Garden ... r=8-5&th=1
there's a cheaper company for buying a single one but i've gone for a multiple - they are so good (one is a present for our daughter). i'm pretty sure the packaging say that they are dishwasher safe - though why you would want to beats me.
i have mislaid (or my partner has) some of the inserts from one of my present ones - which is very annoying...

[herbidacious]

My attempt at growing chillis and aubergines in January failed last year. They came up but later in the season stopped growing and in the end I threw them out. I think it was a temperature thing. Too cool in the house at night when the heating was off.

I have been using some of these. They are about 5 years old now, I think.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haxnicks-Deep- ... r=8-2&th=1

[scullion]

yes, i have a tray/frame of those but they are really so flimsy. you have to be really careful to not crack or split them - i'm not going to buy those again.
the ones i've linked to are (not hugely) more expensive as an outlay but are way, way more robust. the 'cells' slot together and come apart completely and fit into a deep, solid tray. they'll last decades.

[Badger's Mate]

I’ve used rootrainers for at least ten years. I can see the sense of replacing them with a more durable alternative but haven’t had to yet.

[Sloe-Gin]

I have some redundant Haxnicks potato planters, so I'm ordering some horseradish thongs. I used to be able to buy fresh horseradish, but the suppler has closed down.
Any of you grow it? Successfully?

[scullion]

i did - but unfortunately i didn't get to water it (in big pots) while i was sewing scrubs during first lockdown - the really sunny weather.
it was dug up from a huge patch at penrose.
i think you can sometimes get roots from waitrose which are plantable.

[Suffs]

I think that Wrose stock it in the Kosher section around Passover (is that the right name … I’m thinking of school RK lessons) I’ve a feeling it’s a ‘bitter herb’ …?

It grew wild on the smallholding and around the hedgerows and verges of MidSuffolk and ma had a huge patch in a corner of the big veg garden (heavy clay) on the farm. It was Pa’s job to dig a piece up on a Sunday morning and scrape it and put it through the Spong mincer before Ma mixed some of it with a little malt vinegar and top of the milk. The rest was stored in a bit more vinegar in a jar in the fridge.

[scullion]

i hope he wore goggles and a nose clip - or a diving mask and snorkel!

[Suffs]

No goggles available … a hanky tied over his face like a bandit on the cowboy programmes. I remember tears streaming down his cheeks … bless him.

[Badger's Mate]

I’ve got plenty on the plot - if anybody wants some just pm me. Plant it in secure accommodation though.

[herbidacious]

I wouldn't mind growing some but not sure where I could do it.

My broadbeans looked a bit floppy when I took the fleece off on Monday. Will monitor them over the next few days, then decide whether they need replacing. (Or just not bother and sow early peas. But I have had no success with peas... Beginning to think it's the wrong spot for them.)