General Chat

Hi to all of you keen gardners. I experimented a bit last year with some veg, and plan to do more this year. I love butternut squash, but only 2 out of my 6 seeds 'made it', and they looked really pathetic and spindly. However once they got going they were like triffids! This year I will try to train them over a low frame, as they produce copious amounts of foliage. I had 4 or 5 large squashes from them. Runner beans are always great, and quite easy. Tomatoes I grew in pots (100s and 1000s variety) and they were a success. Carrots were also good, but got a bit swamped by the squash greenery, so will separate them this year. Peppers I find do not ripen, and I hate them green! I would like to grow other squash varieties but haven't seen any seeds for them yet.

Julia, twelve dozen bizzy Lizzie plants, that is a lot! Do you have a large garden? We have scaled our planting down so we don't put in so many annuals now but used to plant a lot of bizzy lizzies. Now just put in a few for colour. This time next week we will be packing for our weeks holiday and I am finding it difficult to think of gardening as well as what to take etc. Luckily OH doesn't think that way, his idea of packing is to do it all the night before so he has been sorting out the garden. I did actually get him to sort some of his old shirts and T shirts out for charity today so that is something.

Hello Daff, I hope you are having abit of a rest this afternoon, after all the work you did yesterday in the garden.
I did was not able to do my gardening bit over the weekend as I had said I would. After the baking was all done on Saturday, I had to call the Paramedics, as I was unable to 'work' the pain off during the day. Have been catching up on the housework since they let me out on Monday, but, now I am in my gardening mood.
We went to a garden centre yesterday afternoon, that is on the road to Sallie's, for a cuppa, and a walk round. I managed to buy a dozen and a half of Fuschia, plant plugs, and a couple of dozen Geraniums also. Today, I have been washing the work bench down in the greenhouse. I have now planted four pots of Lilies, and four posts of Calla Lillies, (my favourites). Then in the greenhouse also, I set trays of Empress of India Nasturtiums (sp), they are red and go in my 'Hot Corner'. Also Trailing Sweet Peas, and saved seeds from a lovely tall Dusky Pink Poppy. In the food line, for the allotment when they are ready, I have set some Nero di Toscana Kale. I have also set some Salad Leaves with a red vein, abit like the young leaves of beetroot, and some Merveille Des Quatre Saisons Lettuce, which have green/bronze leaves.
All the peas and beans, beetroot,leeks, onions and potataoes, etc go directly in the ground of the allotment, so I do not have to set them in the greenhouse.
They have given out rain for Saturday here, so we will go to another Garden Centre that we like. I am after twelve dozen Bizzy Lizzy plant plugs, more Fuschia's, Pansies, at least. OH is after some new strawberry plants for this year. Talking about Strawberries. A few years an old gentleman on our allotments gave me a pot full of Alpine Strawberries grown from seed. I put them in a hanging basket, and they come back every year. They are very small fruits, and just the right size for 'Littlies'. You can get the seeds in the garden centre is you want to have a look. Hoping it is going to be better on Sunday, as OH has six fruit trees to go in, down the allotment, and I can potter in the greenhouse, potting up all the plant plugs, to bring them on.
I am now, at this time of day, just sitting down to do, what you so eloquently called it 'sitty-down tasks'. Shopping list for tomorrow for M****sons, list for the Farm Shop for OH, which is in the heart of D.H. Lawrence country, and makes you feel as if you are in his books when you drive up the farm track to the shop. Must write the labels out ready for OH potatoes. He must have about 8/9 varieties, and if I do not do it, he doesn't do it right. You know what men are like. A yes, and I might just get the back of the gilet finished, that I am knitting, all before evening meal time.
Whoever coined the phrase 'a woman's work is never done' was spot on.
Take care now, and do not do too much.
Julia in Derbyshire

PS. Meant to say, I planted a dozen tomato seeds yesterday, four each of three varieties, and have them on the kitchen window sill. I put a piece of horticultural fleece over them at night time.

Have you looked on line to see if you can get replacement wheels Daff?
We don't have a wheelbarrow it would not be any use here as we have steps down from the garden. We use the large containers with handles for weeds etc Oh, and a small one for me, can't carry the large one.

Sharron, thanks for that..... I'll try that on the next lot of seedlings.... I have run out of loo rolls, and egg cartons, lol

Von, that sounds like a brilliant idea..... I haven't got a green house, but I do have a conservatory... although it is getting a bit full at the moment, lolol!!

