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The gardening thread

Oh no, Gaijingirl - I can chat about plants all day long - my pleasure. Anyway, a starting point for me (and many others) is to follow Marjery Fish's famous advice ' when in doubt, plant a geranium. And for sure, the hardy geranium clan is one of the nation's favourite perennials with a number of them being long-blooming, trouble-free candidates for pot culture. Many want full sun but any of the oxonianums, phaeums, maculatum and Wallichianums will do brilliantly. So, if you want a vigourous trailing blue, then 'plant of the century' Rozanne is still in prime position. I like to see whites and lilacs in a shadier spot - they look luminous in the low light of dusk so a couple of common but worthwhile plants are the pure white, bigroot geranium, 'White Ness' and have a look at the anemone family. From the lovely spring flowering anemone sylvestris through to the late summer Japanese anemones (of which Honorine Joubert still reigns supreme as a single white. Then there are the 'Swan' family. Based on anemone rupicola, White Swan caused a sensation because of its long blooming cycle...and others followed (I have Ruffled Swan). All do well in pots and shade. Hostas are traditional shade-y pot plants but the snails...and slugs - it will look like mince in a week. But the Japanese Forest grass, hakenochloa aureum is a terrific container grass (although cats and dogs will treat it as a salad bar). Finally, the reliable New Guinea impatiens (not the old bizzie-lizzies because downy mildew) but Impatiens hawkeri (I think) which is resistant to the virus which has decimated nursery stocks of impatiens wallichianum.
 
Blimey - thanks campanula. I do actually have geraniums in my window boxes. I've been doing them for years - the only plants I've ever really had any success with! I have a few left over which will go in the troughs. So I think some of them plus the black eyed Susans and then I'll print off your list above and see what I can find. Thanks again.
 
I have a fatsia japonica (castor oil bush) in our north facing front garden that got pretty badly scorched by the frost and wind chill this winter and is looking pretty sorry for itself. However, there are new green leaves shooting from the lower parts.

Any idea how ruthless I can be at pruning it?
I have this vague idea of reading somewhere that you can't cut back more than a third at a time without risking killing it?
 
FALSE castor oil bush ;)
I'm growing the deadly poisonous real ones this year :)
I sowed a load of fatsia seeds 4 years ago and have killed all but one plant and it's too scrawny to need pruning. :(



 
F2B10B11-8485-4BC5-AE22-112759C2CC8E.jpeg 1E1821BC-3A74-490A-8A6C-331A6A579210.jpeg 072898EA-C557-4ED3-A566-AF9CF7BE2580.jpeg Dug a hole and transplanted an apple tree from a pot to the ground. Pleased to see my beans are sprouting and the sage and mint are regaining their vigour after winter. Repotted 15 chilli plants over the weekend. Very exciting time of year and a very relaxing daytime activity to counterbalance evening gigging work.
 
It's too wet for gardening, again :mad:
So I've been doing the next best thing and buying more plants.

MIL's friend had recommend this nursery Cramden Nursery - Home so we went to check it out.
It's a fantastic little place, really healthy, vigorous plants.
Stocked up on pelargonium plugs (£1 each :thumbs:) for hanging baskets & pots, also splashed out on 6 hardy geranium Walter's Gift.
geranium_x_oxonianum_walters_gift.jpg
 
gaijingirl said:
@mumbles - wow - your garden is gorgeous. I love all the coloured lighting too!
Click to expand...
Thanks! It may look a bit cheesy in pics but it has a real nice effect in real life and isn't on all the time. The whole garden has been about 7 years in the making and is really starting to fill out. There are some parts we want to dig up and redesign. The forsythia is a bit tired and old, and there is another shrub, not even sure what it is that is getting too large. i guess that is the joy of gardening.. Going with the seasons and changes that they inspire. Its hard to find the time and money to make all the changes though.

Oh, and i'd really like to make a garden railway so that is always on my mind.. how can i do that!!
 
Between some showers, managed the second cut of the grass this year. Still too rough to call it a lawn, shook out some patching seed over a few areas (probably need a second or third batch in a couple of weeks).
Continued various tidying up tasks (some walkers went past recently, and left quite a lot of evidence behind them).
Had another look at greenhouses. I need one (or two) up here, might even get a couple of "cold frames" but put then on raised/ hot beds.
Carried on with the tree and hedge work.
We need to finish putting a new drain in across the field gate - feeding the enlarged pond / boggy patch, plus further grading around the LPG tank.
Still got a good show from the daffodils ... and the red currants are buzzing with queen bumble bees (I'm not good at ID'ing them - but at least three or four different "fur" patterns were seen.
 
