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

Dear MGQT,

I no longer have a garden, and only have one plant in my flat. And I don't have a clue what it is. And my bastard camera overheated and almost set fire to my rucksack, so I can't post a photo of it.

The most notable thing about it is what I assume are flowers. They are located at the top of each stalk, are bright, vivid pink, have a dry papery texture, and look a bit like elongated loo-brushes. It's quite funky, and they were on sale all over the place this year.

Any ideas?

Love,
'rax
 
Minnie_the_Minx said:
Lop the WHOLE leaves off my lilies? :eek:
Click to expand...

Yes, lilies grow from corms which are under the ground(ime) so it doesn't matter how cold it gets, unless my lilies are well hard too :D

Are the flower heads sort of pointy/upside down triangly Corax?? Like the photo but smaller??
Lucky your camera didn't start a fire!!

RedAstilbe.jpg
 
geminisnake said:
Yes, lilies grow from corms which are under the ground(ime) so it doesn't matter how cold it gets, unless my lilies are well hard too :D

Are the flower heads sort of pointy/upside down triangly Corax??
Lucky your camera didn't start a fire!!
Click to expand...

Well how are they meant to grow nice and big if I have to keep cutting them down? :mad: Oh, and mine are in plastic pots :D
 
trashpony said:
Only once they've died down. When they're brown and withered looking :) Once you cut it off, your lily bulbs will thank you
Click to expand...

:(

I'm going to take their last pictures of them this year this week, so if they don't come back next year, it'll be your fault :D
 
My banana tree seems to be suffering. It's been in my bathroom or kitchen the last few months and the lower leaves have flopped and gone brown. Should it be doing that?
 
When can I uncover my plants again?

I've got a net mesh over them that's been there since it started getting really cold, and there's bubble wrap under that. I know they'll get moisture from the air but do I need all this protection now?
 
Is it still frosty in the morning?? If it is then the plants still need protected at night but if you can be bothered taking the protection off during the day do so.
No idea about banana trees coz my house ain't warm or big enough for one :)
 
I don't really understand seeds.

For instance, if I sow a seed that's too small that it's impossible to just plant a couple (ie. something like Nicotiana etc.), can I plant the seedlings in clumps, or do I have to plant seedlings singularly?

If I do plant them singularly, then how many seedlings would I need to plant to eventually plant a large pot (ie. a 30cm pot).

I can't seem to find any info like this.

There's plenty that say how tall and wide a plant will be, but I'm not sure I believe that a single seedling from a nicotiana plant will reach 150cm x 50cm :hmm:
 
You wait for the seedlings to grow and then you pull up and throw away most of them so that they have enough room to grow - you need about 10cm between seedlings if you're leaving them where they are
 
trashpony said:
You wait for the seedlings to grow and then you pull up and throw away most of them so that they have enough room to grow - you need about 10cm between seedlings if you're leaving them where they are
Click to expand...

The seeds are going into a propagator with cells next week, but I just need to know how many I need to end up with after chucking the rest of them, to make a nice bushy plant in a 30cm container.

Or are you saying, I need around 9 or 10 of them for a container by placing them 10cm apart? Hope I'm making sense!
 
Sorry, thought you meant you were planting them straight into the pot. Does it really say on the packet they'll grow to 150cm H with a spread of 50cm? Are you sure they're Nicotiana? :hmm:
 
Minnie_the_Minx said:
I don't really understand seeds.

For instance, if I sow a seed that's too small that it's impossible to just plant a couple (ie. something like Nicotiana etc.), can I plant the seedlings in clumps, or do I have to plant seedlings singularly?

If I do plant them singularly, then how many seedlings would I need to plant to eventually plant a large pot (ie. a 30cm pot).

I can't seem to find any info like this.

There's plenty that say how tall and wide a plant will be, but I'm not sure I believe that a single seedling from a nicotiana plant will reach 150cm x 50cm :hmm:
Click to expand...

It's entirely possible minnie, think how tall a sunflower can grow from a single seed - we had some last year that we're at least 6ft tall.
We also had some really tall nicotiana plants too.
 
BoatieBird said:
It's entirely possible minnie, think how tall a sunflower can grow from a single seed - we had some last year that we're at least 6ft tall.
We also had some really tall nicotiana plants too.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I don't really disbelieve that a plant can't grow that big from a single seed, but I just don't understand how on packets they say 150cm height by 50cm width. Surely if a nicotiana plant grew that big, you'd only need one seedling? :hmm: And if that's the case, why would they send you packets of seeds with hundreds or thousands of seeds? (I realise because they're so small, separating would be a problem and you'd therefore bin some but..). I'm probably not explaining things very well am I :hmm:
 