I suppose the guttering lengths could be shorter.... that would fit onto the staging I have brought in for the seeds. And the dwarf beans sound brilliant... I have my granddaughter coming to stay again at the end of the month, so the tomatoes (seeds bought yesterday) strawberries (ditto) and some other bits and bobs will be an activity for her.... and she comes to stay for a week once a month, so that means she can follow that up nicely... and we have cress seeds for almost instant gratification, to go in her egg sarnies, lolol She loves all vegetables, and the rawer, the better... how much better than straight from the plant to the mouth???

So far we have two tubs of early potatoes, a row each of broad beans and peas, a tub of carrots (second tub going in today) beetroot, rocket, onions, and various herbs.... garlic is almost all done, but I ran out of pots... I want to scatter the pots throughout the garden, see if it keeps some of the nasties away.

The veg patch has been dug over every day, and little bits of sand, well rotted compost, and leaf mold added each time, so it is looking quite good... still some lumps that need a bit more breaking down, but it should be ready by the time the seeds are ready to go in.

I have bought a selection of black salad, herb and potato bags, to see how I get on with them... they have handles, so are easier for me to move around than pots... and also fit better under the fleece tunnel and polytunnel.

Julia, I have bought a couple of tunnels.... they look as though they are doing the job... so fingers crossed I won't lose much if we have a sharp frost now.

I have culled all the bramble branches snaking over from next door (they like a wild garden, which actually means they never do a thing to it ) and also trimmed and cut back all the shrubs out the front, and many of the ones out the back.... still got some to go... but I had great fun with the shredder. I am petrified of electricity, so will wait for another bright and sunny day before dragging it back out again to finish the job off.

I haven't done any of that for a couple of years, so it feels really good to have had the energy to do it... mind, the house has been neglected, lolol

And the tyre on the wheelbarrow has gone flat :¬(( does anyone know if it is possible to get new ones, or will I need to get a new wheelbarrow? I have only used it a couple of times, although I have had it a couple of years.

Off to google some more, lolol!!

Love

Daff xxx

Daff
Last year I planted a dwarf french bean called Jersey and using a word coined by my little grandaughter they were yummylicious!!
The little ones loved picking them and the more we picked the more we got.
OH planted the seeds outside in May/June so plenty of time yet.I'm definitely going to plant them again this year.
The other thing I did was to plant peas in two lenghts of guttering in the greenhouse in March and then when the weather was warm enough you just take the ends of the guttering and slide the plants into a shallow trench and hey presto a row of peas.
I've got a book by Gay Search and Delia Smith and it's a beginners guide to growing and cooking fruit and vegetables and the instructions for planting the peas was in there.
It sounded complicated but was really very easy and a great success.
Good Luck
Take care
Von

Look,I am no gardener.Just learning how not to kill really but I do make a mean newspaper pot.

You just cut your Sun pages into four squares.Fold the square diagonally into a triangle.Take the point from the long side over to touch a short side,the same with the other point on the long side.Fold the two points at the top back and you have a paper cup.

I remember my dad faffing about with the stapler trying to concoct some sort of superior pot while I churned out a boxfull which he would not use on principle.His loss!

Morning Daff, you've probably all ready gone outside by now, so perhaps have a read later. I too am having a bit of a gardening day, as well as baking. It is nice and sunny, if not a little chilly here this morning, and I will let it warm up a tad before venturing out. Gives me time to clear up indoors before tackling outdoors. I intend to start having a clearance around, and finish off the greenhouse tidying, making sure that my four bags of rubbish are suitably tied up for OH to take to the tip. Failure to do so, results in "The're not going in my car like that". Men and there toys.
I too will bring some compost in to warm up, as I want to set my tomato seeds tomorrow, and put in the kitchen window sill, where I can keep an eye on them. OH is off to the allotment, to make a start, and set his Broad Beans.
Tomorrow, hopefully, I am making my first foray to the garden centre this season. I buy plant plugs for my Pansies, and Buzy Lizzies, and some Geraniums,and grow them on. I keep them covered with Horticultural Fleece at night to protect them.
Well, happy gardening Daff, will speak later
Julia in Derbyshire

Vegetable plot has been dug over... it is looking pretty friable, so all the stuff I threw at it last year has been good... I have googled, and find I will need some sand... so will get some today or tomorrow.... and one of my compost heaps is full of lovely stuff, which will go on it... plus the bottom level of the wormery is ready as well, so that will be perfect. It just needs to dry out a bit, and warm up.......

I bought big sacks... 3 for £14.99... meant for growing spuds in... and have some first earlies chitting happily on the hall windowsill in egg boxes, lol I shall put those into their new home next week.

