The gardening thread

[Treacle Toes]

If you can hang on till the end of this season I will try and later my wisterias (I've never done it before, so it may not work.....)

It will! Motivation/willing is what we need...share the seeds and cuttings people...most of my plants are foundlings, or from cuttings etc.

PS: I will take some too

 

[Mumbles274]

i think i have some fatsia japonica seeds.. think they are hard to grow but can check if that's def what they are and send if anyne wants em? was looking at it today and noticed them.. but didn't invesgate properly.. might try and grow one myself too coz theres quite a few

 

[clicker]

i think i have some fatsia japonica seeds.. think they are hard to grow but can check if that's def what they are and send if anyne wants em? was looking at it today and noticed them.. but didn't invesgate properly.. might try and grow one myself too coz theres quite a few

I noticed loads on mine this week - never really seen them in that abundance before. I thought they were just berries ...anyone wants them ,just pm.

 

[Mumbles274]

Yeah.. Thats what I have too

 

[clicker]

'As a bonus, older plants will produce strange, other-worldly looking, compound umbels of creamy-white flowers which seem, mysteriously, to attract hosts of lazy wasps in late autumn. Sooty-purple seedheads follow, if you are lucky.'

- just read this, i do remember the fluffy white flowers last autumn, maybe the mild winter has let it produce the seeds happily.

 

[gentlegreen]

That fern on the right.. what is it gentlegreen ?

It's a tree fern - Dicksonia Antarctica - you buy them by the foot.
This one was £75 in 2002 - I also had a £50 one and a £100 one which I failed to protect from the winter of 2010

Averaged over 10 years, it's not nearly as scary ...

I have mixed feelings about them.
As I understand it, these are actually the tops of much taller ferns - cleared during development in Tasmania and the bulk of the trunks are used to make chipboard. Mine came with a tag stapled to it and an environmental certificate.

But they are surprisingly robust - and it's difficult to achieve the effect any other way ...

Mine is still in its pot - so is 6 inches or so taller than it would otherwise have been but has rooted well in spite of that - but bottom roots aren't as important as you'd think - the plant feeds through its crown and also through the "trunk" - which is really just old leaf stalks with roots running through. In dry weather it's best to water the trunk.

If you look closely, you can see how I totally neglected mine for about 7 years, but I then started actually feeding it - chucking organic fertiliser pellets in the crown - and this year I have 20 new fronds forming - so I may feel like pruning off the tatty ones that got bent down by snow in 2011/12.

 

[gentlegreen]

Datura seedlings bottom right and sweet peppers above - showing the family resemblance.

My records have been very sketchy this year, but I think the daturas were sown 5 1/2 weeks ago, peppers 3 1/2 weeks - not only is the Aldi seed compost a bit crap, I don't think they got enough bottom heat.
The datura seeds looked just like pepper seeds, but were so hard, the seedlings have struggled to shed their seed coats. I sowed another batch two weeks later and that time sand-papered and soaked them - and the compost is at 25 degrees C when the lights are on.

The "lettuce" to the left is my emergency nicotianas - which are going to have to go outside soon as I have no room left in my cupboard...

 

[gentlegreen]

I noticed loads on mine this week - never really seen them in that abundance before. I thought they were just berries ...anyone wants them ,just pm.

I must have a look at the one at work ...

They're in the ivy family - which also includes ginseng - though I doubt fatsia has any health benefits ... or ginseng come to that...
This is apparently the "Siberian" version which I tried growing from seed (and failed) about 25 years ago - apparently the Soviet team used it for at least one Olympics (R)

 

[gentlegreen]

Sorry, I do seem to be taking over this thread at the moment - I made a half-hearted attempt at starting a blog ...

I only recently noticed that my neighbour has a lovely clump of bugle next door that would work very well in my blue corner - fortuitously it's sent a runner through a gap in the fence.

I had a peek yesterday and there are roots - but I wrapped it up again with fresh compost and will wait a bit longer before severing its umbilical.

Inspired by this, I dead-headed my straggly pansies, pinned the lower stems to the compost with wire loops and added some more compost - I read somewhere that they can be propagated that way, but this is just to give them a new lease of life as they should be good for a few months yet.

