Gardening: Hints and Help!
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We liked Peter Beales, a few years ago now, they had good perennial plants too. D. Austin have v good stock but in the garden centre itself only sell their own bred roses although they do other mail order varieties. The cafe was closed as well so not one of our better days our.
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Our plum tree looks splendid on the Orchard lawn 😀.
🤞for a crop as good as last year.
Sky has been that colour most of the day, old passing fluffy cloud.
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How are you gardeners coupling with peat free compost. I must say I have struggled trying to find a comparable compost. Some when opened have only been fit for the bin. Can anyone recommend a good substitute.
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Same here HH, some I have tried haven’t been good.
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And us too HH! We were talking about it with neighbours this morning, we all seem to be struggling. The bags we bought are very lumpy and dry out very quickly. We use a lot so tend to go for the the 3 for 2 offers but have not found a good one yet.
Inside at the moment and can't remember the latest purchase but will update later.
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Likewise HH TDA and brue.
Just opened, a today purchase, from Dobbies. Dry looks a bit like spent mushroom Compost and has a very dry lump of small bark chippings.....
Also been using Aldi, Garden line, much cheaper and peat free. Initial thoughts better but not done a seasons growth yet.
I'm doing a container cloche one side Dobbies the other Aldi. Both mixed with Dobbies including John Innes. Will be interested in the results.
Cloche planter was a fb bargain from in the village. Had to carry the cover home, too big for the car 😂
Put the Dobbies peat free in and went away for a bit, returned to find it looked like blackbird feathers after one had been caught 😢😢.
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oh dear B2 I've just realised what you mean...Something more cheerful, a scented geranium looking good just now, this is the one with the rose scented leaves.
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Some nice ideas😁 our latest is a herb tub. OH bought me a big wooden planter back in January, up to now we had been using it to store and dry out firewood in green house. But I emptied it, lined it, built a brick plinth, and hoping it will do ok under kitchen window. Bought some topsoil to half fill it, will add some compost as well, then will put in a few of our favourite herbs, such as mint, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, chives. I am going to put some dianthus in as well, as I love the colours and clove scent. We use a lot of herbs
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Thinking again about peat free compost, possibly it might be better if it was really chopped or minced a lot smaller . This to make more peatish if you get the guest .
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We try and make our own compost, however, I checked one of our tubs yesterday, and found Bindweed in it😡 Totally unusable, can’t risk spreading that around. Our next door neighbours have got it everywhere, and think its pretty, so I fight a stealth battle, it’s the only thing I use chemicals on. Their garden is huge, twice the size of ours, but they have little inclination or time to dedicate to it, so it’s around 60% wilderness. Invasive stuff like ivy, bindweed, nettles, couch grass, some kind of horrible burdock. They are lovely though, but it’s hard work keeping some things at bay.
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Takethedogalong, I understand where you're coming from completely....... I think that's how I have one large covered area, and several smaller areas that I've been ruthless with, where 3 cornered leek has been allowed to run wild and rampant 😡😡😡. Someone told me they had suggested a cull, the reply by the previous owner - I like it...
I bottled using chemicals but I'm taking to smaller "returning" blighters with our heat weed gun. Last year, when I thought it was wild garlic, I pulled out the bulbs by hand and continued turning the soil. I fear I gave it more impetus 🤐 I've binned several plants that it was entangled with for fear of spreading it around.
Having bought LOTS of potted plants from nursery's their Compost doesn't look like the peat free stuff I've bought! Maybe it gets 'better' with root balls??
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I was taught to be rather ruthless when I worked at Brodsworth Hall as a volunteer. If something isn’t working, it’s out now, and either moved elsewhere, passed onto neighbours, family, friends who might want it. I also cut shrubs back hard each year.
I am pondering on a bit of a special project for our garden for next year. It’s our Ruby Wedding, so I thought I might get rid of our smaller lawn area, put in a raised bed and have a go at a sort of knot garden. But I don’t want to use Box, as it’s very labour intensive and if it gets blight then it’s curtains. So thinking cap is on. Would use sleepers and bark, fancy a water feature in centre, couple of standard roses, then plant with bulbs in Spring, and then something else in Summer. Sunny spot, well sheltered from winds.🤔
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Wow that sounds like a lovely idea. I agree about the box, expensive too! No suggestions at present. Biggest issue is growth rate and not minding a good trim!
I repotted and divided up my Christmas Box, keep in a pot so i could move it to and from entrances, bought from our old house. Got 2 extra pots of it. Used non peat Compost with added John Innes, still had 'wood chips in it..
Sadly the pot I exchanged it with, a Hardy fushia that 'matched' our block paving colourwise 😉. Didn't look healthy at the end of last summer. Took a couple of cuttings and stuck them and the original behind the garage in an unlidded cold frame. Delighted to say the cuttings appear to have taken but the original went to the Compost in the sky.
I've never been as ruthless as I am at the moment. I gave the garden a year to show me what it offered - sad to say not impressed apart from hundreds of bulbs. Wouldn't dare move within the garden from certain areas 😡 much less give plants away. I must admit it feels tantamount to abuse 😱.
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These days I no longer have my own garden but now I tend my children’s outdoor spaces and am involved in some volunteering projects. We always consider wildlife in our plans and imagine my daughters delight when last night a hedgehog was discovered scuttling around the back garden. These creatures are really suffering and need our help.