Minnie_the_Minx said:
Oh yes, I don't really disbelieve that a plant can't grow that big from a single seed, but I just don't understand how on packets they say 150cm height by 50cm width. Surely if a nicotiana plant grew that big, you'd only need one seedling? :hmm: And if that's the case, why would they send you packets of seeds with hundreds or thousands of seeds? (I realise because they're so small, separating would be a problem and you'd therefore bin some but..). I'm probably not explaining things very well am I :hmm:
Click to expand...

ah, I see your point.
But I don't know what the answer is
 
oh my, I didn't realise how many different sorts of nicotiana there were :eek:

Species of Nicotiana

  • Nicotiana acuminata
  • Nicotiana africana
  • Nicotiana alata
  • Nicotiana attenuata
  • Nicotiana benthamiana
  • Nicotiana bigelovii
  • Nicotiana clevelandii
  • Nicotiana debneyi
  • Nicotiana excelsior
  • Nicotiana exigua
  • Nicotiana forgetiana
  • Nicotiana glauca
  • Nicotiana glutinosa
  • Nicotiana kawakamii
  • Nicotiana knightiana
  • Nicotiana langsdorffii
  • Nicotiana longiflora
  • Nicotiana obtusifolia
  • Nicotiana otophora
  • Nicotiana paniculata
  • Nicotiana persica
  • Nicotiana plumbagifolia
  • Nicotiana quadrivalvis
  • Nicotiana repanda
  • Nicotiana rustica
  • Nicotiana stocktonii
  • Nicotiana suaveolens
  • Nicotiana sylvestris
  • Nicotiana tabacum
  • Nicotiana tomentosa
  • Nicotiana tomentosiformis
Click to expand...
 
See, what I'm worried about is them not growing if I plant too many because they're squished too tight together, or the pot looking sparse because I've not put enough in. Until I've seen how big a single seedling can grow to, it's difficult to tell.

I don't have this problem with the mirabilis as it's a bigger seed, and I grew one seed late last year, and it grew very fast, but wasn't very wide, but at least I got an idea of how big 1 seed would grow to and therefore have an idea how many I can put in a pot (I think!). I don't have that experience with anything else as I've never grown anything from seed.
 
trashpony said:
Oh gosh, you've got that kind? In that case, I wouldn't grow them in a pot :D You can get dwarf ones which will look much nicer. You will only be able to grow one of those giant ones in your 30cm pot.
Click to expand...

:eek:

Oh :oops:

Well wtf do they give you so many seeds? :mad:

Well what scented one that won't grow monstrous should I get then? I do want one that grows tallish as I won't different heights in garden, but I don't want something that's rampant
 
trashpony said:
:D

They give you lots of seeds because then people can thin them out if they're sowing them directly into the soil

If you want something tall and scented in a 30cm pot, you could plant sweetpeas up a wigwam? I grow 8 plants up mine (and the seeds are massive ;) )
Click to expand...

I don't really know what I want to be honest, but I know lots of people last year were telling me to get nicotiana because it has a lovely smell.

I've absolutely no idea what's going to happen with my garden this year. I decided rather than buying all the plants like I did last year (because I started late), I'd try going as much as I could from seeds/bulbs. I bought some last year though and forgot about them, so now I've so much stuff, and I've no idea how much space it's all going to take up and whether I'll have enough pots and I really haven't got space for more pots, but unfortunately I accidentally looked at the Lidl website today and there's some pots and I'm tempted. I'm not going to have any room left if everything I plant lives :D

Here's what I've got to plant (except tulips and irises which are already planted)


Anemone (Mr Fokker)
Anemone (Sylphide)
Aquilegia (Dragonfly)
Begonia (Double Red)
Begonia (Double White)
Begonia (Double Yellow)
Begonia (Trailing Red)
Begonia (Trailing White)
Begonia (Trailing Yellow)
Dahlia
Californian Poppy Mission Bells
Chinese Pagodas
Coleus Mixed
Cosmos Sensation
Crocosmia (Mixed)
Dutch Iris
Freesias
Geraniums (Scarlet and White)
Gladioli
Gloriosa
Lemon Grass
Linaria Reticulata
Livingstone Daisies
Lobelia
Mirabilis Jalapa
Nicotiana - Only the Lonely
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum Majus)
Sunset Flower (Blood flower)
Tigridia
Tulips



Now it's in list form, I'm a bit :eek: and "oh shit" :oops:
 
trashpony said:
Fucking hell :eek: :D
Click to expand...

I know, but I forgot about the ones I bought last year, and I blame the 99p place and ebay and Lidl for selling all these cheap seeds and bulbs :mad:

I never realised I had so many until I listed them. :oops:

and I've no idea which ones are going to survive from last year (eg. geraniums, etc.)

I'm not going to try impatiens from new though, so I'll still have to buy some NG impatiens for my shady corner :D

My parrot impatiens still alive as well and living in kitchen, so I'm happy about that
 
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