Gardening: Hints and Help!
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I don't know what garden centres are doing in your area but one of our centres (Otter Nurseries)) have been offering a mystery delivery box including 2 compost bags, 3 tomato plants and compost and a selection of plants, summer bulbs and bedding plants for £50. I've just heard they've sold out of their first offer but it's worth looking at your nearest garden centre or nursery to see what they are doing just now.
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Got my compost delivery from local garden centre Good Friday 😀. By the looks of things I won't need bedding plants, I scattered all mums saved seeds round the garden and germination looks good - so will hopefully have a cottage garden feel. Sadly the cosmos I took such care to sow in pots and keep in the conservatory are not cooperating 😢. But a friends sunflower seeds are romping away, they've had to be put outside for last 2 weeks, nights as well, as got a bit tall too quick, I'll need to transplant them soon.
Local florist who posted on fb that her wholesaler not complying with current rules would continue to do flowers from her garden and allotment so please bear with her on what's available. I messaged her to say I have variegated pittasporum and twisted hazel due a bit of a trim. She came yesterday, pruned them with me watching, told her not to worry but come back when she wants more. Win win. 😀. Said that she needs to find new wholesaler but I was disgusted at what she told me, if it's true, and i have no reason to disbelieve her, it'll be that sort that means we are confined to barracks for longer 😤
She did say when she came round the back what a lovely garden, well manicured - so I fear I've probably gone a bit OTT can't recall that compliment before. Never been said of my house inside 😂😂
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B2. Good to have some "local" things in with the florists offerings, I expect they'll look very nice....hope you have a garden left at the end of the summer.
I contacted Suttons about receiving damaged plants, no reply yet but I had another email from them saying my next order batch had been cancelled, none left of that particular plant. Now wish I'd grown a few more from seed, they'd have been ready by now.
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We tend to do similar with plants from Aldi and Morrison's. We grew half a dozen geraniums year from the latter and just let them die back in the Autumn. By the looks of it 5 have survived the winter and have new leaves showing.
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Looks like B&Q are reopening stores gradually, including selling plants. Ours closed down permanently three years ago, but another option for others.
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I think it's a great shame the big stores can open and sell and the little ones are closed, unless they're a bit tech savvy in one way or another 😢. We have several who are - including one of the plant stalls from the market. As far as I know we're ok for plants, OH has a decorative wheelbarrow from daughter at Christmas needs put together, but will only need half a dozen at most bedding plants so fall well below their minimum orders.
Anyway nothing I can do about it. Much more traffic and SPEED on the road we can hear behind us 😤. It's nowhere near as peaceful as it was in the beginning. Lots more sirens too!
Just enjoying a good sit in the garden, generally in the sun but I do have to nip into the shade from time to time. It's April! Anyway my rambling rector rose is absolutely smothered in buds 😯, I say again it's April. I do hope the weather allows it to show itself in it's full finery this year, last year it was beautiful and just coming out one day- the next day lashings of rain and wind and a messy lawn 😢😢
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We've just ordered some all purpose compost and growbags from our local farm shop, OH going to collect it next week along with our veg box etc. Normally our daughter's partner drops things off but he'll be in Cumbria next week for the family funeral. Agricultural stores are open so you can get stuff there, ours sells plants and seeds too. Locally people are going to put spare plants for sale at specific points, honesty boxes for funds, but we will also swap with neighbours.
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We are sharing plants round here.
On the bad news side, I have found some bindweed (😱) growing in my big herby border, crept underneath hedge, drastic measures required......out comes something I rarely use, weed killer, but I loathe and detest bindweed🤬
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I will give it a try HD. But in the past I have used some real nasty stuff on bindweed and it’s still come back. But thanks for the tip, will try anything👍
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We have a ground elder problem that comes under the fence last year I bought one of those electric heating burners for our block paving. As soon as I spot any I ehip it out and zap it. I think I'm winning 🤞. Same fence also sends snowberry suckers 😤. I'm giving those the treatment too 😀.
Husky never heard of vinegar, neat and spray? Any particular vinegar better. I use white vinegar indoors for cleaning loads of things, diluted otherwise it smells like you've had a chip supper!
