Minnie's Gardeners' Question Time - help for the new gardeners

[Minnie_the_Minx]

The leaves look so different on your new one - I wonder if the flowering has got messed up and all it has is flowering shoot leaflets...
They all look a bit drawn - I'm guessing you didn't lift the tubers over the winter ?

No, took them out the year before and there were loads more and I got a bit confused, so I didn't bother this year

Are you talking about my old one (the big one) that's not flowering?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

pots too small and out of the sun , not that I know anything

I water mine every night and put feed in the water every 3 days........ in £stretchers biggest pot ....gone mental it has

Oh, but I thought they were drought resistant so I don't bother watering it all the time, and yes, it did spend a lot of time in the shade. I've moved it into the sun now, but I really don't want it getting too big as sunny bit of the garden is too small. What do I do with the leaves, rip them right down and pull off?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Maybe it's just too early for the dahlia to start flowering?

Right, I've done some investigating from when I first started my garden in 2011.

Here's the dahlia a couple of months after I got it.

8 July 2011 (no flowers, but there are buds there at the top)


13 August 2011 (only 10 days away from that this year though, and no flowers yet)



18 September 2011 (lots more flowers)



So maybe it's just too early, although that 2nd picture does show flowers in the first half of August

 

[gentlegreen]

No pulling leaves off !

The trick with dahlias is storing the tubers over winter and starting them off indoors.
They come from south America - like the potato.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

No pulling leaves off !

The trick with dahlias is storing the tubers over winter and starting them off indoors.
They come from south America - like the potato.

I haven't pulled any off. Why do you think I have? Or are you just warning me?

Right, I shall remember to dig it up and store it this year

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

PS: For Tankus and you gentlegreen

Found a picture of my bit of concrete from 2011. As you can see, it's not very wide, and this is why I can't really have any wide or large plants. Need the sunlounger space!

 

[gentlegreen]

That's a cheeky photo from 2011 - they look distinctly "punk"
I wasn't keen on the intensely bred forms my dad used to grow in the 60s.
I've grown the "Bishop of Llandaff" a couple of times.

It's been a really messed-up year all round though with the incredibly slow start.
Hopefully we'll have a nice slow end as well.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

That's a cheeky photo from 2011 - they look distinctly "punk"

I have absolutely no idea what the above means. My dahlias look like cheeky punks?

 

[gentlegreen]

I have absolutely no idea what the above means. My dahlias look like cheeky punks?

As opposed to regimented, over-bred blooms on an allotment.



I seem to remember that with both dahlias and chrysanths, they put upturned flowerpots on canes filled with straw to trap earwigs.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

As opposed to regimented, over-bred blooms on an allotment.

View attachment 38632

I seem to remember that with both dahlias and chrysanths, they put upturned flowerpots on canes filled with straw to trap earwigs.

ah, you mean mine are a right disorderly bunch

I found 8 snails on the other geranium today (or around the pot). There's barely any leaves left.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

A present for gentlegreen

Look, it's flowered!



Now we know it's definitely not a weed, suppose I better start looking after it!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Meanwhile, my hibiscus is going mad, never used to have more than one flower open at once, and the flowers were never as big as they are now.

 

[gentlegreen]

I should get plenty of flowers off my big brugmansia (though they're still slow and straining to open properly.), but there's something weird going on.



It's the growing tips.
No visible creepy-crawlies so I assume it's either fungal or nutes.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I should get plenty of flowers off my big brugmansia (though they're still slow and straining to open properly.), but there's something weird going on.

View attachment 38917

It's the growing tips.
No visible creepy-crawlies so I assume it's either fungal or nutes.

nutes?

 

[gentlegreen]

Nutrients - either lacking trace elements or too many of the big ones (NPK etc) upsetting the acidity of the soil and locking them out.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Nutrients - either lacking trace elements or too many of the big ones (NPK etc) upsetting the acidity of the soil and locking them out.

oh, as if I know anything about that kind of stuff

 

[gentlegreen]

I suppose you are feeding your plants ?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I suppose you are feeding your plants ?

I think I fed them once last year.

I've fed them twice this year so far with Miracle Grow

Getting done again on Monday. I have to remember though which ones have an even more diluted solution than others and which ones say to only feed once every few weeks etc. but I can never remember

I give the ferns half solution, but as for the rest...

Oh, and I don't give nasturtiums anything, but otherwise, everything else gets normal dosage.