 

[gentlegreen]

I haz fatsia seeds

I picked the ones that had fallen on the ground.
Superficial research suggests no particular technique, so I'll try a variety of methods - unfortunately I don't have a fridge at the moment, so I can't try that trick - though I suppose I could turn down the thermostat on the one at work (no freezer compartment).

 

[Treacle Toes]

I am learning so much from this thread. Thank you all.

 

[ringo]

Painted a breeze block wall & added trellis & 2 Wisteria. Not sure how they'll cope with a North facing wall in heavy clay but mrs r loves them so I'm having a go

Wisteria growing nicely, seems to like it there. I'd like some Chinese or Japanese ferns to plant along the bottom of the wall. So far between the two wisterias I have the yellow bamboo which will get massive and a Japanese maple sapling I've put in at the left end. Any suggestions for Chinese or Japanese ferns which like a north facing sheltered wall before I go hunting through my books/the interweb?

 

[ringo]

Oh hello

 

[Fez909]

Oh hello

1. Put cat food on trampoline
2. Wait for foxes with video camera
3. ???????????
4. Profit!

 

[gentlegreen]

I've always assumed that north-facing walls are fine for most ferns - I half-heartedly tried making a fernery along my north-facing fence - but have ended up with just the one ginormous tree fern- though it's actually right at the top of it - but I had a small one initially which I seem to recall doing well.

Does the morning or afternoon sun get in there at all ?

 

[ringo]

I've always assumed that north-facing walls are fine for most ferns - I half-heartedly tried making a fernery along my north-facing fence - but have ended up with just the one ginormous tree fern- though it's actually right at the top of it - but I had a small one initially which I seem to recall doing well.

Does the morning or afternoon sun get in there at all ?

Gets some sun until about 10:30am, but none in the afternoon. Reckon most ferns will be alright too, that's partly why I thought of them, and they'll fit in nicely with my oriental planting if I pick the right varieties. Might consider a tree fern or something larger and more colourful on the right hand side between the bamboo and the wisteria as that would balance the Japanese maple I've planted on the left side, but don't want it completely symmetrical.

 

[moonsi til]

Photos from this morning. Garden looked better at the weekend before we started on it. We uprooted a huge ivy and the remains of a water feature. We had no plan when we started bar tidy up but now we having 2 sections next to the shed summer house to attempt to grow veggies. The penultimate photo is our wood storage currently as we have a log burner inside.

 

[Manter]

I like your wrought iron arch

 

[moonsi til]

It came with the house. It has solar fairy lights inside and usually has 2 glitter balls dangling.

 

[Badgers]

Had a sneaky trip into a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday

 

[gentlegreen]

And there I was about to praise moonsi til for scrapping a scrappy lawn ...
That looks like a garden made for a robot mower.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Minnie_the_Minx

a little pictorial update about the lovely wee tree you gave me a good while back

It has settled well and has come back to life. I am going to let it grow quite wildly and then train it up one side of an arch I have created into the back section of the garden where the firepit is. Will get some more pics once it has flowered. Thanks again!

Looks completely different to when I had it. Hope it gets even better looking!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

My Fatsia Japonica fell over yesterday. I'm going to hack it today

 

[gentlegreen]

My Fatsia Japonica fell over yesterday. I'm going to hack it today

Into a bigger pot ?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Bigger pot means it has more potential to spread but the thing is if I lop off top' that's all the new lovely growth so in two minds at the moment. Will take pics and post later to see what you think

 

[ringo]

Had a sneaky trip into a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday

Badgers, yesterday:

 

[Treacle Toes]

Looks completely different to when I had it. Hope it gets even better looking!

It has grown loads since then too and it is changing...I will post a pic at some point and tag you again.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Badgers, yesterday:

ROFL!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Here's my Fatsia. I have two choices

a) Repot it into the bigger pot (pictured next to original pot) and hope it doesn't fall over again due to being top-heavy
b) Cut off the top which would mean cutting off a whacking big chunk of lovely luscious leaves

Obviously with my tiny garden, I can't afford to let it get out of hand, but if I DO lop off those top leaves, it's going to be looking a bit bare I reckon







gentlegreen

 

[Treacle Toes]

It's beautiful Minnie_the_Minx