My son dragged the compost into the conservatory (no, I am not joking!!) to warm up ready for the seeds that need to be indoors... and we have a cold frame and a cold tunnel all ready to receive their complement of seedlings, lol.

I am on my way.... everything prepared ready for action and in about 6 weeks I shall be able to harvest the first salad crops..... yummy!!

And the forecast is good for the next week, here.... in fact, I had to water the pots outside yesterday, they were beginning to dry out!

Love

Daff xxx

At the end of last summer when we took out the annuals etc we changed one border and planted it with grasses, I will be interested to see how it develops this year. It does still have some Alliums in it biut I am hoping the grasses will take over when the Alliums finish.

Ann, I too am rather partial to grasses in my 'Tropical' border, but amazed at the price some of them cost. I also have the black one you mentioned, and a blue one.However, no matter (within reason) they cost, I know I shall buy a few more again this season. I am such a sucker, pardon the pun, for something unusual, and can't wait to start my 'tour' of the four garden centres we have locally
Julia in Derbyshire

Wend, Sorry to hear you are having a bad day, the sun has just poked its head out above the clouds but it is still cold here in Gloucestershire. The grass I am talking about is the grass, the second one you mention, it is quite expensive in garden centres but spreads well, we had ours from our daughter and we have given several bits away. It shows up other grasses well. I am always amazed at how much you have to pay for grass Lol!! And it is really annoying when we are in North Tenerife and the grass that costs us money here to buy is growing freely wild alongside the pavement.

I certainly wont be venturing out into the garden today, there is a really cold wind, we have been to a garden centre (Blooms) for coffee and outside it was soooo cold that I couldn't stay and look around, I know, I know I am a warm weather gardener. So I just spent £2 on a couple of craft bits in the Works (a franchise there) and bought some bird seed and that was it.

You certainly have a garden of friends Daff, and as you thrive so will your plants. The Niger grass seems to be quite hardy, we have lost several plants due to the hard frosts this year, including a cordyline but the Niger grows on!!!

Morning all... Wendy, I find that on the days I feel rough, if I plan and dream for the future, I soon get to smiling, lol.... otherwise I would sit and brood like a dark cloud on a sunny day, lolol Yesterday was not a good day for me, either, lol So I am pleased I cheered you up!

I was never fond of Hostas... until I saw the collection that Ann in Glos has in a corner of her lovely garden....so I might get a few more....... watch this place.

In fact, it was my first visit to Ann that inspired my own garden a couple of years ago. Although mine has a different look, and feel, because I have used different materials, the basic principles were borrowed. I shall just expand on that over the years..... I have plenty of time, these days, and am not gardening for immediate impact, as I have needed to do in the past.

I have a jasmine that was a couple of rootings from BC.... so that reminds me of her whenever I look at that trellis.... this year it should really take off. It was put in last year, and was doing well. Also, Ann and her lovely hubby have given me some lovely cuttings, seeds and thinnings... geranium, sedum, violets, laurel, aquilegia, hellebores, a couple of different grasses including a beautiful black niger that has survived the winter well and the gift of the most beautiful patio rose for my birthday last year!

The lovely Taff gave me some poppy seeds and a pot of lilies.... some were planted, but can't see them yet... but I have the rest to go in, so I will always have a reminder of her in my garden..... Jude sent some beautiful ornamental thistle seeds, I have yet to see those, but they are in a pot waiting to grow up.... Jude likes poppies as well, if I remember... My lovely Rowan was suggested by Jac.... I think of her and her fight with squirrels and her daffodil bulbs every time I look at that tree.... which is daily, cos I can see it from my craft table, lol (sends (((((hugs))))))) to Jac if she is looking in)

In fact... I have lots of plants that were the favourites of people on GR... the people who were so supportive when I was poorly, which was so many!! The plants will hopefully start to thrive this year... they were just beginning to find their feet last year.... so my garden will be full of my friends!

*smiles happily*

Julia... I have been saving toilet rolls to put the sweet peas in, lol..... I have an old tupperware container, that I have put holes into... and the loo roll middles go into that nicely. The sweet peas don't get disturbed then, when they are planted out... I have been doing that for years.... and assume the same process will work for all the peas and kidney beans as well? I have also been saving Littlie's yoghurt pots and egg cartons... they are so tiny, but perfect for single seeds, just until they have the first real leaves, and need transplanting. Also.... all the containers that I buy, I wash out and keep... I have masses of them behind the shed, lol

I have sorted out all my seeds, and have a list of what I need to get... very organised for a change, usually I just get the urge... go to the Garden centre, and empty the shelves as I sweep past... but I want to be more controlled and in control with the veg... it just feels more important to get it right, lol... sad, isn't it? lol

Today, though, I shall finish off my craft projects!!

