Hobbies and Crafts

Ann because those rasps come from next door they will be extra sweet I should think :-D
I've been really disappointed this year there are 2 clematis in the garden one a big beautiful blue colour and other a purple (don't know names) and neither has had any flowers at all, though both have shot up then a lovely rose tree we got last year for our 50th which was covered in white roses has had one tiny wee flower and not a sign of any buds , anyone any ideas? could it have been the cold winter we had?

Just changed my avatar, this is my first bloom on the 'Tea Clipper' rose my friend gave me at Christmas :-)

That is beautiful, Rose :-) My roses are being very lazy this year but they are quite young so I will be patient... (Nolls, I had a clematis which totally refused to flower this year, just loads of foliage........so I dumped it! :-D)

OK Rose do you have to show off your lovely rose to me? Bah! :-(
Buttercup do you really think I should dump the clematis not worth keeping for next year? I must add one of them is only 3yr old and up to last year was about a foot and a half but did have flowers at ground level now it is about 5 ft.

Sorry Nolls :-(

Maybe this will help re the clematis?

"The most common problem with vines that produce an over abundance of green growth and no flowers is caused by a nutrient imbalance, usually too much nitrogen. It is best to fertilize clematis with organic, slow release fertilizers when you prune group three clematis (see Pruning FAQ for a full explanation of prune groups), usually in late February or early March. "
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/clematis/2002090543004077.html

Ah! Now then this spring we did put down a load of growmore so it might be that I think I will leave it till next year and see what's what . Thanks Rose for the info

Don't mind my advice Nolls, as I have a habit of dumping anything that doesn't perform to my liking :-D :-D :-D

Buttercup I usually leave things till they die, my sil was a wizard with plants she bought all the half dead plants, usually expensive ones at a fraction of the price and nursed them back to health, don't think she ever lost any, then she would give some to us and it was a nightmare trying to keep them alive so she could see them next time she visited :-D

Ah now BC you must only do that with men and electrical equipment :-)

with plants my mum's advice, which has passed into legend among her friends, is that however poorly something looks, it will always "come up from the bottom" :-)

Sometimes clematis appear to have died, they tend to suffer from wilt, however, they will often recover and be ok the following year.

RR Now there's words of wisdom :-D :-D

Ann to be honest never had much luck with clematis and this is the healthiest the foliage has been so will give them another year and see what happens , might have sold house anyway then anyway :-D

I have a lot of foxgloves and the flowers have all dropped. bar a few at the very top, normally I would just leave them till the seeds ripen and drop naturally, but there are so many in a small area that I don't really want all the seeds to fall there.

Does anyone know if I cut them 'in the green' will the seeds still ripen ? If I'm going to cut them I'd like to do it before we get any thundery showers, which come down hard usually.

Don't know anything about foxgloves Rose. Maybe if you can put them somewhere dry and warm they will ripen

Still only able to do a little gardening. However, tomato plant has now got quite a few tomatoes. :-) :-).

I saw a lovely little butterfly in the garden earlier today - from the pictures in the RT I believe that it is a Wall. (i had never heard of these butterflies before).

Hope to do a little more tomorrow or Friday.

Tess

Hello Tess I've not heard of that butterfly ether :-S I tried weeding today but it was to hot for me :-(

RamblingRose if seeds are to green I don't think they will ripen buts it's worth a try, I let my foxgloves self seed if I don't like where they are growing I transplant them in spring or just pull them up :-) :-0

The Wall Butterfly (Latin name Lasiommata megera) is orange with dark brown markings and white dots.

Likes to bask on Walls, hence its name. The one in my garden was on a paving slab.

BBC2 tonight 26th july 9pm is Springwatch Butterfly Special.
Will try to record it.

Thanks Lesley, I have cut about half down, which will still leave lots if the cut green ones don't ripen. :-)

Copied from the Veg growers How's your plot thread for my future reference.

Raspberries on plants that started as runners from next doors plants, did well.

Potatoes, we only plant a few, one lot dug 2 plants gave us 3 or 4 meals.

Baby carrots in a trough doing well

Lettuces in a trough did well.

French beans grown in a trough as usually done, failed while we were away in June (neighbour very good at watering, despite all efforts looked as if snails got them.

Cucumbers two plants, plants look like triffids, had four very good ones off the plants but some are now dying not maturing.

Tomatoes grown the same way every year and usually all in the greenhouse and outside do well. Just had a few tumblers ripen in the baskets, lots of green fruit on the rest of the plants both in the greenhouse and in pots on the patio and in the grow bags. Some of the tomatoes look like getting black spot rot (or whatever it is called). (Blossom end rot?)

Help! please, have you ever grown a standard fuchsia? and if so any ideas why mine is looking at last gasp. It was given to me a couple of months ago, in bud, flowered well, but a few days ago the leaves started to wilt horribly, putting it down to the heat I watered well, but within an hour it looked even worse!

Moved it out of the pot yesterday, to see if it had anything eating the roots , but it doesn't. have planted it straigh in ground but looks very sick. :-(

Would it be because our water is very hard?

Rose, does it have orangy marks on the leaves? It could be too uch water but if the leaves have browny orange marks on it, it has a fungus called rust.