Gardening Resources & Tips

[Uschi]

Thanks Suffolk. I was thinking along the same lines, but wasn't sure. I have been feeding it and the neighbouring raspberries with rose fertiliser, so that should be OK.

If only the weevils leave it alone. I am out every night, killing as many as I can.

[scullion]

pretty sure that agapanthus doesn't like being moved and prefers to be a bit overcrowded - so it should carry on flowering well from now on, sue.
there's a rather nice white variety.
there's an agapanthus specialist grower down near pz that i'd planned to go to with the friend who died just before christmas. she said it had a café - very partial to afternoon tea, she was!

we used to have a dwarf variety in the garden - rather sweet.

[Uschi]

Our agaphantus is blue. I repotted it two years ago. It seems it is not yet crowded enough it its pot as it hasn't flowered since. It always sits in the same sunny spot. In winter it sits inside, and the rest of the time about one foot further West, outside.

[Stokey Sue]

The first time I really noticed agapanthus it was in Johannesburg where it is crowded into roundabouts, which shimmer in shades of blue in the sun.

[Uschi]

Must have been impressive. I think I spied my first one in the botanical gardens here.

[Pampy]

When I first moved into my house 35 years ago, I planted a white and a blue agapanthus, neither of which came up at all. Then about 5 years ago, the white one suddenly came into life and I now have loads of lovely flowers!

[herbidacious]

My neighbour has a splendid one but I have not been successful. I need to try a bit harder. I haven't taken care of the ones I bought. They are still alive, just... Mind you neighbour says he does nothing with his, but I think either in the ground or a much bigger container.

[herbidacious]

I just did some calming deadheading. Or at least calming until I got bored! New snips ( ) made it faster left handed hit still hits slow. A week’s worth of scabious and rose campion. Multiple plants. But worth doing I think.

I am slightly irritated by Gardener whom I asked to pot up courgettes and cucumbers.
I think T can be forgiven for putting plants in 7 inch pots at the bottom of 15 inch pots and then only adding compost up to the top of the surface of the plant but a Gardener should know better? He didn’t firm down the compost either so they couldn’t take a cane and he didn’t water them in! I am wondering what sort of gardening he does at home. However, I am still grateful that I have him and he does most stuff really well. Clearly vegetables are just not his forte.
To remedy this I had to drag a bag of compost from the front of the house 50 feet down the garden – fortunately the bags are quite small ones and I could do this with my left hand. It took ages to fill up a single pot, one left handful of compost at a time. The rest are just going to have to wait but this one was critical. I think maybe he ran out of compost and couldn’t be bothered to get any more from down the side of the house. T did this with the peppers, I suspect although he just said ‘surely they don’t need so much compost’!
Sorry about the erratic capital letters. I am still using voice to text.

[herbidacious]

In spite of terrible green fly infestation (ladybird larvae applied an hour ago) I have a tiny aubergine coming. Also a tiny tiny pepper. they survive. The plants are not looking happy at all. Peppers are stunted and aubergines three quarter eaten.

This year really is a wipe out.

[herbidacious]

I bought some bran. How do you apply it, Scully?

[scullion]

i just put a circle of it either around the plant or round the bed. the line ends up about a couple of cm wide and a few/5 mm deep.

[herbidacious]

Ah ok. I left piles out, albeit wheatgerm, but they seemed attracted to it. (Although I collected some slugs that were clearly more attracted to other plants though too).

I watched a video of a guy who trialled bran and oats with two slugs. One was interested and the other wasn't. He said he couldn't show what happened to one of them. I did read earlier, however, that the idea that they come to nasty end is urban myth.

I have ordered bran. The wheatgerm was a mistake.

[herbidacious]

My goodness they do like the wheat germ. About 20 on a 3inch square pile of it all lined up.

Probably just making them fat rather than, er getting rid of them, but hopefully also makes them full. There was stuff left from yesterday. I read there are about 15,000 slugs in the average garden... (200 per 3 cubic metres.) The phrase 'drop in the ocean' springs to mind.

[herbidacious]

Soooo so far only about 4 tomatoes have ripened (20 plants). Normally I get my first ones late June/early August. quite a lot of green ones, but again very far behind. Several plants look like they have given up the ghost.

A couple of small aubergines (one very snailed) and more on the way. A couple of miniscule sweet peppers.

Courgettes are getting blossom end rot and being eaten, and now mildew (as per usual) but hope to harvest some small ones soon.

I have had 4 cucumbers.

I have a few pea pods, excitingly, but as not many plants survived this may be it!

Some French beans coming. (Most plants eaten.)

I have a marvellous crop of Japanese wineberries. But do I really like them? They taste mainly sweet. They are very pretty and jewel like though.

My calendula are doing really well.

On the whole there is finally less soil visible but the garden is scraggy looking. My savingg grace are the scarlet-coloured petunias in pots (which need some attention now. I am never sure if it's a bud or a dead head.)

[Uschi]

We bought a chili plant at Aldi's for 50 cents and I potted it on. It now bears five finger-long green chilies with more to come.

As for Aldi's basil, we bought a large pot about 8 weeks ago and I roughly quartered the contents and planted that out in a larger pot. It is growing like wildfire. I take off the tips for our Butterbrote and salads and the sideshoots soon take over from them, so there is plenty to harvest. I think we may have pesto soon.

[Stokey Sue]

This is mine, one of those small pots from Lidl separated and planted up, they nearly died early on, but have filled out nicely with constant picking, I recently pinched back hard as they were thinking of flowering and obviously I’d prefer bushy plants with lots of young leaves

[Uschi]

Lovely! I must say that mine did not mind being divided up and potted on this time, but yes, I've had sulkers before. Good that yours thought better of it.

[herbidacious]

I had homegrown tomatoes (three varieties), cucumber and French beans for lunch.
Homegrown courgettes (two types) in my dinner.
Will have to wait a while before I can harvest anything again!

[PatsyMFagan]

Lovely! I must say that mine did not mind being divided up and potted on this time, but yes, I've had sulkers before. Good that yours thought better of it.

I've done that, literally an hour ago.

[scullion]

for those interested,
thompson and morgan have an offer on bulbs until midnight - i've indulged in some more saffron corms.
https://www.thompson-morgan.com/newslet ... cq_source=