Have a lovely day, everyone

Love

Daff xxxx

Daff - good morning, meant to say this to you yesterday. You know those little plastic pots in hospital that they serve your tablets in, and in my case morphine, well, I bought a load home from my last two 'visits'. I have washed them out, and am going to use them to set my 'precious' seeds in, individually. By that, I mean tomatoes, for starters, and any others that are expensive to buy, or of what I only want to grow a few of. I'll make a couple of holes in the bttom, put them on one of those plastic sandwhich trays, and put them in the kitchen window sill, where I can keep an eye on them. I know I have hundreds of plant pots, of all sizes, but I can't bear to see waste, and will recycle where I can.
Rather overcast and not very warm here today, so I am tackling the dreaded i*****ing, to get it out of the way, them I can please myself what I do. Hopefully finishing off clearing the greenhouse out, ready for the great 'onslaught'
Have a good day, speak later.
Julia in Derbyshire

Thanks Ann, and Wend..... it is the veg I am all of a dither about, really... the flowers are beginning to evolve, and I am getting quite good with the techie know how on some of the ones I use regularly over the years... but they have tended to be transient, annuals, and not the longer growing perennials and shrubs, but I am building up slowly!

Ann, my hellebores are lovely... two different colours, one that acid green, the others are delicate pinky colours.... I love them... I left them in that nursery area by the back door, as they get all the winter sunshine there. Oh... and the violets... they are coming back strongly, they never really died off. They are in my woodland spot.

Wend, I have a heavy clay soil, it has been reclaimed marshland, but then became woodland for about 150 years... in the winter, the bulk of the garden gets sun most of the time... in the summer, it is filtered through a variety of leaf... including two horse chestnuts... so I have to be careful where I put the veg because of the light.... and I want a lot in a small area, lol.

The soil is virgin, but last year and the year before we put loads of organic stuff into it... I have a wormery, and two compost bins... am about to get a bokashi system, so will let you know how that works. Plus all the leaves, they went into a three box system (that we got rid of last year due to space restrictions) and the mold from the year before last is ready to use this year... I shall plant straight over the top of it, lol..... it is overhung by a massive horse chestnut, but does get a bit of light. About 2 hours a day in the summer.... but far more in the winter, so I want winter underplanting there. Haven't a clue what to put there yet, lolol

My *flower* area is doing well, evolving nicely.... a bit hit or miss, but that is one of the joys of flower planting... but for me the veg area has a more serious side... many will know that I was a little bit poorly... and I want to grow as organically as I can, with produce as fresh as possible to put on the table.

I have done the carrots, well, two tubs... me and Littlie last week. I shall do another tub full in a week or so.

Oh..... and I have stapled bubble wrap to the fence, lol.... and used it as a cold frame... although it is open either end, so won't take anything too delicate, the carrots are there, lol

Love

Daff xxxx

Daff I always try and plant some potatoes on St Patricks day , lol it's supposed to be lucky...but is maybe just the right time anyway :)

The soil is still very frosty. Over the weekend I cleared away lots of dead stalks and seed heads that I had left to protect the plants underneath, I notice that a lot of things are beginning to shoot, the peonies, and aquilegia , michaelmas daisies, tulips and sedums :)

The Daffs here are late this year because of the snow, but some in sheltered spots now in bud, the snowdrops and crocus are lovely :)).

xx

Not sure about cutting back things like fuschia's yet Daff. Perhaps it's still a tad early?
I've left mine (they'll look a right mess when I get back) because when I left last week we were still having a touch of overnight frost in our area and I didn't want to kill the poor little darlings off.

K

Daff, T has planted his sweet pea seeds in a heater in the conservatory. he has also hedged his bets and planted a few yellow tomato seeds. Go by the timing on the packets.
We have been promised (for want of a better word) another cold spell so I would be inclined to leave the fuchsias a while longer before cutting back. With my veg in tubs I always go by the timing on the packets.
Herbs you could probably plant indoors in your conservatory, I don't have any success with growing basil from seed, always buy a plant from the garden centre.
T is mowing the lawn at the moment but if you have any specific queries ask and I will get his reply when he comes in.

Thank you, Julia, xxx

Love

Daff xxx