Loads of broad beans , first three cherry tomatoes and my first endive of the year.Have planted the tomatoes and the cucumber plants under plastic bottles.
 
Mumbles274 - re the forsythia. Take a couple of long stems down to pots and tip root it, or feed (mulch) it and prune it quite hard after it has flowered this year - that should re-invigorate it.
 
StoneRoad said:
Mumbles274 - re the forsythia. Take a couple of long stems down to pots and tip root it, or feed (mulch) it and prune it quite hard after it has flowered this year - that should re-invigorate it.
Click to expand...
Part of thr problem is it was swamped by ivy for years which next door have now removed.. Ive been waiting to see how it grows this year now it is free of its shackles!

Good idea about the tip rooting thing though
 
Half of the allotment is still dug soil after the insane winter do-over (which is still lingering into May) so I am reduced to fiddling in the greenhouse and doing some ruthless pot clearance. While I have overcome my cheapskate tendencies to make use of every seedling, I still shudder when brutally yanking perfectly good plants because I am bored ( the forsythia would have been deffo on my death list Mumbles)...but after the relentless 5 year rural predation (by everything alive!) in the wood, I am back to squeezing too many plants in too small a space in the garden and allotments...while rocking a serious seed obsession. Funnily enough, Mumbles274, I also re-made my garden in 2011 and it is now seriously overstuffed...so a cull, whilst I can actually still get to many of these plants, is not optional anymore, as by July, no-one, including the dog, can actually get much further than the back door (I can just about fight my way to the outside tap and wave the hose around).
Anyway, I had a rhythm going - even ripped out a dubious daphne, loads of trees, all the bulbs, couple of roses and old lavenders...until Daughter-in law appears with a whole hoard of stuff (hydrangeas, massive shrub things (sorbaria, spirea, shit loads of pinks and osteospermums. Handed over empty pots and conceded defeat (but with the gleeful certainty that I will definitely be able to pass some (all) of the watering duties to her. She is also about 4ft 10 and less than 6 stone...so she can take on the fearsome climbing about and balancing on dodgy coping involved in a too full pot garden.
Faintly miffed that my new auricula seedlings (3 bloody years wait) are nearly all reds, yellows and bronzes...when I definitely recall ordering Barnhaven blues.
I gotta say, Mumbles, I was inspired by your pond, to add one (nothing like as grand) at the allotment. It is a bit small, tbf (I wouldn't put my (enormous) fish in it but yep, will try and do pics when the perennials get going - although the same stuffed syndrome is sadly occurring there...after only 1 year.
 
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Adds to the thrill ;)

As I said, it will be replaced with a flush fitting one that will overlap those walls.
 
I'm going to reveal my total lack of experience with trampolines, but I have this image of children bouncing off and hitting the bench ...
 
Idaho said:
Adds to the thrill ;)

As I said, it will be replaced with a flush fitting one that will overlap those walls.
Click to expand...

Mmmm, I rather like trampolining. Nets, while not terribly aesthetic, have handy pluses. Years ago, back in the 80s (when enormo-trampolines were rare and novel), we got hold of one for a few weeks. We put it in the front garden where a million kids hurled themselves into a coma...but I also spent those summer evenings, lolling in the trampoline, against the net, with beer and spliff - may even had had al-fresco bouncy sex.
 
diond said:
I really like your garden and love the plant pot idea. Did you make it all yourself?
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Yeah I built it. The troughs are just 3 planks, with a couple of small pieces to close at each end. Then I put the frames loosely in place and screwed it all together.
 
Just spent £70 ordering cat repelling devices, sprays, spikes, etc. Vile little gits have started shitting in my beds.
 
I can't see tulips without seeing rather overblown formal gardens and they seem a bit surreal to me ... one day I may well go in for natural plantings of species ..
But these are rather fun. I will reserve my final judgement until I've seen how long they keep their petals ...

tulips.jpg
 
gentlegreen said:
I can't see tulips without seeing rather overblown formal gardens and they seem a bit surreal to me ... one day I may well go in for natural plantings of species ..
But these are rather fun. I will reserve my final judgement until I've seen how long they keep their petals ...
Click to expand...
I wasn't really keen on them until I moved here. They were one of the few plants which had survived the years of neglect of the previous owners so they must like the soil.

Since I've cleared the undergrowth these have multipied...

(as have the grape hyacinths)

I've added a few dark purple ones here...


and transferred a few to here...



There should be more, but deer and squirrels :mad:
 
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