Talkback: Weeds and wildflowers - Talkback

16/04/2009 at 19:37

Hi. Apologies if this is the wrong place for questions... I am a gardening novice, and have experimentally sown Aquilegia, cornflower, poppy and Nigella seeds in my flowerbed. How, erm, do I know what are weeds, and what are my actual plants?? It seems to be the same seedlings coming up (or do ALL seedlings start with just two small leaves??). Sorry if it sounds a silly question. (Feel abit intimidated being on the Gardeners World website!)

Gardeners' World Web User

16/04/2009 at 20:29

Hi Lizzie, Just have patience and wait and see what comes up. If it is a wild patch of garden then a few weeds shouldn't make all that much difference.But in a while they will all show their true colours and you can pick out what you don't want there. good luck.

Gardeners' World Web User

16/04/2009 at 20:44

I know it's a little unusual, but I think that sometimes, dandelions can be really beautiful. Where we live, there's a field just behind our house that's full of the things, so trying to get rid of them is a futil exercise, and they make the lawn so pretty.. not so keen on them in the beds though!

Gardeners' World Web User

16/04/2009 at 20:52

I bought 2 bags of Miracle Gro organic peat free compost to plant my vegetable seeds in. The firt bag grew seeds brilliantly the second also greww goos little plants BUT they are surrounded by tiny fungi why is this and is it alright to use the plants in the affected pots? Will they spore and infect everything else they ar on my kitchen window sill at present.

Gardeners' World Web User

17/04/2009 at 09:27

The weeds I pull out in the Botanic garden are pounced upon by my colleague - an American lady. She finds a lot of them quite beautiful and takes them to her allotment to cultivate. This has me searching my wildflower book for their names as she likes our common names as well. I agree,Pippa,familiarity does breed contempt and we should treasure what we have. Luckily for us we have a new wildflower meadow to look forward to in the Garden.

Gardeners' World Web User

17/04/2009 at 17:20

hi lizzie just wait a bit longer as the plants you are growing will all be obvious that they are the same few types.it might be easier if your new to gardening not to weed at all till the plants flower then you will know the leaves you want next year and the ones that are out of place and more likely to be weeds.have you got a friend that lives near by who enjoys gardeing and can hopefully point you in the right direction.everyone starts off gardening as a novice so dont feel intimidated on this site or any other.the fact is you have made a start now so very soon you will hopefully be hooked on growing alsorts.you could make it easier next time by only sowing in blocks of straight linesthen if something is not in the stright line they will be more obvious that they are a weed.dont worry that your seeds will look silly in stright lines,they wont look as soldier like when they start to thicken out.good luck.

Gardeners' World Web User

17/04/2009 at 21:26

all plants start with two leaves called the cotyledons, I believe, and it is possible to start to recognise them, especially when the second pair of leaves arrive, which look different from the cotyledons, and look like what will follow. I am a beginner also, but find the following website good, as it shows the plants in the early stages. Like one of the others said, watch all your seedlings/weeds grow, and learn what they are, and enjoy http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm

Gardeners' World Web User

18/04/2009 at 13:24

I grow lots of valerian in my garden which is regarded by some as a weed, but I love its profusion of pink flowers and think it looks good in a herbaceous border.

Gardeners' World Web User

18/04/2009 at 13:40

Since I was a little girl (I´m 65 now) a have adored Dandelions! They look like little suns and they always make me smile! Sometimes I put a bunch in a little vase... and they are allowed to grow in my lawn!!! I just pick the dead flowers before they set seed. I wonder why nobody has cultivated them into a "real" big gardenflower??!!

Gardeners' World Web User

20/04/2009 at 11:50

I like dandelions too. My four-year-old son loves puffing at them when they reach the fluffy seed stage. He calls them blow-flowers.

Gardeners' World Web User

20/04/2009 at 18:24

I always let some dandelions flower to provide an early nectar source for emerging Comma and Peacock butterflies, as well as the various bumble bees. I always tell myself to dead head them before seed production, but some always get away! Never made dandelion 'coffee' yet, but did cultivate a plant in a pot in my kitchen (covered with a pot to exclude light)to add flavour to winter salads.Very good chicory substitute.

Gardeners' World Web User

21/04/2009 at 01:50

In our area we should have loads of butterflies and bees because we have more dandilions than you could shake a stick at, but we are lacking in both these beautiful insects, I grow Dead Nettles with their pretty white flowers, the butterflies and the bees love them and they don't sting like the blue flowered kind.

Gardeners' World Web User

22/04/2009 at 16:42

my lilac is in flower and has been for 3 weeks now.can ayone tell me whats causing the sooty deposit on my camelias leaves.thankyou.

Gardeners' World Web User

25/04/2009 at 16:18

Dandelions in massed flowering are beautiful - like slightly small pompom chrisanthamums. We have a large grassed area which is more dandelion than anything else, and I pick the flowers to make dandelion wine - very powerful when left a couple of years. I've read you can eat the leaves in salad - do they need to be blanched with a bucket over them first?

Gardeners' World Web User

28/04/2009 at 08:44

Ahh, dandelions, I quite agree, they're stunning. But then you see I also find clover, both its foliage and its honey-scented flowers, really attractive and yes, I even like it in grass, far more interesting than plain old grass.....and wonderful to lie amongst!

Gardeners' World Web User

02/05/2009 at 07:12

Umm actually all plants don't start with two leaves. Diocotyledons start with two and Monocotyledons (e.g grasses) start with one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicotyledon The RHS website have a brilliant advice section which I have only recently discovered, you have to search a bit sometimes but it is well worth the effort and some of the old videos are HILARIOUS. http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/index.asp GW and the BBC also have a good advice/reference site, also full of great old vids :) http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/grow_your_own/ for Botany stuff try this one: http://theseedsite.co.uk/botany.html Lizzie I would agree with the others and say let it all gow until you can figure out what you don;t like and 'weed' that. This year I had a flush of unknown bulbs come up in an awkward place and I left them and left them and FINALLY this week they flowered and they are stunning white star shaped flowers with pretty green striped foliage ...so once they die back I'll be digging them up and moving them to somewhere less 'in the way' so we can enjoy them next year.

Gardeners' World Web User

05/05/2009 at 11:02

If you're sowing ahrdy annuals it is well worth sowing them in areas subtly marked with play-sand or horticultural sand so that you know approx. where you expect them to come up. I'd also suggest sowing in straight lines within these areas - weeds therefore easier to spot, and the horrible rigid formailty of the lines goes un-noticed by the time the plants are a decent size ! PG

Gardeners' World Web User

24/07/2009 at 15:33

can anybody tell me how to eradicate horsetails.

Gardeners' World Web User

22/10/2009 at 19:28

i have horsetails in my garden and on my allotment they are hell to get rid of i dont use weedkilers so i just keep on diging them out the root is black and if you snap it a new one grows so try and get most of it i have been on my allotment for two years now and i am just geting on top of it now but i dont think i will get rid of it alltogether you never no?

Gardeners' World Web User

18/02/2010 at 19:24

On the subject of weeds..... I have a problem with CUCKOOPINT ( I believe otherwise called Lords and ladies). They began as one stalk and I thought I'd dug it out, then ... it's everywhere. I've tried digging and, much against my liking, most brands of weedkiller. I just can't get rid of them. I agree they look quite bright and pretty for a short while but everytime I see another one appear my heart sinks. Any ideas on irradication please?