Gardening: Hints and Help!
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Happy New Year ...Everyone Hope its better than 2020
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I collected a lot of my own seeds in Autumn, mainly perennials like Hollyhocks, Delphiniums, Etc, but usually like to raise a few and stick them in gaps. I got a lovely big new pot from a SIL, and that’s going to be for herbs, up by kitchen door. I bought a Nasturtium purely for seeds late in Summer as well. Minute I stick these into baskets or pots, blinking blackfly get them, but they do well just stuck in ground🤷♀️ 😁
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Daughter bought me a new red Acer for Christmas . Can't wait to see it in leaf.
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This is my version of Tulip Mania. I bought a special snowdrop "in the green" last year and it's got going, nearly out, Wendy's Gold. Can't risk planting it out yet in case I lose it.
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Brue that looks very nice, nature it well.
I treated myself to a couple of pots, just snowdrops reduced 😉, before Christmas. They're looking good but I can't keep them in my garden 😪. I'll try again with these........
Edit gosh that table looks worse than I feared, been too wet to cover it! Luckily another job I can out off until the weather improves 👍🤣. Damage was done last winter when it was covered and I moved pots - wasn't a job I got round too in the drier weather as not one I fancied, plenty of other jobs keep me busy!
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Took some Penstemon cuttings last October they came on well ,so hope late frosts don't knock them back
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HostaH. I've grown Penstemon cuttings, they're much easier than I thought so I'll be taking more this year!
I went on a visit to Kingston Maurward in Dorset a couple of years ago, they have a national Penstemon collection and the gardener showing us round gave me confidence to have a go. Nice gardens there if you ever get the chance to go.
I miss our local gardening club and all the visits out we normally do and all the get togethers, we usually have a supper at this time of the year, All these small things add up. 🌷
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Some winter irises and witch hazel in our garden just now.
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I treated myself to a winter iris (the same as your photo) last year, I was so taken with a large clump of them growing in a near by garden, such a pleasure to see them in flower especially at this time of the year. We also have a witch hazel (all yellow flowers) which usually flowers in late January/February, I haven't seen any flowers out yet, lots of buds, will have to have a closer look tomorrow.
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Beautiful morning, blue skies, all the fruit tree pruning done.
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I have bought some more Dahlia tubers today for later in year. I like to start them off early in big pots in greenhouse, and then use them to fill in any gaps in a herbaceous border. Got some Mesembryanthemum seeds as well. Dad used to plant these for Mum, so I shall be sending some up to her garden. They are such cheerful colours, very nice at front of a display.
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I've got a box of seed packets which I'm going to start looking at over the next few days, see which ones need to be started off first.
I grew some mesum-whatsits last year TDA, they were a great success, had to give some away as the seeds were prolific.
Sent OH out to the greenhouse today to cover up some of his beloved plants which won't do well if the temperature drops.
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Planted some Sweet Peas indoors about 10days ago, they have shot up to about 4''. I think this growth may be too quick, what's the best option for these , or should I start again? I also planted some Ranunculus corms, never seen these before what strange plants, one just peeping through. I thought they may fill some gaps. Anyone else grow these plants ?
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Yes HH, I have grown Ranunculus, but not for a while. Can’t remember much about them to be honest🤔 I have got some Anemones corms to grow in a pot as well. These were my Grandma’s favourites.
Our big task in the garden this year is to move our greenhouse. It’s not huge, but one side is up against a wall, and we need to get to a rampant ivy that has taken hold between wall and glass. Going to need careful planning. Got to take out each pane, then move frame onto lawn, clear ivy out, then put back together again. It’s full of over Wintering plants at the moment😬
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Best of luck with that Takethedogalong, Yes the Ranunculus corms ( very weird looking ) corms look similar to small crabs which need to be soaked in water for about 2/3hours before planting , they then double in size. The flowers come in all colours which look really vibrant.So thought I would give them a try.
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Thanks, Right I will try that Impy
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Just a word of caution for fellow gardeners. Last year I applied liberal amounts of bagged, composted manure to my raised (veg) beds. In time, I then planted them up, as normal. After a while, it became apparent that something wasn’t right. My broad beans took on a whippy/distorted appearance, and I ended up having to pull them up. After some googling, I happened on something called Aminopyralid (I can’t remember the brand names). It’s the ingredient used in some weed killers, and as I understand it, is used by some farmers in their fields. This then finds its way into manure, some of which ends up on our gardens. There’s plenty of info online (just key in Aminopyralid contamination), but my message is don’t take bagged manure for granted. I would recommend carrying out a bean test, whereby you plant some beans into a mix of 50/50 manure and compost. Once they’re up, it should soon become apparent if there’s a problem. Just remembered this, a good video herewith that explains it.
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That’s an interesting clip Freddy. More from the horse feed end for me. We were lucky in that farm where we kept our horse were very interested in land management, so hay fields contained a mix of good plants, the only thing eradicated was Ragwort, and any of this was dealt with by a tooled up “ragwort gang” rather than chemicals. I still detest seeing ragwort growing anywhere!
Thanks for sharing, hope things go better this year.
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“Thanks for sharing, hope things go better this year.”
Lesson learned for me. It’s a very persistent weedkiller, apparently (up to 2 years). To save waiting that long, the only cure is to dig the ground over several times before planting again. I understand it’s also been found in ‘enriched’ (bagged) compost.
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If you can find a livery yard/stables that has horses bedded on peat, the manure will be brilliant😁 It’s not used extensively nowadays, mainly because of costs, and environmental issues, but it helps some horses that have breathing issues on other types of bedding. Rare indeed. We tried our horse on a mix of peat and shavings, made a lovely bed, but it cost us a fortune, and he was sound winded, so we went back to dust free shavings. The shavings manure has to be very well rotted though, otherwise the urea content just burns the plants. Who said the science of poo management was boring......🤣
I was disappointed to miss out on some pots of Snakeshead Fritillaries the other day at Waitrose, they were post checkouts on way out😡 Result today though, popped into our Morrison’s, big pots for £2.50 each, twice size of those at Waitrose for £5 each🤩 So I bought two😂
Edit, back to your beds Freddy. If you have established woodland not far away, why not dig for leaf mould? Very rich, my Grandad was a very keel gardener of both veg and flowers, won lots of prizes. As a child, I can recall the annual trip into woods for leafmould with Pop, Dad and Uncles. Not sure if it’s legal nowadays though😉
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“Edit, back to your beds Freddy. If you have established woodland not far away, why not dig for leaf mould? Very rich, my Grandad was a very keel gardener of both veg and flowers, won lots of prizes. As a child, I can recall the annual trip into woods for leafmould with Pop, Dad and Uncles. Not sure if it’s legal nowadays though😉“
I have, as it happens, stocked up on some Levingington composted (bagged) manure, once I’d established it was ok. I should have enough to last a few years 🙂
Edit : I quite like the idea of leaf mould. The only problem is having somewhere to store it while it rots down. I also seem to recall that not all leaves are suitable? I don’t know.
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Think Spring is nearly here, the Hostas are now starting to move. Some garden plants also, its been very cold the last few months .so now hope for some sun.
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Indeed HH, I am looking at my hosta’s bought last year. No signs yet, but it’s cool at night here still. We have lots of bulbs out now, so much more colour here.
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