Gardening: Hints and Help!

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  • hostahousey
    hostahousey Forum Participant Posts: 7,235 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 28 #482

    Anyone know why Delphinium droplets are so sparse . Instead of a full long bloom the flowers are only intermittent. Any help anyone .

  • Freddy55
    Freddy55 Club Member Posts: 1,809 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited July 23 #483

    Probably my favourite Dahlia, ‘Kenora Sunset’

     

     

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,027 ✭✭✭
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    edited July 23 #484

    Can you post a photo HH? Mine have been lovely this year, very tall.

    That’s a beautiful Dahlia Freddy, a true “hot border” plant. I love the “Bishop” group of Dahlia’s, with the dark foliage.

    Apparently, King Charles has a black and white area in his garden at Highgrove, and Bishop Dahlia’s are grown there, but they remove the buds leaving the gorgeous “black” foliage. It’s a garden on my list to visit, featured in this month’s RHS magazine. 

     

  • Freddy55
    Freddy55 Club Member Posts: 1,809 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited July 23 #485

    “It’s a garden on my list to visit”

    Good luck with that. It’s regularly sold out, better plan well ahead 👍

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,027 ✭✭✭
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    edited July 23 #486

    Yes. We have driven past the estate lots of times, it’s on our route to SW, via Tetbury, but can’t get away at the moment anywhere. Some friends did the tour a good few years ago, and said how interesting a place it was. There are some lovely private gardens occasionally open round there.

    Do you lift and store your Dahlias Freddy, or leave them in ground over Winter? I have lost a few this year, but Spring was very wet here in South Yorks. 

  • Freddy55
    Freddy55 Club Member Posts: 1,809 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited July 23 #487

    “Do you lift and store your Dahlias Freddy, or leave them in ground over Winter? I have lost a few this year, but Spring was very wet here in South Yorks.”

    I used to lift and store TDA but I never had a lot of luck with cuttings. I don’t have a greenhouse now anyway. Subsequently I did leave them in the ground but this proved unreliable. They were either lost to the weather, or just lost their vigour. For best results I believe they’re best grown on from cuttings/rooted plants so I now just buy them in. Much more successful and a lot less fuss. Those 3 plants cost around £10 delivered, I think, which isn’t bad value given the show they put on 🙂

  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,586 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 8 #488

    We needed a little corner filling. It catches morning sunlight but it can get draughty and we never seemed to find anything suitable and small to fill it until we tried these Potentillas. Thy have kept producing flowers throughout July and continue to do so. Lovely little things, I suppose a bit like myself.🤣

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,027 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 11 #489

    Lovely, nice and bright.

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,663 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 8 #490

    DD needs garden help….all suggestions welcome!

    She has, 2 years back, laid play bark over a weed suppressing membrane in the boys’ play area, but has huge numbers of mushrooms now growing in and on the bark.  Where are they coming from?   And how does she get rid of them?

    Some bark was so infested with them that she has disposed of it, and much of the bottom layer of bark is rotting and some has the mycelium (?) all through it.

    It is a large area so expensive to replace the bark, and, until she can be rid of the cause, could well be a waste of money.

    How should she deal with this problem?

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,027 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 9 #491

    I can help with this one K😁 Mulch, especially bark chippings are something that mushrooms like growing in. They won’t harm it, but obviously with little ones around, you will want to get rid. Vinegar, particularly white vinegar, will kill the spores, and keep them under control. Dilute it with water, use a watering can to vinegar rinse all the bark, leave it for a couple of days, and either wait for it to rain, or rinse the bark with water. If you can keep the boys off until rain is due, just leave it on a bit longer. Don’t get the vinegar onto or close to roots of any precious plants, it’s ascetic acid, so they won’t like it. Once treated, it might be an idea to lightly rake the bark every now and then (avoiding disturbing the membrane below), hopefully this will help keep fungi at bay as well.

    Bark is expensive to buy, I supplement mine be keeping an eye out to see if any neighbours are having tree work done, then have a polite word with them, and ask if any chipped wood can be dropped off at home, giving the neighbours something in return. Tree fellers are usually pleased, as it saves them dumping it at end of the day. We usually have the wood as well, again compensating either neighbours or company doing work. It’s then cut to length, split, stored, dried for our stove!😁 We have a thriving barter and exchange economy on our little street🤣

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,027 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 9 #492

    Half vinegar, half water by the way👍

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,663 ✭✭✭
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    Thanks TTDA, will pass that on.