This article may be of interest to those who wish to do their own little areas to help.It’s also good to see the CaMC also supporting with bug hotels, hedgehog hostels, wild flower areas and bee corridors all appearing on many sites. We can all do our bit
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/chris-packham-calls-secret-weapon-29852667
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It's good that you can still enjoy working outside Micky. I always hope the hedgehogs will devour a few slugs, unfortunately we have more slugs than hedgehogs!
I checked out our latest peat free compost, see photo. We're well into the growing season and still getting mixed results. I suppose the "old" gardeners would probably put stuff through a sieve?
We also make our own compost and this goes straight onto the veg plot.
The little bits of blue are the results of some old disintegrated mesh. I will pick it our later when I move the seedlings on. Sometimes seeds fail don't they, I haven't done very well with sweet peas this year. OH'S veg are doing well so all OK on that score.
Have started work on a neglected area, a new tree has gone in. A crabapple called "Royalty" which just happened to take our fancy in this coronation year.
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They are such lovely little animals are hedgehogs😁 We don’t find as many as we used to do, but then we have always had dogs. Thankfully, none of the dogs have ever got beyond the sniffing stage, even the terriers. We put hedgehog holes in the two fencing panels we have. We built a hedgehog house, (inspired by Bakers), but no idea if it’s used as we leave it alone. We put nesting pockets in thick climbers and hedges, have got nest boxes, bat box (we’ve always had Pipistrelles around), insect boxes, and there are still nettle patches around. I plant for bees as well. I think we run a McDonalds for squirrels, as I only seem to get a 50% return on bulbs like tulips, little blighters are always digging in pots and containers. Ponds full of tadpoles, sadly no newts though. It doesn’t take much really to get things visiting. Mum had a couple of Partridges yesterday, but she lives out on edge of town with woodlands and fields all around. There are a lot of urban foxes around us as well, bold as brass at times.
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Berberis, the purple kind might work as a low hedge, need to read up🤔
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Someone near us has a dwarf photonia,( probably Red Robin) as a low hedge, it has stayed that way too which is good and the changing colours are interesting. Might be a bit too colourful but works in the right place.
Good idea about the berberis. There are some nice dwarf ones, lots of colours too. We were looking at some yesterday.
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Yes, I wondered about Photinia. Ideally, I don’t want it more that a foot high, don’t mind clipping it, good exercise😁 I really fancy Myrtle, but I don’t think it would survive our Winters up her to be honest. We had a wonderful huge Myrtle at Brodsworth that was Cloud clipped, but it lived in a very big tub, and was only on display during warm months, it was forklifted back into hothouses for over Wintering.
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Sounds good with either takethedogalong.
Back to peat free compost. NOT impressed with the Dobbies, Aldi's seems better doing a direct comparison.. It's certainly not holding the water. I did some large pot repotting 2 days ago. Soaked it after repot, even stood the pots in receptacle for a couple of hours. Watered again this afternoon by watering can, running almost straight out as it went in 😡🤐. Not quite as fast as the ones with added John Innes.
Photo shows what I described as dead blackbird earlier. I'd watered the salad leaves before I took the photo. The other side is the Aldi compost. I didn't think to take photo to show both side doh!
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I haven’t found a decent peat free compost to be honest. First time ever, I bought some enriched topsoil this week. It’s for a big herb tub, mixed with some compost. I had been hoping to use some of our own compost, but found bindweed in it (from next door🙄), so that idea was ditched.
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Posted on garden snaps when I meant to here!
Back to peat free Compost. Used in this recent local fb bargain purchase.
One on the left is the one I described earlier as looking like dead blackbird feathers. The expensive Dobbies without John Innes. On the right Aldis own.
Both watered by Saturdays heavy rain, yet there's a dry area in the expensive side.....
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Re Compost found this 50L bag of Miracle Grow today 40/70% peat . Used it and found it v good .
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Should have included , from Home Bargains store , priced at £4.99 for 50L
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We're now using Bulrush Professional which has 50% peat and is chopped up much more finely than the previous Levingtons peat free. A pity the peat free stuff isn't more refined will give it another go next year but we also found the surface dried out very quickly which wasn't much use for water hungry seedlings.
Had some success with acorns planted in the Autumn.
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Posting before I forget! I know you're away as well.
Gardeners world tonight, still on, 12/5.
I think I caught it right, in 1st 15 mins, Australia rosemary. Can be used as a substitute Box.
Hoe it's right and helpful. I'll try to rematch later as I liked the look of it anyway.
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Just seen this Bakers, and thanks, will take a look👍 I am sat here this morning, wondering what ravages our resident squirrels will be doing to the garden, and wondering if the slugs have got to my greenhouse treasures🤣
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Thanks Bakers👍
Everything in the greenhouse has survived thankfully. Pleased as I thought I would be home for a night mid way through last weeks holiday, but I did leave most things in reservoirs, enough to keep them going. OH cut the grass yesterday so that transformed garden instantly. Lots of weeds coming up, but I shall tackle each bed as I can. Lots more colour out now, Broom shrubs are in full flower and doing well, and some roses are out. Just at Mum’s, have taken some Nasturtiums up to put in containers.
I planted some seeds before going away, can’t remember if they are Pumpkins or Gourds🤔 Only this year’s bit of fun, but we shall see what comes up. The cheap Dahlias I got are doing very well, they will be good space fillers. Doing Lilies in a pot as well as in ground, they are doing smashing as well👍
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