BTW, my agapanthus hasn't done anything this year. It hasn't even got a stem. Any idea why?

 

[gentlegreen]

It's South African, so slightly tender - another one to treat to some insulation at least during the winter.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's South African, so slightly tender - another one to treat to some insulation at least during the winter.

It was covered up with a net and stuff during the winter, so don't know what's wrong with it

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's South African, so slightly tender - another one to treat to some insulation at least during the winter.

I have another South African plant. It's one that doesn't flower easily though. I'm wondering also whether it needs a bigger pot so it can spread its roots.

It used to be called the...

oh, I've temporarily forgotten the name

Back when I remember

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Aristea Major/Aristea Capitata

I bought it because I liked the blue flowers. Turned out I bought a pink one!

 

[gentlegreen]

Usually it's the other way around - look at that dahlia - that's an amazing flower for so little foliage !

... reading about it, Aristeas like moisture during the growing season...so presumably would need to be tapered off so the compost isn't damp as well as cold...

Last winter wasn't too extreme - though it did drag on - my tree fern still has last year's fronds - but I really went to town with the straw and fleece.

Pots need to be wrapped and lifted off the ground for insulation.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Usually it's the other way around - look at that dahlia - that's an amazing flower for so little foliage !

... reading about it, Aristeas like moisture during the growing season...so presumably would need to be tapered off so the compost isn't damp as well as cold...

Last winter wasn't too extreme - though it did drag on - my tree fern still has last year's fronds - but I really went to town with the straw and fleece.

Pots need to be wrapped and lifted off the ground for insulation.

It is a lovely flower, and although the slugs have had a right feasting on the leaves, it was pretty bare before. Maybe I'll move it into the sun now I know what it is!

As for the Aristea, again that's on a part shady, non windy side of the garden, although the pot is on the ground. I don't water it frequently.

It's never looked any different to how it was when I bought it, except maybe taller!

Oh, my crocosmia. Now I'm sure this time last year it was looking lovely and green although hadn't yet flowered, but this year the leaves are very off colour. Any ideas why?

 

[gentlegreen]

I didn't have much luck growing crocosmia in pots.
It thrives in stony "hedges" in Cornwall - and I'm pretty sure I saw it growing on toxic spoil heaps. It's an invasive weed there - rumoured to have been brought back by Cornish miners who emigrated to South Africa when the local industry went bust.

 

[Mrak]

New to gardening. Didn't read the whole thread, so sorry for any repeats.

Our neighbour went away for a month earlier this summer and asked if we'd take over their tomato and basil plants. We did, and to my surprise I'm quite enjoying the simple task of watering them, picking off dead bits, occasionally giving them some fertilizer, and just watching them grow. In fact, so much so that they've been back for a month or so and I've not been too bothered with them coming and grabbing them. So! I'm going to get me some of my own green things.

Obviously it's a bit late in the season though, but what are some decent plants (not necessarily food-giving) for a balcony during London's tropical winters? We're actually moving flats in a week and the new place will have some of those boxes people put on window sills and balcony railings, as well as a number of good old fashioned pots.

Also, if they don't kill cats that's a benefit.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

New to gardening. Didn't read the whole thread, so sorry for any repeats.

Our neighbour went away for a month earlier this summer and asked if we'd take over their tomato and basil plants. We did, and to my surprise I'm quite enjoying the simple task of watering them, picking off dead bits, occasionally giving them some fertilizer, and just watching them grow. In fact, so much so that they've been back for a month or so and I've not been too bothered with them coming and grabbing them. So! I'm going to get me some of my own green things.

Obviously it's a bit late in the season though, but what are some decent plants (not necessarily food-giving) for a balcony during London's tropical winters? We're actually moving flats in a week and the new place will have some of those boxes people put on window sills and balcony railings, as well as a number of good old fashioned pots.

Also, if they don't kill cats that's a benefit.

Hardy ferns! You won't get any colour though

 

[Mrak]

Green is a lovely colour. Is that pretty much it? Ferns and grass? Man, I got into this gardening thing at the wrong time...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

erm, not sure. Not had much success with flowering winter plants, mainly because I don't bother because I don't like the cold so can't be arsed to go outside

As for ferns, Wallich's Wallichiana I can highly recommend

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Just wanted to show that my parrot which I thought was dying, is going mental with lots of clusters





I tried taking a cutting of it a few weeks ago but managed to kill the cutting