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Vinegar is effective but be very careful ensure you ‘spray’ carefully or protect any plants you don’t want dead, vinegar don’t take prisoners nor does it discriminate☹️
PS-whenever I’ve used it I’m left feeling hungry🤷🏻♂️
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My trick is to put the foliage into a plastic bag (Clear food type) then spray inside the bag, tie it loosely and let the weed killer do it’s thing. I want root death if possible. Trouble is, bindweed roots go way down......
I try and dig other nasties out if I can, nettles, docks, brambles. Thankfully haven’t got any nightmare nasties like Mares tail😱
I have made some mistakes though with certain plants down the years. I decided to plant a couple of Black Widow perennial geraniums a few years ago.....talk about mother to thousands😱 Lovely plant, but you do need to hack down mercilessly before it can seed.
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Does anyone know anything about blueberries? I've grown them in pots for several years but suddenly experienced a problem. I have two bushes, one about 6 years old and the other about 4 years old. Each year they have cropped really well.
Last year, although they both had a good crop of berries about half of them just didn't ripen despite (or as a result of?) the good weather last year. They were well watered, just the same as previous years. This year, the younger of the two bushes has no flowers at all and the older one has only 5 or 6 clusters. I've not been able to find any information elsewhere so hope that a fellow CTer can help.
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That must be disappointing to see problems cropping up with the blueberries, I've never grown them, my only knowledge is about them needing acid soil and rainwater to water to feed them. Is a link to the RHS any good for you? I often look for information on their web site.
RHS Blueberry LINK
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We dig out ground elder as soon as we see it. We've always got bindweed, have learnt to live with it (try and remove it on sight!) We don't use weed killer anywhere in our garden, so we've got daises in the lawn and dandelions but the plus side is we've got lots of insect and wildlife. At the moment I'm battling with goosegrass in the hedges, determined it's not going to take over anything this year.
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Hmm, no experience of blueberries, but reading brue’s link, they do seem to have particular requirements, especially around soil PH and watering.....🤔
Some of our fruit can be a tad hit and miss, but we have nothing in pots.
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Thanks for the link, Brue. I've had a look at it and everything it comments on I am doing and have done over the years although I haven't checked the pH. I'll have to do that. As you say, it is very disappointing to go from two heavy cropping bushes to getting nothing at all.
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I always dug it out, and chased the root trail, if you're in the right frame of mind it can be quite satisfying! But because it comes under the fence I can only do what's my side. I have found the the electric stick burner great, saves being in my hands and knees too! I too attack ground elder and the snowberry bushes on first spotting and at the mo the poor sticker burner thinks it's on elastic 😂. It certainly seems very effective.
I too don't use weedkiller, hence purchase of stick burner for block paving because of the hedgehogs and other wildlife. But this year I have weeded and fed our grass as it was more self heel, daisies, clover and moss, all of which had got beyond acceptable because of several years of not digging out the individual plants. But that'll be it!
The night before last we had 5 hedgehogs in the garden. 2 lots of 2, I saw them at the same time, 2 of them quite small and then a much bigger one at the drinking station and then it shot into the hedgehog house for food. They have quite a turn of speed! We see, I haven't been out much since lockdown, so could be out of date information 😉, but they can be seen squashed on our housing roads, maybe if the drivers stuck to the 20mph limit more could shift out of the way! If anything speed has increased and alledgedly no one in a rush or rat running to avoid bottlenecks 😤😤
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We've got several bits like that where unwanted neighbouring "things" grow under and into our side. You're so lucky to have your hedgehogs and they can obviously move around much just like the pesky unwanted plants! We've had to block a lot of gaps in our borders to stop our new dog escaping, she is so tiny. However every morning we have to replace large stones and wire which the badger lifts up every night and gets in, he's always got in somehow so we won't stop him now...even though he's been digging in our front lawn...
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I forget to tell you Bakers, we had a spiky visitor a few days ago. Sadly, in daytime, so we don’t think very well, but oh has built a house, and if we can find little hedgehog we can try some TLC
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Takethedogalong lovely to have spiky visitors but need catching and some help if they're out in the day!
My garden is delighted with the lovely steady rain which arrived this morning. Waterbutts full again 😀.
I'm definitely winning, slowly slowly, with electric weed killer 😀. It kills back down to the roots and is proving itself. Not what I bought if for, that was for block paving, but good to have another use 😂
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